A Cake Making Day.

Its the last week of 2008. Life is slow and slacky both on and off work. Everyone is in the festive mood and the mind is still hibernating like winter animals. The tension of military life comes to a a wind down today with a year end Cohesion activity, cake baking workshop. The Aerosystem flights drop tools and uniform, don chef hat and apron learning how to make molten Chocolate cake. It all happen at “Creative Culinaire” - Where the secrets of cooking & baking are shared. Our “shifu” for the day is Judy Koh, the owner of this bakery joint located at 17 Eng Hoon Street, #01-03/04 Eng Hoon Mansions. Just how good are the aircraft technician with eggs, butter, sugar, chocolate and mixer instead of transmission oil, hydraulic, grease, cleaning chemical? I guess most of us are just having great fun in the process but we still pretty good with making the cake and eating it in the end (that means it does not taste bad).

Military Intervention???

"Besides using ropes, are there really no other ways?" Thats my translation of the Wan Bao headlines. According to the news, it took a lengthy 30mins to rescue each victims. Most are left dangling on the ropes as they are lowered to the ground. That is sure to make lots of frighten hearts and post incident psychological impact on the mind. Now the question is why call the civil defense for the rescue when we could actually do it this way...



Yup. The good old Helicopter rescue. Once upon a time in 1983, Singapore pulls off a spectacular rescue of stranded victims from the cable cars using our good old UH-1 Huey Helicopters (now retired). Surely we could have emulate this success on another Singapore icon, the Singapore Flyers. In fact, this could be the though of many newspaper readers. Why not? Why use the time consuming rope method when we could just hover a Chinook or Super Puma over the wheels, lower an aircrew, pick up the victims and repeat the whole process again until all are safe and sound?

Think... the 'Cable Car Incident' was a life and death situation. At anytime, the capsule could plunge 55m into the see, killing anyone in it either by impact or drowning or both. Back than the decision to call for military intervention was an obvious one. There is tremendous difficulty for rescue personnel to scale the cables, reach the victim and get them to safety. Lots of unknown back than, will the remaining cables fail due to the snapped cables on the other side of the cable car system? Thus the urgency to extricate all victim as soon as possible.

In the case of the Singapore Flyer Incident, this is clearly not a life or death situation although the rescue could have been shorter if the management already had prepared for such contingency before hand. Well, a glamorous wheel, well known around the world, made in Singapore and with lots of money... who would expect a simple circuit board fire to stop this huge monument of ours from turning? Its like the rat scaring the elephant. The lengthy rescue time could only add more fear and anxiety to the capsules' occupant at that moment. One lady even have to resort to peeing in her baby diapers after holding her bladder for 4 hours.

But, its not Life and Death. The Singapore Flyer is still structurally sound and confirm will not collapse 911 style. Using the helicopter could be even more dangerous though with all those support structure around, there are potential risk of entangling the rescue hoist cables. Flying near the Singapore Flyer massive structure is no easy task as well... the pilot can't fly too low thus the rescue hoist cables got to extend longer. Than there is the wind the will oscillate the rescue hoist cables threatening to swing the rescuer aircrew or the victim into the structure. The swinging will only get worst as the hoist cable extend longer.

Weighing the risk of using Military Intervention and the lengthy rescue effort of Civil Intervention. My opinion is to go for the safe but slow method rather than the fast and risky method. Imagine something went wrong and something crash. Ironically, the slow but safe method created such a big headlines in the news paper. When the shit hit the fans, there bound to be people complaining about efficiency of rescue effort.

I think we all should appreciate the SCDF personnel from Central Fire Station for their prompt respond and courages effort scaling the Singapore Flyer's structure to reach each strand victims. Those are scary heights and strong winds they got to deal with. Maybe the newspaper should have wrote article about the brave SCDF personnel involve in the rescue effort rather than focusing everything on scared shit victims. The unsung heroes of the day only get a mini column in the Wanbao about their plans that did not materialize because the Flyer was back in operation before they could carry out further rescue effort. This are the little voices that are not heard. Whats wrong with using ropes anyway? Its the best proven device for rescue... don't expect Superman.

Loot from the Christmas Eve.

Today is Christmas Day, its a day to rest my tired body after a whole day of activity yesterday. Went to Da Jie and MK place for Christmas Eve Dinner and gift exchange. The husband and wife team are as usual a very good host and filled the tables with delicious food for the evening dinner. A dining experience with the ambiance Christmas song of Frank Sinatra. I learn from them how to improvise a Christmas tree when there is no space for one at home...

Its still a Christmas tree and it still serve its purpose for us to place present below it.

Left before mid night to join my "Brothers" Christmas gathering and gift exchange at Eddie's and Daphne apartment nearby. Its a rare occasion when all my brothers are gathered for the day. Still waiting for Eddie to send me the group pictures. We had a Mahjong session from mid-night to almost 7am in the morning. I must have doze several times at the later part of the game. Ended up losing S$2... so shagged out.

Headed home, bath, slept and woke up at 2.30pm in the afternoon. Its time to check out my loots from the Christmas gift exchange...

