HAPPY 2009!!!

(Taken by Princess_Pie)

As we progressed on to the new year, its time we say hello to new friends, greet new adventures with open arms, but keep the memories of old intact, and the friends and family ever closer to us in our hearts.

Happy 2009!!! It'll be another great year ahead!!

My New Year's Resolution...

Only one so far..

to put up a contact pic to all those in my phone's contact list.... and must be taken with the phone...

:)

so frens out there.. I'll be hunting for ur pics.. ;)

TQ in advance

trudge on...

In the end of 2008....

Phew... finally made it to the end of 2008... and, so the end of the prev post "The Twelve Months of Jonie".. hehe... this is gonna be another bragging post.. but hey, tt's wat all a blog is about, right.. :)

January: CSMC paintball, Pacesetters 30 km run - my first race in KL

February: First CNY visit to Ipoh after..ohhh... 5 yrs?... first gathering with the SMKSI peeps..

March: Got my Open Water Diving license and First KL marathon... and first big bdae celeb which was graced by my first pearl pendant from Mikimoto

April: MULU - caving Clearwater - wind cave connection , and doing the Mulu Pinnacles thingy...

May: Changed posting to Medical Informatics. First Ultramarathon, but only managed 54 km

June: Moved to another place in HV ... so new place :)

July: First tri bike, then first OD triathlon - OSIM

August: First bike crash, then PANGKOR where I rode on a JetSki for the first time!!!! first LV bag (and the last ever too)

September: First Half IM Triathlon and first ever visit to Tioman

October: First visit to Yangtze cinema, and kayaking at KKB!!

November: First SkyDiving Sim at SkyVenture, First Genting Trailblazer, First Tattoo (temp la), First Fish Spa, First Wakeboarding, First Pedicure!!.. then the Gmax Reverse Bungee and Xtreme Swing rides, First Makeover and James Bond Movie - Quantum of Solace, Another rafting trip at KKB and Skydive basics training at Genting!! Spent time back in Ipoh...

December: Whitewater kayaking...

alright.... not bad... now things to look forward to in 2009:

Skydiving, Whitewater kayaking - the full course, Rafting at Sg Singoh, Ironman Langkawi, Diving at Redang and Bali, The Great American Escape, more marathons in different places, the Kinabalu Climbathon, and actually completing in time, Krabi for beach, dive and climb, improving on wakeboarding, getting a facial and manicure, and a Hermes scarf ....

Other than that, mainly to go further in my work now, taking up a course in Feb... and will see how if I wanna take up GDFM...

hmm... so far, so good... :) life is just great... so live it!!!

Trudge on...

Wishing all a Merry Xmas and a Happy 2009!!!

Whitewater Kayaking Weekend....

Last weekend was another interesting weekend for me. It all started with Pris wanting a memorable birthday this year, so I suggested that we go rafting in Msia. Called up Safiq, but he said that they were full last weekend, so..hmm... oh well.. came up with another idea then, let's try whitewater kayaking.... heheh

Whitewater kayaking is similar to rafting, except that you're in a one man kayak built for river running. It's more challenging, as you're in charge of your kayak, and that it IS a small boat that can capsize much much easier than a raft. We kayak-ed at Sg Samak, Tnjong Malim, which was a small, relatively easy river with rapids up to level 1-2, good for beginners like us. I have only kayak-ed once before this... if I remember correctly.. so this is gonna be a really new thing for me.

We went up to KL on Saturday morning and arrived around 2 pm in the heart of KL city.. stopped by at Berjaya Times Sq, looked at the indoor roller coaster, deemed it shady, and left for Midvalley Megamall... hehe.. walked a bit here and there and basically tried omos all the body lotions in L'occitane and Body Shop, before heading off to my Unc's place for the night. The whole Midvalley was drowned in Christmas decors...

and I get to see my Bear Bears ... hehe :)

Unc and Aunt treated us to a nice dinner at the local Chinese rest.. (how I miss Msian food).. and after that, Pris, my cousin and I went walking arn Bangsar Village. Later, we turned in early cos we needed to get up early for kayaking the next day.

Woke up early at 7am, got myself ready, and went to have breakfast. Mmm... homemade kaya toast and eggs alw taste better.. Jaffry (the kayaking instructor) picked us at 830am from my unc's place, and off we went to Tanjung Malim. Jaffry was an experienced white water kayaker who now works in the uni's as a sports science instructor. I was amazed when he told me he kayak-ed at Sg Singoh before.... Singoh is like the ultimate whitewater exp in West Msia... with rapids up to level 5-6 ... man... I gotta go there one day.. SAFIQ!!! when are u guys going?

But anyways, we collected out kayaks, and were at Sg Samak at about 10am. We unloaded the kayaks and put on the "skirt" and life jacket. Jaffry gave a brief demo on what we shoud do when we capsize, and how to swim safely to the eddy's which were more of still water. The waters were FREEZING!!! hahah... but anyways, got into our kayak and we were lowered into the river.. yay!! time to start.

Okay... alw keep rowing to maintain balance, keep the raft straight at all time, towards downstream, watch out for boulders, slap the water when you're off balance... aaaarghhh!!!.. not easy.. hahah... but really.. its about getting the feel of the water and being "one' with the kayak.. haha.. still not easier said then done. The rowing itself was more of a sweeping motion and the kayak responds very readily to the body's balance, in that you can get out of sticky situations by rocking your body from side to side. Other than that is practice practice and practice to learn how to control the kayak to get it to go where you want it to go.
The first few rapids were ok, and fun...but I tend to get stuck in the low water level parts, which required me to manually push myself up from the rock... tiring.. but after a while, got used to it, and was enjoying riding the rapids, though they were small rapids. Pris capsized a few times, but managed to get out of the kayak safely... hehe... but she still power-ed on... go gurl!!

It was fun going down the rapids, but really can feel the rapids as the hit the kayak. It was really more sensitive than the raft, as can really feel even the lightest of rapids hitting the stern of the kayak. We rested a lot, girls ma... no arm strength wan.. and had water and light snacks (me eating most of it). Finally, about 2 hours later, we reached our take out point. I asked Jaffry to teach me rolls... and he did!!.. managed to do assisted rolls, but long shaft rolls were.. still... impossible for me.. tried tried tried , but can't get it right. darn... phew.. hahah.. even practiced on the sand.. rock rock rock my hips.. but.. sigh... cant get it right in the waters.. mebbe next time. After that, a short dip in the waters, and done... poof... we were arm's dead..

Hahaha.. ok.. loaded the kayak onto the car, and went back to the Uni, for a quick shower. After that, we went to Yik Mun rest, to eat their famous Tanjong Malim pau.. and finally back to KL.

I was zzzz-ing throughout the journey and Pris was sooo nice to lend me her shoulder... Note to self.. if I ever get a BF, need to find someone with the correct height to sleep on.. hehe...

But anyways, arrived back in KL arn 4 pm at Midvalley again ( I love that place) and we managed to catch Ip Man ( it's Yiiiiiip Maaaan, no Ip Man) - gooood show... might review it later... and finally, a dinner at the Food Junction in Midvalley. I had the Sizzling Hot Plate Noodles... not that very very nice.. and after went to KL sentral to take the express train to KLIA. Finally, flight back to SG was short but fairly comfortable.. with me still zzzz-ing all the time.. and zzzz again at home... hahah the forever zzz-ing jonie.

Well, that was another short but exciting weekend for me... missing the rapids now... and my newfound sport, kayaking. Considering taking up the basic course now, cos it was really cool... heheh

Before I forget... more pics : http://picasaweb.google.com/jonie81/20211208WhiteWaterKayaking#

okies.. need to sign off now for lunch... ciao, and trudge on...

The people I'll remember forever...

I've met a lot of people in my life and my line of work, but there are some that are forever etched in my mind. So this post is dedicated to them, the people I met for only a short while, but changed my perspective in life.. and probably made it a bit fuller as well....

1. The guy I met while I was in the Blood Bank who gave me hope that patients do remember me :). He came to donate blood, but surprised me when he asked... "aren't u the doc who delivered my son?" ... I didn't do that many deliveries, but I was quite surprised he remembered the nameless HO who assisted in the delivery even after a year after the delivery. Thank you :)

2. The old man who made me realise that no matter what or who I am, I can only do so much. He came in for joint pains, but was later diagnosed with end stage cancer. He led a healthy life until then, but there was nothing I can do... except just being there for him. Being strong is not easy to do, but sometimes, it is the only thing you can do.

3. The lady at A&E who held my hand while the doctor did a painful emergency procedure on her. I was an eager medical student there who wanted to grab a look and participate in it. But when I looked into her eyes.. she needed someone to hold her, not just look. So I stood there and held her hands tight.. Learning sth not only comes in books and classes and it's not only for knowledge enrichment, but also in life experiences with others, and sometimes its the others that teaches you more.

4. The 84 year old lady, who taught me to slow down in my life, but never stop looking sexy and adventuring around the world... walking her to the library was all my pleasure, as she turned out to be one of the most chatty person ever.

5. The lady with cancer, but still wanted to hold off therapy until after giving birth. No other love can stare death in the eyes except that of the love of a parent to his/her child.

6. The small kid with an incurable disease, but never stopped smiling. Bravery comes in all sorts of packages.. and it comes in making other ppl at ease even in difficult situations.

:)

Trudge on....

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Pondering.....

