Rip van Felicia

Is it my all to comfortable mattress? (thanks to my family who helped me test numerous mattresses before we picked this 4star one)

Is it the chilly mornings of winter? (I can only fall asleep with the heater merrily humming away)

Is it a lack of morning conference calls? (Houston time difference means all my conf calls are in the night, 10pm to midnite Taiwan time)

Is it lethargy from less exercise? (gym closed down on me ; can't climb cos I pulled an arm muscle)

Is it a slower pace of life? (being in a backend organisation, nothing time critical like closing biz deals as I did in the past)

Is it age? (did I grow older and now need more sleep perhaps)

Why do I need so much sleep since moving to Taiwan? I don't mean the lazy sleep in type... I really feel tired and will fall dead asleep.... Hmm...

My Dream Apartment - available at a price

The Rain Tree. My long awaited dream apartment is up. Francis sneaked in and got some excellent pics. The view is just what I wanted - the rain trees of Bukit Timah.

Should I sell or rent it out? Anybody wanna offer S$1 million?

New Year resolutions, part 2

Did I neglect to mention this?

I wanna be married this year too. Pls God if you are listening, here's where it's all You! :)

My 1st Race in Taiwan and in 2008

I woke up at 5am, walked 15mins into a chilly 14degrees dark, damp morning to run my 1st race - Nike Run 2008 here in Taipei.

It was kinda strange cos everybody was jogging around, up/down, all jiggly.. and when the starting gun went off, they all took off like jack rabbits. I was thinking, wow, Taiwanese run fast... Then at the 4k mark when people starting walking, I realised why.. They were cold. At 14degrees with a chilly wind blowing and wearing only dry fit t-shirts, it was freezing.

Of cos kiasu me wore a jacket. And I kept my windbraker on the whole time. Are u kidding me? It's 14DEGREES C!

It's a 9k run and I clocked just over an hour - not great, but then again considering not running in months, it was good :)

Also, Garin and I found a go-karting place this weekend. We raced.. and came in last and 2nd last. Sigh.. I think we're growing old when racing scares you. Yes, I was scared. These are 270cc karts, and very speedy on a very windy track.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157603714269249/

Almost Roadkill

I had gotten used to having my iPOD plugged in all the time, to drown out the sounds of Taipei (traffic, the chimes of the dustbin trucks, scooters bleating away, loudhailer mounted on vans traveling around coaxing Taipei citizens to vote in this Saturday's legislative elections)...

This is such a noisy city.

Went out running yesterday and enroute to SYS Hall, I was hit by a scooter. Waited at a pedestrian crossing, when the green man appeared, I re-started my stop watch, stepped off the pavement and WHAMMO!

I was so shocked - of cos I couldn't hear him coming with with my iPOD plugged in. Took all of 2 secs to recover enough to scream 'GREEN MAN, YOU Axxxx!'.

That was when I realised everyone else on that pedestrian crossing was staring at me like some alien.

Amazingly, my guardian angel took the impact, except for 2 grease stains on my left forearm where scooter met flesh, nothing, no bruise, nothing. It was just so amazing considering the loud crash when he hit me.

Some lessons
1. God's divine protection works all the time, even when you aren't aware of it
2. don't jog on streets with music plugged in, you need to know if there's a kamikaze scooter aiming for u
3. i gotta learn to scream in Chinese here. Nobody knew what the @#$ I said. ;)

My new jogging grounds - 10mins to get there, 5mins to do an outer loop (within the trees). In Chinese, this place is called 國父紀念館 - and yes, I know, that doesn't even translate to SunYatSen.. Sigh. That's another story in itself - how Taiwan gets real complicated for those who can't speak Chinese.

Firsts in the New Year

I did it - I ran.

Stupid Alexander Gym closed on me - pls pray with me that I get $ sorted out.

So I ran to the nearest park - Sunyatsen memorial hall.

Why suddenly so motivated? Becos Nike Run 2008 is next Sunday, I signed up for the 9k. I am so in trouble...

I just wished Taipei citizens would stop gawking at me on the streets.. Never seen jogger on the streets ah :(

The Day I was a human popsicle

Since I was on leave I asked Peter if he'd go hiking with me up to Yangmin mountain.

It was the last day of 2007 and also coldest day in 2007.

I never knew riding a scooter up the mountains can be that cold, plus it was 10degrees out. I almost died.

The view was awesome.. I love hiking!

Then we scootered to Beitou, found a openair hotspring (sorry, no pix were allowed, I couldn't shoot), and I managed to thaw out somewhat. The hottest pool was 50degrees, I couldn't even step in!

Then we came back into the city by MRT, he didn't think I'd make it back alive. And GH, Sharon, Angela, Peter and I watched TV, ate chips, icecream, snacks until the countdown and the fireworks over Taipei 101.

We each chooped a window, leaned out and shot videos and photos. It was awesome



All my pix on my Flickr - my last fun days of 2007. 2008 - I will start to work hard!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/