Christmas Loot 2008, the gathering.

A Digital Desk Clock. Comes with a memo clip to remind me of my outstanding bills.

M Size Renoma under wear. 2 in a box, 1 orange and 1 white. Got it from a random "pick and choose" gift exchange at Eddie place. Might be one size too large for me but I'm trying to put on weight and waist though.


A Christmas card from Kae.


A humorous Christmas blessing...


A Miniature SG Electric Guitar from Kae.


A Bell is not a bell if its not rung. A Guitar is not a Guitar if its not strum. The size and scale is just right for Fate/Stay Night Alter. Time to rock and roll!


Kae second gift, a box of Choco Pie???

Its a BIOTHERM AquaPower moisturizer! Cleverly hide in a food box. I am so easily fooled to think its food in it. hahaha. Good to use after shaving and facial mask.

Finally, a Ikiru AcuPoint Massager. Got it from gift exchange at Jie Jie and MK place. Got this from Ann.

How bad can it get?

Its Monday and I'm on leave. Besides waking up lack and acting like a sloth, I got plenty of time for myself today doing my own stuff. How ever the day started from small misfortune to bad.

I went to get my car brakes check out and while the mechanic was reversing at the front of the workshop, my car hit the workshop customer vehicle. Damn!!! Luckily no damage is done, just some minor heart attack on my part. Almost become a second case of vehicle damage by car mechanic (the first was a ripped door of my Mitsubishi Eclipse back in the US day). The mechanic was very apologetic and I am very sure it was just a mistake of a very experience and knowledgeable guy. Minor misfortune.Turn out my car brake pads are almost totally worn out. No wonder all the squeaking sound coming from the front wheel. Ended up with a S$135 bill and a little lesson learn about rendering of paid services to customers....


Headed back home and met my brother for early dinner. Business is bad and seeing my dear brother coming back from work early is a bad sign. Early off from work= Poor business. Sure hope things pick up for him cause the big day is coming. And it was because of the big day that I need to get a video camera ready to capture every beautiful moments of it. I pick up my mobile and sms MK for he is the only friend I knew who got a video cam. Ask to borrow the video cam on the 22nd Feb and in respone he said OK but reminded me that "FYI. the 40km cycling event is on the 22nd Feb". Hot damn!!! I paid S$58 for the early bird registration of OCBC Cycling Event. Eager was I last week that I overlook the dates. Headed home and contacted the event management to cancel my registration. Got to wait till tomorrow to get some answer if I could at less get some refund back. Misfortune.

Back home again to continue on the "Zhao Yun" model kit. Its the final touch up of a layer of UV protection clear coat. However it turn out to be a disaster!!! The layer of spray actually create a white frosty layer on the existing colors. I was totally shock and 不知所错. Really at my wits end to scew up the work at the final stage. Wanna cry but no tears come out, wanna bang the table in frustration but no table in sight. In the end called Bernard of M Workshop for help. Turn out that I did the spray painting right after the raining day and also the fact that I did not warm the clear coat canister before spraying. This cause the frosty appearances. Took some instruction from him to salvage the pieces. Got rid of the frosty appearances, salvaged the paint work but due to some panicking hands, I sprayed too thick a layer of clear coat and cause some hand painting I did to smudge. Arggggghhhhh!!!! What a big misfortune!!! In the end, my creation turn out to be a warrior that just came out of a battle.

Than something really sad happen in the middle of all this frenzy. "He" called again to borrow money. I lost count the number of time "He" called but the frequency is at less once a month. I am very frustrated that as a man living by himself, a very stable job, earning at less SS2500 a month with no family obligation... why is he always getting into financial predicament each month? Sometime I just wanna break all relationship with "him" but yet again it will be very bad on my part. At less I got to appreciate the effort he made many years ago. Yet again I am in the dark about how he handle his money. Gambling? Women? There can only be a few things that make someone poor every month. Gambling... Although the money was always return on the pay day but this cycle is getting vicious... today he is asking for S$500!!! I have decided... I will be compassionate again this time but I will use my wisdom. Can't always make myself a convenient avenue of cash flow him, it will only get worst. I am going to loan out only S$300 this time telling him this is all I could fork out. Sad... it really brings me to the lowest point of my life for the day. How bad can can it all get???


In school days, my teacher will put an X on my test paper for the wrong answer. Everyone can understand about the cross because we see it often for street signs. Its about rejection, prohibition, error, mistakes. Its a big "NO" sign.

and the teacher will give me a tick for the correct answer. How can one explain the tick sign than? Think hard.... it turn out the tick represent success, correct way, achievement and the tick sign explains it meaning in a pictorial way. Its like life. Life some time deal as the poor hands, the screw up, the hardship, the challenges and the misfortune. Its the downhill slide of your life and its the beginning of how the "tick" is drawn, going downwards. No matter how hard you try or how much time and effort you dedicated, it goes down. How bad can it get? If its not bad enough, it will be worst and it comes to the point at the very very bottom of your life, and its the bottom of the tick sign. What happen next? All the accumulative effect of the effort and dedication starts to pay off and everything picks up from there. All become better and life brightens up like the upward stroke of the tick. Thats success and achievement in a nut shell, it does not come easy.