Part One:
Fleeting moments, but memories forever… that was running through my head while Joshua Radin’s Winter was playing in the background. I never notice how fast time flies, as my time was always filled amazing friends, my loving family, and wonderful experiences. I remember the exact same time, date, last year when I was surrounded with supportive friends and family, who held me up when I felt there was no tomorrow. The following months were rough as I slowly worked my way up to becoming who I was again. True, times were not always good… but it is through having bad times that we learn how lucky we are, how blessed we are, under His guidance that we all gain the strength to continue living, and for that I give thanks, for another great year He has given me and to all my friends and family who made me feel special all the time

Part Two:
I always ponder, what is the meaning to life?... Well, so far the best answer I could ever figure is that : life is what you make of it. To an artist, it is his art. To an athlete, it is to ever improve his performance. To a dedicated doctor, it is to save his patient’s life. To a mother, it is her child, and to the child… it is his/her parents. Not everyone has the same thing to live for, nor the same way they want to lead their lives. It is unique as their fingerprint, but that’s the miracle of God’s creation, (hehe… to Pris) and no one can ever take the place of another. That’s why everyone is special to me.. and that’s one reason buying presents can take me days.. months.. cos there’s one special present which can only be for each one person… that’s how special everyone is to me :)

Part Three:
Can’t think of what else to write, but things alw come in three… :P

So..trudge on… make a resolution to know that you are special… and keep it

Standard Chartered Marathon 2008!!

Alright, short notes on running a marathon:

1. Arrive early.. the gun is not going to wait for you.

2. Always wear a different color shirt from everyone else.. and not wear the race shirt.. easier to spot in photos.

3. Don't bother to lose weight while running ie take as many power gels as needed cos u need it for energy and to avoid cramps
4. Don't stop and drink at each water station.. you'll probably over hydrate. If need to stop, just take sips.

5. Have fun.. achieveing your goals doesn't mean you can't have fun... plus it keeps your mind away from thinking about the pain.

At KM 42.5 in the race

Well, the race this year was blessed with fantastic weather, and the new route was quite OK, but I wasn't excited about the longer ECP stretch.. I don't like running in ECP. The last 3 km was horrendous though, as there was a bottleneck of all the runners from all the categories heading towards the finishing line. A few of my serious runner friends disliked this as it prevents them from achieveing their PB in this race. Hope the organisers will take note in the next race.

Ok Bragging time :: skip this part as it's just me wanting to brag

Did a slow run this time, as I did not want to push myself with 2 injured knees and I still need to train the next day for the upcoming Ironman in 2009. Brought a camera and took some fantastic shots.. (esp the ferarris at Marina)

and had the most relaxing marathon ever... :). Finishing time in 4hrs37mins.. but managed to catch up with some friends during the run...

The run was all in all a good run with totally flat routes and fantastix runspirators along the way. (Thanks guys!!) Will prob skip next yr's race as I want to try other overseas race ie BKK marathon which is about 2 weeks before this one, so I'll prob be pom-pom-ing the runners next year!!

So... till then, trudge on and run hard!!!

Mixed feelings... and intuition.. and all...

The past two weeks was weird.. weird in the sense that to me... somehow or rather, things connect, and in the whole universe, all our fates are tied in together in some way or another. I trust my intuition.. and from other recent experiences, I believe that my ancestors have always been looking out for me from high above. Now, I'm a free thinker, but I still believe in God and that we must always respect the things we don't understand.

It all started out about 10 days ago, when I was suppose to fly in to Bangkok/Udon Thani for skydiving, then back to Ipoh for a while, before coming back to Singapore for the marathon. Thoughts of skipping the marathon did crossed my mind back then, in case I was too tired from the skydives.

Okaaay, was all ready and prepped up to go... when.. the most unimaginable thing happened.. the Thai protestors took over and closed down the Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday... Was suppose to fly to Bangkok on Fri, so... I held my fingers crossed and still kept my hopes high... until Thursday... no improvement of the situation.. sigh.. so finally on Friday, we (my instructor and I) decided to postpone to January. To me, it was a big loss.. but something was tingling inside my head.. could this be a kind of divine intervention? So far, things in my life has happened to prevent me from disasters, hence I've always come out safe and sound, even from all the extreme stuff I do (ask my mum, she agrees and also trust my instincts ever since the almost accident near Sitiawan a few years back)

Okay.. so skydive off..next stop Ipoh. Had a wonderful and relaxing time at home.. but had right knee abrasion so put off running the whole week at home to let it heal. Then it was time to decide when to go back to SG. Now, usually I travel a day earlier back to SG so that I can rest before starting work... which would put me on Saturday night bus. But as I had a marathon to run which I was now adamant to go for on Sunday, I opted for the Thursday night bus to arrive on Friday morning instead. Here's the scary and shocking bit: as many of you would already know... the Saturday night bus skidded off the road, and crashed causing 10 deaths.. this was the bus from the same company, same timing, that I would've taken if it weren't for the marathon.. Most of you would think then that I would've actually taken the Sunday night bus cos Monday was a holiday.. but..I frankly did not know Monday was a holiday in SG.

Apparently, one of the passengers who passed away was a good friend of my colleague.. and I was then doubly shocked. Was terribly sad that we lost a young brother in arms in medicine, but was even more shocked than sad. Till now, that sensation has not left me... cos sometimes, I feel that maybe, it was suppose to be me in that bus if the events did not play out so smoothly. ...hmm.. was it really suppose to be me?.. will me life be like in the Final Destination movies from now on... I shudder to think...

Well... this incident reinforces my thoughts on life, and that we should all live today for today... its all we will ever have... so we should not be greedier that this.

So, to all my friends, family, acquaintances, .. to everyone out there who has touched my life... live on.. and trudge on..

RIP Dr David Ho... though I don't know you personally, from all my friends who talked about you, I will always wish that I had the chance to meet you.. :)

Training, the fun kind...

I am soo excited.. the weekend was another great one, a build up to the coming one where I hope and finally get to … skydive. This weekend took 3 days to plan and execute, but was rewarded with heaps of new knowledge and oppurtunities for the future.

Not into discussing the planning bit, so let’s jump into the weekend itself. It all started on Saturday at 2am. Skydiving instructor extraordinaire, D.Lee (not D.Li, ,my colleague) suggested early in the week that I should make a trip down to Genting to learn the basics to skydiving in the wind tunnel there. So, on that Saturday, D.Lee and other fellow skydiver Mike along with his wife Stella picked me up and drove all the way to Genting. On the way we stopped at Nilai for hot nasi lemak which was yummy…mmmm…

We arrived at Genting around 830am, and proceeded to have breakfast at The Hainan Restaurant. Skyventure opens at 10 am, so we just chilled around till then, which was great, as all of us had not enough sleep the night before. D.Lee also taught the basic position of skydiving then, using some Y shaped board (of which I cant remember the name)… and it was painful… after a few session of stretches.. muscles loosened up a bit.. but still I get cramps when practicing the position.

At 10am, SkyVenture opened.. .and not long after that Abang Nazim came in as well… yayy!! Now all the cast has assembled for this run. I went up to grab my jumpsuit, helmet and goggles while the rest changed into the ones they brought along. D.Lee had me wear gloves… safety precautions. And.. so we were ready and raring to go. D. Lee went in first and demo-ed the arched position I should be in. My turn.. Went in… and sigh.. was so unsmoothly… darn… I kept turning and my legs were so unsteady.. I was also having difficulty in maintaining my arch.. and my arms were too close to my body. Failed… ok..dun give up yet… Mike went next.. and he was steady.. ok.. he’s an experienced new diver.. but learns quite fast as well. Ok.. D.Lee went in again… and another demo.. Me again… failed… sigh.. Went in another 2 times after that, but still no good. Break time.

Abang Nizam took the video of our first session, and D.Lee went through with us the whole thing.. Noticed my mistakes, but still no confidence in getting it right then. Okay.. prep myself again, and went in for the second session. Take a deep breath and lay myself horizontally … ok..steady steady now.. yes!!! Managed to hold my position!!! Yes!!! Knees bent, body arching.. keep arms forward… yes!!! I’m floating.. ok..mebbe turning abit but… floating nice, nevertheless.. I was so elated!! Went out and hi-fived D.Lee.. I was brimmed with smiles.. finally… I’m getting somewhere. My next few sessions got better and learnt how to manouvre better – like turning, chking altimeter and preparing to pull. Finally, did 20 minutes in the wind tunnel… had a dead back after that..and it’s still dead now (on Monday).

After the wind tunnel, Mike dropped me off in MidValley, KL. Hang-ed around the area fer a while, until sth grabbed my attention. Christian Dior had a huge booth, displaying their new mascara and perfume… and offering a makeover and a photoshoot for purchasing any of their products.. Nuff said, and two hours later… the results as below:

Which was soooooo NOT ME!!!

Spent the night in Bangsar and Uncle’s place, and had yummy mamak food… maggi goring for me, anytime, anyday…. And had a good and relaxing sleep.. was so dead already by then.

Alright..next day started out real early aroung 6am. Today (Sunday, that is) was for white water rafting guide training at KKB (I thought was suppose to be at Ulu Slim) Sigh.. muscles still aching like mad from the day before. Safiq and ?Rustam picked me and up from Bangsar and off we go. Had morning roti-telor at KKB while awaiting the rest. Finally we all headed down to the starting point at about 9am.

