It comes a time in Singapore, where a driver will go ultimately go through the ritual to take down the probation plate after obtaining his/her driving license for one year. As scared as it can be as putting it up initially, its a day I had been long counting down too… haha! YEA BABY! its time! Today! 8th of OCT! whee whooo! no more newbie sign. Watch out DRIVERS!
With that I would like to reflect on my rather safe & accident-free 1st year. & so will it be for as long as I drive.
cheers!
Well, thats the case this evening at the Breeks cafe, HabourFront. I ordered my usual double servings of fish & chips + baked rice while dad got his chicken thigh set, Sheena with her baked pasta & mum with her chicken baked rice. Everyone was happily eating when I started on my 2nd serving – baked rice after my finishing my fish & chips… So after going thru like, one third into the 2nd dish, I was rather amusingly greeted by a well baked baby cockroach sandwiched & perfectly moulded into the rice… Well as the saying goes: whats worst than seeing a worm in your apple? – a half bitten worm of course! Thank goodness it wasn’t the latter!
We reflected the bug to the staff, where I guess an autopsy was conduct in the kitchen thereafter. The manager was very traumatised by the the matter, he came to our table & kept explaining all things from kitchen management, how it possibly went in, their monthly extermination with pestbusters, etc. I guess the issue was quite controversial with the staff & such, as they were like, you know, kinda “scared” as they approach our table thereafter, fearing that we might bite their heads off with a complain to the environment ministry… haha just say they were very apologetic… & they approached us in a rather professional manner, which is a good thing I guess.
Personal, I am one who grew up with creepy crawlys, not only kept them as pets before but ate crickets & bugs overseas too, so no big deal. Usually I the kind ok with an occasional hair or so in a bowl of soup, with the except of flies & I guess lizards of course, being potent bateria taxis. In all, we had 6 dishes, but we only paid for 4, so thats 2 on the house plus an additional ice cream set for dessert- on the house. Luckily I was sharp, then mum mentioned that, I was infact rather sharp in eating my food, stating that if there were ever a roach in her food, she won’t know, as she would have eaten it already!
On our way back home we came to conclusion in a rather comical manner, saying that “the cockroach which sacrificed itself for a baking demise actually did it for quite a “good cause” – for our pockets that is, saved about $21 in all. Now jus hope I don’t make frequent trips to the toilet soon…
I got myself a 65cm gym ball at the habour front Aibi store! whee! bounces, bounces, bounces…
Oh yea & to all those still running the 168km all-around-singapore, all the best, I salute you.
Then there was a Malay wedding ceremony Sheena had to attend before picking her up for dinner, & man do we have to drive like almost an hour or so before getting to Sembawang where the wedding is held… aka the-other-end-of Singapore as we know it. Luckily we were rewarded with some baryani rice, mutton & chicken from her friend as a dinner top-up. That very much set the in-car aroma all the way back, & man were we hungry then. Initially the plan was a visit to grans before heading down to breeks at habour front for dinner, where Mum wanted us to try the al la crate. She had been always bragging to bring us to go after her visit there last week with her PTA presenter’s gang. The plan was postponed due to the lack of time & we had dinner at a hawker center near grans place together with our additional malay cuisine, courtesy of our friends at the still-on-going wedding celebrations in Sembawang. Mum went about her usual groceries, while dad went for a hair cut, as usual I was mum grocery plastic bag boy… “arms very strong hol? come come help me hold all these things…” dang!
& no, we didn’t raid the cheers ice-cream machine this time. Next week will see my last paper for the semester, electronics. Brought stuff to study while at grans but didn’t find the time do to do then, sad. Left about 10pm+ before heading home.
