Limping Marathon Runner

Late night or should I say early morning for today. My energy drained and I missed the morning run. There was going to be a second activation again. I managed to settle it. It has been raining for most of the time during the day. Nothing that I can do about it and I went off searching for the movie after I came back from the library. Watching it. .....

10 Rules To Follow
First, don't ask her to be feminine.
Second, don't let her drink over three glasses or she'll beat on someone.
Third, at a cafe, drink coffee instead of coke or juice.
Fourth, if she hits you, act like it hurts. If it hurts, act like it doesn't.
Fifth, on your 100th day together, give her a rose during her class. She'll like it a lot.
Sixth, make sure you learn Kum-do and squash.
Seventh, also be prepared to go to prison sometimes.
Eighth, if she says she'll kill you, take it lightly. You'll feel better.
Ninth, if her feet hurts, exchange shoes with her.
Finally, she likes to write. So, encourage her.

*heavy breaths*

Looking back. I am not sure of how much improvement I have gained in my swimming class. Yes, I can sense improvement. At times, I understand the usefulness of strokes. The gain seemed insignificant. As time goes by, benefits do come in (despite slow). This is one thing that speed does not help at all.

Okay. I shall go ride now.

People's problem is my problem. Nice motto. Just because of this motto, I was late for swim. Desperately trying to get out of the office, I settle the thing in double quick time. Was I surprise to find that the requester has probably gone off for the day? No. TMD.

I swiftly packed my swim stuff. My sis was puzzled with my mad rush. 'Rushing for a swim', I muttered. She (thanks dear) offered me a Portuguese Egg Tart to last me for my swim. I swallowed it, literally. While crossing the junction to the swimming pool, a Red Doraemon (pink actually, she was in pink top) waved to me. True enough, the guys at pool already started their warm up. A small turn out at the pool today. Warm up sets of 800m, strokes of 400m, fisting of 200m and followed by killer intervals of 10 x 100m. I almost fisted a kid in the pool, since he cut into my path. Luckily, I froze in time. Not exactly killers intervals ... that would be exaggerating. Challenging is the correct word. Averaging 1:45, I was laughed at for giving the rest a hard time. It was not the competitiveness in me that raised the bar. It was definitely the crappy things at work that has driven me in the pool. I just kept sweeping my arms. 'Two more laps and that's it!', I said. The rest grunted and that left the coach laughing.

Now, that I have cleared my laundry and ate something. I will do a short run (leaving the biking out) before settling a midnight job. Yeah. Partially, that was why I swam fast. Midnight jobs. *thumbs down*

A mid-day storm sent SH and I to a shopping mall nearby for our discussion. Surprisingly, I did not know of any extistence of MOS Burger's outlet there. Reason? I take the underground path that cuts through the shops all the time. Need I say more that I lost the bet and had to give a MOS Burger treat? There are some items that I have been putting on hold for quite a while and I think I need to address them right away. Great work from SH. An impish smile / wink from her suggested that she wanted to bug me about getting out of singlehood. The who, what, when, where, no why again. Help... Buddy, your tail is swinging to the left or right... I can sense that even a mile away.

*Owww* I stil feel an awful strain in my right calf. More stretching and giving tonight's training a pass.

myFTOgpx will be spending two weeks in U.S. Colorado for training. He has been asking me to join him, just to bunk in at his place. It is a nice place to enjoy nature walks. Scanning through the marathon list, there are two that I can do in Colorado. An alternative, Flying Pig Marathon. However, on second thoughts...

Remember this from Pretty Woman?

Artist: Lauren Wood
Song: Fallen

I can't believe it, you're a dream comin' true.
I can't believe how I have fallen for you.
And I was not looking, was content to remain.
And it's ironic to be back in the game.

You are the one who's led me to the sun.
How could I know that I was lost without you...

And I want to tell you, you control my rain..
And you should know that you are life in my veins.

You are the one who's led me to the sun.
How could I know that I was lost without you...