I like to think of every new things I learn to be like the tick sign. Bunch of mistakes and screwup in the process but lots of things learn from the down hill struggle. Its all there, to be accumulated as energy and experience to bounce me back up when it hits the bottom. I'm not advocating stocks and shares speculation or the bulls and bear market, I'm just sharing an ideology of life.

FINALLY!!! Friday...Icekimo outing yesterday.

Even for a Friday, we all got off work late. 9.00pm to be exact. Not exactly a really long day at work if I consider the morning 1 hour breakfast, afternoon 1 hour breakfast and 1 hour at the Spec Mess in the evening. If not for the fact that I will be going on leave on next week and I expect zero phone call and disturbance from the Empire, I would not stay so late today to clear the work. No OT pay, no off to clock... its crazy. At less I had a young colleague sticking with me for the evening work. Guess he had no choice too as he is going for leave next week as well to some Middle East Country.

Went to Icekimo with Sis yesterday. Don't know what happen, she suddenly had craving for Ice Cream and I suddenly want to gain fats! This Ice cream store is located at 8 Sin Ming Rd. The ice cream are all made within the premises. 5 Scoops with 4 different topping for S$11.50. Price per scoop is S$2.80. Its steep but the texture and taste is really good. Remind me of my big indulgence in Ben & Jerry ice cream while staying in United States. Try the Durian Ice cream, its the 招牌 flavor of the shop. I am also into the Snickers flavor, all the taste without the throat stickiness of the chocolate bar. Heard Bailey is an excellent flavor too but its sold out yesterday evening. This Ice Cream Cafe is a nice hang out tuck in the quiet private residence estate of Sin Ming Rd. I would highly recommend the place for an evening gathering of ice cream tucking with friends or family. By the way, free flow of ice water is available.

Icekimo!!! Big crowd in the evening.

The Ice Cream counter. Pinky theme.

A "Rojak" of 5 flavors and 2 toppings.

Yum yum yum...

Will be heading to M Workshop again tomorrow to shop for Tamiya Spray paint for the SD Gundam. I had been working on this week. Already going into construction of the second model "Zhu Ge Liang" while the first one "Zhao Yun" is heading for the painting phase. Salvage some card board boxes and foams from my workplace to make into a spraying booth/box for this coming Sunday paint job. Still looking around for display boxes for the SD Gundam for I will be giving both away as a gift this Christmas.

Saturday is the early Christmas dinner gathering with a my 9 Dragon brothers. Weisheng is heading to KL, PC Wu is heading for wedding dinner, Eddie had some last minute program, Shiyong is MIA. In the end the dinner gang are me, Alfred, Joachim and Thai Friend, Eechyi and Shiyan, Renhan and Angela with their daughter. Still a crowd though but I am still figuring out how we gonna reach the place.... maybe I just got to make a few trip with my car than. Its been a long time since I met all of my good friends, I will make good of this opportunity to catch up with them.

Will be a full and occupied weekend. Monday and Tuesday on leave...going to see an Indian Numerologist to get my New Year fortune read and also catch a movie on Tuesday. Although work starts on Wednesday, the whole Empire is going for Bowling game at Chevron during the Christmas eve...a club that all slave of the Empire had to pay S$5 even if you don't go at all. Kinda force to pay that money (auto deduct from salary). Sometime I wonder if I should contest against all this charges. Its like a mass of people paying for the few...

Zhao Yun ready to get some color enhancement.

Next stop. Zhuge Liang SD Gundam. Now in progress.

Lexus IS250C. Coming soon to Singapore.

To be honest can be hard. Life, Love, Work and Holiday.

Maybe is the lost of anonymous status that I sometime stop blogging straight from my heart. The entire process of writing down the happening of the days now require some thought process and filtering of the brain. Although this might be a good thing since it really train my critical thinking and spare some though and consideration for others, I sometime really like to shout out all the words deep inside me. All the things I felt frustrated about and really hope that some divine being could grant a bit of power to help out. All the dirty secrets I found out and the un-open can of worms just waiting to be discovered by others. Sometime, I felt I am becoming really political by just speaking only what others want to hear, not what others should hear. Or sometime I got to put on a Poker Face as though nothing is wrong when of course I knew some issue are going "Full House". I hate wearing mask...

Oh boy, what crap life can be. To be honest can be hard. Thats why there is such things call "White Lies". There is also thing call Intentional Dishonesty. A friend shows me this passage one day,

"There is no substitute for honesty. One may be temporarily dishonest by force of circumstances over which one has no control without permanent damage. But there is no hope for the person who is dishonest by choice."

