Zoot

Almost forgot, I bought a pair of tights, as planned… Although Running Lab(s) didn’t have the 2XUs I wanted, I bought Zoot, which is supposed to be equally good. =)

Awesome! Can’t wait for Saturday to try them out! =)

My 100 bucks are well invested! =)

WinKey + R

Well, it’s been almost a week since my last post and I should blog about what I’ve been doing this week, except of course job applications and an interview here and there.

Tuesday was my second driving lesson in an auto car. ATC is so much easier than manual esp cuz it takes mind off all the ‘mumbo jumbo’ and keeps me focussed on the road. And when it comes to a hell hole driving place like Ubi, I think it’s for the best to go for auto – atleast for me. Driving around, Ubi seemed to be much more pleasant – despite the fact that learners still get picked on. Anyway, according to the instructor, he says I’m a good 7-8 lessons from my test booking so I guess I’ll be doing just that. Tmr is my next lesson. After many many months of procrastination and fear, I’m finally looking forward to Tuesdays cuz they’re my lesson days.

Wednesday was the first time in many years (last time was Sec 3 cross country quarter-finals) that I went to Macritchie Reservoir Park to pre-train for the 2nd TNF progressive (since I missed the first one). Thanks to Hussain for organizing and getting people to go for it cuz I think it was really really helpful to know what I was up against. Well, didn’t help much on Sat but that I’ll write later. So we were off with our hydration packs and new trail shoes to train for TNF and it was pretty difficult 10k run i’ve done in a long long time. Although it was multiple upslopes which I realized was my strength, and I kept whacking everyone of them, when it came to downslopes, I slowed down a lot – in the interest of my knees. Anyway, Hussain and me did the ‘Yellow’ 10.5km route in about 1h02m. Pretty good time I would say.

PRC’s ‘Recce Team’ – As Hussain calls it. (L-R) John, Choon Hong, Me, Hussain and Why See

Saturday, we carried out the full scale progressive run of 22+km ar MR again. This time, it was nothing short of hell and taught all of us runners what we’re up against. Thanks to Choon Hong’s ex-classmate, Ricki (aka The Bug) who’s a super pro and a damn fun fella to run with, we were orientated to the terrain pretty well. This time ard, we ran from MR Reserve to Bukit Timah Reserve and back. This of course, included Bt Timah hill – where it really really tested my upslope mettle – gotta thank NUS/Kent Rigde slopes for all the sufferring that partially prep-ed me for this madness of a run. Elaine (my TNF partner, who I shall refer to as ‘Partner’ henceforth) was sick all week but she’s an awesome runner too. Turning up in her 70.3 top, she’s really mentally strong. But the award for the most amazing person goes to Hussain – who did the distance at a really fast pace – during fasting month. I have no frakkin’ idea how the heck he managed to go all the way for 2h31m without a single drop of water and no glucose intake – considering he had the rest of the day left too! But we all did it and came out in one piece. For the 25km-ers they were pleased tt they can make it. For us 50km-ers, this was indeed a matter of concern – this was not even 1/2 the distance and we were maxed out.

At the Bukit Timah and MR junction

Summit of Bukit Timah Hill

Hmmm… I hope Saturday’s 20km progressive is much better. It better be, RunNUS is on the next day. Or else Jimmy and me are gonna suffer. (Maybe not Jimmy since he’s an 84km finisher!)

Partner and Me (Yeap… she’s always this hyper)

Since it has been sweaty and dirty all over the past two weeks, I haven’t gotten an opportunity to show the new PRC running singlet. It’s reddish-pink (to appease both sexes, I suppose) and pretty catchy!

Here goes:

As for RunNUS singlet, as it was last year, this year’s singlet is pretty nice too! The colour matches nicely with the new NB tri-tights that I bought for myself on Tuesday from Tampines-1.

Here goes again:

Also, I forgot to post this for a long long time. This is my first running medal ever! In Pri 4 (in India) for some 400m race where I came in 2nd. Haha… it says 1993! OMG!

As for the title, press Windows Key + R and you’ll know what I’m talking about!

Long Overdue

Of a post! Well, obviously, nothing much is happenning in my life so there’s nothing much to write anyway. 

But I’ve been upto a few things recently… except job hunting of course. I’m off to India for a good month on the 7th. The tickets are super duper cheap – 160 with everything in! Tiger Air rocks! Can’t wait to see mum and dad after so damn long! =)

A few of us went blading last Wed. Pearl and Yuen Ling have been trying to organise but the weather kept playing games with them. But it was great weather on Wed and off we went! The turn out was pretty good and was fun hanging out after blading with a bunch of cool frenz! 

