Limping Marathon Runner

What a waste. A day on standby after fixing stuff ready for presentation. Presentation got postponed to 4pm. Sheeesh. I could have done some testing in office. Don't waste time! Since I don't have materials that I want to read with me, I proceeded to do some designs. At least I got one up. Presentation shot pass 6pm and someone had to take over might night job. *Mumbles* "Should have been this in the first place". Nearing 7pm, I popped by the CDB run area to find the runners already geared up and doing their warm-ups. I chatted with a few of them and saw a few new faces. Most asked me where is my running gear. IMD even asked me to do the Bull Run, to run in office wear. What?!!

They went off for their 6-7km and I walked over to Tanjong Pagar NTUC to get some cups for their Isotonic drinks when they are back. Tekko made a guest appearance. Sxuanjing was kind enough to get 2 cold 1.5L of Isotonic. She called me a waiter... Yeah.. anyway, I've been a banquet waiter before during my school time holidays to help out. Some of the runners went off then, we bade them good bye, hoping to see them next week. Most of us went for dinner at Maxwell before heading home. I took an above average wanton noodle (quite good for a $3), light dinner to me. I needed to run once I get home since I did not have any chance to run at all. On our way to the train station, we imparted some out-of-date old skool skills to Philip where he exclaimed, "Don't work this way anymore!"

Allowing digestion of the 4 wonderful wantons, I sat till 11pm before I headed out towards the track. 3.1km average. Quick-Recovery for 4 laps before the stitch came. *Grits teeth* Not so quick-Walk for 2 laps. 2.8km slow. I don't need to reach for the stars... I'm seeing them. Just in time to see Bala and Ymother walking back.

*Whistle* 3 figure mails found its way to my mailbox. *Blinks eyes*

Great day at work. Having the latest arrow to champion something.. I was able to get some testing on some products. Slight hiccup. But, I think I can only do more tests on Wednesday since, I'll be out for the whole of tomorrow. I don't think I'll be joining the run tomorrow too, due to a night job assignment. Why am I tasked? *eyes roll* Just.... one small section. Pah!

IMD, Tiwazz, Cheow12, SportVenturer and I did a swim. Just barely 200metres, my arms were asking for a canteen break. Arggg! 2 weeks away from the pool and my arms stiffened?! Boo! Anyway, I continued. I got some rain drops on my head since there were several bouts of drizzle during our swim. Rain therapy! Spotted a couple of guys doing their own T.I. in the small pool too. I did my 1km of 6strokes-4strokes-8strokes-left right breathing-fisting for 2 sets. Tiring but yet satisfying. Now, give me some sinful food. Whoa seh.. IMD ate laksa.... *speechless*

Sun is out. Still... a little cloudy.. I can play now. Did some slow runs, short distance.. nothing impressive.

I think its time to do some shopping, clear off my Robinson vouchers. Shall I .. get a cologne/perfume, a new wallet or MP3 player (which I don't think they have).

After watching Torino 2006, figure skating, at wee hours this morning, I felt better.

I love watching figure skating. I feel calm each time, watching competitors move on the ice with such grace and perfect coordination.

Boardgames battle on! TLR, Fd, Sportventurer, Wildcat, Tiwazz, Le_Charlotte and Philip turned up for the gaming session. We played 2 rounds of Scotland Yard, where I was the Mr. X for round 1 and Le_Charlotte as Ms. X for round 2. She was so funny with the single eye-ed pink lamb plushie. Sportventurer got a little hungry and hugged a hamburger plushie. I could smell the traits of a thief in Wildcat too!! He'll make a good thief. OMG!! Why is Wildcat and TLR wearing the same Tee? These two brothers... Wildcat left early and was replaced by Renohtaram who joined us later. We played Rumis then till 5pm, where it was my set.



Feeling hungry, all of us went to take our dinner, Biriyani!! We bumped into BrokenRunner on our way there and got her to join us for the dinner. Dasher came along, after his Salsa class too. We were still playing Rumis at the restaurant! Most of us left after dinner, leaving a few of us to shop around Bugis area.

Our friend feels worn out. I hope he's okay! Heads up!

A song I heard in the cafe. It has been a long time, since I last heard this song. Definitely in my favorite list.

Artist: Southern Sons
Title: You Were There
I guess you heard, I guess you know
In time I'd have told you, but I guess I'm too slow.
And it's overly romantic but I know that it's real
I hope you don't you mind if I say what I feel.
It's like I'm in somebody else's dream,
This could not be happening to me.

