Mizuno!

Yes! I'll be getting my new pair of running shoes tomorrow...

The one I've been using is so not right for my bunions.
It's making my bunions even worse haha...

Am eagerly awaiting for my Mizuno Wave Rider...:)

======
Running Lab will be opening an outlet over at Tampines One soon...

I think their staff has extremely good service and are very knowledgeable about running issues, shoes, analysis of your feet and your running styles blah blah....

....

Too many buffets in too little days.

*Burp*

Cause for alarm

*Beep Beep*

off off off off off-site

The first quarter of 2009 is gonna be over in a few hours. So fast...

Went on a company offsite over yesterday and today.
It was a "working" first half of the morning yesterday cos I was part of the planning committee.
And I was the time-keeper. Lol..a role which I relished actually :)

Teabreaks, games, lunch, seminars, workplanning sessions...and finally dinner...

We were putting up at the Furama Riverfront Hotel in Havelock Road.
After dinner, a bunch of about 10 of us went to catch the movie "Departures".

Frankly, I've been very out of touch with what's showing in the cinemas...and I didn't even know such a show existed...
Yeah, am suaku I know haha.

But gosh...it was a superb show...Very emotional show.
I think I cried for the longest time...was puffy eyed by the end of the show..

Departures ties with IP Man in my list of good movies this year...:)

Saturday = Food Day??

Oh Saturday...was a day of eating...

What more can I say except food florious food!!!

Lunchtime - mum's fried bee hoon...had an early lunch at 1130...

Was complaining of hunger by the time it hit 3pm...Had to wait till 4pm for the usual breaktime during class...jioed Kyne & YC to the cafe to buy food...
Ended up sharing mushroom quiche and potato salad with Kyne...yumyum...

Popped by Taka after class to meet PQ & Klive. Gorged on 2 yakitori sticks while waiting for them...1 chicken ball and 1 pork with asparagus...YUM YUM!!!

Adjourned to Coffee Club with them..the two goons only had normal drinks...like apple mojito and kopi...
I was the only sucker who had hot chocolate with a bacon and spinach quiche..
Yeah, quiche again...I like quiches lah haha..bopian...
It was fantastic...melt in your mouth. With the right amount of saltiness and fragrance!!

The mesclun salad by the side was rather nice too!!

Supposed to head home after that...but the time we hit the road....
The other two got hungry instead...

And so voila, Summer Breeze over at Pasir Ris Park became the next destination haha...
Calamari, Fish fingers and Wedges...

I ate about the same amount as them...

Shucks...I've been eating lotsa stuff lately hahahhaha...
And not been exercising cos of the cough...hmm mm....;p

lol

I found it extremely hilarious when Yan Ling made a comment about wm on Friday night.

"那个混球啊??"

"PUI!!!!!"

Quickie Updates

The week has been a mixture of laziness, happiness, boredness and plainess.

Cough
I've been coughing for a week now. Hmm mm..Went to the doc on Tuesday evening and wranlged an MC out of the doc. Hehe, spent Wednesday at home. The cough's an irritating one.

It gets horrid during train rides where the airon is dry and the air is kinda dusty..irritates the throat quite abit and it's really embarrassing when I get into a coughing fit and can't stop coughing.

Told the doc Dhasedyl doesn't really work on me anymore and I was given a new type of medication. Something called Prospan. No alcohol and codeine in it, made with ivy plant extracts so it's quite natural..Textures like honey or maple syrup and sort of tastes like it too haha..

Am on a course of antibiotics...zzz...

Tuesday Night
Lovely lovely night with the duckies haha...As usual we had the round-table updates..
Pity Selin couldn't make it this time. Darn, it's so difficult to get all 7 of us in a single dinner outing!!

Our next gathering is a spa trip to Batam on 16 May. Hope it materialises...:)

Dinner was at Dome Cafe, the Marina Square branch. Their soups are great!!

Wednesday
Oh it's MC day. Spent the whole day at home. Concussed in the afternoon for about 2 hours and spent the rest of the time either working or MSN-ing. Spent some time looking at Chris Brown youtube videos as well lol...