The “guides” in training were separated into 3 rafts with 6 persons per raft. Before we started to the big rapids, we were given some extra instructions on maneuvering the raft, from the front (pointer) and the back (captain).. it was not easy, but the instruction were easy. Then, after a short practice, we were off. The “guides” in training were given chance to sit in the front to practice being the raft pointer. The main job of the pointer is to make sure the raft is straight as we go along the river. Everything is different when you’re either in the front or the back…very much different when you’re just sitting in the middle… hmm.. let’s put it this way.. When you’re at the front, you won’t fall off easily, but.. you’d face the rapids head on. When you’re at the back… you’re literally standing up each time you got through the rapids, so you’d fall off extra easily (like Safiq at the 2nd canyon..hehe) and you get to see.. sometimes in slow motion… the rapids as it eats up the raft..hehe…

3 hrs later… we finished it.. I was dead.. we headed off to bathe and after that to a restaurant for lunch and a nice chat. It was raining heavily but that helped to cool the weather down as we ate to our hearts content. hehe.. thank goodness I was not driving back (thank you Safiq) I slept the whole journey back…

Dropped off at KLCC and chill until it was time to go back.. it was another amazing weekend.. but ugh… tired..!!!! even till now.. but then again, I won’t mind doing the whole thing again and again and again, with such wonderful friends and great instructors!!!

Okay.. till the coming weekend (super excited already)…
Trudge on..

Mmm.... Chocolates

Yay.. got an early souvenir cum Xmas prezzie from fellow colleague D.Li at work yesterday.. Yummy Chocs, all the way from US of A. The liquer chocs were filled to with liquor that is not dried up, and the Godiva's were just.. heavenly... mmmm

Inside the box

Bag of goodies!!

D.Li munching on chocz...

Alright!! Chocz on!!

Sunday's amazing rides...

:)

My second stay-in weekend of the month, and it was great.. ok, ok.. I really need to get serious about my Ironman training, but hey, you only live once, so... what the heck.

As the previous post, I got my first ever pedicure on Saturday.. and it still looks great. Sunday, the next day, was even more exciting and filled with the ever usual adrenaline rush. It started with rock climbing in the morning at Yishun SAFRA. Man... my arms were dead after that as I have not climbed for what seemed like ages.... (oklar.. last climb was in ?May) Managed to reach the top of two new walls for me, with lotsa rest in between... (thank you, Dean). Tried a bit of bouldering, but was really useless at that... so.. New Year's resolution of 2009 - to climb more and better ... hmm.. also to dive more (in sea and sky) and travel more and find a BF and.... etc etc etc... my non-stop wish list

okay.. before I go on and on and on ... Sunday night was equally exciting.. made a pact with Pris and Kayla to go on the Gmax Reverse Bungee and Xtreme Swing (http://www.gmax.co.nz/). The rides have been out for yrs now, but can never find anybody to go with me. The Reverse Bungee is akin to a Bungee Jump, only the other way round, while the Xtreme Swing is like the Canyon Swing in NZ, where you swing form one ridge to the other side on a canyon.

We met up at 8pm at Clarke Quay MRT and made our way there. Pris's younger bro, Robin, joined us as well. Pris wanted to reward him for the amazing results in the latest exams, and so was treating him to the rides.

We met up with Kayla and gang at the Gmax rides itself, and proceeded to get the tickets. There wasn't a queue there, so we were the next "victims". Okay, started with the Reverse Bungee.. 3 pax, so me, Pris and Robin went first. We were strapped onto the seats as we held our breaths. The attendant prepped the "capsule" and readied to push the launch button....

All tied down to the capsule...

Countdown....
5.....4... (i started counting with her)...3......errr

ARGHHHHHH!!!!! We were OFF!!!! it was fast..real fast... imagine being shot up in the air at 5G's... like a slingshot.. oh man oh man oh man... what goes up must come down... ARGHH!!!!!! here we go again...hahaha.. (ok.. I was pretty much silent.. Pris did the vocal cord practice)... :)...

Did a forward flip

We bounced up and down a few times until finally, no more momentum and the capsule stopped. We were lowered slowly.. slowly until we touched down.. Alright.. that was a few seconds of adrenaline rushing all the way out and up and down and up and down again. It was great!!!
(Reverse Bungee clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY5ZfwiiwfY )

Alright, Kayla was up next with another tourist and.. she is one super gutsy lady... she didn't scream at all, but the guy was hilarious... he screamed and cursed and screamed again.. even when it was all over.. haha... shows that females are after all the stronger sex ;)

Okaaaay... after one ride, it's the Xtreme Swing then. Kayla sat out on this one, so it was me, Pris and Robin. Okay, the attendants strapped us in again.. phew.. this ride is a bit different though. We get to pull the lever itself to release us from one end and Robin was given the honour... So, we were pulled up to one side... (imagine a swing) high high up on one side.. to relieve the tension.. we were singing nursery rhymes (I think the attendants thought we were mad). Finally, after about 20 secs, we were at the highest point. The light turned green, signalling we can release the lever already.. small chat and right when I was in the middle of my thoughts... ARGHHH!!!! We were falling..... !!!! the first fall was about ?7-8G's.. it was whoa.. undescribably fun!!! haha... after that.. the subsequent swings weren't really as exciting anymore :( , as the momentum slowly died-ed away.. but heck, the first rush was enough liao.. :)

Right before we were released

We were lowered again, and got out of our seats.. We were still high and super excited after the ride and went for some makan and minum, ehh.. Brewerkz with great beer nearby ma (but we were at Cafe Iguana, next to Brewerkz) before adjourning around 11pm to home and bed...

It was one great and exciting Sunday... loved loved loved it :). Wish there were more days like this, but err... dun ask me to do it again la... (unless someone spares me 65 bucks for the ride)

Trudge on, and ride on...

Pedicure!!

In moments of pure vanity... I had my first pedicure...

The funny thing was that I didn't know it comes with such attention to details, like soaking my feet in a tub of flower water and applying moisturiser to my terribly dry toes. Then was cleaning the sides of my toenails, and clipping it neat.. Finally, was filing my toenails to form a proper toenail shape.. Then, applying the base coat, the color x2 and finally drying it...

whoa.. so much just to keep the toes cute.... I wont be able to do it myself, that's for sure... so here's the finished product...

nice eh... well, at least for the next few hours before I go running, swimming, rock climbing.... etc etc etc....

Like how my hairstylist used to say, after I tell him that I'm going for a run after the haircut...

" Are you telling me this on purpose?"...

hehehhe.... trudge on....

Woohoo!!! Wakeboarding!!

YES!!! After so much stories of wakeboarding.. I finally get to try it out Saturday. And really, it wasn't as easy as it looks on the videos and movies.

It all started when on Friday, I was told that my initial plan to skydive was cancelled as the Malaysian instructors pulled out. :(.. I was feeling bummed out... when Pris, my pharmacists friends suggested that I go wakeboarding with her and her cousin Eileen... I said yes!!! and was superbly esctatic .... and here we go wakeboarding. yayy!!

Now, wakeboarding has been around for quite some time now, but only recently has its popularity grown immensely. It's the extreme water sports that is akin to snowboarding and skateboarding, only that it's done on water and there is a boat pulling you forward. Falling down in wakeboarding is not as bad as in snowboarding and skateboarding, with the water to cushion your falls. That said, it can still cause abrasions and broken bones if one is not careful enough breaking the fall, especially at high speeds.

So, on Saturday, we met at 9.15am at the Punggol MRT station (I was ...sigh... as usual 15 mins late), and off we went to the Punggol Water Ski-area. It was quite deep in and took about 10 mins by car, so I can imagine no buses ever going there for now. Our instructor, Edward (Eileen's coach) greeted us at his boat as we hopped in and make ourselves comfortable. Soon we were off, far from the jetty towards a quiet spot at the river.

Eileen started off first, and she was superb. She was practising her wake-jumps (1 and 2 wake jumps) and pulled them off flawlessly. After each jump/fall, Edward would give his comments on how to improve it. Seems that it takes lotsa skills and practice to get it done properly sans getting injured, but it looks amazingly cool, nevertheless.

Next up were the newbies (Pris and me). Pris went first. Ok, safety vest on and she strapped on the board. Then, Edward gave some instructions and short coaching on getting up on the board in the water. First: relax. Second: don't pull the rope, let the rop pull you. Third: squat, stand, turn. hehe...sounds easy right.... haha... wait till you try it. Keep your knees close to each other but keep them about shoulder width apart. Put your elbows around your knees. Alritey then, into the water. The water was murky and oily as we were quite close to the industrial sites, but oh well, once your inside, it doesn't matter anymore :) Holding onto the rope, Pris was now floating in the murky water. The boats engine starts.. and slowly first we went.... the rope tension builds.... and starts to pull on Pris... eeks... oops... she fell in... hmm... ok first mistake... knees too close to each other. Okay, try again..dun pull the rope... and again.. darn... the nervous feeling starts to build in me... take a deep breath ... think zen... relaxx....

After about 30mins, Pris managed to squat on the board .. :) not too bad... From what Edward told us, some can't even do that after 2-3 lessons... ok... my turn next. :) feeling anxious now... ok... put on the safety vest.. and strap on the board- chk... short lesson -chk... hold on to the rops- chk.. into the water- chk..ready position-chk. Alright, the boat starts up.. and the tension in the rope builds up.. hehe.. ok relax, relax.. dun pull the rope.. and here I go... yes!!! managed to at least squat a while...before falling in the water.. :P.. ok.. dun give up now. Second try.. longer squatting :)... ok.. after about 8-9 tries, managed to stand up a bit.. and finally hold on for a while (2-3 secs) at the end of 30mins :).. yayy!!!!.. I was feeling great!!! It felt fantastic to just relax and let the boat do all the work while feeling the air rushing through my damp hair and clothes.. before falling flat, face first, into the water again... and again.. .hahhaha :)

All of us went on a second round... and this time Eileen managed to pull a brilliant 2 wake jump, and Pris managed to get her 3 secs of fame. hehe..I managed to hold on longer this time, but still have a problem of my butt sticking out while trying to balance myself. Doesn't look cool enough.. hehe... it's not easy to balance as you can't really pull on the rope but just balance using your lower body.. like in skateboarding. hehe.. well at least I got my 3 secs of fame too :).. hurrah!! hurrah!!!

whoa.. after about ?1hr each.. it was 12 plus already.. :) time to head back. My face was sunburnt (SKII to the rescue later at home) and my skin tanned again. My arms were achy, my tummy growling... but it was well worth it. Wnet off to Cafe Cartel at PS to eat (got free flowing bread, mah) and had delicious Pork Ribs.. mmm.... ahh... yummy... Slept the whole day after that and only woke up in the night. :)

Hmm.. how shall I end this.... Well, wakeboarding was so much fun. My arms are still achy from the DOMs, my back hurts abit (poor core muscle power) and my skin dry from the burns.. but I would go through all this again to wakeboard again... which I hope would be this coming weekend. hehe...okies.. thanks Pris and Eileen for the great time... and hope to wakeboard with you guys again in the near (very near) future ;) hehe...