(Chorus)
But you were there, and you were everything I'd never seen.
You woke me up from this long and endless sleep.
I was alone.
I opened my eyes and you were there.

Don't be alarmed, no don't be concerned.
I don't want to change things
leave them just as they were.
I mean nothing's really different
It's me who feel strange.
I'm always lost for words when someone mentions your name.
I know I'll get over this for sure
I'm not the type who dreams there could be more.

(Chorus)
But you were there, and you were everything I'd never seen.
You woke me up from this long and endless sleep.
I was alone.
I opened my eyes and you were there.

Can I take your smile home with me,
or the magic in your hair?

The rain has stopped, the storm has passed
Look at all the colors now the sun's here at last.
I supposed that you'll be leaving but I want you to know
Part of you stays with me even after you go.
Like an actor playing someone else's scene
This could not be happening to me.

But you were there, and you were everything I'd never seen.
You woke me up from this long and empty sleep.
I was alone.
I opened my eyes and no, I'm not alone, I'm not alone.
I opened my eyes and you were there.

(http://lyrics.rare-lyrics.com)

*Heart beats fast* *Sob sob* They played Craig David's Unbelievable too, plus some other really old songs that were familiar to me.

I am suppose to go for a run tomorrow.. but I forgot to print out the map for it. *slaps head loud* Sigh. Blur.

I never thought that something that sounds like a chain mail would befall on my friend. All I could do is lend him my ears.

Hi, Darling. Why does your hands feel cold now? Speak to me.
Look at me. Wake up, my dear! I am here.

Oh, how time has passed since I knew you were the one, my high school sweetheart.
7 years ago, I announced to the world, an angle touched my heart.

Right after graduation, you had to leave for U.S. with your parents.
I let you go to further studies for your own good.
Afterall, I know our love is strong.

Each year's, you never fail to travel 20 over hours on a plane just to spend your vacation with me. I cherished every moment with you because our reunion is short.
This year's Valentines' day, I sent you home after our candlelight dinner.

I called you the next day to wake you up.
Baby, where did you go? Please pick up your phone.

My love, you are scaring me now. Where can you be?
Your friends have not seen you for a day. Please tell me you are okay.
I pray.

A stranger informed me of your whereabouts via the phone.
They say you were involved in an accident.
I sat there and my mind turned blank.
I wish that all these were nothing but just a prank.

Could have, would have, should have.
Now, without you, food has lost its taste. Roses have lost its shade.
Even breathing seems like a chore, every minute, every day.
Day or night? I don't care.

What happens to our plans? Next year, we shall be settling down in the U.K.
I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Why are all of these, shattered in an instant?

Honey, I am lost. Tell me what I should do.
I will never forget that lovely smile of yours.
I do not know how long I can hold on to before I break down.

However, there is one thing I know for sure.
Darling, one day .... I will see you again.

*Sigh* Pause. Look around you. To that special someone in your life, look at them in the eyes, give them a big hug.

For your love ones, say how much they mean to you, in your life. Say it and make sure you mean it.

Early in the morning, stepping into the office, not many staff was around. One of my colleague was surprised to see me back in the office. He passed me a souvenir. "A red packet from U.S..", he said. Hmm... looking rather mischievous, he walked away. Ta-da!!! Look what he has gotten for all of us (each one gets a piece).


colors look lousy.. .. hmm.. might take again. Need proper lights.

Well.. this reminds me of my trip to U.S. in year 1998. I was there for training and a couple of us (colleagues) went to Disney - Anaheim, CA. I bought the series of dollar notes for another colleague then. But, I forgot to get a set for myself. Now, talking about Mickey mouse (one of my fav childhood cartoon characters), Cookie bought me the Mickey mouse glove several years back. I think Beng saw my pair and got himself a set when he was having his honeymoon in Hong Kong.

Another surprise. Compatibility.
A techie is always hungry for power,
A techie is always poor.

Why?

The $60 bang-for-buck PC that I got, came with 256Mb RAM. I wanted it to be a least a good 1Gb worth of RAM (after I upgrade). Then, I talked myself out of it ... "Just add a 512Mb will do", which I did. I figured 768Mb should still be happy (for me). But, after a few times of booting, I found out that, the hardware of the desktop machine could only take 512Mb. Too bad. I bought a combo drive too. $217 gone.

