Wayne Muller's "Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives"

This is excellent. So me and so common among Singaporeans today.

• Sabbath need not be a year or even a day. It can also be an afternoon, an hour, a walk, a dinner. Sabbath is a time when we drink, if only for a few moments, from the fountain of rest and delight. It is a time to listen to what is most deeply beautiful, nourishing, and true.

• Sabbath is different kind of fertility; it honours the wisdom of dormancy. If certain plant species do not lie dormant for winter, they will not bear fruit in spring. A period of rest, within which our roots quietly take in nourishment, is the key to health. Like plants, we too must have periods in which we lie fallow and silently nourish our roots.

• We are almost always running, trying to catch the things that will make us happy when, in fact, those very things are trying to catch us!

• God said: "Remember to rest." This is not a lifestyle suggestion, but a commandment, as important as not stealing, not murdering, or not lying.

Weekend on a bus

I spent all weekend on a bus. Out of 48 hours of a weekend, I spent 14 hours sitting on a bus - 30% of the weekend.

Yes, it was meant to be a sequel to the very successful wknd climb getaway that I did in Aug - Camp 5 in KL.
But this trip didn't start off so well...
1. group was larger, up to 10 until Francis backed out last minute as he had chicken pox.. eee...
2. we got really slow bus drivers. It took 7.5 hours to hit KL and 6.5 hours to return. Groan...

But the climbing was still excellent. Despite not having climbed for weeks, I still made 2 6b leads. The routes are so good there. And we got to eat at Overseas... yummy! Kiasu me called to book 2 days earlier :) It never disappoints. A MUST DO for anyone who goes to KL. But pls, book in advance.

Overseas Restaurant
84 - 88 , Jalan Imbi
Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: 03 - 2148 7567

But I am really suffering from the lack of sleep now... zzz...

Back from MDM Summit in Bangkok

Was a great past week in Bangkok. Hosting MDM summit here is nerve-racking enough. But our hotel was so beautiful, the Lebua and to top it off, I got the master bedroom to myself - thank you Joan & also Terence & Andy who had to share a room.

Plus I have this view of the Chao Phrya river....

I literally sobbed when I had to go home.


Overall, we could've improved the transitions in organising the MDM summit. We kept having groups lost - the people we appointed to lead the various groups during breakouts etc were so unreliable! But otherwise, all went well and the feedback from feedback forms were good.

Saturday, the last day was my birthday. The team came up late night Friday with a cake.. aww... followed by 3 hours of ban-luck into the wee hours of Saturday. And I lost 300Bt to Jason Teo - the man is soooo lucky!

Miri 1-4 Dec

I had a clash - the CAFE team going to Miri 1-4 Dec and the Standard Chartered marathon on 4 Dec.

Was all prepared to skip the Miri trip as Gwen had enough resources... but now it seems I have to go as well.

Bought my Air Asia ticket last night, 480RM (price had increased 50RM) as with all budget carriers, the earlier you book, the cheaper it is...

This year is really bad - I skipped the Corporate Triathlon, and now the StanChart marathon.

Only consolation - don't have to train anymore...

Cyling P. Ubin 28 Oct

Went cycling with uncle along with Derek, Bill and Derek's 16-year old nephew Davis.

Mom tagged along but chilled at a coffeeshop.

With a 16-year old more used to computer games and a 50-year old uncle in tow, I expected a relatively easy ride. But as we got on our $5 per day rental mt bikes, Derek & uncle (the oldest 2 in the group) jumped onto the trail and disappeared from view...

Once deep within the forests, with the clean fresh smell of the trees, it was wonderful. I didn't realise how much I loved trees!

Unfortunately, we had an accident. Way too much testerone in the group, we were cycling mostly pretty fast. Davis is not a very competent mt biker and was pretty reckless. We were trying to get to Chek Jawa when he took a downhill turn too fast and crash landed. Suffered grazes on both palms and on his hip. Poor kid looked close to tears.

We cycled back slowly after that, returned the rental bikes and stuffed ourselves silly with seafood & wild boar. Hint - skip boar meat, only the mangy strays begging for scraps loved it.