Chk out the pics and video on Picasa : http://picasaweb.google.com/jonie81/081108WakeboardingPunggol#

So to all out there, trudge on... and alw give sth new a try.. who knows, you might end up liking it

Genting Trailblazers 2008!!

Last weekend I was up in Genting for the Trailblazer. Man, I haven’t been to genting for about 2-3 yrs now and this is the first time I would be going up for the race, and not the theme park rides or the casinos. Went up with fellow runner extrodinaire, BK, on Saturday at 7.30am. The ride was smooth and fast, reaching KL at about 12 and finally in Genting at 1pm at the new Genting Bus Terminal, and made our way to First World Resort for lunch at KFC.

Genting was full of ppl which belies the fact that the world is undergoing a recession. I had a Zinger and a popcorn chicken, which was quite ok.. well, at least spicier than the Singapore ones. BK has this fetish for Msian KFC, somehow or rather.. which I do solemly agree…tastes better that SG KFC :)

Hmm, some time to kill after lunch… hehe… and my eyes caught hold of SkyVenture, which is a skydiving simulation . It’s basically a huge vertical air tunnel that blows upwards, so skydiving enthusiasts can practice in a more controlled environment first before going out in the real sky. Costs bout RM 78 for 2 person with a DVD recording, cheaper than the reverse bungee in Singapore.

Out instructor was Nizam, and he was on cool brudder. After a short briefing, w were brought into the changing room where we donned a jumpsuit, earplugs, goggles and helmet. Next, onto the sim itself. Nizam gave some demo at first, after which I went in with him….. and boy…. It was really really fun!!! The wind were really really strong that you can practically just float when you try to lean forwasd and lie on air. Haha.. using some techniques Nizam taught earlier, I tried to balance myself on air.. and it was NOT easy!! Each time I tried to go higher, I ended up either just stagnant or falling… haha… need more practice. BK’s run was not smooth either, as he kept flipping to one side.. darn… but both of us were psyched up for the second run.. hehe.. this was where the crazy stuff happened.

Before we went in, I asked Nizam if he could teach me to flip.. and he DID!!! Yay!!! After a short demo, he took me in… at first, I almost flipped backwards, but after regaining composure, I managed to ready myself better and flipped forward… twice .. with Nizam holding on to me J. I was ecstatic. The grand finale was superb as well where he grabbed on to me and did the twister up and down twice… man, that was fun… I so want to do it again.

Click here for the Vid : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8601875315027966785

After skyventure, we went for a short walk around, to cool down. At about 4.. we were off to the skyway cablecar to head down to Awana to chk in. Awana was bustling with activities with the runners all there to chk in and register as well. There were the usual PowerBar ppl, and the Brooks ones as well. The whole process was smooth, with the chking in at the registration area… smart organizers. The goodie bag had 2 powerbars, 1 can of milo, 1 can of 100 plus, the green trailblazer t shirts, and a notebook. There were some vouchers (threw them away later) and the 2 tickets for the free dinner buffet. Bought some powerbars and gels, and snooped arn the Brooks stall, and finally to the room.

The deluxe suite was quite ok. After a short rest and a bit of tv, we headed down to the buffet spread to fill our tummies and then scuttled up to genting again. Our second visit up were greeted by the thick genting mist and some rain. It was coooooold….. didn’t do much this time, just went for a short walkaround the Genting hotel and First World. Not long after, it was time to go down, and rest for the next day. I had a loooong hot bath … ahh…. Nice….

The race started at 8.50am for our category, but we were down at the football pitch at about 7.30am for the pre race briefing and registration. The rain yesterday made the whole place extra muddy.. which was good, as the trailblazer was suppose to be a muddy race, with a short obstacle course at the end of it. Managed to get a free Milo bidon filled with water from one of the organizers.. heheh… MNS gave a short talk about conserving the environment, Fitness First gave a short aerobic show… and finally the race begins. We were in the third wave… after the competitive and female & male adventure runners.

Tick tock tick tock…. The countdown begins… and finally at 8.50am… we were off!!!

The first 100m was a run through the muddy football field. Then a short road run for about 1-2 km… and finally we hit the trails. Man, it was fun… imagine a normal trail hiking in the msian jungle, but this time, it’s a race. The upslopes were torturous, but slow as the multitude of the other slower participants held up the single file race to a hike. The downslopes were the interesting parts, where we tried to either slide or run down as fast as we can… there were some bits that reminded me of Kledang in Perak, the botak hill. If I’m not wrong, there were ?1 river crossing, and prob 2-3 streams.. which was really good to clean my shoes in after they were covered in mud. Oh yarr.. NO LEECHES!!!

About 2 hours later, we were at the obstacle course.. the last 150m of the race, and undoubtedly one of the best part of it. Hehe… there were a few dips into muddy water, walking on a balancing pole, climbing up slanted walls, and jumping into more muddy water… whoa…haha… and I also face my first super high slanted wall which I needed a running start to scale :) wish I can do this again. Had some great mud facial there and I almost lost my shoes a coupla times too.

We reached the end of the race at about 2:10. Had YiHui and Jane cheering me towards the end (thanks guys) and I felt great at the end. Only sad part was that it ended too soon. We took a cool clean bath at the shower area provided and cleared out the mud and dirt and what’s nots. Had some breakfast (milo makes a good replacement for milk to eat with cereal)after that before returning to the hotel for the proper bath. Haha, we did try to pose for a pic.. hope it comes out from the organizers soon.

We checked-out out at 1pm and made our last trip up Genting. Sad to leave this place so soon, especially since its been terribly fun. Had KFC again for lunch and walked towards First World to kill time before the 3.30 pm return bus to SG. Sigh.. hehe…I had a temporary tattoo airbrushed onto my back shoulders during the wait.. now everyone can call me Ah Long!!! Hehe that costs me RM 70.. then I managed to convinced BK to join me in a 10minute fish spa… hahahha… was so darn ticklish that I couldn’t stop laughing.. hahhahaha.. :) the crowds were gathering around us wondering what was happening as I was just laughing out loud for the first 5 mins… hehehe,… those cute fishies with greedy eyes looking at my feet… hahhaa .. watch them here : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2941292502156472909&hl=en

Oh well… finally, took the bus home and arrived back in SG at around 10+ pm… :). The whole trip had been a blast, from start to end, and I had an amazingly good time… I’m sold on this race, and hope that I can make it again next year… but next time, I’ll go on the rides too

Have a look at some of the photos here : http://picasaweb.google.com/jonie81/121208GentingTrailblazers#

Till the next race then, trudge on…

The White Rapids…

Trivia: Why is it called White.... water rafting? - Cos the rapids are white in color :) hehe

:) Finally, on 26th Oct, 2008.. I have reentered the rafting world. My last rafting trip was in Austria in M1 2001, but that was relatively a low level trip with short rapids up to grade 3. So, after numerous failed attempts to go rafting, I have decided to go at it alone at Sungai Selangor, with reported rapids up to level 4.

The trip to raft started, as usu on Friday afternoon.. up to KL. Stayed at Ivy’s, as usu.. (thanks gal..) Saturday was mainly a rest day, with some work to finish.. Was suppose to go swimming on Sat morning, but the lazy me prevailed… sorry again Ivy.. had a nice lunch at Old Town Kopitiam and had dinner and movie later on. So… not bad for a relaxing Saturday.

Okays, twas Sunday when all the action took place…. Woke up late at…. Groggily prepped myself… and headed to Midvalley KTM Kommuter station. Took the 7.27 am train… and nervously journeyed to KKB.. arrived there on the dot at 9am… took a cab to the Post Office (meeting point) .. but ahem.. the other participants who drove were late.. so went to eat brekkie at nearby mamak.

Well.. after everyone has gathered, off we went to the starting point… here, another looooong wait as there were about 50 participants that day… so wait long long for the briefing.. after that, we broke into grps of 4-8 and hopped onto the 4 rafts.

I was in a boat with 2 other Malaysians and a Swede. There were 2 guides with us as well in the boat.. so we were the lightest boat there was with only 6 peeps. Short practice in the water about the instructions, like “over left” means quickly lean to the left, and “inside” means quickly go into the the inner part of the boat, and not on the sides… and.. finally…off we go!!!

The first few rapids were small rapids with small drops… but man, that brought back good memories. Things became familiar again. Ahh… man I really missed rafting… Now, altogether were 4 major rapids ranging btw grade 3-4, and many other small ones. Shortly after, we came to our first Grade 3 drop, aptly named “First Canyon” . The drop wasn’t very high but it was enough to get the adrenaline going. We got splashed with water and I got my clothes wet.. (well, it was already wet before that when I jumped into the river before the rafting had even begun).