2 MSN conversation sessions have left me lost at words, trembling hands on keyboard. Skip, skip, skip. Looks like I am not ready for TribalCouncil. I am not ready for promotion, out of the bubble ..... yet.

Back from MIG last night, the guys, we discussed about the show Jarhead .... I'm wondering if I should watch that show. Yay! I wanna watch Munich! But, GV website seems weird... DB problem?

I think I'm lost ... in many ways. Some which I shall not mention.. but, I was speaking to a colleague and I was still thinking that tomorrow is going to be Thursday. *slaps head*

*taps my feet* SpaceCadet has the cheek to ask me, "Who are you?", when I SMS-ed her this afternoon, asking her how is married life. She lost her phone. I will serve her a 142mph ball when I see her. *Whack* Grrrr.....

Talking about wives.

It has lead me thinking about a commonly asked question. Sounds like F.A.Q.s?
Female: Honey, am I fat?
Male: No dear
Female: You're not even looking!

Female: Honey, am I fat?
Male: Let me see ...
Female: What?! I am fat?!

Afterall, sometimes your significant other needs your attention and approval.

TALKing about fat. I missed the mark for my standing broad jump. The rest of the stations were all 5 pointers. I decided to make saves for the day then. Pacer. Saved most of the people except for 2 who didn't quite held onto the 4 minute 20 seconds pace for 800 Metres. Let me ninja and claim my spot.

Urban dwellers hardly get a chance to see a stars-filled night sky. No thanks to light pollution. One of the nights out, when I was bombarded with SMSes and mozzie stings, I walked around coughing trying to get some sleep in the field. No, I could not. The rest of the pals were all like dead corpses.... already in their dreamland. I took a sip from my canteen and while lifting my head, I was greeted by stars from above. I always like stars. Following them for several hours, the stars moved according to the axis. Happy for a couple of hours, I crashed to the ground with the Zzz monster timer already counting.

A couple of us gathered around like old maids during our break, except we are old chaps, that got us into the gossiping chatty mode. Most talked about their wives and that all things come in a package, no selectable options. *whistles, looking away* All looking at me, "You know?! You always run, right?". I nodded. "All of a sudden, I feel that running is less complicated than a marriage!!", most agreed by raising their hands. "No, I can't make up my mind which top I should wear, each time that I am running.", I replied. I could hear them hissing, "TMD".

Thanks to many friends whom asked about my cough. *Touched*

Coughing like an old pickup truck... how to bake brownies?! Where's my oven anyway? Talking about food, I wanna grab my MOS Burger and a buffet meal at Kuishinbo. Chaaarrrge!

*Throws Flash bang* Booom! *Returns fire* Time to withdraw from DMZ. Getting a little too close to danger areas.

*Cough cough* Just woke up and the cough got worse. Slumberland punched through the 2pm mark due to a slight fever last night. Could not even cheer the guys who were having their NUS Bi this morning.

Feel lousy with no run. Wanted to buy the SISTIC tickets to Fong Fei Fei concert for Bala and YMother. Too bad, YMother has to work on that day.

Songs I heard from dedications over the radio on V-day

Artist: Craig David
Title: Unbelievable
Always said I would know where to find love,
Always thought I'd be ready and strong enough,
But some times I just felt I could give up.
But you came and changed my whole world now,
I'm somewhere I've never been before.
Now I see, what love means.

[Chorus]
It's so unbelievable,
And I don't want to let it go,
Something so beautiful,
Flowing down like a waterfall.
I feel like you've always been,
Forever a part of me.
And it's so unbelievable to finally be in love,
Somewhere I'd never thought I'd be.

In my heart, in my head, it's so clear now,
Hold my hand you've got nothing to fear now,
I was lost and you've rescued me some how.
I'm alive, I'm in love you complete me,
And I've never been here before.
Now I see, what love means.

[Chorus]

When I think of what I have, and this chance I nearly lost,
I can't help but break down, and cry.
Ohh yeah, break down and cry.

[Chorus]

Now I see, what love means

(From http://lyrics.astraweb.com)

Back at home, a short weekend break from ManInGreen. Sweet!

Philip was fast to SMS me for a game of snooker. Tiwazz and Renohtaram could not join us. I grabbed a plain dog from MOS Burger *Yum* before starting our game. We played for 2 hours before looking around several mobile phone shops since Philip wanted to get a new phone. No luck. Browsing through 2 bookstores, I bought a Triathlete magazine (which I hardly spend on magazines). I was totally inspired by the March edition, which I will talk about this later. We scanned through a toy shop (Philip is a Transformer collector) before chilling out at MacCafe for some milkshakes.