Now, can anyone enlighten me whether a mixture of fried hokkien sotong noddles, beancurd, soyabean drink, baryani rice, chicken & mutton for dinner is a bomb for methane production? cus I am having lots of gas now.. yea… can’t stop “opps” burping & passing gas.. urgh! Maybe if that is so, then we can rely on a new definite source of renewable energy, thus solving all our current energy problems… now only we got to find a comfortable way to harvest the gas…
Yea we all know that Sony’s out with their PS3 next year, answering that too will be Microsoft’s Xbox360, both spotting wireless controllers, new processors, engine & such. But I guess nothing much can offer the interactivity the Nintendo Revolution offers. In place of the all standard game controller is a rather unique “TV remote” styled controller where on-screen-controls are as easy as ‘point & click’ – YES point to the screen & SELECT, all no hassles, no wires. I can just imagine the possibilities this format offers, having the ability to pick objects in RPGs, swinging your controller as a racket/sword in a tennis game/samurai game, using it as a steering wheel in racing games, not to mention having an edge & doing away with the hassle of D-pads in first person shooters. Whats more, its expandable & can be mated with a conventional D-pad base for conventional gaming style. You can read a more detailed story & application of this rather interesting gyro controller on IGN.com here.
To have a feel of the interactivity involved, check out some snapshots I’ve taken from a Japanese advertisement Nintendo is currently offering as a trailer on Japanese airwaves, comically funny!
You can read more of this advertisement on a video game blog, videogames.3yen.com here & download the video from the page. Alternatively, you can download the video here Sorry on the broken direct video link, the site does not support hot-linking, please visit video games.3yen.com to download it direct from their page (Thanks GamerZ!)
Its finally out, the photos of the Sheares Bridge Run/AHM 2005 by sportsphotoX.com. I can’t search the photo archive by names, but only by our bib numbers. Furthermore, it took them about one week before all the pictures came online, just like the previous Newbalance RealRun. Did a search & the 2 here are the best I’ve found so far, as many are actually duplicate shots at the same point. Well, considering that all the photographers are actually clustered at the finishing line, so thats the only location where all my shots are.
haha, hang loose!
However, I remembered seeing like 2 other photographers throughout the route, maybe they didn’t catch me. Even I posed for them. Nevertheless got quite a few good pictures at the finishing line.
UPDATE: In case you are wondering, the handsign is called “the shaka” a Hawaiian friendly greeting. You can read more about it here & here. & yes incase, you are wondering, its not making a phone call, neither “call NKF”, “call me babe” or even a superstar finalist asking for votes. As discussed on the SGrunnners forum. Whoa!
Last week was peak exam week, so we only go back to school for papers. Its like back-to-back days on the “ulu” hours back to school where nobody’s up, or down! even the buses all all empty mid afternoon.. On a sidenote, there was some problem with the web server mid week onwards, not allowing me to upload my moblog pictures. Anyway, its up now & what the best I can do but summarize the week activities in one long concluding post:
Monday started with a our mechanics test. Though I completed all the questions & double checked every working, I still felt quite uncertain after handling in the papers… don’t know why its just a gut feeling, maybe I think my paper presentation was not so good. Wednesday saw the autocad test in a rather unknown venue, taken in concurrent with another class as well! The 3D part was easy but the assembly part is definitely a breeding ground for mistakes, so I can really tell how good I will do in it – As to anyone, their assembly drawing will always look “correct” to them. But overall it was cool. Electronics practical on Thursday was a breeze & we even get to know our results on the spot, I’ve scored 98/100 due to a cut from failing to put one calibration knob on the oscilloscope to MAX. However, I argued that the calibration knob used for zeroing & we are assuming that the lab signal generator is perfect (the oscilloscope used in the test wasn’t even zeroed). In fact I was zeroing the oscilloscope source to display the perfect accurate waveform on the screen & I have the calculations to prove it! All in hand, the teacher agreed with my explanation but still kept the cut (marking scheme restriction) *me jus collaspes* haiz just because of that 2 marks from perfection.. but 98 is better than nothing too.
The campus poolside gym will be closed from the 19 Sept to 1 Oct, so its choing time or not gym for 2 weeks. Went training on tues & thurs, my usual track training days (as I couldn’t stay so late in school, gotta study) Its muscle building week, so more chest presses, crunches (& oblique crunches), maximum resistance cycling & elliptical cross-training. Furthermore, I got the week to burn in my newly commissioned Brooks Maximus Running shoes!