I can't believe it, you're a dream comin' true.
I can't believe how I have fallen for you.

And I was not looking, was content to remain.
And it's erotic to be back in the game.

"Swimming" is on today's menu. Simple structure consisting

• warm up 800m free and mixed
  
• main set 2km
  
• warm down 500m

I gave the last 200m a miss because I almost got chased out of the facility.

During the swim, I was quite apologetic about slamming in a lady swimmer who was there to learn how to swim. It was just four strokes from me that I looked at the floor and *bam* I felt my right hand hitting into something. It was too early to reach the end of the pool. We both said 'sorry' for cutting into each others' path. At that instant, my right calf tighten and I was having a cramp. Looking absolutely silly in a calf stretch position right in the middle of the pool, I held that posture for a good thirty seconds. While swimming back to the end, I was still having slight muscle pull on my calf. Right away, I took two minutes off at the poolside doing calf stretches and continued with my swim on a different lane after that.

Speaking of which, more stretches required now.

Last night, I tried to re-organise my schedules to fit the program in. I settled for the original instead.

During my lunch break, I doubled my pace to Queensway in search for the New Balance RT800. Unfortunately, they did not have that. Alternate sources? Maybe. I can hold.

Right after work, there was a mad rush in me to get home quick. With clouds closing in, I made a hasty decision and was riding along the canal within 10mins. There were simply too many people around the area. After a while, many left during the dinner time. Whenever I could, I would crank at a speed of 25-27km/h (a conservative number). Around an hour since I started, the shade of red clouds grew darker. I was in time to stop before it turns nasty (just in case). Bored? A 1km transition run back home.

I missed out on the last 400m. The pool facility was closing. I am not swimming fast enough. I choked on some of the drills tonight. My nose must have been dry and needed some chlorine moisturizer.

I needed some carbo after the swim. Habits ... 'Plain prata'. I simply forgot about my recent sore throat, which is non-existent now. Yeah yeah yeah.. better do something about it. Hydrating myself like mad now.

Sure, I could use some Zzz monster as punch bags now.

The timing is right. Time to move my position.

Feeling much better with more rest. I shopped around for a Tri top and bottom. Not buying yet. Probably soon... soon.

*Shocked* Minutes ago, there was a power trip! Apparently, only our floor and upwards were affected. I vaguely recalled a poof sound. It was the circuit breaker outside my apartment. Must be the rain water for heavy storm. Before the technician came, there were several small outburst of sparks and flames! The technician verified that it was due to rain water since I remembered that none of my appliance has tripped the circuits.

I will have to seal the circuit breaker myself, tomorrow.

With an annual leave slapped on my movement chart in office, I had the luxury of waking up at a later timing than usual. My body needed more rest from the recent minor breakdown too. I went for a morning walk at the canal. I saw the elder couple where the husband pushes his wheelchair bounded wife as he jogs. Every time they passed me, I flashed them a smile. Simplicity is this.

Heading to the city, I have not felt the sense of relaxation during a weekday for some time. Feels like I am having a holiday - I am on leave, right? Stopping at the library, I picked up an interesting book that lists amazing places where you can ride (mountain bikes) for holidays. It even includes detailed paths, distance per day and time taken for each day! *looks at EndlessTrail*

Yesterday, I had a short meet up with SH for some discussion. Wah! Both of us were sick! What are buddies for, man!! While she had the cold (cold? sick and still taking cold stuff?) honey green tea, I had the hot version. Ha! Buddies with great minds thinking alike. I do prefer the original green tea taste after all. But, I admit... the taste of honey green tea is interesting. Let me try re-creating the honey green tea now since its raining.

Not good.
I am suppose to go BKK tomorrow. Unfortunately, today (just like every other day) ... the Happy Feet Air-con is still blasting at my face. Not fully recovered but not feeling that good either. I decided to drop the idea. *Sigh* My mistake. I forgot about the chocolate flavor. Time to update my packing list for marathons. Say no to chocolate flavor.