The second major drop was called “Suck em Dog” errr errr… okies.. I’m getting lazy here… Just read this article…. http://www.wildasia.net/main.cfm?page=article&articleID=181 for a lowdown on the rapids ….

Okaaaaay, rafting was a blast. Though the water levels were not as high as I had hoped for… but I guess it was the weather is unpredictable so cant do anything about that. Next off, I’m looking forward to more rafting trips; hopefully Sungai Singor in the near future. So… to all those who wanna try something new… do give white water rafting a try, and I guarantee it… you’ll like it!!

So total itinery for those who wanna KKB the Jonie way:
0630: Arghh…. Woke up late!! Haven’t prepare yet!!! Curse abit... sleepwalk abit..
0715 : Arrive at KTM Midvalley
0727: take the KTM Kommuter to Rawang, msged the guide… might be late and change to KKB at Rawang.
0900: arrive at KKB KTM station. Either call the guide to pick you up or pay RM5 for the cab to the post office… (I ran out of batt.. so err… no choice, lorr.. take the cab)
0905: Meet guide…eat brekkie…raft raft raft…
1400: Fin rafting..shower , have short lunch, exchange emails, phone number.. IM, facebook, spits… whatever…
1430: Leave for home… or ask someone to bring you to the KTM station. Train at 1505 (basically every 30mins)
1630: arrive at Midvalley… proceed to shop or home.

Trudge on…. And raft on!!

Medical Informatics...

One of the biggie questions I oft get is ... "what do you do for a living?" I would then reply, "I work in the HealthCare Industry". Now here's comes the tricky bit.. if it's and aunty or uncle, their first impression is... orrr ... "so you are Missy larr?" .. which does in a way.. pisses me off abit as though every young woman who works in health care HAS GOT to be a NURSE!!.. After a silent sigh... I would reply.. no ... "lohkun la... lohkun"... which then brings up the next question... "which hospital arr?" another silent sigh... and I answer.. at S%&*$h%&*@h HQ.

Now, the HealthCare Industry is HUGE.. and not everyone in it works as a doctor or a nurse per se. Medical Informatics is quite a new field (especially in Singapore) but has its roots deep in the great US of A. It's not that well known yet, as we're still a small group in this tiny island, but we are.. a growing group (hopefully!). It mainly involves ... (take a deep breath) the integration of IT systems into doctor's workflow to "assist" them and finally ensuring patient's safety. It's basically building a bridge btw docs and IT peeps . Still clueless?.. here goes an example:

To doctors... UFEME means Urine FEME...
To IT folks UFEME sounds the same as FEME, fluid.. (which in a way makes sense...)

But in reality... they are not the same as both are completely different tests.

So there's where informaticians come in : to explain to the IT folks doctor's language ...

Another more impt work we do is to figure out doctor's workflow itself. Strangely, nobody really governs the way a ward or clinic works. Somehow, just put a nurse, a clerk, a doctor and the ancillaries together, and voila.. you have a working ward/clinic. Things just runs on its own, without much fuss as ultimately, everyone works to ensure the patient's health is taken care of. But when informatics come in place.. we're detailing down, if possible every single workflow there is.. and when we add in new IT stuff.. every single thing that can go wrong. It may seem like an easy thing to do..but when you really get down to it.. it just feels very "holey" and closing down each holes only reveals new ones... like how my colleagues put it.. it feels like all the holes in a block of cheese is coming together... hehehe...

Hmm.. what else is there in Informatics?...hmm.. well.. in my short time of May to Oct so far.. tt's about an accurate description of my job that I can give. The job is quite OK, with new discoveries along the way (like learning how a cavernosogram is done) and learning that IT folks do think very very differently from doctors... :) I kinda like my job so far.. but we'll see how it goes in the future when the projects take off... ;)

So for all out there who are interested in it.. give it a go... You might like it... you might not.. but its a fun experience learning what happens behind the behind the scenes.. and have a good time too as it is really fun to see how sth you help build take place. There are the good times, there are the bad times.. but I'm sure everybody have already been through that..

:) till the next time

trudge on, dear friends.. and never be afraid to try sth new..

The Twelve Months of Jonie

From an earlier post, the promise to myself to do sth new every mth for this year... so far, so good :) .. to be completed only on 1/1/2009 :)

January: CSMC paintball... then get to meraba-raba Brazillian Hotties.. hehe ... then arhh... Pacesetters 30 km run - my first race in KL

February: First CNY visit to Ipoh after..ohhh... 5 yrs?... first gathering with the SMKSI peeps..

March: Got my Open Water Diving license and First KL marathon... and first big bdae celeb after omos ?5-6 yrs of nothingness.. which was graced by first jewellery not bought by parents (gift from lovely housemate - GIRL!!!)

April: MULU - caving again after many yrs of absence.. Clearwater - wind cave connection

May: Changed posting to Medical Informatics. First Ultramarathon, but only managed 54 km before died-ed

June: Moved to another place in HV ... so new place :)

July: First tri bike, then first OD triathlon - OSIM

August: First bike crash, then PANGKOR where I rode on a JetSki for the first time!!!! oh yar.. oso first LV bag (and the last ever too)

September: First Half IM Triathlon and first ever visit to Tioman

October: First visit to Yangtze cinema, and first kayaking ever. Rafted at KKB!!

November: First SkyDiving Sim at SkyVenture, First Genting Trailblazer, First Tattoo (temp la), First Fish Spa, First Wakeboarding, First Pedicure!!.. then the Gmax Reverse Bungee and Xtreme Swing rides, First Makeover and James Bond Movie - Quantum of Solace, Another rafting trip at KKB and Skydive basics training at Genting!! Spent time back in Ipoh...

December: Whitewater kayaking

hehe... trudge on...

Soul searching...

September is now gone.. and we're about approaching the year end. The latter half of September and early october was really another soul searching time for me, where a trip back home reminded me of how much I really enjoy being who I am. so here goes:

1. First and foremost, I love my freedom. I love the ability to go where I want, and do what I want. Though most of what I do spells DANGER (yes, with all the capital letters), I do understand and am fully responsible for anything that happens to me, in other words, i don't go around trying to get myself killed (well most of the time, anyways).

2. I love adventures and excitement. I love to do things that excites me, both physically and mentally. I never run out of energy until I reach my bed, otherwise.. I can go on and on and on and on and on...

3. That said, at times, I love the serenity of just sitting back when the moment is right. The world was made to be beautiful, just the way it is. Sometimes, the most amazing thing is just in front of you.. you just have to open your eyes and open up to it

4. I love to procrastinate. 3/4 of my uni life was spent in front of the com - watching movies, dramas, animes, tv shows... anything, u name it, i'll prob have watched it. And yes, I DO watch TOPGEAR cos I love the show... and the cars... really really amazing... (droooling...)

5. I think too fast which makes me super neurotic... need to slow down at times, but I love thinking. Till now, solving problems and answering questions makes me happy :) bring on the sudoku!!

6. No.... I am not a clubber....but will go if invited...

7. My Left knee pain will probably never go away.... :(

8. I want a simple life. When I was young, I've always thought that I want to live it big and rich. But after doing a lot of stuff, I realised that the simplest life is what I am craving for. I'm glad to know that I have a safe home and stable life to go to whenever I come home from work, or from wherever it is I will be.

9. No.. I dont wanna pretend to be who I am I not, irregardless of whether I will impress/attract ppl or not. I am forever not tactful, hurtingly blunt.. I can get blur at times, and can be hideously impatient... but that is who I am... I can learn to be better.... like how I've not lose my temper for many a yrs now... but that will take time and someone needs to point it out to me.

10. I will change in the future... but tt's the greatest thing in life to do... to change and be ready to accept changes.. Some changes will be for the better, but some will definitely not. That makes life interesting; that every twist and turn at each corner... But you know what.. I'm thankful for all my family and friends... cos with them, that each change is bearable... no matter how bad it can be

:)

Trudge on...

Separuh Orang Besi!!!

YAYY!!! Completed the Half IM last Sunday... finally... after 3 gruelling mths of tri-specific training... I've finished the half. The feeling was greeeaaat .. and i finished at a comfortable 6hrs 39mins. yayy!!

As advised, I went to the race area at around 5.30 am and it was buzzing with activities. Sooooo maaaaaanyyyyyyy Ang Moh there... it seems that really half of the participants were from overseas. First stop was the body marking area, and got myself inked up with : 0062 and the AVIVA chop on both arms. Next to the transition area, where I lay down my shoes and other stuff. Bike was already chked-in the day before, but had to wipe it down as it got wet from the overnight rain. oooo...I was sooooo nervous then. Talked to some of the more experienced triathletes there and got some useful tips.

At about 6.30am was the race briefing. After that, went to the starting area at the beach where some where already doing warmups, stretches. Went into the water myself after that for a quick swim.. brrr...cold....

We were chased out of the water at about 7am as the elites were going to start their race.... boy, they were really fast swimmer... Mine was the ladies wave, and as the saying goes, "ladies first". hehe....Finally it was time to start, counting down now.... Three, Two, One...and GO!!!! the marshall shouted.... and off I went, running into the waves.

The sea was calmer than the OSIM tri, but still got the kicks into the face, ribs, tummy...and all other areas. The ang moh were so onz...they were swimming above me at some parts....was like...how come suddenly so dark one??... haha... but anyways, the 2 lap swim was ok, and quite easy.