I left around 8pm for dinner with my family. Cheap and good food. Burp!



*Owww* I'm still coughing like there is no tomorrow.

Take a moment. Read. Sarah Reinertsen as an Ironman Finisher, Hawaii 2005. If you say, "Crazy.. This is tough". See what this babe can do! I feel totally inspired now! This cover babe shall stay on my work desk to motivate me towards my 2 years goal!


*Credits: Picture from Triathlete Mag

Now.. that doesn't sound too logical, does it? Here's the explanation to it.

Probably the running around toned my mid-sections *shy*... and the regular meals timing helped me in gaining some weight. This has been proved twice... happening again, this time round.

Time to gather with buddies and some see-you-once-a-year figures for a 1.5 week stay. As always, EagleNest is the entertainer of our group. A wink, a smile or a one-liner from him, we would all burst into laughter.

I buddied with one of the guys where we did IV drips administration. Since no one buddied the poor fella, I dragged him and went ahead first. Prep-ed with all the stuff, I penetrated my IV buddy's forearm with the catheter needle. Tough skin and muscle groups!! I tried to "navigate" to slice the vein and I missed. Declared as a miss, it was his turn to poke the needle into my forearm this time. Lying down and completely trusting (since we're all "trying" our best) him, resistance is quite futile here. I felt the sharp tip piercing the skin on my arm and the familiar "I got poked" IntraVenous feeling came back. "Okay ... I can feel you doing the topo thing under my skin now.", I gave feedback. My buddy responded, "Good... its a hit!". Feeling the sliding of plastic sheath into my vein, I was suddenly greeted with a series of poking sensation. What was that!?? After the entire practise, I found out that my buddy pierced my vein at a location too close to a Y-junction or split of my bigger targeted vein. Hence, when he pushed the plastic sheath further into my vein, he was actually hitting the Y-junction of my vein continuously. *Squirming and squinting my eyes* "Ooops. ... I forgot to press to stop the flow of blood." "What oops?!" Next split second, I was close to passing out. "Oooei!", I shouted. He sort of rectified the problem and continued to connect the Saline solution pack to the back connector of the plastic sheath. Confirming the entire sequence is correct, it was slowly taken down. *Owww* I feel like kicking someone. Did I mention that we got the biggest caliber needle?

While V-day was a special day for most, where they all went to accompany love ones, I stayed back. Silly as it sounds, I was rather laid back in bed, listening at love dedications over my FM receiver.

Fitness test was canceled today due to Cat 1 weather. Damn!! I was all ready to run! I was hoping to make some saves today too. Looks like a couple of the guys will be on their own, when they clear their 2.4km.

*Cough cough* .... I got a slight fever during training and now down with sore throat and cough... can't seem to shake it off.. .. been soaking up H2O like a sponge.

Heard and read news on the HK SCMarathon... sad to know that the air claimed a life of a marathoner and had hundreds others were down. This is frustrating to know, for a runner.

Men In Green.

"I'll be back!"
Very soon. Updates happen only on weekends.

Meanwhile, have a lovely Valentines' Day !! Enjoy, you lovebirds or friends out there!! I'll have my fair share of fun, running around in green.

Today is my only spare day for packing.

Most of us turned up at work in casual wear knowing that it will be a half day affair before the start our short company retreat. I settled a couple of stuff before packing up for our first stop, Climb Adventure.

After doing our company's review and stuff, we mingled around before we start our climb. The staff at Climb Adventure went through the points to take note for a climber and belayer. Yeah, I have done climbs before. Well, those wall climbs that I have done are all for kiddos. Short walls not higher than 2.5metres which do not require any climbing harness.

Today, a first time for me that I had a harness on and went higher than before. I do not have problem with heights and managed to do a few climbs before I became a belayer. I was the anchor man for a 70+kg climber. We all had fun. A really big boned colleague of mine was able to reach the top. Everyone cheered for her!!!I am pretty impressed by her stamina and determination. It took her a few painful tries before she succeeded. She was scratched a few times on her hands and banged her left knee too.

I missed the climbing introduction program from my ex-company. But, it was great that I learned something new today about climbing.