Yes I have seen it and I have even experience it myself. Sometime one got to be dishonest for the good of the majority but just how wise this dishonesty is? It is questionable. Who will be willing to be the little voice in the dark void, doing the whistle blowing and who will be listening? Thats a Paradox I encounter sometime. Dishonest by choice? Yup...been there, done that and I can only say the retribution and repercussion came fast for me. So that brings me to the second principle to be in my life mission statement- "To be honest in words I said, work I do and to people I meet. Unless there is clear and present danger to others, honesty still stands." Big statement I think...

About Work:
Things are going well so far. Pretty hectic though but to be honest, lots of opportunity to put in some good quality contribution to the Empire but most importantly to myself. Its only during the crunch time and under pressure will a person skills and knowledge be sharpen and reinforced. From a motivational speaker: 大海若无暗礁和岩石， 怎能精的起美丽的浪花？Loosely translated as " Without the Boulders and Hidden Reefs in the oceans, how can beautiful ocean wave be created?" I got to really thank all the human support and help I had else work can be even tougher. I don't think anyone can be true independent lone ranger in this current work environment, it will either breakdown the body or breakdown the spirit in the end. Interdependent is the key to success. Oh did I mention its a great opportunity to create "Solution"?

Work start 8 and ends late every day.

About People:
Does a person "balls" shrink as they get higher in the ladder of rank in the empire? Today I heard this statement which really irk me why does the empire had such people. "I know there is nothing wrong with IT but with the recent case, why make the decision and the take the rap if something really is wrong? Let the higher management make the call lah". I can only put on my best fake smile and nod my head in political agreement. OF COURSE I DON'T AGREE!!! If one have the technical knowledge, long experiences and the power of rank to make good decision, why resign to fear and self protectionism? Fear of mistake is as good as fear of advancement in life. There is always something to learn from mistake but it can be minimize when decision are make together in groups with people who dare to put their balls on the chopping board to proof things right. Clearly such people are lacking.


About Life:
Currently I am really really lay back. Just enjoy this December and the good few weeks of January before my part time studies officially starts on 19th JAN. I don't know how life will be like juggling work and studies and maybe love life (if it works out). I have only one word -- "Siong!". At less I am mentally prepared. I am looking at lots of sacrifice though. For one, I have to really cut down on my daily running to make time for evening lesson. Weekend will likely be slightly burn too for the home works.

I have completed the Marathon and I don't see myself running another one in the near future. Had my swimming goggles, cap and trunk ready though. I am switching from running to swimming. Too many comment from people I am too skinny so I am gonna just eat and swim, eat and swim. Heard this will beef up the body. Maybe can try protein powder too? Some say go to gym but I just don't the little privacy, long waiting time and lack of personal space in a public gym, especially the one near my place which is always super crowded. I am thinking of going to a friend's condo gym though.

About Love
Some dating is going on but hard to say if things will go well. I hope I am not too eager to prove anything for nothing. In the past, the fire burn to brilliantly and fizzled shortly, the car go too fast than crash and burn. Flaw in me, I am too eager to results. Got to take it slow and easy now. Sometimes respond comes really slow and the little devil in my mind play its music of disappointment and frustration yet again.

I realize recently a secret of a girl I kept in close contact for a while when I was in US. She turn out to be a mother of a 4 years old son and is in the process of getting a divorce with her husband who is really really terok. She is a nice lady but she sacrifice so much sticking with her husband till the very end when things really turn out to be worst. Husband brought back a women, women confront my friend to divorce, friend help to pay all the bills and loans, friend totally devestated. After 4 years of marriage and toiling of hardship, it does prove love is blind but in the end some bitch finally gave her a pair of eyes. I was shock when she confess but at the same time I had lots of respect and admiration for she surmounted all this hardship and tragedy to emerge a stronger and mature women.

About Holiday Plans.
20th Christmas Dinner with my old friends. 22nd and 23rd on leave. 24th is Christmas Eve and the whole empire going Bowling at OCC which really near my place. 25th is Christmas!!! 27th Paint Ball game. I like to go Vietnam next year...

Sunday Modeling Activity

Went Toys R Us with "Ah Girl" yesterday to look for "Turn Turn" Machine. Turn out there is no "Turn Turn" Machine and ended up buying a Romance Of Three Kingdom Gundam model kit. 2 for the price of 1, for S$27 I got myself Zhao Yun "赵云" on a White horse and ZhuGe Liang "诸葛亮". Of course, this famous Chinese personalities are represented in SD Gundam form.

Currently at home are 2 boxes of MG grade Bandai Model kit, a Red Zaku II (Pilot: Char) and the RX-78-2 Gundam (Pilot: Amuro Ray). I know where my modeling skills stand currently....absolute amateur, thus I have big apprehension embarking on this 2 model kit which had a combine cost of S$140. Thats why I got the "Three Kingdom" SD Gundam for they are simple and smaller in scale thus easier to construct and of course they are cheaper if I screw up on the construction or painting.