Took my time at T1.. about ten minutes or so to rest and prepare for the biking part. Cycling was ok ...for the first half..then almost wanted to die the second half. It was up across the AYE and the killer Benjamin Sheares Bridge almost made me gave up. Note to self in next races : BRING WATER AND POWERGELS DURING THE BIKING!!! haha...forgot to put my water bidon on the drinks cage, that i almost dehydrated flatly during the bike, Luckily managed to get a bidon with cold 100Plus at the last lap... phew... gotta thank the organisers for that.

Finally, T2.... took my time again.. and then the run. The run was surprisingly quite easy for, prob due to the 6 powergels i consumed along the way. Managed to run fully without stopping.. except for photo shots :) .. and finished in about 2hrs 20 mins. :) man... at the finishing line.. I was ...YES!!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!! jumping for joy.. just simply happy.... until i took out my velcro strap for the champion chip... ouch... abrasions!!!! Note to self : use some padding next time..

So, yay!! now a half orang besi.. thinking back again, i think i'm getting hooked on triathlon-ing. The multisport part of it makes it really exciting and fun. Now, to move on to the next mission: to complete the Ironman Langkawi itself. Hopefully, i can manage it... man.. just dreaming of the eagle medal makes me feel giddy. :)

ok...gtg prepare the training plan for the IM in Feb next year...

to all.. happy living, and trudge on...

Preparing for the 1/2 Ironman - REPC...

The time has finally come, the AVIVA half Ironman is this coming Sunday itself... boy am I nervous. It's my second triathlon and also the second one in my series to complete the 3 tri's. Time has really flown by with days of endless training...and food :). Been tapering the past 2 weeks to relaxy and prep the body for the race, but caught a darn flu a few days ago and still reeling away from it slowly...

Went to the Race Entry Pack Collection yesterday, after the Training session in CGH. It's been aptly renamed to Race Expo.. to make it sound nicer.. or cheesier.. whichever you preferred. Held at Millenia Walk, it's really a much better place than the REPC for the Osim tri at Roxy Hotel (far far away). Firstly, hopped over to get my race pack... and I got Bib no ..... 0062 (can go buy 4D liao). The pack was huge...but have very little things inside, just a small microfibre towel, some vouchers, the usual bibs and stickers for the bikes and a PINK swimming cap. Trying to imagine myself now in my blue tri-suit and pink cap and ?green running shoes,..hahah.. Tim Gunn will so disapprove of me.

Here's the funny thing... they wanted to strap me with the unremovable racing entry bracelet yesterday before I can collect my timing chip.. I declined cos of eczema problems... but I otherwise, I can't collect my chip till Saturday, when they will finally strap me with it when I check in my bike... hmm... din knoe they had such a rule.

Well, anyways.. after that, my colleague and I headed down to chk out the other booths.. and I succumbed to an ugly green pair of Newton racers (which I tried later on and swore never to wear any other shoes for running again) Put me back another SGD 239, but was well worth it.

Then, off to the AVIVA booth..where I got a shoe bag, a water bottle and another towel. Here's where I got really silly. There was this simple health chk up booth next to the AVIVA booth. They were using the fingerprick device to chk cholesterol levels... and were using the "tak" finger pricker... I really hate those stuff (prefer needles).. When the guy was about to prick me.... I kept pulling my hand away.. cos I was superbly terrified.... hahah... so scared that when he did manage to prick me.. my fingers turned cold.. and almost no blood came out... arrrr.... hahahah in the end, had to prick me twice.. eeeeekkk... I was sooooooo scared..... err... but unfortunately, the results were so super skewed (in the words of my colleague while cross chking with the normal values, " I should start you with IV - intravenous - simvastatin now.. either that or you're dead .. hahahaha) okies.. all that for nothing but a hilariously good time :)

had fun at the REPC yesterday, albeit in a torturous way... well..time's up for now..gotta get back to work..

ciao.... will come up with race report.. after the race.. if I survive :)

trudge on... and live happy!!!

Finally..a relaxing trip...

Finally, a truly relaxing beach trip... the trip to Pangkor last weekend was great, satieted (i think its a word) with sand, laughter, booze and Ramly burgers. Haven'e been to a beach since March, and this beach vacation came in just about the right time to chill out.

The "Pangkor" plan was iniated by the members of the high council of vacations (Ivy, YP and Bun) and was planned about a month ago. A total of 8 went ie me, the 3 above, Callie, Ow, Ian and Fio..... err... Joanna, in 3 cars, 2 taking off from KL. I went back to Ipoh on Fri night/ Sat morn and caught a ride with Bun Bun and YP. Was kinda sleepy when I arrived.. but had egg tarts from Kampung Simee which tasted heavenly.. and that kinda perked me up a little. Mum saved some mangoes from our tree and it still tasted as sweet as ever.. hehe.. i didn't inherit her green fingers though.. all plants die with me, sadly, so better eat as much fruits as I can for now :)

Well.. took off from Ipoh at about 10+am.. and got lost at the new trunk roads while trying to exit Batu Gajah..hahah.. got lost for a good half hour there.. Ivy, Ow and Callie reached Lumut first. Ian got stuck in Tanjong Malim, (some roadblock) and after that got lost at the trunk roads too.. haha.. Well, the 6 of us had lunch first at a Chinese seafood restaurant at Lumut first.. not too bad... finally fresh seafood for me. :) yummy... Ian and Joanna arrived not too long after we finished.. and off we were.. to the jetty and to Pangkor.

A return ticket costs RM 10 ringgit and the ride took about 20minutes. Pangkor is really quite developed compared to a few yrs ago when I last visited. The fishing village was still there and as usual the fishermen were drying up all their produce for the day.. ahh..the smell of ham yu in the air.. We alighted at the new jetty and took a cab (van) to Coral Bay Resort, where we checked into our apartment...

It was a quiant 3-room apartment, bigger than my own in singapore (sad, huh) and the girls took one room, leaving Ow and Bun to enjoy their night together :P. Ian and Joanna took a room of their own. All of us changed into our swimwear.. and off we were.. to the beach!!!

The beach was about 5-10minutes away from the resort.. and it was great. The only let down was the boats there that kept zooming in very close to the shore. Otherwise, the water is clean (cleaner than Sentosa lar) and the beach was not too crowded. Went for a swim as far as I dared and even took a ride on the jet-ski (ex though, costs me RM 20). We tried to play "galah panjang" err... but the linesdrawer man aka Bun, was too tired to redraw the lines after first review. So, ended up playing in the water (inc tossing Ivy and YP in to the sea) and just hanging around the beach.

By the time it hit 6 plus.. we were dead tired already. Calling it a day, we headed back to the resort to clean up before dinner, which took a looong time, so Ow had a Ramly burger in while waiting and the rest of us muched on some pisang goreng and cucur udang.

Alright!! Finally all cleaned up after about an hour. Off to dinner, we went, to a nearby seafood restaurant. Ah Bun was the maitre 'd of the moment and read out the menu to us (which sounded funny to me) hehe...fresh seafood again.. ahh..wish I had this all the time in Singapore.. steamed fish... prawns fried in some kind of batter.. mmm.. yummy.... after dinner, had a short walk around the area before heading back to the apartment.

Time to booze!!!! No bars hold this time as the bunch of us (except Ian who was sleeping and Ow who was reading "Freakanomics") were crowding around the table, with liqour in hand playing ...of all games... BlackJack. Loser takes a sip, the bigger the loss, the bigger the "sip". Ivy went as first Cheong Ker.. and sigh.. lost almost every hand.. Ah Pooi took over... not too bad.. but when Bun became the banker.. all of us practically drank after each hand, well except for Joanna... phew.. lucky not playing with money, woiuld have lost big time then.. hehe... all throughout the game, secrets and gossips were flying all over... haha..the more you lose, somehow the more gossips you talk.. haha...

All of us had a round of Ramly burger not too soon after the game... mm... (making myself drool again) ..mmm.....

We were all dead tired after all that boozing and burgers and soon after that (around 1am) were tucked in bed. Bun, being the nice Ji Mui, after all, shared the "window" ghost story with all the girls... (think Ow was already asleep) ..hahaha.... lucky I wasn't sleeping next to the window :)

Woke up late the next morning and had nasi lemak for breakfast. We were glued to the TV showing the Olympic rythmic gynastics until about 12pm, when it was time to pack up and checkout. Rented a van to the town area and walked around a bit before having a light lunch (since we just had breakfast not too long ago) Took the ferry back to Lumut and finally it was time to split up. :( .. we all said our goodbyes and made a pact to go on more similar trips in the future :)

Well... it ended as fast as it began, but the trip was fantastic.. short as it was, it was well worth it and really fun. Feel like going for another trip soon... hehehe... anyone up for Krabi anytime soon?

Photos as follow *thanks Ivy*...if you havent seen it yet :)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/cchivy/PulauPangkorTrip2324August2008

that's all for now....

trudge on... and Jonie...out!!!