However, I am still on leave and not canceling that tomorrow. I guess I will take that day to rest.

Simplicity in life.

On M.C.! I cannot recall when was the last time that I have taken medical leave during work. Do not envy because there is something called:

• Work-From-Home
  
• Conference-Me-Anytime-Calls
  
• Trusty-Mobile-Networks-99.9999%Coverage

Via MSN:
'Go get someone to make honey drink for you!'
'I made for myself already.'

Someone to make honey drink would be nice.

Over the weekend, my Sec Sch friends celebrated Jimmy and Carine's baby first birthday! Sorry guys! I missed the event since I was at KL Marathon.

You know you are a running addict when you had a fever last night and you are running now.

Okay. I am definitely feeling better. I hydrated myself the whole day. In fact, I had a really slow 4km (stopped when we saw lightning) in the evening. I just needed to get the sweat out of my system. The ching tng helped in "cooling" my system.

I was sneezing all the way while walking to the train station.
'Someone is thinking of you. Someone is thinking of making honey drink for you.'
'Wa....Ya... right.'

Miraculously, it stopped.
'Ya ... someone stopped thinking already.'
('_')

Now, the aftereffect of two packets of Chocolate PowerGel that I have consumed during my KL Marathon has surfaced! Owww... sore throat. I forgot. I should have gotten Raspberry instead.

Today's recovery swim was mainly arms, with 2km in total. Slack, slack, slack. Probably the kicks helped a little in blood circulation, they felt better with less ache after the swim.

With a mere three hours of sleep, TeeLee and my mobile phone's alarm rang. I began to question my decision in doing both events on a back to back, all in a weekend. I wanted this as a try out for my Goofy, Langkawi and as a challenge as well. Alright, I have to get up. I showered and then got TeeLee up. Within minutes, we were at the lobby. I had a muesli bar, a can of Gatorade and some gummy worms for breakfast. Some of the guys were already there. When everyone arrived, we took at slow walk to the event start point.

TLR, Kayano and Mythos were already there. We took a picture before Shut and I went to look for a toilet. I met BenRuth for the first time as well. Announcement was made for the 42km runners to gather at the starting line. I spotted EngLock who was going for the 42km as well. YeeHua and IMD came walking into the holding area. IMD encouraged me by saying, 'Make sure I don't catch up with you, Slacker.' Haahha! Without much coordination between the Emcee and the Guest of Honor, the bang (signaling the start of the race) went off while the Emcee was introducing him. The clock started and everyone ran off. Reminder: Do not speed up. That was the message that was appearing over and over again. I am sure my legs and knees will thank me for that. At the 5km mark, IMD and TeeLee who belongs to a different league sped ahead. At 10km, Shut took off as well. There was quite a few stretch of the race that we had to run on the highway. The carbon monoxide from exhaust was something that we had to fight. There were plenty of motorists who cheered us as we ran past them. At 15km, I was running low on fuel in my system. I was hungry. I went to the Petrol to relieve myself before I emptied a pack of PowerGel into my stomach. I took a 5mins walk before I saw Andy, who seem to have problems with his foot. We wished each other good luck before I ran off. At 25km mark, I was hungry again and I had to consume another PowerGel. It was around 27km that I overtook Tricia. We saw the start point ahead of us. But, we had to turn right to continue our journey. That was like to take a candy bar away from a child after showing it to him. At the 30km mark, I collected the extra PowerGel pack from the volunteers and I randomly thought of Shut, wondering how did he do. Within another km or two, I caught up with him as he was having problems with his knees. I wish him good luck before I carried on with my run. By then, I had abrasion on my right thigh. Maybe its time to upgrade to racing tights? At the 37km mark, I spotted Babumouse walking. I thought he was having his walk breaks. But, it seems that he was having problems as well. I cheer him on as I ran pass. At around the 40km mark, I noticed that it was the same route as the 10km Mizuno run. There will be a slope ahead!!! As I battled the slope, putting a foot forward each time, I saw Jeffrey ahead. He was struggling as well. I called out to him and we exchanged well wishes. Another one more km and I will finish this race! As I ran, I cheered those around. I managed to chat and run with a Caucasian (with an Australian accent) towards the finishing line. At the last bend, where I saw Sotong and Roonz, I waved madly at them! I was really happy to see them there! Such a morale booster! Runwitme saw me and shouted out for me as well! I crossed the finishing line at 4hrs and 50mins. I turned around to shake the Caucasian guy's hand. 'Good run!!!', we said together! I collect the goodies pack before looking for my friends. We gathered and waited for the rest to be back. IMD who saw me, shouted 'Yo, Slacker!' across. Haaha... I guess everyone knows I am a slacker for sure. I waved. As Ronnie talked about his battle with cramps, Mythos, SV and Shut made their way back too! RealRunner did a sub 4hr race. IMD and TeeLee had a comfortable pace and yet good timings for the marathon. Fennel and YihHua did well and held positions in the race table. Well done guys! A few of us signed up for the Penang Marathon before we headed back to the hotel. Another suffering challenge we have committed ahead in June?