Thursday Night
Had an impromptu dinner with PQ today. haha.
And yeah, we're boring old birds. Went back to Swensons again...:) Nah, make that two sick old birds..we were taking turns to cough through the night haha...

Girls talk. Now she's seen my crude and open side lol..

I love impromptu dates like these!! You start your day feeling bland but you end it with a bang!

Friday Night
Oh today! haha..Had a lovely time being a lamppost to 2 couples haha...
Daniel & YL and Wendy (Daniel's sister) & her bf..

We were at this well-known Jap restaurant at Mirarmar Hotel. It's called Ikoi..
Buffet at $33++ per adult. But the food's not bad!..Had lots and lots and lots of sashimi.. haha..:)
*beams*

Oh, and I've been naughty. Had ice-cream, fried foods, alcohol during the dinner...Hope my cough won't worsen..hmm mm..my voice has changed again...
Sounding a little like a tranny now...shucks...

Chris Brown

I've all along been a half blood when it comes to music. My tastes are varied and as such, I don't really have an in-depth knowledge of each genre of music...not to mnention the various artistes and bands or groups in each genre...

I never knew Chris Brown existed till the Rihanna punching incident. When I told Sashi this last night, he gaped at me and said how could you no tknow who Chris Brown is???

Gosh, and Sashi is 50 years old. AHahaa...Decided to do a YouTube on Chris Brown and I stumbled across the video below. Cool cool moves..check out the little kids somewhere in the 1st one thrid of the video...

I Broke My Record

Ok, today's my first blading lesson after missing 3 weeks of it.

And my rustiness definitely showed haha....

I broke my record today.

I fell a grand total of 5-6 times within 2 hours!!....

Gosh. So embarrassing!!!

Argh! My goal for next week is...not to fall more than ...hmmmm.....ONCE!

hehe...wait for my update next Sunday..!

The Younger Uns

(1) My Fav Instructor
Uh-oh..I'm bio-ing younger guys haha...

My fav instructor during my blading lessons is this fella who's 10 years younger than me.
He's only in JC Year 2 lol..
Pity he doesn't take Sunday classes anymore. He's taking the Saturday classes instead..but I cannot make it on Saturdays!!!

He's just so cute haha...tanned, wears specs, lovely big smile, patient and endearing..,plus his braces are kinda cute haa..

Ally, guess who I'm referring to? Hehe...

(2) Our Fav Classmate
It is now official. This little boy with huge eyes, chubby rosy cheeks and a solemn face during class is our fav little boy!

Managed to get him to open up to us today...hiakzz.. And then we discovered to our horror that he's only 6 years old. Gosh...and he's doing spin stops and whatnot liao..Puts us all to shame haha.

Forgot his name though. Am gonna sak him next week again! Some Chinese name...Shi Yuan or something like that...He'll be a heart-breaker when he grows up!

P/s: His solemn face is only reserved for lessons. After the lesson, PQ, me and two other little girls went on our own exploration around the area...he followed us and showed his terror side..
Flashing his toothless grin at us all the time haha..

(3) My New Buddies
Little girls can be irritating. Little girls can also be endearing.

I'm learning blading with a whole bunch of kids. There's a few girls who are always in my class. I know some of them have taken notice of us (i.e. the clumsy adults) but seem quite shy to get to know us...

Today I got to know 3 of these little girls haha. A pair of sisters Sheryl (11 yrs old) and Sherie (9yrs old) and another little girl who seems to have attached herself to me. This other girl is by the name of Glenda (8 yrs old).
She came up to me just now during lesson and asked for my name and asked if she could stand next to me. Haha I think she likes me!

These 3 girls are kinda sweet. We were taken on a trip through the park by the instructors...being the clumsy adults, PQ and I were the slow ones at the back of the group...
These 3 girls stayed back with us...encouraging us and even offering helping hands at times.