The Bucket List..and growing

1. Become a Divemaster
2. Go diving in Sipadan / Maldives / Bali / Great Barrier Reef
3. Caving in Mulu (DONE 2008)
4. Climb Kinabalu via Ferrata
5. Do the Kinabalu Climbathon (DONE 2007)
6. Go Bungee-jumping
7. Get an AFF skydiving license (taking still... hopefully can complete by 04/09)
8. Go BASE jumping
9. Climb a ice-cap mountain (DONE – MIR4 Island Peak)
10. Finish a triathlon (DONE – 2008 OSIM OD)
11. Finish a Ironman triathlon (DONE _ Langkawi Ironman 28/02/2009)
12. Own a CERVELO/TREK/FELT bike (DONE May 2008)
13. Go to the South Pole/ North Pole
14. Watch an Aurora Borealis
15. Travel around Europe (DONE – 2001 Contiki)
16. Travel around Africa
17. Travel to Israel
18. Travel to Japan
19. Finish a marathon (DONE – 2005 SCM)
20. Finish an Ultra-marathon (DONE –54km ADIDAS)
21. Go white water rafting (DONE – x4)
22. Rockclimb in Krabi
23. Be at a LIVE volcano errupting
24. Win at Genting Highland (DONE RM25,then lost it all)
25. Become a croupier
26. Learn bartending
27. Appear on TV (DONE – 2004)
28. Appear on Newspaper (DONE – 1999, 2004)
29. Buy a Swiss watch in Switzerland(DONE–2001(lost in 2006))
30. Own a LV bag (DONE 29/08/08)
31. Own a Coach Bag (DONE 2008 May)
32. Own a Apple computer (DONE 2007)
33. Own a Hermes scarf
34. Eat Escargot (DONE – 2001, Paris)
35. Finish a bottle of Vodka (DONE – 2007)
36. Try Bolinger’s champagne (DONE 29/08/08)
37. Try absinthe (DONE - 2008)
38. Get a hangover (DONE – 2007)
39. Learn Salsa
40. Learn Yoga (DONE - taking classes 07/09)
41. Go for a facial (DONE - 06/08/10)
42. Go for a manicure
43. Go for a pedicure - (DONE - 15/11/08)
44. Go for a full body wax session
45. Wear a kimono (DONE – yukata – 2003)
46. Take picture in the middle of a busy road (DONE 2006 Dec)
47. Learn a musical instrument (DONE – violin 1996)
48. Read LOTR (DONE - 1996)
49. Read the Bible (DONE –cant remember when)
50. Read the Torah

Olympics!! 2008!!!

THE OLYMPICS ARE HERE!!!! After a 4 year wait since the last one, the Beijing 2008 has finally arrived.. the opening yesterday, was just sooo amazing.. the way the 5 interlocking rings lit up at the beginnning, and started to lift up towards the sky.. wow.. and the way they made the globe, with ppl running on it.. upside down!!! only China and Zhang Yimou could hace done it.. amazing.

But after all the hurrah of the opening, the part that strike me the most was when all the athletes came out, representing their countries, showing the spirit of the games. This was the part, where a person could see how the people from the other side of the globe looks like (or like how a certain someone puts it, its a good time to revise geography) ; how different we really are, and yet, how we all still look, feel and act the same, when it comes down to something we all can feel proud about. The games to me is about the world comes to an agreement again, after multitudes of war, discrimination, and fear. Its the time when we all come together and say, "heck care about fighting with guns and bullets... i wanna see my country win a medal!" This year is sure going to be one to watch out for.. with Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya and even the small Timor-Leste, after having their country ravaged by the tides of homeland insecurities, managed to send out athletes to compete against the bigger and secure countries like US, China, Europe..

Hmm... and of course the star athletes to look out for.. Phelps, Hackett, Nadal, Radcliffe... whoa.. sporting wonderland..

Hopefully nothing happens during the Games this year. It's always a shame when something happens... The olympics is to celebrate the sporting spirit and the human will to succeed..So, to end off, I hope it'll always remain so till the end of time... and that we can always look forward to a peaceful world...

Trudge on...

Bike Crash!!!

Hmm... after almost a whole month of the same old stuff.... finally something interesting happened.. :) Had a bad bike crash this morning around 5am.. at somewhere in NUS. Some stupid truck decided to break suddenly in front of me. Was not going very fast at the time, and managed to brake in time, but flew of my bike and landed about a metre away on my head. Helmet broke the fall.. but darn.. the helmet cracked. Now I need to get a new helmet again today, riding out tomorrow to complete what I didn't finish today.

Funnily, wasn't really scared or worried when I was flying. Felt more pissed at the f**king driver who stopped suddenly. He made a turn and came back to see me, but drove away when I got up and shoved my middle finger at him.

Luckily, nothing wrong with the bike.. or I would have taken his license plate down and stalk the driver.. Don't want anything wrong with my bike now that the next race is only a month away. My glasses got crooked... so need to spend money to sigh..get a new pair. More money down the drain again. sigh..

So, picked up my bike, gave a quick look.. no cracks so far... and cycled home. Reealised only in the shower later that I had a deep abrasion over my Right Ankle.. (still bleeding while I'm typing this out) .. so, i'll need to get some antiseptics later on as well.. sigh..

After this crash.. I realised that the things I learnt from it was that...
1. accidents are bad cos they costs money.. Nevermind the injuries... it hurts that I need to go buy another helmet that'll put me back by another SGD70+, or get another pair of glasses. Correction... the helmet costs... SGD 149 :(

2. Accidents also disrupt trainings cos I need to go swim tonight.. but it'll hurt like hell with the open wound now still bleeding.

3. I kinda like the feeling of flying through the air.. hmm... getting ideas in my head now. Maybe I should do some stunt works.. hmm..

4. Accidents are good... they give me sth to blog about..

Oh well... until the next accident, or whatever interesting that crosses my way..

Trudge on.. and live on...

My first Tri!!

Yayy!!!! I am soooo happy!!! Managed to complete my first triathlon.. in about 3hrs or so.. just awaiting for the official timing from the organisers now.. but really.. it was great... no regrets about training for it now..

The event started with the 1.5 km swim... which was HARD!!!.. the winds were strong and the waves were pushing everyone rightwards. It was 2x lap around the swim course, making it 1.5km... but it felt like I swam 2km with the strong tide. Managed to get sightings part right and didn't veer too far off course.. and of course came out alive at the same time too.

The fun part was the cycling. It was on the super flat ECP tracks, and was 10km long. As the OD (olympic distance) was 40km, we did 4 loops around the bike track. Was really speeding on my bike.. and especially into the corners. It was real fun just cutting slower participants and feeling the wind hit my face... ooo.. loved it.

Finally, after the bike.. the run... now this was gruelling. NOT easy to run after biking for about an hour. Had the common "jelly legs" syndrome, but managed to maintain composure to pull through. Only managed to "run" as per normal after 20minutes or so... but then, it was a short 10km run... and finished it in about an hr.. arhh... the feeling of going over the finishing line was superb... can still feel it now. The guy at the end gave me my medal .... and I was esctatic!!! I ran over to the medic tent, and got all the Congrats from all my frens there.. Ex-boss was also super impressed !!! ..yayy!! no queue for the massage too, as Edmund massaged me right after he finished the one he was massaging.. hehehe... :)

Well, one down, 2 more to go.... no looking back now... gonna just trudge on.. till I finish them all.

yayy!!!!

Got my new baby!!

yayy!! the pics are up already..Got it last Saturday and have been playing with it since..
Not using the this bike for the race this weekend though, need some time getting used to. It's not as easy to use as it seems.. .hmm...

So here's the link...
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jonie81/BabyBike02

:)

The Gmail revolution...

OK, OK.. I'm one big fan of GMail. Had it ever since it was released, it was and still is my preferred webmail of choice. It's brainless to use and easily accessible from anywhere that has an internet connection. Plus, with the ever expanding storage space (dunno how in the world they do that), gmail seems to be the only email I'll probably ever need.

Was going through some emails (yes, my job now requires me to check my emails almost every hr or so) when I clicked on the link - oldest. It brought me all the way back 5,000 emails (hey, with unlimited storage, no reason to throw anything away, right), and voila, I'm back in time to when I was in M4 (fourth year med stu). Wow...din know I had gmail back then already. Those were the time when I was in the NUS mountaineering group aka Make-It-Real. Gmail was flooded with sponsor emailing, training emails.. pics and photos of mountains, all the way up to the trip planning itself. Then came the M5 final MBBS exams email lists... where we shared the tears and laughters of the exam cases. It was quite scaree back then, when you'd read each and every detail of the candidates kan-cheongness and despair during the exams. Letters of encouragement brought back the togetherness my classmates and I had weeks before the finals, all reading till the early lights of dawn outside medical library. Back then, I used to read till 3-4am in the morning, and even stayed over a few times, so much so that the security guards got used to us.

Then it was the pre HO emails, where all the orientation emails came uo. Can't imagine still, between exams and real HO work, we only had 3-4 wks of rest.... that after 5 yrs of torture. Ahh..those were really the days...

Then it was... oops....enough daydreaming already..back to work.. hehe... well, at least I'll have sth to do tonight other than training.. time to look at old photos too..

:)

well trudge on ppl.. life is suppose to be good after all.. :)

A new responsibility in life..

Yay!!! I am sooo elated.. Done moving already, now just finishing up with the unpacking bit.. but no, that's not the real reason behind this post. I'm getting a new baby!!! I'm so happy. Visited the clinic today, and everything is going great. Next appt is on Monday.. so excited now.

Been dreaming of this baby for ages, and now that it's coming true, I can't wait to see her. Yes, its a HER!!! I'll put up pics as soon as I can, after next week.

:)

I hope all of you guys out there are happy for me too!!! I'm really excited

Trudge on , mateys..

Moving...moving,....moving...

Yep...it's that time of the year again.. time for me to pack up and move.. nope.. not the emo baggage thing, did that last year. It's really time for me to pack up and move home again.. sigh... Since I stepped into Singapore, moving from one place to another has become almost a yearly thing. sometimes even up to 2-3 times a year. It all started with the first big move here, followed by the "I got kicked out of NUS" move 2 yrs later. Then, moved out with JY in yr 3, and back again into NUS Old Kent Ridge Hostel (mind you, moved 3 times before finally settling down in a room in the hostel). Lucky thing though, was heavily into mountaineering then. Finally, kicked out again in final year, and that was also the year I started staying in HV - First in blk 2, then blk 11 and finally, moving out again this year.