We showered and slept a little before we checked out for our lunch at A&W. I treated Roonz to a Coney Dog Meal (Root Beer Float included) to thank her for the two PowerGel packs she helped me to buy. Those were a life saver for me during my race! Most of us walked around Chinatown before gathering at the hotel again and then boarding our bus at 4pm. Within 9pm, we were back across the border. IMD, YeeHua and I took the train of the same direction back home. I took my dinner before clearing some laundry to end my racing weekend!

I am glad to see my two good friends better than a 'so far so good'.

For both events, I did not bring along a camera to witness my journey. But, I shall just leave you with this picture (of me chatting with Mythos on the right) from the Preferred Professional Photographer, Roonz. My ugly toe socks were hidden behind the goodies pack! Battle scars, another black toe nail and a duck walk posture. All from a weekend's worth of race.

It was that four slices of bread with cheese was what held me together through the race. Thanks for the ride, Aerosolcan. He gave IMD and me a ride to the race venue, where we had our extra bags with us. There are a few of us that will be hopping onto a bus heading to KL after Safra Biathlon. We collected our race packs and had our bodies marked by volunteers. I have not idea why did the volunteer mark my number across my knees. When we deposited our bags, the first wave went off. I met Richard there as well.

As I laid out my stuff in the transition area, Sam walked over and we chatted briefly. Walking around to the holding area for flag off, I saw some familiar faces like Eddie, Ken, Jeremy, Alvo and Meteor (as pompom girl), Kops21 and Menmoch. Now... Menmoch is one guy that we have not seen for a long time! Glad to see him appearing at races again. The rest of the folks like Roonz, Tiwazz, Charlotte and Angelica came to cheer. Shobido, the Ironwoman, made her guest appearance! YueMin (hope I got the spelling correct) came too! But, I did not see her around after the race. I met BillyTay for the first time too. Belonging to the last wave, Cheow12, Sam, Eddie, SV, Kops21 and I were ushered into the holding area. Cheow12 said, 'Slacker, make sure you don't idle.'

