To the Land of Tom Yam Soup

This is a fast week since I was back from Land of the Kangaroos.

Touched down on Sat evening. Luckily the weather in Singapore is still okay as compared to Australia. Initially, I was afrad that I can't get used to the humidity back at home.

Considering 3 weeks without a real gym workout, I decided to do some static exercise at home. Only to end up with a strained back. This was the worst injury I had ever since I left army. So bad that my legs are shaking when I tried to stand up without support. I can't even wear my pants while standing, so I had to sit and wear my pants. Saw a chinese sinseh. He nearly killed me. I broke into cold sweat when he was rubbing my back and thigh. It was so painful that I went to grab his hand.

Sinseh: DUN GRAB MY HAND.
me: "Bite my lips and grab onto the table" ARGH...

But at least he was good, I managed to raise my leg after that session.

The verdict was a week of rest without exercise. I felt fat and untrained.

At least, now i am well again. Gym yesterday when I saw Alvin in the gym as well. He was trying to build strength. He had an operation recently on his knee. Can't remember what is it exactly. Just knew that something snapped when someone tackled him during soccer.

And a 10km run with Wenxing this morning. And welcome Wenxing to the car owning club. Road taxes, car insurance, ERP, Parking fees await him....

A flight to catch in 4 hrs time. 6 days of shopping. and 4 days leave left. Where should I go next?

Random Conversation

Was having a random conversation with one of the Australians attached to the Exercise.

Phill: Hey Mate (They call everyone Mate in Australia... Beats me..)
Tin: Hey Dude... How is it going?

Conversation goes on.. until...

Phill: I heard Singapore is very small... You can travel from one end to the other in 3 hrs...

Tin: Are you sure? Who told you that? 3 hrs in a tractor? We can drive from east to west in less than 1 hr in a car... about 40 mins from South to North...

Phill: Oh Jesus... Thats freaking small...

Tin: We have close to 5 million people living on it...

Phill: Oh freaking hell.. aint the island sinking??

Tin: We live in apartments which goes up to 12 storeys tall... each apartment is about 90m square...

Phill: Thats only a few containers added up... (anyway phill is the crane operator.. tats why he used containers as a measurement)

Tin: You cant drink/eat on the subway... the fine can go up to $500..

Phill: ..... (i swear i can see the disbelief in his eyes)

Tin: Anyway, the troops you see now... they are all only 19 years old.. everyone is required to serve 2 years in the armed forces...

Phill: How i wished they implement this in Australia... the young mates nowadays... trouble makers...

At least there is one thing he is impressed... our national service implementation...

The mid term syndrome

I cant believe it... (anyway not that I cant spell cant by missing out the Apostrophes but its because my Apostrophes key is spoilt... my laptop since uni is falling apart bits by bits) Anyway, I cant believe it that I still have more than a week more to go!! argh.. send me home.. I miss the curry, miss the cai fan, miss the japanese food especially the north point one (hint hint).

I think I am losing weight. Have been eating very little nowadays and no much greens in my diet. The food here is expensive.. the cheapest is Mac which is about $8 plus after you do the currency conversion.

Its 8.54am now in aust. 2 hrs ahead of singapore time. I am waiting for work to start.

And Aust is not really a good place to do own runs because almost everywhere is filled with bird poos.. and they dont really see it as a health hazard. Its so much that you can see a whole part of the street filled with it. Anyway, the pool entrance cost $5 per entry. I shall not swim then. I was watching the TV last night and they were showing of a gay hatred gang which kills gays for fun. And judging from how people often misunderstood me as one, I think i better dont do runs late in the night. My night run habit is now to run at 6 in the morning. Its bright and sunny at 6am in australia. Very different from Singapore.

One more week of work after I am back from Aust before I fly off to clear my annual leave at Thailand. Looking forward to it.

I shall now drive down to subway to catch a quick bite before I do a 3 hrs drive to the exercise area.

At the land of wallaby

Me in Aust now... lying in my hotel room ...Its the best hotel room I have stayed before.. I even have a balcony and a sofa... I was even doing a sun tan out at the balcony this morning..

Did a run yesterday at night... Damn cold... And I din run far too cos I was afraid that there might be people out there thinking I am a rich Japanese and wanting to rob me or even some drive pass shooting... Did a slow one and came back to the hotel gym to do some weight... Very disappointing gym.. the heaviest weight is 10kg... Even in Singapore gyms, they have weights up to 26kg. Did a run today too at around 6pm, hoping that the weather is better.. but its cold too..

Tomorrow will be a long day...

To the land of wallaby

Counting down to the more than 10 hrs of flight I have to take to get to the exercise area.

After the 7.5 hrs Japan flight this May, I am sure I can't take long flights. How can I survive? I guess I have to incur some sleep debt, so that I will just sleep all my way in the plane.

3 weeks without my work laptop and my main job over there is to provide technical assistance to the Users. Other than that, it's really time on my own. I will be bringing my running gear and swimming trunks to make full use of my time there. Treat it as a training stint for standard chart marathon.