Always good to adopt proper practices and habit when embarking on a new activity. With that statement in mind and lots of free time for patience on Sunday... I embark on the construction phase of the "Zhao Yun". Although an small scale activity, it took me the whole afternoon to finish 80% of the construction. Cutting, Filing, Sanding, Inspection and Re-Filling, Re-sanding and Re-inspection. Well, one thing about concentrating on table-top activities is the disorientation when one leave the seats for toilet and drink break. The eye just got so fixated on hours of close up activity that it took awhile to orientate itself to seeing distance object. Learn something...always take a break every 30min of "Table-top" activity.

Still a fair amount of work to be done for the "Zhao Yun" model. I am still deciding if I wanna do spray painting of the model kit or just leave it in its stock, plastic colors. In the mean time, I will not be snapping the different colored pieces together and applying the decals/stickers. Will be spending more time on the QA for the individual sub assemblies to ensure plastic risers are properly sand down and cured plastic cements that oozes out from mating lines are filed down.

Christmas is just round the corner. I hope I can made it in time...

My work desk. Feels like Singapore...small but sophisticated. Do you like the poster of the lesbian?

The Air Force enforce me to read manual for every kind of work to be carried out. That habit goes to modeling as well.

Unlike human being, model are born in pieces while human are born complete.

What did I say? Pieces. At less it got a head and torso.

I'm only 80% done with the construction phase, 0% on the painting phase and got 0% attention span to carry on for the day.

Do Condoms Reduce Sensitivity???

How I fared for the Singapore Marathon 2008

Results are officially out online at Runpix.com . Just punch in my tag number 22378 and click on the Marathon button to view statistics of my first Marathon.

Here is a summary of my results,

1. I finish in 4 hours 42 minutes
2. I am in the 1978th place, top 17% of all runners
   
3. I am in the 1839th place in the men category...still in the top 17% male runners.
4. I took 6 mins 42 secs to cover each Kilometer.
5. My average speed is 9 kph

You talking to me???

This is Mr PC Wu...came to support me at the finishing line. He ran 3 Marathon so far...

This is my sis, always very supportive of her big brother on this big event. Came to bring me home after the almost 5 hours run.

Facial again... painful extraction. Smooth skin.

Should going to a Facial Spa be a exclusive female kind of thing? Facial Spa or Beauty Spa/Salon or Body Spa nowadays not only target the usual female crowd but it had always welcome the modern metrosexual male customer base. In the past, man going to a facial spa might be too feminist or some may even say "Ah gua". In today context the contest in the job market, the climb up the promotional ladder or your performance bonus is a factor of brains, brawls and beauty. Lets face it, I put Brad Pitt and Woody Allen at the job interview table, who will make the first impression? The point goes to Brad Pitt for his great look although Woody Allen's holds a portfolio of a good actor and also directed film. Chances are we are going to meet Job Interviewer, Judges or client who had really shallow decision making process, thus a good appearance could make a useful impression at the beginning.

After the battle with the road for yesterday Marathon, I decide to get a good rest and some self rewarding pampering today at Su Beau Derma Clinique, a beauty salon located in Novena Square. This was at the invitation from my sis who signed a facial package and said I could share the package together. The boss of the Salon is Serena, an expert in doing extraction (take out pimples and blackheads). I think my face really really challenging to do extraction by the regular girls working there and they have to activate their boss...hahaha. Seriously, as with all extraction I did in the past ( I count only 3 times, not inclusive of what my mum did for me), its always quite a unforgettable pain process. The prick and squeeze, I really take my hats off to all the ladies out there conducting extraction, those are really strong fingers and wrist they got!!! Man's ego, can't cry, can't moan, can't scream...can only inject some mental anesthetic to numb those pain. Good thing I just completed the Marathon, mind over body over pain through out the process. No pain no gain though but Serena is so good with the extraction, it all was over less than 15 minutes, it could have take longer if it was others doing it. Was told that women are very much more tolerance of the pain in extraction compare to man. My only conclusion to this statement is either the female vanity level are so much higher that pain is just a little sacrifice to them or its just that man skin take more effort for extraction thus more pain. More about Facial Extraction over here... http://bellasugar.com/999153

One of the highlight for this multi-process facial treatment I had today was the use of the Green Mask which burn S$12 off my wallet. First the face got to be clean, than comes the steaming process to open up all the pores on the face and finally another round of cleaning before a paste is applied on my face. It felt like someone just painted my face with butter, thick and gooey. Than the facial therapist blew cold air over the "Butter" and it starts to dry up making my skin felt really tight. Soon my whole face felt like a sticker book full of stickers. Finally the facial therapist start peeling off the dried up green mask and it felt like someone is peeling off those super strong 3M masking tape from my face. Good thing I shaved in the morning, I can imagine the agony those sticky stuff will be for my mustache and cheek area. Upon closer examination of the peeled green mask, I must say it did a great job for $S12. I can actually see all the black heads, white heads and whatever dirt stuff from my skin pores transfered and sticking on the green mask. It was impressive and I was surprise how much FODs (Foreign Object Debris) are actually stuck in my skin.