Reaching the resort, we were assigned with our bunk with two to a room. I changed before heading for the poolside BBQ. The BBQ food was done by the resort staff and I ate 2 plates of fried rice with meat and vegetables. They had my favourite corn and potatoes!! Right after dinner, we did a charade game and we won some vouchers. Do I hear a spanking new MP3 player coming? Yeeeee-haw!!

Most of them headed off for a karaoke session and I decided to go for a jog. After warming up, I started at 10.30pm. I was soon stopped by a couple of tourists asking or directions to the beach and I pointed out to them the way there. I ran a few loops near the beach passing some people which occasionally threw weird stares at a crazy jogger in the night, running along the beach. With an approximate 5km, I returned to the resort and did my warm downs. Still perspiring, I read some newspapers before
heading back to my room. I was in the lift together with the same tourists which I bumped into earlier during the start of my run. We had a brief chat and I greeted them a good night.

Bathed and comfortable now, let me have a coffee and watch some TV programmes till 3am plus before drifting off to sleep. My bunk mate came back from karaoke around 3.45am. Power.



Awaken by the morning call, I changed into beach wear and went for breakfast at the cafe. A quick bite and we are off to a briefing of rules on Captain Ball. Heading to the direction of the beach, everyone got really excited. All of us trashed it out for a best of 3 matches win. Our team lost and even though there were bruises received for both teams, it was all part of the fun. We shook hands, got all our vouchers and everyone goes home as a winner. Still high in spirits, the walk back to the resort was all about the moves that they made during the Captain Ball game. We glued our butts on the cafe's seats and ordered drinks. Since there wasn't going to be any other activities, I took a quick shower before meeting IMD, SportsVenturer, Tiwazz and Sotong. Sotong drove his car to meet me at the resort entrance before heading back to HarbourFront for our lunch. Sotong had to go off and we bade farewell to him. The rest of us took our lunch before heading back home. IMD and I had a long wait for our bus which came like 30mins since our wait at the bus stop. What is wrong?!!!

Auf Wiedersehen!!

I'm off for our short company retreat, with the promise of more pictures!!

Everything was done, blessing in disguise at work. On the other hand, a different piece of news. Oh dear.

Things went haywire today. I had to join my family for Lou Hei. Didn't know why .... but PolarBear, Beng and RLEK cancelled their Lou Hei. Ninja swim was called off too.

What killed me first.. was today's work. It was the joke that killed me. No worth in mentioning the whole story. But, it like sticking a Desert Eagle in your mouth and going into a trigger frenzy.

I went with some of our colleagues to Yacht Club for a invited Lunch for Technical Staff. Blessed with a round happy belly, RLEK managed well at his humongous Chicken Chop. I had a Spaghetti Bolognese PLUS some snacking at a huge fatty Pork Knuckle and a plate of Snapper. Breaking off at 2.30pm, RLEK rushed for his appointment, while I had my own. I finished just in time to meet the gang for some interval training.



At least the guys that I met this evening, brightened up my day a whole lot. You can say they lifted my spirits! I forgot about the incident totally. I did a cheater's interval. I wouldn't even call it training because I cheated. Okay, I did a slow jog after the third lap before I did my fourth. Just a little. I arrived early with Tiwazz. He wasn't running and could only be a jagar-er. I did my warm up and started a slow 1.6km jog to kick start my legs for tougher torturous laps ahead. I was soon joined by Sotong. I called out to a friend I met on the tracks. Not too long, we saw IMD who seem to have just reached. Time for me to start the 800m run-till-tongue-stick-out laps. *Boom* I'm off.
1st Lap - 3:00
2nd Lap - 3:15
3rd Lap - 3:30
Cheated by jogging a slow 1.2km before Lap 4.
4th Lap - 3:30
Totals up to a 7km.

During my second lap, I saw Brokenrunner who just reached and Bee starting her jog on the tracks. Everyone did their intervals, where Bee tried several 100m. Tiwazz still out from the suspected ITB, acted as the Ultimate Bag Jagar-er (assistant "Coach"). Mythos did a guest appearance for some chit chats before heading back to work. He was the "Chief Coach" and looked totally tempted to join us. IMD did his Quantum Leap strides, making intervals look all so easy. There were a few good runners on the tracks. As a usual practice, they spotted and pointed out to a CC2P. I went to the fitness corner for a couple of chin-ups and changed a fresh set of clothing before leaving to meet my buddy SH for some discussion. Missed the chance to dine with the guys. I walked around the mall after the meet up with SH. Tired already, I was still composing/replying emails for work on the way home via MRT.