Talking abt swimming, I caught the pervert who stole my socks and exchanged it with his last time. I am not sure whether I have mentioned it before. There was once after my swimming during lunch time, I realised my socks were not mine. Someone actually took mine and placed his into mine while I was bathing in the cubicle. So yesterday, when I was bathing, I purposely peeped through the door to check on my belongings. And I found this guy standing just in front of my stuff. So I went out and took a look. And that guy was flipping my clothes and taking my socks out of my shoes. But he looks young, around my age. So I thought I better give him a chance and let him go.

Me: Eh... I saw you taking my socks. Return it to me. (one of my socks was already taken. Because he saw me coming out of the cub, he din have the time to put his in.)

Him: Oh.... eh... (acting blur and getting all the socks from his shoes) is it?

(Showing me all the 3 socks)

Him: erm.. May I know which one is yours? I think I accidentally took it.

(For goodness sake, I stuffed my socks all the way into my shoes. How to accidentally take it?)

Me: (Ignoring him and snatching back my socks) This one.

Him: ohhh.. sorry sorryy...

And I just took all my belongings and went back into the cubicle to continue my washing up. When I was out, I think he will be too embarrassed to stay in the toilet. Apparently he was waiting for me to go out of the toilet. I guess he is afraid that I might call the cops. So once i was out, he came up to me to apologise again for the socks thing and that he messed up his stuff and accidentally took mine. I am not a 3 year old kid, pls...

I wonder why.... This episode is just one of the many gay episodes I have, not forgetting the latest one whereby one uncle peeped at me in the toilet and then following me out and around the shopping centre. I still have to walk around to shake him off.

My mom was even saying... "stop going to gym and swimming. Just let yourself nua and become a white fat guy.. I am sure no gays will be attracted to you"

I am attracting the wrong attention. I am perfectly okay with a gal stealing my socks... HA... just joking.

Been a very long time

It has really been a long time since I updated this space.

Juggling time between work, exercising and having a life outta work.

It's seriously not easy to find time to do personal admin during the weekdays. When you have the time to do it during the weekends, the banks and offices are closed. Finding time to exercise is also hard. Work ends at 6, OT and dinner until 8 plus, reach home at 10. And the impetus to exercise is very strong when the night is cooling and quiet and the bed and computer is really tempting.

At least my goals are kinda edging closer. I am losing weight! Thanks to the swimming/ gym session during lunch time, the run around office after I am done with my work before I make my way back home and if not, the runs which i force myself to do when i reach home. When i say force, I really mean it. Once I reach home, I straightaway change into my running gear and throw myself out of the house. The next thing I know, I am down at my block, staring at the road and trying to stride the first step. But swimming is currently my week's fav cos I feel heavy while running. 60 laps for the past week with 1 gym session this morning. I am feeling toned. My weight... 72kg down to 69kg. 2 more months and I shall book my ippt. Gold I hope. 9.30mins for 2.4km. Okay la... I will try...

The next week ahead.... Meetings, deadlines... I think for the last 2 months, I spent 1 month plus out of office. Trainings, Trials, meetings... To the extent, I am quite scared to clear my leave. And my reservist letter is still with me. I don't even dare to tell my boss about it. I think I shall defer it this time round. And now my trip to HK with my parents is a prob... how do I start? hmmm ...

And I shall now go and wash the car... it has been a good 1 month plus since i washed it.

My little Date

The long delayed sentosa trip pics.

I always find it hard to reject my little cousin's request to visit every corner of singapore, be it zoo, goat farm, pet farm, kite flying, the walks at the beaches and the latest entry, sentosa. I guess the bond between us started ever since she was a toddler. My mom took care of her when she was just born, until she was around 4.

I still remembered vividly how she imitated me when I was combing my hair, doing push ups and even my little actions. All when she was only about 3.

When she first went to school, she sang almost all the songs she had learnt in school to me. I used to have more than 10 clips of her singings. Too bad, my phone went bonkers and the data got wiped out. I fully understand how a parent feel when their little kid sing to them when they are about 3-4, even though she's not my kid.

Now that she's older and heavier. (I can't hold her up like the way I used to without my hands shaking. And her little sis is the one who is fighting for me to hold her instead), outings are never without conditions. My conditions to her is 3 consecutives Full marks for English and chinese spelling respectively.

Gal: Ah heng gor gor... ENglish I can.. but chinese i cannot...
Me: You never try. how would you know?
Gal: My chinese is really very bad.... Even if I study for 3 times, I also can't get full marks.
Me: hai... okay.. 3 english 2 chinese
Gal: 3 english 1 chinese.
Me: 3 english 2 chinese. Take it or leave it.
Gal: okay la.. (turned her back and walked away from me)

Seriously, it hurts to see her so disappointed. But I shall insist. Sentosa was her first reward after the new set of conditions from me.

Frankly speaking, Sentosa is not for Singaporeans. Overly priced, too many places all over the island without a readable map. Japan's aquarium is much much better than the Underwater world. The last time i went to Underwater world was when I was a kid. Never did I know it still looks the same with only 1 storey. Japan's one has more than 5 storeys! And it's cheaper. I bet the japaneses are laughing at it when they visit it. But at least Gal got to see her dolphins' performances and her smile and excitement just make everything worthwhile.

I still owe her a sling bag for her birthday. And she is calling me everyday to remind me. Weekend shopping with her yet again. I love it.