Gosh, imagine an 8-year old asking you: "Do you need my hand?" Wah so sweeettt!!

And when I fell, they asked me "Are you ok? You need any help?? You want to hold my hand??" Wahhhh...really so sweet lor!!! haha...

Looking forward to next week's lessons...:)
I found new buddies...and they're still in primary school ahha...

If It Kills Me - Jason Mraz

Jagged Shards of Hurt

She stood in front of the mirror, staring.
Her hair. Her face. Her eyes. Her cheeks. Her mouth.
"If It Kills Me" played in the background, in repeat mode.

And then it finally hit her. The thing she was afraid of.
The thing she held her own against for weeks.
The thing she held her head high against in stubborn defiance for weeks.

Her hair. Her face. Her eyes glistening. Her cheeks. Her mouth trembling.
The first drops were warm against her cool skin.
But what of it, everything felt warm after awhile.

Drops to trickles to flows. She let herself go. She felt weak. She felt tired.
Weeks of carefully built up defenses crumbling. Like. Dominoes toppling.
Weeks of pent-up anguish gushing forth. Engulfing.

Her body. Suddenly thin, suddenly frail. Racked with sobs.
Never has so much hurt coursed through her before. Strength seeped from her.
Her mouth opened. No words came out. Her mouth closed again.

She stood there. Rooted. Her hands gripped the wooden chair in front of her.
She felt alive but in so much pain. Pain makes one feel alive?
Her knuckles were taut. Tense. Maps of veins covered her hands.

Soft cries of anguish. But no one heard her. She was alone.
She was still standing. For two-thirds of an hour.
She was still crying. She rocked back and forth slightly. On the balls of her feet.

She felt as if her head were going to burst. Held her head in her hands.
Years of memories ran through her mind. Churning.
So much pressure. So much hurt. So much. So much.

Words and scenarios played in her mind. Moments, events, dreams, promises, laughter.
All but memories now. Intangible fragments. Jagged shards of hurt.
She felt raw. She felt exposed. She felt bare.

The song still played.
The rivers still ran.
The jewels still adorned her cheeks.

Yay!!

The course has finally ended. What a relief!!

Had a 10-minute one-to-one coaching today. Everyone had a personal session with the trainer.
Am told I have gotten rid of some of my idiosyncracies like swinging my body and fiddling with my fingers..
Am told my voice projection has improved alot...
And that by today's presentation, I look much less nervous and am more calm even if I am spouting "smoke" to throw people off guard.. haha

She's good lah haha...a very good trainer.

I hope the takeaway from the couse will stay with me for a long time...

I'm a Virgin

Just though I'd share a single pic from my LA trip here first...

Don't have time to organise my photos as yet..BUSY!!!

birdie

I seem to be having an unconscious effort to go abroad every month.
Let me update the list. lol...

Feb - Manila
Mar - Mexico/LA
Apr - BKK
May - Bintan
June - Sydney (not confirmed)
July - France (not confirmed but seems like this is going out the window)
August - Beijing (not confirmed)
September - nothing yet
October - Seoul (not confirmed)
November - nothing yet
December - nothing yet

On Course - Mon to Wed

The Public Presentation Skills Course is a killer.

And a huge esteem-basher.

And a huge time-sucker.

Spent last night preparing slides.

Spent tonight preparing slides.

Will be bloody glad when the course ends on Wednesday.

Criticisms dished out to me today made me cringe real badly.

Am still suffering from repercussions.

Hope tomorrow and the day after would be better.

Hope I don't sink into my shell further...:(

what do you do

What do you do to heal an embattered fragile confidence?

One which has taken more beatings in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

What do you do to encourage a perennially weak confidence?

One which has taken more shit in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

What do you do to motivate a seemingly punctured confidence?
One which has taken more attacks in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

You'll Never Walk Alone

Lovely performance by the Reds last night against Man U. hahaa...Trashed them 4-1!!

It was absolutely entertaining to see Man U's keeper Van Der Sar stand rooted in between his goalposts for the last two goals which Pool rammed in...He looked absolutely bewildered and lost haha...