The blading dudes

The blading dudettes

 

The two champs who’re on their way to Olympic Glory

 

And the two Lance Armstrongs – who picked 2 wheels over 8

 

Oooh… I bought a new pair of running shoes. I wanted to just go and check out the prices and the stuff but since Yams got his tennis racquet re-strung, Eliza and Vin got new racquets, I didn’t want to be the only one left ou in the shopping spree! So here goes my new running shoes. I havn’t tried them on a run though so I can’t comment. They’re still being heavily appreciated for their beauty in my living room. =p (The though of which kinda made Eliza cringe thinking I’m weird… OEY! I’m not the only weird one. You are too!)

My new Mizuno Wave Rider 12s

 

 

I went out for dinner with Winston and Joanne again on Friday! They’re a fantastic couple to hang out with! They not only keep poking fun at each other but also very open in a comical way that makes you comfortable to talk about many issues (esp young parenthood, marriage, marriage proposals??) that I have no one to ask about! We literally had to be chased out fo the resturaunt. 

 

Sunday’s Passion Run was freaking awesome! Although I was feeling weird and perpetually tired, I finally managed to break the shit cycle and psycho myself to run at full blast for 15km –  the longest, fastest brutal push I’ve ever done – 15km in 1hr 16min 02 secs.

 

Went for some Tennis training with Eliza, Vin and my Shifu – Yammy. Thanks for taking so much time off to teach me the basics Yams. He’s a fantastic coach – critiqing, correcting and giving continuous feedback all through the two hours. Vin – sorry about the NASA action and rockets flying off man! Haha… sheesh! I owe you 4 tennis balls woth of tea now! Eliza… Haha.. you owe me Ben and Jerry’s – half a tub!

 

My Asics Gel Kayano are about to retire soon – 30th May  2009 after 42.195km. Amazingly, I have worn out the shoes i bought in min Jan – with over 1000km in this short period of time! Sheesh! The training better be worth it on Race Day next Sat night.

 

Time to  SUIT UP! and watch ‘How I Met Your Mother’! =p

Catch me if u can…

A great end to a week!

Last weekend was fantastic!

On friday, after my HR project meeting, a gang of us went out for a simple dinner and super dessert at Selegie. Fellow gangsters were Vin, LQ, Chiew (the organiser), Jess, Tien, Yiren and Zeming. Not only we talked a lot of crap, we also had some cultural exchange – ask me when u see me lar… of this post is gonna be damn long! Tryph and Roops were missed!

Hmmmm… I need to get a pic from my cousin. =p

 

Vin, Tina and me

 

 

Vin and LQ

 

 

Yummy Turkish FOOD!

 

 

The gang taken by Yiren

 

 

The gang taken by Tien

 

 

Saturday was the BEST lab day of my life! I was alone and Eisbrecher was blasting away till everyone in the corridor peeped in to see wth was going on inside. The $10 speakers I brought in China are really handy now. I left them in the lab for future use… haha.. like I told Kim Kiat, they’re gonna be my best friends in Dec. Went home after a long day and dad got bk from Sweden! Hahah… Li Che sent lotsa goodies for us and time to share them tomorrow. =) 

 Sang Joon and me..yes I will not post it in my FYP slides! Hahha….

 

 

Sunday was a harrowing 30km run that was VERY humbling for me. I thought I was ready for the marathon and sure enough, I hit the wall this time around – 23 km. I need to find the window to that wall during the marathon. One month to do it. Well all in all, I clocked a good timing of 3 hrs 16 mins and 48 secs. At that split timing, marathon shuld be done in 4.5 hrs – if no injury.  I pray not! This mornign I woke up with a solid body ache! I REALLY appreciate Andrew for pacing me all the way and even walking with me the 2km when I was tired – knowing that he’ll suffer later. He’s a true inspirer. Thanks man!

The u-turn marker at 15km! A memorable one…

Following my run, I went out with Avtar and Simha. He made a fantastic comment, “Remote control robot! I would want one of those but only IF it can get its own remote control for me!” Hahah.. cork!

 

I bought a couple of stuff today. One of them is the T-shirt I wanted a lot! I think it’s got a damn cool attitude to it! Second was the noise cancellation ear-buds Tryph recommended to me many months ago! They’re damn good lar – bought at Jaden Enterprises level 4 at The Adelphi.

 

 Running next…

 

 

These are damn good! 3 bucks a pair only!

 

 

 

 

I saw the Madagascar 2 poster on Saturday! Can’t wait to catch it… esp King Julien! =)

 

 

12 Weeks

Well…. if you haven’t read my travelog in China, here u go… Dipsotravellogy.