One loud blast from the horn, everyone splashed into the sea. As with every year, I was the sweeper, covering the last position. Breast strokers kicking all around. Zig zaggers swam like the whole sea was theirs. Occasionally, I changed with freestyle to breast stroke whenever my path got blocked. By the last 800m, I broke free from the crowd and I caught up with the slower swimmers of the previous wave. Battling the current from left to right, I had a little struggle at my last 300m to shore. Once I got out of the water, I heard a shout, "Bala!" Sea water in ear. Sorry, I did not notice who it was. Yay! 36mins for the swim. But, I would think the current at the first part of the swim contributed to my speed. I took my time in the transition area to change (for about 5mins) before I started my run. Just 100m out of the transition area, I witnessed a guy clutching to his calf muscle before collapsing to the ground. I ran forward to help him in stretching his calf muscle to relieve him from the pain and agony. Not long after that, a friendly bystander offered to help and asked me to carry on with my race. Thanks! I carried on with my run, greeted by Cheow12 ahead. 'Slacker!', he shouted across the other side of the road. Shh.... everyone knows I'm slacking already! I just kept on going, keeping my legs in motion. I had to constantly remind myself not to speed off since I have another battle of 42km tomorrow. At the 3.5km mark, SxuanJing was there cheering all the participants, just like every year. I waved and called out to her. I passed Patrick around the 4.5km mark to see him walking along the road. I cheered him on, asking him to start a slow jog again. He shoo-ed me to go ahead instead. Ha! Terence caught up with me and we chatted for a short distance before he picked up some speed. I passed Kops21 and had Terence in my sight till the finishing line. Nearing the finishing line, a group of my pals shouted my name from the left. Wow! That was really encouraging to see my friends cheering for me. I crossed the line with a 55mins for my 10km run. It was a 36mins - 1.5km Swim, 5mins - Transition and 55mins - 10km Run

I went to look for my friends where I joined them to cheer other athletes / competitors. I was surprised to see that SV just started his run. I guess he had a tough battle for his swim. 30mins into cheering, some of them suggested that we should look for SV. IMD went ahead. 10mins after he left, Terence and I went running in the same direction looking for SV. Around 2km down the road, I asked one of the event staff on SV's position and found that he was closing in. Spotting Cokiee on his green Cervelo, he was clearing the way for SV as IMD, Terence and I escorted him back. We were joined by Roonz and SxuanJing at the last 1km mark. Finally, SV crossed the finishing line with a group of runners behind him! What a moment!

We took group photographs before some of them left for the hawker nearby, while the rest of us showered. Since time was running a little short, Roonz, SV, IMD and I flagged a cab to head towards Golden Mile for our bus to KL. We took a quick bite before meeting TeeLee and boarding the bus together at 3pm. BillyTay and Tricia (his girlfriend) took the same bus with us, since they are doing the KL Marathon too. Nearing 9pm, we reached KL to find the rest of the party (who are doing the KL Marathon as well), had already taken their dinner and turning in for the night soon. Hence, the four of us (minus Roonz, since she wanted to sleep soon) went to take our dinner. Too bad, the Rainbow Sago dessert store was closed. After our Maggi Mee Goreng dinner, we got back to our hotel, showered and sleep after preparing the gears for tomorrow's marathon.

Refreshing my Polar watch with a new battery, it sparkled with life like it first popped out from the box.

*Plain text* Sometimes, I think there are certain things said too much. Too many castles built. Too many bubbles to burst with one's own fingers. Self inflicted confusion. Heck... there are just too many things out there requiring our attention. Is it not this way?

Tomorrow will be Safra Biathlon. Following that event, several of us will hop on a bus to KL to do a marathon on the next day. That would mean .. .. its makanthon time! I do not think I will be bringing along my digicam to the race events. Most of the time, the marathon race would be in early morning and lighting is an issue.

Everyone is busy with their own lives and have daily jobs to juggle. I am thankful to all that we (ex-colleagues) were able to meet up for a simple dinner with chit chats and industry information exchanging. We had our dinner at Thai Express ... Do I see someone waving madly? 'Yes, BlingBling. You can sit down.' RLEK seems to hold the easiest job (seems only). Beng and PolarBear seemed to be having tough times. Beng looked as though he had just stepped out of the battlefield. We were making a din at both the restaurant and the coffee place as well with our laughter.

Sometimes, it makes us ponder are we fighting for our future? Or are we a mere tool for someone else's better future?

Only AlecChua and I went for the run on tracks tonight. I squeeze in a 11km before this weekend's events (yes, with s). Just a completion will do. Oh. It will be my maiden Marathon run overseas. Great! Tracks were a little wet. Nevermind the splashes. But, the stars overhead were still bright! *Tap tap* Uh oh! My polar battery is flat! I cannot even fire up the illumination! Desperate measures! I need to stock up one PowerGel and some other goodies for this weekend. Loading has already started.