Moving out is not fun to do.. there's a few phases to it.. the throwing out junk phase, the finding the boxes phase, the real packing phase, the where should I stuff this phase.. and so on. It can be done fast, but one needs to have a hard heart to throw things away. Some things brings a lot of memories, like soft toys, cards, that you dont really need, while others are really just junk. Funnily, while going through some of the old stuff, I found a whole bunch of unopened angpows... with close to RM500 in it. So, some stuff are really worth keeping, after all.

Found some interesting pics too... my pics from the Europe tour, where I went rafting in Austria.. haha.. barely can see me in the pics.. :) forgot I even had them. Then some mountaineering souvenirs that disappeared when I wanted to distribute them... Moving places really makes all this stuff reappear again.. Going through all this brings back old memories, some best left hidden, and some nice little surprises too :) It usually takes me a loooong time to go through all this, and thus, moving becomes somewhat quite emo to me after a while.

Think its time I grew up too. So all da soft toys.. say good bye ...bwahahhahaha...

Some really old CD's.. say good bye too.. MP3's practically killed the need for CD's already..

Old books... go burn!!! bwahaha..

I'm really evil at times..

But seriously, I'm gonna miss this old place that I stayed for 2 yrs. Its the place where I did and learnt so many things. Its the place where Post calls - I had amazing afternoon naps. It's the place, I lost my ...ahem ahem...







Tag Hauer larr.. what were you thinking of... hehe... but, really.. it's the place where 365x2 (no olympics ma, so no leap year) days of my was spent. I'll miss this place, and all the dear memories of it. But now, its time to look forward,to a new place, a new life, and a new me ....

Trudge on

The weekend...

Okay..since i'll be in a looooong meeting today... time to do sth more important then..

The weekend came and go again. Had a full weekend last weekend.. but was mainly filled with myalgia. Saturday started off okay, sorry guys, couldn't go for the bikini shoot (fyi: it was a tie btw the black and blue one). Had a swimming clinic by tribob that day.. more like 2 clinics. The morning session started at 9am.. and I was all powered up for that one. There were many there.. and so we spilt into 2 grps after a trialswim. I was in the slower swimmer grp... on purpose... the instructor was an "angmoh".. named ?Mathey?... he was charming, cheeky.. and KAWAII!!! I was so enamoured.. mmm...can still remember him well now. shoulda flirted with him more.... mmmmmm... but anyways.. open water swim is DIFFICULT!! its not as easy as I thought it would be.. and sighting gives me a bad neckpain.. ouch.. the clinic ended at 12.. and I went for a quick lunch. unfortunately.. around that time.. I started to have bad bad bad muscle pain... I wonder why.... took a cab back anyway.. and rested in the afternoon... ouch..

Night came,and I went for a run..bad move.. the muscle pain got worse after that.. .hmm.. by then I remembered... the culprits at work who passed me the virus.. arggh...damn damn damn.. oh well.. will just live with it.

Sunday started out painful, again. Took a cup of coffee and dragged myself out of bed.. suppose to meet up with CT today.. who came from KL on Friday. Then, it rained.. heavily.. with muscles still aching, managed to changed and head out for Orchard. hmm..rain stopped when I arrive there. Went up to Kino - bought a book for Ironman training... darn, won't be as easy as I thought it would be. Met up with CT about a while later, and went for lunch. The next few hours was tagging along, showing him good places for him to take (prac taking pics) of his cousin and his GF.. well.. not a good place Orc that day.. construction was going on and Orc was not as pretty. After that.. .went to have a haircut.. with the cutie Alan.. he's a real cute and nice guy ..think i'm more interested in him than his haircuts.. hehehe..well, there was one point where we were flirting with each other.. ;)

Rested at night after..decided to forego training for that night as needed time to recover. Slept early yesterday, and woke up early today.. the weekend came and go again... but it was an interesting weekend, in some sense.

Bikini Poll

Okies, head's up... I need to choose , and quick (by this Friday actually) ... http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jonie81/BikiniPoll ....either the blu-ish or the black-ish bikini.. so let the polls begin...

New name...

Yes... the title sez it all..I have a new name.. by accident.. it happened so quick, that before I knew it, my last 27 yrs, known as Jonie, has changed. The culprit : BG...

It was a dark and not-stormy night.. the sun just set, the wind blowing strong (well, it was in singapore anyway) I just got back from a swimming session, all wet and aching at the time.. the room was dark, and quiet.. I went in.. the laptop was just sitting on my bed, ready to be activated. The screen turn brigth as i started it.. and the connection came on. "Internet connected," it says.. and Messenger auto-connects.. seconds turn into minutes turn into more minutes.. and Beat came on... Man, havent seen her in a while. Wonder how she was... With the sensitive touchpad... i double clicked her nick on the screen... and typed... casually... with no fear....

"yo beat's"......

more quiet seconds ensued...

the sweat now lining my fore head....




"yo joets....." she replied.....

with that... and ringing in my ears...

I got a new name..

Joets....

Baldy Jones...

Yummy, just had Botak Jones for lunch. Had the cheez Jones Burger.. and it was great.. for more info... www.botakjones.com.

mmm... can still taste the tasty patty...

On The Fast Lane..

Phew.. the week came by and disappeared in an instant... can't believe its Saturday already, and this has gotta be one of the most happening week so far... recap from Sunday:

Sunday
Started out Sunday with running... literally. The run started at 8.30pm the night before, but did not have a good start as my Left runner's knee was already in pain, causing my left calf to cramp up. Met a great new running buddy tho.. Mohan.. who's a member of the Malaysian PaceSetters... did a good ?10 km with him... managed to run 54 km before calling it quits at the drinks station. Knee was already swollen by then.. time was 6hrs.. hmm.. now too bad.. my first foray into ultra endurance events :) anyways, picked up by the organisers car and headed back to the finishing line. Had a massage there, and saw sports boss who did a 42km in 3:30 hrs... fast timing.. waited up till BK finished... was really happy for my friend.. CH who came in 2nd for the 84 km... his form was superb that day.. shoulda handed him my bib ... hehe... somehow my racing bib was 0002 (no idea how i got it.. and no, i am not an elite runner)...

Went home... and CRASHED on the bed... for 4 hrs.. haha.. woke up, had Cha Soba at Sushi Tei for lunch.. but no quail's egg. ...:(... then CRASHED at the foot massage place... and CRASHED again at home before meeting up with BK at Amici for dinner and YY for icecream at Haagen Daz.. and CRASHED again at home after that.. Sunday was a day of running and crashing ( Crashing in this entry = Sleeping)


Monday
My legs were still in DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness)... and it hurts a lot. Was walking with a weird gait.. left leg shuffling and right leg waddling.. in heels.. haha... but still manage to walk... skipped training today.. had a meeting that lasted well into 8.30pm at night.. sleepy sleepy by then.. buuuuut... once i reached home YY was: let's go to Wala Wala... and I as usual... (being a wala wala-ian) said YES!! fantastic.. The uneXpected was on!!! Brandon was super cool as usual... but I thought the replacement bassist (watever his name was) was cuter.. Anyway, YY had eyes only for Brandon.. so.. small argument there. I would be a groupie for Brandon too.. with that huge biceps and hunky looks he had.. hehehe.. just that on that night, the bassist was just tooo darn cute.. :)

Tuesday
Okies, all I can remember was that it started out with a meeting at SGH SoN.. yes, sg is full of acronyms.. :) and ended with me swimming.. can't remember what happened in between... so dun ask...

Wednesday
Initially wanted to attend some classes at the gym with colleague DL, haha... but in the end both of us got lazy and decided to do it the next day instead. Had another late meeting in the evening till 8.30 pm again.. but managed to squeeze in a short afternoon workout before that.. hey hey.. can't be too lazy, right..

Thursday
Okay..joined the body combat class... but left knee still not the best.. so left halfway through to do more rehab exercises for my left knee. DL commented with a mocking drooling face later that all the old aunties were staring at the trainer's well sculpted body.. haha.. I hope I wont be like that in the future.. hahah. Had a meeting in the afternoon with the nurses about how computers will impact their work in the hospital... phew... will need more work on that next week. oh yarr... think i did the most stupid thing ever too, - signed up for next yr's Ironman Langkawi... darn...

Friday
Meeting at CGH in the afternoon, followed by a super uber long workout at the gym... 1hr stairmaster, 1 hr body pump, 1 hr spin class, 30mins weight... after which me and YY had drinks at Harry's.. think i'll forgo Harry's from now on.. the cocktails weren't impressive..

Saturday (today)
Raining raining raining... and it started at 10am. Went for another foot massage.. and came out, the whole Holland Village was flooded, knee high. Saw some ang moh lady pulling up her dress to prevent it from getting wet. 2 cars got stuck at the road.. thus some policeman was called to push the cars away as they were causing a traffic jam. hehe.... As for me, after the massage, came back and had fried meehoon for lunch.. then MSN-ed YP fer awhile.. and here I am.. updating my blog.... might head to the gym today for more workouts... but hehe...... LAZY!!! this weather is only good for one thing only... and that is for sleeping.. (or if u wanna include sex as well, that'll be two things.. ) :p..

That's a super short summary of lala's life in a week.. din even notice that it went by sooooo fast... will start to pick up training pace again, as have been slacking (not doing enough swimming and cycling) the past 1-2weeks. So, to all, have a good weekend and trudge on.... Life is short, but live it well, as the saying (not in verbatim) goes from KungFu Panda (great show, btw, for those who have yet to catch it) :

Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow's a mystery,
But Today is the greatest gift of all,
That's why it's called the Present....

signing out...