 

Or else, here’s a pic view of the whole trip….

 

My room! Hmmmm nothing much but a nice room with a great buddy like Mr. Tan (regardless of what he thinks of me… haha) and Ms. Tan who was so well equipped with her IKEA cloth to clean up the place. Haha… she’s a clean freak! Hahah… and Mr. Tan well… he needs some improvement!

First weekend, one of the MILLION times we went to Nanjing East Rd. Now I really hate the place but it’s damn nice to see the bund from the Pu Si side to the Pu Dong side. Oh we got ourselves a boiler cuz we were tired of buying bottles and bottles of water at a time. And Mr. Tan got a mitochondria while handling it.. hehe… OUCH!

 

 First grocery shopping! Kinda sad when we realized that we didn’t have time to go to HK. And Mr. Tan’s favorite chicken’s backside hair that keeps popping up! Haha.. I felt a bit retarded but love my company… it’s always all or none for That 70’s show! I’m SO glad Li Che invested in an external hard disk. It was truly God sent in the entertainment business… we had it all covered!

The next weekend we took a trip to the lab and back to get work done and I took a pic of this place that I love the most in SJTU – the Parthenon. SJTU also has Jamun like looking grass… I’m amazed at the effort they make to deco the place up! Expensive too I guess…

 

 Aaah! Kok Vui! I finally met the Panda there and he brought us around to Shanghai Old Town (near Yu Yuan) and Xin Tian Di for a try to be but not so crazy night – cuz Li Che and me were totally NOT geared up with school bags in a club.. sheesh! Embarrassing haha…

 

Next Friday was my presentation and I wore the nice shirt my friends bought for me on my birthday! Hmmm…. My prof liked it too… haha.. Zara! WOW! The evening we went to a BBQ place for dinner with the Singapore friends we had bumped into the week before and it was great eating and eating and eating till we got our money’s worth! YUM! Hahah… we also were so full we had a sleepless night! That was for Li Che and me… Kelvin, was clubbing away! Hmmmm…

 

The next day was the torch relay in my school! Wow! Again I felt like I was a part of a historical occasion…. The first one was the turn of the millennium. Sheesh… sounds geeky… nvm.

 

 

Thanks to Joanne, we went for a really really nice concert by an American School Band and it was WOW!!! The best part was that the school funded the tickets and it was free… hmmmm lotsa support for the Arts.

 

 

Weekend 3! Time to play again! This time around we went for dinner and supper with Weiming and Fiona. Weiming is a Singaporean but a perm student at SJTU and Fiona is a fren from my lab (a student under my prof). Weiming brought us to this place called Whisk… the brownie was AWESOME! I miss the marmalade pantry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly, Saturday was spent sleeping away after the Singapore Day at the SH Singapore School funfare organized by NUS NOC! Haha… I loved playing like a kid again although it was a little embarrassing at first to be like a kid… but who cares! I have this sticker thingie that you add coloured powder over and colour the car.. haha.. loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After sleeping like pigs for half the Saturday and Sunday, we went to the SH museum and boy were we sad cuz it was crowded. Believe it or not, we had recce-ed the place the night before… at about 2am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend 4! After getting sick and tired of the internet’s slow speeds and sleeping, I went for a walk around the school and snapping away at everything that I saw! The school is bloody HUGE and very beautifully laid out not crammed into a small corner of the place. Well… the city is 10 times bigger too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzhou… it’s a really nice place to visit for a day trip and walk around the Pagoda and the Gardens. Joanne and Liyang kept us company with their tips and crap jokes (Liyang that is) besides all the little bits of info on Chinese heritage and culture. Besides being a trip it was a learning experience for me! =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xi Tang. Not many people know the name but it’s the place where the last scenes of MI:III was shot. It is so gorgeous… all the little lanes and the rivers and the houses. It feels like that part of the town has not been touched by outside life… except the fact that every house has a laptop.

 

 

 

 

I went sightseeing with Fiona to the Pu Dong side but ended up shopping… haha… nvm. I loved watching the dude who was carving out pics on granite… so cool! But damn ex!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm… this dinner was SO scandalous, I will never forget… all gossips out! Haha…. And I will not say too!

 

 

 

 

 

Jane turned up at SH with her friend Aikra and finally, I got to try the ‘famous’ Xiao Long Pao at Shanghai Old Town (Shanghai Lao Jie). After that we fired away on the cameras and wow… it ended with the BEST egg tarts in the world! Haha…

 

 

It was also the weekend my level-mate Monaf from Syria went back home after exams! One day, I will go to Damascus… probably when I go to Egypt. He told me so much about it, it sounds magical!