At the end of the facial session. Still got free head and shoulder massage. Very refreshing and can feel every press is helping to circulate the blood. I think the reason the massage felt good is because it was done with a female hand but a really strong one indeed (I was surprise). However I should had actually requested for the leg massage instead for I am still slightly limping after yesterday 42km ordeal. Will I be going for facial regularly from now on? I think maybe just a normal cleansing and conditioning facial wash once a month will do. Ultimately it falls to daily maintenance, good nutrition and good dose of exercise to maintain a vibrant look. Visit to the facial salon should be considered a supplementary support to good looks unless you have a deep pocket to visit regularly (I am civil servant, I earn servant salary). Maybe I will consider once a month cleansing and conditioning at a facial salon, this double up as a self pampering thingy too.

I try so hard and got so far!

Hooray!!! Completed the first Marathon of my life in approximately 4 hours 30min. Official timing will only be out 48 hours late and I will post it here. Could have done better if I put in more effort in the training but the moment is to savor the personal victory instead of brooding over poor timing.

I got too cocky after 21km thinking I got all the stamina and strength left for a faster run in the remaining 21km. Boy was I wrong. The little sensation in my leg soon grow into an unbearable muscle ache. Try putting on some Deep Heat "koyo" distributed at the many drinks station along the way and make the mistake of applying it to high up my thigh. Ended up not just relieving the muscle stress but also burning my "balls". That does make me run a bit faster though.

My muscles went into a temporary coma at 36km marking and I have to walk. I think my mental power is not so strong to "Mind Over Body". I walk, I jog and walk again and jog again to the finishing line. Well for the finishing line, the most important thing is just to sprint for it, giving the impression that I still got ample energy left. In fact, I ran out of strength before I ran out of breath. So thank you guys for calling me Mr Lung-less for I am but the leg just quit on me else who knows I might run into the top ten! hahaha. The last 6km was pure hell on earth for me but good thing I met this Ang Mo Chris who walked with me and we both ran the last 3km together to the finishing line. Sometimes running with a company can motivate me.

Glad I made it. The Finisher T-Shirt and the Finisher Medal is living proof I ran a Marathon before (or job?) Join again next year? I don't think so, I will switching to more swimming than running from now on. Been complain that I am too slim the wind might blow me away.

My first Marathon in less than 10 hours time.

I had all the self training and body conditioning this few months...I should be ready for the Marathon tomorrow morning, starting off at 5.30am. Thank god I had recover from the flu I caught 2 weeks ago otherwise the run will just get tougher. I'm ready and all I pray for is good weather and that the old injuries on my right ankle will be hibernating throughout the run tomorrow. I'm aiming for 5 hours or better to the finishing line but finishing the run in whatever timing will be an achievement nonetheless. This is the highlight of my life for the year 2008 and all preparation had been completed so far, just need to get to the starting point in the morning.



Today, I am dedicating this pre-marathon blog to my New Balance running shoe. It had serve me faithfully for one 21km half marathon and numerous training run and I am confident it will serve me for the 42km journey tomorrow. I feel like praying to it tonight in hope it grant me all the extra ounce of energy in the later part of the race. I got this strange belief it got a life of its own... I know I will need those energy once I past the 21km where physiological and psychological barrier will start coming into play. The last time I remember I had this barrier was during my first 5km race back as a Trainee in Air Force School...I came in second.

All the best to myself and I am my own cheer leader tomorrow... and for my friends who are running the Marathon...see you at the finishing line! In the meantime, gonna grab and early rest tonight.

Revoltech: Suzuki

Our Daily Expression by Suzuki.

"Yeah! I score a goal!!!"

"Focus...concentrate...attempt to levitate myself"

"Run! Dog chasing me!!!"

"Don't Shoot!!!"

Pg 57 Fifth Sentence

From a Facebook Game...

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 57.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall, and post your sentence in a comment here as well. Include the title of book and author.

"...Individuals you will ever have the good fortune to meet..."- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin S.Sharma

Dango Daikazoku

Cute, Peaceful and Relaxing Video to end the day...

The Pursue of awards...

In the pursue of prestigious awards and point scoring with some "Quality Improvement Assessor"... I am stuck in front of my PC tonight with the magical touch of my keyboard and mouse to create some fanciful power point slides to present some "fine" ideas we had. Lets put it this way, sometimes we know the product of our creativity are not so fantastic or its just part and parcel of our work but we got to write report and go for live presentation to "Sell our Empire image"...to portray a picture of innovative and creative problem solver we are. Its like taking a 5 cent stuff and inflating the price to $5. Sounds like a Mini-Bond investment.

All too often its a matter of reverse Engineering the entire process, pretend that everything went back to the drawing board and write a fictional report on how the entire project start and end. What the f***, the product was created over night with a stroke of genius of course!!! but for the sake of pacifying the assessor or judge or whoever it is, we got to be good story teller, make it look as though it was a lengthy effort and the brain juice of many many people (in fact it was the effort of 1 person sometimes). So this kinda situation require very creative writing and magical touch of the Power Point buttons.

It seems a waste of time but I can only look at the positive side of things since I got swallow this arrow after all. Can learn to make good power point slides, do presentation in front of crowd and hone my Sales talk skill which is pretty vital in the private job market.