I remembered having a dream last night about me on the Swissotel (Swissôtel) Vertical Marathon. I recalled a scene when I was running up fast, everything was blurry, few competitors chasing me behind, about 50 floors up & still having energy to keep the pace, I was using my hand as a gliding guide on the handrail to pull yourself up on each flight, & I recalled wearing gloves in the dream! Never thought of that! Come to think about it ya, considering upon meeting fatigue, you using your arms to pull yourself up most of the time & gloves will not only serve to provide a better grip but protect your hands from blisters you may get after rail contact for say the last 40 floors? Mmmmm maybe sometimes dreams serve to tell you something… maybe you will see me in this year’s challenge with my long-lost Nike half-gloves on!
Had wanton mee for breakfast at Redhill Market, as the usual “econo beehoon” store wasn’t open so early at 4.30am. Oh well the early bird gets the worm then. Upon reaching the padang, as expected the place was already packed when I was there, not to mention the traffic & carparks there.
Pre race:
Desposited my bag & met up with Eric & Darius as intended at the park. Dropped by the park fountain to meet up with the SGrunners who were quite an interesting bunch of runners… Our man of the morning, Lonely Runner was late.. but ahaha he appeared soon after, got to meet forummates in person, like the brokenrunner, taz, sotong & the rest of the gang. After a few short greetings & introductions, rejoined back to my track team as the race was starting already. Then nature called…
I started late, remembering hearing 3-2-1-GO! when I was still in the toilet beside the esplanade bridge, luckily I did all my warm up while in the toilet queue. (haha time management to the maxes!) Missing the start is ok, as timings are gantry based, so I just have to forgo the gun-time completely. As usual, one thing I like about the Sheares 21km route (or the upcoming 42km stand chart route) are the rather scenic views the route offers, whether its passing landmarks such as indoor/outdoor stadium, kallang river, etc… its just so.. relaxing… Coupled with my music player.. ahaha shoik! did I mention tend to overtake more people when I play techno? ahaha!
The race:
Competition was not up on my list, but Completion was top, so what the best a runner can do but enjoy the run & make it as pleasant as possible? yea that includes “hangloose” cheering towards bystanders/in reply to the cheers from the public at the east coast park/roadsides, doing my bid by not littering at waterpoints (though my 1 cup quite insignificant duh!) or slowing down with a pose & smile whenever I see a sportsphotoX personel… it like, wooha make way buddy here I come for the shot! I think my sports photoX pics this time will be rather more interesting… now to my own pics:
Great run, reasonable timing of 1:55 on my watch.
Post race:
The moment I read.. bag storage in 5 tonners, I knew that collection would definately be rather interesting, having gone thru NS & knowing the in & outs of the rather new MAN tonner, it may be a good portable storage solution but when it comes to finding the bags in that truck… haha it just one big blackhole & just takes forever to get anything out of there. Lucky for me, my bag was sorted out of the tonner in the tentage, so I very much got my bag easily without a hitch, contray to poh fong & darius.. haha who had to keep their arms raised showing their number tags up behind the tonner for ages!
Met Nelson, my scout platoon trooper, he was quite surprised to see me running AHM this year, haha doesn’t mean I am out of the army= no more AHM! ahaha! Registered for Vertical marathon & 2nd link bridge run thereafter. Through & by courtesy of our track captain, who volunteered to do all the paperwork for us.. haha life is just so convenient these days. Met up with the rest of the SG runners for phototaking, will post them once they get it up on site! Aliased with mum & dad thereafter who were resting after finishing their 6km city run. They very much welcome the idea of taking part in this every year.. a good thing too.. We had lunch at bras basah before heading home for a well deserved rest.
As I said, good day, good weather, good run. out.
Today saw a 2.4km time trail for training, after some drills & foot work training. We even got the opportunity to run with our seniors taking the NAPFA test. Though the track team kinda finished even before 20% of the Napfa testees completed… no we are not fast, they are just slow. Clocked in at a disappointing 10:43, one of my personal worst, can’t expect much after a long 4 straight hours computer- aided- design (CAD) class I’ve just before. Didn’t even get to hydrate my usual 3L of water an hour before training… sad.. tests, exams, all eating into every aspects of life now… even training… must relax.. relax.. go run…
For the sheares bridge cum AHM 05 this sunday, been carbo loading since last sunday, eating at least portions for 2 persons every meal then. Like a plate of mixed vege rice (2meats, 2 veg) with a $4.50 chicken chop, chrysanthemum & soyabean bean drink plus a bowl of beancurd desert for dinner today. Expensive.. but I got to ensure optimum salt & glucose levels to prevent over hydration on the event, my worst fear. As I just like to overhydrate. & hey, the number tags this year have some radar thingies similar to our all familar race chips, no more mid-race tag tear outs like last year!