Work will always be work. I can only clear things within my limit. Highlighting has never worked anyway. Just doing my part.

A lucky thing that I did a swim yesterday. The weather did not look good today. In fact, I wanted very much to bike this morning. I have a role of subject matter expert to play today. Hence, I spent the time doing speed reading than speed riding. I am not expecting any thanks to it and I know it will be "just another job solved". It seems like I have another request coming in that I have to cancel my trip this month.

Just when I thought that I can bike tonight, the sky turned dark. It was pouring so heavily that I can only think of the word, slack. Four of us still did meet for a discussion while we had to order take away due to lack of seats (and away from the heavy rainfall). We ate ... at my place! We got the three orders together to share, creating a mixed grill of chicken, lamb and fish and chips. We discussion on some issues after our meal, topped up with home made - chrysanthemum tea. It was a good brain storming session. The guys get a tour of my messy apartment, laugh at my silly photographs of my younger days (read .. traumatized by red bow tie) and bikes gallery in storeroom.

Tiring... let me write all of this down.

5am. My alarm went off exactly at 5am. Beating all odds, I climbed out of bed. Prepared myself and gave a morning call while stretching my legs. 'Wake up!!!!' 'Uncle Bala ... *mumble mumble mumble*' 'What did you say? Come on, ice cream for you, if you come on over.' 'Okay okay!' Whoa! That was the loudest and clearest Okay I have received. Enough of okays and my stretching, I did a slow run to Botanic Gardens. Apparently, my fueling is not enough and I had to stop by a 7-11 for some drinks. Upon reaching BG (just in time), deposit service by Sotong was already open. A short briefing on the route and we were off. Sweeper Roonz screamed, 'Ooei, don't make me do extra work! You people don't slack and fall behind me!' Some sweeper she is! Tiwazz and I broke off from the group to turn into Sixth Avenue where as the rest continued to King Albert Park. Reaching the finishing point, we saw Jeffrey and IMD while we were doing our warm down. I think it was a 19-20km for me. The main group soon came back one after another. We settled our breakfast at an air-conditioned food court before splitting up and heading home. Some of us wanted ice cream. Out of luck, it was not their opening hours yet and we only found out when we were there. Three guys and a lady checked out the queue for Botak Jones before heading home.

I re-packed for the afternoon event, took my lunch and went straight to MacRitchie. 7kg load and a walk from MR to Bukit Timah. Due to shortage in time, we skipped the Tree Top portion and headed to Rifle Range Road trail. By following the red colored markers, it would lead you eventually to Bukit Timah. We clocked a total distance of 10.2km. I will leave you guys with some pictures. Without a doubt, I slept on the bus again.

Clearing some stuff at work without support is tough. Not a choice, it still has to be done by someone. Since I missed lunch, I had sort of an early dinner and did some revision in Mac. Hmm... it has been a long time since I studied in Mac, reminiscing those part time Uni days. Tough.

Back at home, I got my stuff ready. Check, check, check, check. I left my house. *dang* I forgot my watch. It was not that important anyway. Topping up some gas into my tank tubes at the petrol kiosk, I crossed over to the canal. 2km hard / 2km easy to clock a 30km. *Blush* I got overtaken by a female biker while I was doing the easy lap. I saw her coming from the rear as I checked for my blind spot before overtaking strolling couples. The clicks of her bike hubs were melodies! My clicks sounded like duck quacks! Ernie sings, 'Rubber duckie, you're so fine!' Then again, I wanted mine to be a workhorse. Never mind about being heavy, I wanted it to be a tough workhorse. Okay, I have to save my legs for tomorrow's workout, morning and afternoon session.

I consider too much. I should return the ball to their court. Let them decide. I cannot be covering every aspect of things, every angle.