Frustrating man. The report is so poorly organize and written I had a hard time making sense of it for the Power Point slides. Have to reinvent the wheel in the end.

Marathon coming this Sunday. Am I ready??? I hope so...its one of the highlight in the year 2008, for me.

Drink water on an empty stomach

Extracted from Rissa Agawa blog...

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases:

Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear, nose and throat diseases.

METHOD OF TREATMENT

1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 x 160ml glasses of water ....Interesting

2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minutes

3. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.

4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for hours

5. Those that are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.

6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to control/reduce main diseases:

1. High Blood Pressure - 30 days

2. Gastric - 10 days

3. Diabetes - 30 days

4. Constipation - 10 days

5. Cancer - 180 days

6. TB - 90 days

7. Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards - daily.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times.

It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine
work in our life.

Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.

This makes sense. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their
meals...Not cold water. Maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit
while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain...

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.

It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.

Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks: Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting.

Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.

Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.

60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.

Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive...

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to everyone they know, you can be sure that we will save at least one life.

Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care about.

Petition against high bus fare for Poly students

My view on the Facebook Petition,

"As a Polytechnic Student graduating from TP in 2003, I can empathize with the current plead of our Singapore Poly students. I strongly suggest the government to extend the transport privilege of JC students to the local Singaporean students who are fresh graduates from Secondary School 'O' Levels. This will be a fair decision to make for the PTA (Public Transport Association). A system must be design to ensure Poly students do not face a disadvantage in their pockets compare to JC.

As for the working adults and foreign students studying in Polytechnics, my opinion is that it will be a difficult decision for the PTA to grant such transportation privileges. First, working adults as a salaried man/women do have the financial mean to meet their transportation needs. Second, for the foreign student, unless there is foreign student in JC having the same transportation privileges otherwise it will not be easy for the PTA to grant such privileges too.

I support this online petition in any case :)"

I still love Guitar Hero.

Last Saturday I was at Suntec City to catch the Asia Anime Festival 2008. Along the way to the exhibition hall came across the Guitar Hero IV: World Tour. Decided to try my hands on it and also secretly wanna impress the crowd that gather there with my sub-par but acceptable "Hard Level" skills. Guitar Hero IV: World Tour is totally different from the previous series, I would say its more like a clone of ROCK BAND duplicated on the Guitar Hero franchise; got 2 guitar, 1 drum and a Mic to sing into. Pretty impressive game provided you got a game party at home else I would still stick to the previous 3 guitar hero for solo performance. Did not hang around the Guitar Hero IV game booth for long. Although the staff manning the booth are impressed, I must admit I am already rusting in skills and there are many really good Guitar Hero gamers out there who still passionately play the game everyday.

Came back home from work today. "Late Night, Come Home, Work Sux, I know - All The Small Thing- Blink 182". No one is around the house so I took my dusty Guitar (5 button one) and played a few of my favorite Guitar Hero tunes form Guitar Hero 1, 2 and 3 (yup, I got all of them). Surprise that its still working after 6 months in the storage. One thing I gain from playing this game is my left hand's fingers actually became more flexible! Not to mention I finally found good use for the ring finger other than for marriage and the pinky other than for picking the nose and middle finger other than for swearing. Yes...if you wanna play HARD and EXPERT level, use of the pinky finger will be very very beneficial.

Really really rusty liao....I can't even beat my own records back than!!! The best I could was getting my name on the 5th place for most of the song. Although I had fun and got de-stressed through those 70s and 80s rock music (ironically), I felt a bit sian my skill had degenerated into the present state. Those record breaking results are all achieve during my stay in US, where I stay alone with my house mate Ricky, I can have the whole living room to myself and I can play Guitar Hero everyday when I come back from work. The house is always cool during summer and pretty comfy during winter, conducive to play whole year round. I played so much that sometime after a lengthy game session, I got a temporary visual distortion due to prolong visual fixation of 5 scrolling columns on the screen. Was pretty good back than I must say. No problem with my house mate and no neighbor call the cops for the loud music.

Back in Singapore. I stop playing at home until today. Weather is always warm and humid, not too nice to play video game. Turning on the air-con is gonna burn my civil servant paid pocket. I have parents and sis in the house most of the time and the rock music will just disturb their peace. Than there are the neighbors I got to be considerate about. No wonder my skill become rusty now. Today I discover I still love the game and I wish that one day I will have a dedicated entertainment room that I can come home to everyday to de-stress rather than just a bedroom and PC to blog about this.

I still love Guitar Hero and its one of the few games that got me interested in 70s and 80s rock music from the like of KISS, Nirvana, Gun & Roses, Megadeth, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath. SUPER ROBOT WAR series got me hooked on Japanese robot Anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Patlabor, Macross and all the Gundam Series up till Gundam Wing.

Here today, I like to share some of my favorite songs from the Guitar Hero series...

First up is Sweet Child Of Mine - Gun & Roses. Took me a painstaking 1 month to play the song in HARD mode. Still learning those fast note in the middle of the track though. My favorite track in Guitar Hero 2.