Back home now, I am still doing some stretching. I just finished replying all my work mails. 2.50am already? Damn tired.

I'm torn between 3 separate appointments later today. Lou Hey with family members or Lou Hey with RLEK, PolarBear and Beng or ninja swim. I have to go family.

*Evil Laugh* Wahhahhah....

Apple iShuffle prices dropped since the a new iPod nano 1GB has been announced recently. All of a sudden, it becomes cheaper to get an Apple to keep the doc away.

Maybe I shall look at one since my Sony Discman decided to hang its earphones early.

A quick summary of my day.

1) More arrows incoming. Come. Bring it on!
2) Done with the demo and I can get on to test other stuff.
3) Damn tired, I rushed to grab Rumis from Minds Cafe.
4) Appearing at the CBD run gathering area just in time to see the guys warming down. Chatting with a new face, nice to know some new people joining us. Tiwazz feeling the thing near the sides for ITB. Not good.
5) We went for dinner where I had a less than stella fried rice.

Overall, I am really happy with the Rumis purchase though. Game on! The guys are pretty excited over the Rumis game.



Enough procrastinating. Time to register for my SAFRA Biathlon tomorrow. See if I can join the guys at Tampines Stadium tomorrow. I did a 5km with slowing down towards the end. Must be the fried rice.

Gone are the days of the 2_ inches waistline. No, I have not taken a measurement so far. But, I shall avoid even going near a measuring tape.

Friday night - Makanthon (buffet, indonesian food)
Saturday night - Loh Hei (ala-carte, chinese food)
Sunday night - Fast food Dinner (MacDonalds)
Monday noon - Appreciation Lunch (buffet, Sakura Japanese food) for our efforts thrown in last year's seminar event.

This time.. . really evil. I guess I ate too much today. Yeah.. I know I am underweight. But ... in my tummy for lunch today are :
1) 1 Chawamushi
2) 1 Glutinous Rice with Chicken pieces
3) 3 Dumplings
4) 1 bowl of Cream of Mushroom
5) 1 Salmon steak (thin slice)
6) 2 Beef steak (thin slice)
7) 1 plate of assortment of Tuna, Salmon and Swordfish sashimi (total: 15 slices)
8) 1 plate of assortment of sushi (total: 6 pieces)
9) 1 small bowl of cold soba
10) 3 glasses of fruit punch
11) 1 cup of cuppacinno
12) 2 scoops of Mango, 1 scoop of Chocolate, 1 scoop of Cookies and Cream ice-cream

The beef steak is missing a dash of mushroom sauce. Else, it would be oh-so-deadly.

RLEK threw me a long stare... I didn't bring my digicam along or else I would capture the spread of food. Probably brain dead from cracking my brains on the 10110111011010110 stuff.

There were a lot more goodies which I could not take ... like oysters (wasn't fresh, most of them had a bad tummy ache), drunken prawns (pirated version), tempura (mainly prawns), etc. Desserts didn't look too appetising.. nevertheless, a wide spread.

Damn... stuck in the office for testing again. I should not have given the key. *slaps forehead* Now.. I suffer. Can't swim, grouchy and putting on weight. Must be the work that is driving me nuts .. and I vent it on eating. History repeating.. people must bank efforts on me even when I'm about to go on "vacation". Let something, will ya? Let's hope my method works and it shall steamline processes.

Must weigh myself when I get home. *Sigh* Fitness test coming. Even my toes feel chubby.

.....

Plans to Sentosa trashed again. A few of the guys were at Sentosa today, having a race some fun and ninja training. I heard that they were trying something different too, with IMD as the swim instructor and Choonwei as safety officer. I'm sure they had fun!



Caught in an endless loop of testing, only to find out more pitfalls.... I was stranded in a jungle of test plans and finally got part of the job accomplished. By then, it was already 9pm and I ordered fast food *duh* (super-size me love handles) for dinner with another colleague. We chatted briefly before leaving him as the last man standing. He has his own set of things to fret over.

It was an intended 19km run. However, it was shrank down to 14km. Missing out the stretch to Seletar Golf Club and the secluded stretch. Construction is blocking the secluded stretch now. It was quite a good run where I enjoyed the sun and the scenery at the dam. run.run.runaway was doing intervals at Yishun stadium while Tiwazz and I headed out to the dam.

We saw "Dar" boy at Yishun Stadium when we were about to leave for some food. I think I will do the dam run again reaching even further.