But a little article by ST's Sports Journalist Tay Yek Keak sealed the whole deal today for me. I thought his apt description of Sir Alex Ferguson was spot-on and agnonisingly hilarious!!! I was eating my fish porridge..couldn't take it, spluttered out my rice and laughed till I teared..!!

Paragraph extracted from his article reproduced here. (Source: ST Sunday Times Page 36.)

Anyone for Chewing Gum?
Saw the face of Sir Alex Ferguson? For most of the match, he was chewing gum as though he was in a Wrigley's advertisement. Then his face grew redder as it got blacker. By the time the match finished, he was gnashing his teeth.

The phrase in blue was classic man!!

omg

It's mid March already.

About 25% of the whole year has passed by already.

ACK.

So fast!

What have I done??

What have I achieved???

My Saturday

Ah..today isn't like any other mundane Saturday...which made it very enjoyable...though tiring.

Granny
Woke early in the morning. Adrian came to fetch me and off we went to Granny's. Picked her up from the Home and then whisked her off to Holy Family Church in Katong.
Spent some time praying and then brought her to lunch haha. Ordered some side dishes plus Katong laksa..*yummy*

Sent her back to the Home after that...she was feeling a little tired and breathless by the time we brought her back 2 hours later. Sigh...

Red Biscuit
Adrian dropped me off at Khatib MRT since he was gonna visit his mother-in-law there. Anyway, it was near my school too...Was about to head to the MRT when it suddenly occurred to me that Khatib was HB's hometown.
Gave him a buzz and voila, he was at home...Dragged him out and we had a catch-up of sorts...:)

School
Damn it. I'm totally CMI this semester. We have a new teacher taking us. A Chinese lady who speaks 98% in French. We can't understand her fully.

I can't understand her 99% of the time. I'm dead meat. We're all dead meat.

She enjoys giving dictations and had us do one today. Byt the time she finished correcting the passage with us...my paper was red and crossed in an amazing number of places....

*argh*

Pre-Dinner
Was early by more than an hour so spent some time loitering in Plaza Sing with YC, one of my French classmates.

The goondu had an appointment at 10pm and had 4 hours to kill hahaha...We ended up sampling wines at the Wine Fair in front of Carrefour..;p
The goondu was talking so much rot and he made me laugh till my ribs ached...It was a short but fun time with him!!

Dinner
Met up with Kym & XL for dinner at Pondok Indonesian Restaurant at The Atrium@Orchard.
Afterwhich we adjourned to TCC for drinks...

It's been awhile since we met, close to 3 months I think...seldom do we go so long without seeing each other hahaa....There was a time when I was seeing them every Friday for dinner and boozing! Good to have met up with them...updates and mindless chatter...
But I guess, we've all been busy...

C'est un bonne journee! :)

Home
Reached home at 1015pm and managed to catch the last 30minutes of THE MATCH with Dad.

Liverpool Vs Man U.

WOOHOO! Haha Pool trashed Man U at their home ground.
4-1 to Pool.

They're on a roll baby!! Trashing Real Madrid and now Man U...
Hope they can keep up the adrenalin and trashing streaks!!!!

It's 130am now. Tired & concussed...
Shall head to bed now...Blading tmr...I hope I can remember...Been 2 weeks since I last bladed haha...

En Meilleuire Sante

I had a health screening done on Feb 18...before all the trips.
Received the health report a few days ago..:)

I think it reads very good! haa..

My cholesterol level is very marginally borderline high...But if you break it down, my bad cholesterol is still within the normal range...and my good cholesterol is at least 20-25% higher than the norm hahha...which makes it overall good...:)

Woot Woot.

Liver, Kidney, Blood & Blood Pressure are all doing okay.

Woot Woot.

The only thing is err...I'm underweight. And I'm told my ideal weight is 3 kg more than what I am now. Oh well...haha, it's not as if I am dieting or what...I do eat!!

Anyway..yay!!
Am in fine health! hahaa...