As usual, I am a living proof & verification of Murphy’s Law, as typical example today when you are in a rush to meet somebody, traffic jams appear & all traffic lights will turn red when you approach them, DANG late again… Anyway, met up with Lishen & her colleague Danny at Suntec’s Macdonalds in the afternoon today to discuss business matters in relation to the up & coming online jewelry store, xuanbymeg. Everything looks promising & its a matter of time before the online business will start to take shape in the E-commerce world.
Dropped down thereafter to meet Dom whose gang was already at the Comex 2005 exhibition center. & ITS VERY CROWDED! Strange though when I was there, they made all four escalators leading to the exhibition going downwards, & no one could go up! Usually its 2 up & 2 down. Maybe they didn’t want too many people in the exhibition center? or did someone just farted up there so that everyone’s just wanted to leave? funny… The lifts will definitely be on a beeping spree so thats out for me, luckily there is the overhead bridge staircase on the outside, which not many people know though…
As expected the place is packed to the brim, but not like “bumper to bumper” compared to last year’s event partly because of the introduction of a 2nd exhibition area (where creative’s 2nd booth & Microsoft are happily nested) on the 6th floor to even-out the crowds. As usual we have the standard few branded PC retailers HP, Toshiba, DELL & stuffs. Datamini, Twinhead & Fujitsu are not around this year though… no “new birds”.
The thing which caught my eye are some super small Mp3 players, like 2x1x1cm small, funky Frankenstein contraptions by inkstation where you can strap into your printer (starting at $120) allowing your to print 2000 full colour pages continuously at a go (whoa!) & the prices of tablets.
I thought Wacom will never reduce their prices for their tablets, till I came across a booth retailing them 100 bucks off standard retail prices. The thing about wacom is that all their products are REALLY standard prices & only authorised retailers are allowed sell them at that specified price.. shit… but even with the $100 off it still costs above $400 for a 6×8 argh!!! not enough… GReEN POwER… arghHh! Need Charge card….bzzt!
There is a common misconception about PC shows- that the prices are always cheaper… that is true to a certain extent. Generally my advice is to buy stuff from Comex only if they are controlled by the retailer, or NETT priced items we normally see in stores outside, like branded notebooks, printers, tablets & monitors. Otherwise, most items “on sale” are actually the same everyday prices at simlim. In fact video-pro & best bargain, both well known simlim stores are selling some of their items 20% higher than the prices they were retailing in simlim last month… but everybody’s crazy that all these booths, with crowds, cash & reciepts exchanged every second or so… all these stopid Singaporeans, obviously no ones doing their homework…. & man there was even a 20m QUEUE for the creative payment booth.. whoa people really have alot to spend heh… not to mention enjoying the Singaporean favorite pastime too – queuing…. Never mind loh… good for economy anyway lah!
Met Hanjun & choon liang who were working there. Hanjun got a sweet $7/hr deal distributing flyers for M1 for 2 days, while Choon Liang works under creative, obviously he can get us in an “express shortcut queue” on the creative cashier…
With all this I definitely am lucky & have Poh Fong to thank, who sacrificed himself today to collect the track team’s Sheares Bridge Run competitive race pack at the race expo at Safra Mount Faber, if not I could not make the outing today.
It had been sometime since I woke up to the morning darkness, but today is an exception as the long awaited New Balance Real Run 2005 is on this morning!
Had the “econo” Beehoon Horfun + egg for breakfast at Redhill market with dad (who had to go to the market for some groceries) before meeting the group harbour front MRT control station. & man was the place already packed with people, even the MRT staff were puzzledly amazed- an obvious sign of quite a major event.