With Beng's stronghold being the largest in square feet, 武林大会 a.k.a. Poly class mates Annual General Meeting at Chinese New Year, is held at his place. Beng will be having his own dinner, hence leaving the few of us settling our own. We did a casual meet up at his place (me, being the earliest again) and we have a few who could not make it.



Around 6pm, we went over to Suntec for some ala-carte dinner with Yu-Sheng. It costs us more than last year. Of course, its quality verse the price you pay. We shopped around a little before having a cuppa at Star Bucks.

Dreams. Last night. I never fail to remember each time after I wake up. Should not have acquired that skill decades back.

Everything was so spontaneous. As though words were not enough, we let our eyes do the talking. Even chatting alone was out-of-the-world mind blowing. It was good while it lasted. *Big sigh* My eyes open wide.

Charity Swim details have yet to be released, I think.. But, I am really looking forward to this swim. Meanwhile.. more ninja swims for me. Mythos did the 10km swim and I would say it is really impressive. It would mean a 5-6hour of gurgling salt water in your mouth.

Back from Makanthon.. too tired from all that eating. Must do LSD tomorrow since we had a LSD just now, Long Sumptuous Dinner. We called it the Makanthon since its a food eating Marathon session.



It was fun, laughter, food and photo taking session.... kind of like all combined into one. The guys' champion is the undisputed Sotong and the ladies' champion was a tough fight, with Astrogirl emerging as the winner. We were graded on Quantity, Quality and Artistic sections. To top up the sins, most of us ordered Ben & Jerry's ice cream and we pigged out. *Oink* Oh my... .. love handles are showing.

Since V-Day is coming and I will be bathing with 20 over naked men, I might as well put on a bright red template to match V-Day.

*Pffttt* Too engross in solving technical issues that I forgot to bring my jogging stuff back from office. Lucky thing. I have spare shoes.

Humans just try to be funny. Seems like 2 person are just using brute force in task completion.

W00t!! Tested my new $60 P3 865Mhz with just 256MB RAM and 20Gb harddisk. Running fine! *thumbs up* One thing though... can't work well with my testing software. Unless I can get the linux driver for it. Till now, only am I able to find time to test it. Hm... Other stuff.. seems really okay for now. I think I'll throw in a 512MB RAM and a Combo Drive. Took me a while to get the correct driver for the LAN interface.

This Saturday, the long awaited 武林大会. Hope to see our Poly group again. But, that is in the afternoon. For morning, I have 2 choices. Since 武林大 is around ECP, I am tempted to run there. However, thinking about sweating throughout the gathering.. . I think I shall opt for Seletar Dam run.

After which, I shall swallow several PDFs, get 2 eyebags and litres of coffee taken orally tweaking my system to stay up.

Hint. When you see 2 women at a X-box console, stay out of the way.

You never know when they will kick your sorry ass over a game or their X-box controllers hitting you in your kisser.

Taz showed a thing or two at 'Need for Speed'. Tiwazz strutted his stuff at StarCraft. Someone put on a sleeper hold on LittleFoot. Dasher was the photographer. Me? Enjoying 'Rumis'. Shocked to find that we actually stayed up till 5am. All of us agreed a time out nap till 7am before meeting Renohtaram for a swim since he was not able to join us.

At the pool, Renohtaram showed improvements over these few weeks of ninja training. Nevermind the slow improvement, one needs to have patience to see results showing. Same goes for running.

Alright! Company retreat at Sentosa on next Friday. My Asics will be following me for a 10km.

After work, I walked around Orchard area to look for some stuff. Dropping by Borders to browse some magazines and books. Craving for MOS Burger, I ordered a plain dog and sank my teeth into one. *Heavenly* Right now, the only fast food that still has what is takes... would be MOS. Sure, they do cost a little more. Satisfied, I walked to look for my oven. How to bake brownies without an oven? You can make cheesecake, non bake version. No, not with brownies. Noted down a $249 model. Hmm...

Walk walk walk .... browse browse browse... I stopped at a watch shop where a familiar looking model caught my eye. Sales lady tries to explain to me the specs of the watch and it costs $600+. Nice but... *looks away* ... better stop window shopping watches. German made - Junker. A little math calculation, I think I rather splurge on a Meistersinger Scrypto 1Z.

Just back from a 6km warmup-tempo-warmdown run. Tired but feeling good. Seems a little too fast for me or are the markings on the floor inaccurate. *ponders*