If I'm having short replies on MSN, I'm just staying low. It is one of those days where threshold hits a high of more than 85% and even Venezia ice cream will not help.

The swim session did help a little in lifting spirits. Looks like my single arm drills are paying off. I can cope better. The left shoulder has always been taking the heat, very much from an old injury. Keeping it under check is always important to me. Huh?! Huh?? Can't hear you. Oh, I'm also suffering from temporary deafness with chlorine water in my left ear. Hello?

I received the coaster today! It says:
'Believing is seeing'
'Just as the caterpilla thought the world was over, it became a butterfly!!!'
'Believe that everything will be okay in the end, if it is not okay, it is not the end.'

Inspirational.

I actually slept on my taxi and train ride today. Honestly, it felt great. What is wrong?!

A couple of near death experience for me, I have my own set of thinking.

Tremors were felt through parts of the island today. Needless to say, there was a sense of panic in the air. What is on your mind?

Okay, I am beginning to sound really morbid.

I do hope people are okay in the affected regions of Sumatra.

I think it is time to make a judgement call. It is taking way too long. Sad that I have to pull the plug on this item.

This morning, there was still some overcast and I was doubtful about completing my run without getting caught in the rain. By some form of a miracle chance, it was really sunny before lunch and I missed my chance. After catching my lunch, I packed some food before heading over to Chini's place. What a pleasant surprise! I bumped into Astrogirl and boi on my way.

Since Dayan was still asleep, I cut the vegetables and all the other ingredients while the couple had lunch. Since the rest have not arrived yet, I went for a short run before showering and getting my butt back around 5pm. Dayan woke up and was having his dinner. It took three adults, including myself, to make sure he takes his dinner. He was happily running around having so many guests around the house. We started the steamboat where there were three missing guests who did not make it. We took turns to entertain little Dayan. Playing tickle me Elmo and Superman with the little guy. Finally, getting him to finish his milk on his bed with me (Uncle Mugg) coaxing him. He still needed mummy to pat him to sleep after his milk mix. Struggling to finish all that is in the steamboat pot, I felt like a pregnant lady. There was quite a bit of uncooked food left. *Buuurrrrrp*

I have a bad feeling about this thing. My guess should be right. I should not be handling this case. But, I do not know what is wrong. I can't say its none of my business because I am in the mailing list. Just pray.

Rainy days are never good for outdoors. As a result, productivity is set to stay at zero. Gray skies. Not promising. But, still .. I opt for a go ahead. 10kg. Break my back and bag, let's go.

Hunger struck at the TT route and we were out back to the toilet. Aching shoulders .. Supposed to meet Renohtaram, but he went home early. I had a second meeting at Velocity, still .. nothing concrete. This is getting frustrating. At Velocity, I saw a Lafuma sleeping bag. Hmm.. ... it can even join up another bag to form a couple snuggle corner. Sweet. I decided to visit an old neighbourhood temple. Rain! *Oops* I was instructed by a little girl on what to do. No where to go.... for the time, I headed back home. Guess I'll swim to make up for the slackness on Friday and pick up some food for tomorrow's steam boat since 54Brownie does not really cook. Good thing is, she has bought some stuff already, we just need to get somemore. I'll probably babysit Dayan tomorrow when they start the mahjong.

Now, Dayan calls me Uncle Mugg. He gets all excited. More playing him him tomorrow. Sweet!

Brushing everything aside as instructed, I carried the load (double load, that is) on my back. I cleared the bar. Everyone is happy we won one battle out of two. The other result is yet to be released. On the other hand, I just trigger ten semi-automatics, five M-60s and one big artillery gun pointing at my behind. Everyone else has gone hiding. *Waves to all* 'Thanks guys!' I can even hear my echo down the hallway.

Today was not any better. I shall move away from details. Maybe I am expecting a little too much? I just prepare myself that my phone will ring anytime tomorrow. No time to even rush back for the usual Fri torture-me-quick swim. Just a 6.8km run.