The starting & finishing points are at the sentosa gateway carpark- whats left of the late dusfunct fantasy island water park. The race started off @ 8.30 with the juniors (5.5km), followed 15mins later with the open, hometeam & veteran categories (10km). Overall the race was great I just simply love the feeling of overtaking people on the various upslopes & downslopes- places where people tend to slow down, not to mention the notorious beach run. I always maintained by pace & only overtake, not to be overtaken. Furthermore I devised a method of running diagonally along the coastal path so you end up going straight along the coast without slipping down the beach, thus allowing me to overtake an exceptional number of people too on the sand run. Amazingly too, alot started walking after the sands, allowing my team & me to gain an edge too.
The most exciting part is definitely the last 400m where the everybody’s pace & spirits are up towards the last dash. Finished crossing the finishing gantry with twin funky “hang loose style” (aloha in Hawaii). The gantry read 58mins 24s when I crossed it, so minus-ing the 3-4mins time taken to flag off the crowd I guess my timings around the + – 55mins range for 10km. Only when the results to be released in 2 days will speak the eventual actual timing.
The most disappointing part is the lucky draw at the end, where they decide halfway to donate the prices to charity when they are no takers for prices, a call by the orgainisers, but a definite let down by the geering crowd. All in hand 100 prizes given out, neither any of us got an lucky draw prices.. sad, maybe the lottery is easier to win…
& now I got an additional dry-tec event shirt & shoe bag!
Sorry for the lack of event photos as I was a competitor & didn’t take much pictures, especially the crowds at the starting. Out!
Well, its finally the day of the long awaited SP Sports Grand opening day, with poppers, balloons, unicyclists, not to mention bag pipers in quilts, yea, my friend Andre came to school in his quilt (aka “the shirt”) all the way from pasir ris on MRT today! comments! comments!
Our Guest of Honour is some Doctor or so from South West CDC. Who officially opened the complex with a lion dance & a great Singapore workout. We got even free visors! Not to mention free CCA points for everyone! Besides this, track & field had actually been using the track (on a soft opening) for months already for training, infact since May, wonder why do they choose it open it now? Which is kinda.. umm late? My role there today is very much being a track marshal for the track events to be held as part of the programme, & a finishing-line marshal as well. But all that is after the old-boy’s soccer match…
Yes, the ex-Singapore national soccer players came to compete on a 45min friendly match against home. The Singapore team consisted of several old Singapore football legends, back at the time when its “still good” including, Sundram. Overall the match ended 3-2 with the Singapore team taking the win. & its only on the penalty shootouts were they finally broke the 2-2 tie. Good match, & I guess thats what everybody’s there for.
Track events followed thereafter. Everything went well, with the exception of one competitor fracturing his leg on the men’s 60m veteran event, which definately sent the red cross volunteers scurrying & the ambulance on standby rushing off them of to the nearest hospital thereafter. The event ended 6pm + & dang I had to RUN after the bus this time on my way out the complex… as bus service 196 is just so notorious for its waits at the bustop. Luckily the old uncle driver was kind enough to hold the bus for me, thanking him on the way in. *sigh* Come to think about it, such kind drivers are so hard to come by these days…
We came in empty but left walking out with our arms behind our backs like pregnant women. If you guessed “buffet” you are right. Just say “we” as a class went straving since lunchtime till 3pm, when we finally arrived at Westmall, Bukit Batok where we chomped to our hearts delight till 5pm. For a student rate of $16.00 including all the misc charges. Overall the class was split into 2 tables of 5 & 6 & we are amazingly tied at 70 coloured plates one both tables, thats brings about 140 coloured plates of sushi in total. hehheh…
Got a call from one of my troopers Zhiwei today. Called asking whether I’ve received my 2005 $200 marksman bonus the SAF is supposed to pay me. Initially I thought I would never get my $200, considering that I didn’t get my ATP-M marksman bonus for last year too, with the exception of IPPT bonuses. So I guess as screwed up big organisations can be, I wasn’t even expecting to get it this year. But the call came as a welcome & I see our inkchik is really fighting real hard for us to get the bonus. Whee! till I get the injection, I would be $200 closer to my wishlist items! Hello HTC Universal!