Next up is STRUTTER-KISS. This is a very easy song to play even in the HARD mode. I got a 5 star rating and minimum 4 star on HARD mode. Really easy. One of those song to boost your morale after a few failed HARD level songs.

Than its War Pig from Black Sabbath. A song that reflect about politician and war. Very very strong meaning in the lyrics. War are fought at the expense of common folks. This is not an original MTV though but it get the meaning across.

Killer Queen - Queens. Quirky song from the British group Queen. Always very impress with Freddie Mercury voice that no one had ever emulate thus far. This song was feature in Guitar Hero 1. Not exactly rock, not exactly pop...

A heavy metal song about Aliens and Roswell. Hangar 18 by Megadeth. I'm still learning to survive in hard mode. This is a really really nice song to play in Guitar Hero. Very fast notes and very tired fingers. The MTV got a nice storyline to it.

And finally. Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana. Easy song to master in HARD mode as long as you learn to use the pinky finger. Really like the monotonous style of guitar riff the song got that break into a high intensity jamming at the chorus.

The right fact...

From Elvin Wu PC, father of 2 kids. From the mouth of a parent who is responsible for the well being of his children,

"When exercising, your immune system weakened. Virus would have higher chance of launching counter attack.
A more effective way of increasing body temperature is to eat porridge. Whenever I feel virus, I would eat a bowl of porridge."

Thanks for straightening out the facts. I actually do feel slightly worst at work today...most likely due to the run. Next time I'll go for hot food. Tom Yam soup??? I heard it work wonder for flu.

Back to work wednesday

Work work work.... (Peons) Hai-ho Hai-ho and off to work I go....(7 Dwarfs) Gi ve me a job... (Peasants). Still feeling a bit lethargic from the medication though but officially have to go back to work today. 30 days of medical leave a year cannot suka suka consume finish else will look very bad on the record (unless it was some kind of major illness!!! Touch wood...).

One thing about flu medication is it either make you drowsy or make you semi-deaf. I am suffering the latter. Seems like the medication is blocking 50% of my audible senses. Well, gonna take it easy today at work man. Marathon coming in less than 3 weeks time and I better be in tip top condition.

Went running this morning to purge those virus from my body. As learn online, Virus can't survive with high body temperature thats why when you got the flu virus, you will have a mild fever too...its the body natural way of fighting the virus beside the use of pathogens (white blood cells). So nothing to be alarm with the rise in body temperature unless it hit close to 39. Running raise the body temperature but since last evening medication is still taking its effect, I was hardly able to run far at all without mentally stopping myself to a stroll to avoid any complication.

Down for 2 days. The good pilot and the car washer.

Overheard through the intercom channels on one of those days I have to be involve in some test flight...

Pilot A: Lets do the controls checks before start up.
Pilot B (Junior): Ok, proceeding.
Pilot A: Just don't push it too fast, we don't want to stress the PTU.
Pilot B (Junior): Yes Sir.

A simple sentence with lots of meaning in it. Absolute respect for Pilot A for his teachings to Pilot B. This is one hell of a maintenance friendly pilot who knew not to push a machine too hard and leave it wet later on. And further to that, my 2 weeks experience with Pilot A reveal that , his concern for not only the Operational flying but also the Maintenance effort of the man on the ground. "Thumbs Up" (People in my business will know who I am referring to).

1 whole week of stress, Two late nights on Friday and Saturday put me down with flu on Sunday evening. I was down and temporary out of work yesterday and same goes for today. Paying S$36 to the medication and consultation for Flu and Fungus (yes, I got a skin fungus near my nose) also gave me an opportunity to rest for 2 days. Apparently, I was slightly lost yesterday not going to work, its like my mind and body was not occupied by activity and in short it was totally boring. End up reading up on Aircraft Power plants maintenance, chatting up with a girl over MSN and playing Castlevania: Order Of Eccelsia on my Nintendo DS Lite.

Given a choice, I would head back to work though for not that my life is now centered to work but there is some shit load of backlog and back end logistic stuff to clear as well. What the hell... 公是做不完的，钱是赚不完的，人是会死的 (Work Never End, Earning Money Never End, Life is short though) , nothing to feel guilty about taking MC and resting for 2 days for a better tomorrow.

Oh... I like to take this free time on MC I had to show appreciation to my dad who held aesthetic cleanliness to the highest standard, for our family vehicle that is :). Little did I realize that every time I (or my sis) drove to work or dating in a sparkling clean car was actually the effort of my dad daily maintenance and cleaning. If it was up to me, I would probably clean it once a week only and at a paid car wash instead (I admit my laziness). Nothing beats the personal cleaning touch of his. THANKS! I think its time to buy a portable washer so he don't have to carry water down all the time.

A man in his 50s loitering around me and my sis car in the carpark...

Turn out to be dad in his morning routine...washing car. Just look at his face, the concentration and absolute emotion while getting the grime out of the rim.


Smile for the camera dad!