 

 

Self touring!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After many days of contemplation, I set out on my own in SH to look around the place and met up with Jane/Kelvin but the whole day was just walking around and covering places on Lonely Planet! Really saw some amazing stuff…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing! Finally, we set out on our Supertrip to Beijing to see the places we’ve only seen in pictured and read in stories. The COOLEST part was that our hotel was at the Hu Tongs… living at Md. Sultan… imagine THAT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Wall… well nothing like getting down and dirty to see the Wall the way it was supposed to be. Not glamorous, but historically untouched. That’s a wonder. No 2 on my and Kelvin’s list of wonders. First for Li Che… first trek for her too! Amazing she did it despite whacking her knee pretty bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First for me was climbing up more than 10km in all stairs. Almost seeped out of money and strength, Huangshan was what they claimed it to be… Hell for the body but Heaven to the eyes. I’m so thankful I suffered all the way up there cuz the views are simply exhilarating… to top it all off, I was with Mr. Tan who proved to be the bestest buddy I could ask for. He’s a champ!

 

Hangzhou. Many have said about Si Hu (West Lake) but unless u see it for yourself and take the boat ride, you never experience peace till you’re there. It was so calm and quit and the views so amazingly beautiful in the day I can only wonder how it looks at night. Speaking of night, China has one of the best sunset colours I’ve seen in my life. The sights even on the bus blazing away at 150kmph are nothing short of breathtaking…

 

 

And so it ended, 85 days of brilliant experience that I am only glad I went for although I spend almost 4k, I think it wall all worth it… living in a foreign land where I don’t speak much of the language yet I enjoyed myself to the fullest…

 

Of course its not all the experience… there are too many pics and too much to say here. But all I can say is that this trip was FANTABULOUS!  

A Good Match

Yay! I’ve been hunting for a good tie to match my notoriously brick-red-orange formal shirt that I adore so much (cuz the colour suits my skin tone… apparently) but a matching tie was so hard to find. Esp something not too flashy but attention grabbing and looks formal and useable.

I’m glad I finally found one at a good price (bonus!). I feel good with my find! I can wear them for my two upcoming presentations. =)

The lonely shirt

 

And it’s match

 

Details details…

 

And the total outlook. =)

Obviously, life is incomplete without a little photo-whoring… so here we go!

 

Edified

Today is a happy day! Finally gotta go blading (after 3 cancellations) with good frenz Geok, Wanling, JJ , Yan Cui, Geok’s fren Jian Long (correct spelling I hope) and another whose name I’ll not mention (or kenna scolded again!). Awesome company!

And my student for the day, Yan Cui turned out to be a natural at blading…. after I think 5 falls she was able to keep up a good pace! Well done! Hhaa… self proclaimed shi fu is happy!

Got my new speakers today! Damn awesome… I played all my fav songs and the base is damn good for the acoustics in my room with the door closed! Great! Dun have to disturb granny when she’s here on Sunday morning (and another reason to be happy)!

Here’s my latest acquisition: Edifier M1310 2.1 Multimedia Speaker

Timex 5E351

After much contemplation, I finally gave up on deciding to buy a new watch and actually got myself a new watch…

Costed me about $130 bucks (with a strict budget of $150) but I liked the stuff. Can wear for runnig since it is meant for that purpose. No more of my old rubberband held strap unless I’m goign for trekking…

Happie to have gotten something new. =)

Who needs a gf!

When you have great friends and parents!

Thanks Vin! I was gleefully surprised!

Thanks Mum and Dad… I’m still drooling in disbelief!

 

For someone who we had made plans with: I’m sorry I just have too many things to do for next week – 3 tests and 2 reports. I just need time to get back to work which is very difficult for me as you know why. Please try to understand, I need a little space.

Vorwärts Deutschland, Vorwärts Adidas!

I saw the new Jersey some weeks ago at the Adidas Shop and instantly fell in love with it…. basically, I love everything that has either “Deutschland” or “Adidas” on it… like yesterday my outfit was…

Adidas shirt (Red - Formotion), Gio Jeans (blue), Adidas Shoes (Brown – Climalite), Adidas socks (Black – Adidas Running) and my most beloved Adidas Deutschland bag. Woot! Loved it… haha to the point I felt that people were staring at me when I walked into the Adidas Store. Thank goodness people can’t see the logo on my socks and shoes! Or like Yan Cui said…. ask them if you can work there as a part time mannequin! Swee!

Oh yeah… this is soon gonna be my latest acquisition once the new stocks come in by the end of the week!