Record breaking system team meeting

System team meeting ended at 9.26am this morning. I was on the phone for almost 2 hours. A record!

A little hike with colleagues

Kalpana & I been talking abt visiting the Treetop Walk (Macritchie Reservoir) for over a year. Took a long time to get it onto our calendars, postpone a few times, added Steph & Jenn before we did it last Friday.

There we were happily yakking and walking when Jenn suddenly stops talking mid-sentence, screams and grab me. Neon blue snake right under her foot - fully stretched out across the path. Turns out the Malayan Coral Snake is highly venomous. It didn't even move amidst the screaming, eventually it got bored and slowly slittered back into the jungle. Creepy.

Rest of walk went uneventfully. So who says there are no more wildlife in Singapore?

Sanity Break Today

Starting to feel a little under the weather and decided to take a mid-week break. It was nice to sleep in - until my mobile rang at 11am and I had to drag myself out of bed to login email to resolve an issue. *Groan*

Too late to make it to mid day mass, decided to go buy a dress for Ian's wedding. Very decadent to go shopping in the day! There's absolutely nobody around. Saw a blue dress - pretty wedding like in Warehouse. It's $239... maybe I should look around more. Question : why do shops sell winter clothing in sunny Singapore? Ok, so it is Autumn elsewhere, but who's gonna buy furry jackets here, regardless of fashion season!

Still feeling fluey.. , torn between a nap & a nice massage. Decided to do both - might as well max out my leave). Eunice at Strong Massage is different from the China masseurs I'm used to. Firstly, it's called a sports massage, and she's a trained physiotherapist. So she gets to the sore muscles spot on. Heaven...

300km to climb plastic...

Against the grain, I woke up early on a Saturday - the only day in the week I get to sleep in. Jumped on a bus, hurtle down the NE Highway into KL to climb in a plastic gym. I know I know... how desperate does one get for a holiday?

Everyone was eager to go straight to climb, so we went complete with luggage to Camp 5 - in One Ultama shopping mall.

At 3pm, a huge lightning/thunder-white-out kind of storm started. At that point, I felt a little comforted that I didn't insist on climbing Nyamuk. Probably need to swim out...

There were so many climbs, and traffic was stucked up (from the huge sky windows of the gym), we decided we'll leave at 8pm when the gym closes. Ok ok, Paul and Derek needed to climb til they can't wave. Some 12 climbs later (Paul & Derek of cos), rest of us mustered perhaps 6 climbs.

Paul was so pleased with his last climb (6b+ scary sloper galore route on lead), he bought us all dinner in a Chinese restaurant - complete with suckling pig.

After checking into our 3bedroom apartment, we ventured out at 12.30am for some foot massage. The foot massage was passable - but the shoulder rub made up for it. Heaven.

Then it was 300km, 5hours home.

Strangely good weekend.

Beijing 27 Aug to 2 Sep

My first trip to China. Thanks again to HP!

The leadup to BB5 was a little stressful. But once there, setup went smooth, and the event went uneventfully.

I took 2 days off to view the sights of BJ and I listed my likes and dislikes of BJ.



Top 5 Likes
1. Massage service (esp the guys at Wangfujing Street - boy do they live up to their 'Magic Hands' shop name)
2. Rich history and culture. I really enjoyed our tour of the Forbidden City
3. Catching up with Nee Ching. Nice to see me old teammate, visit her home and a great dinner together.
4. Climbing the Great Wall. I never knew it was built into mountains! How'd they build it without cranes and power tools?!
5. Hanging out with colleagues. Steph, Karine, NC, Joan, Terence, CK, Sunil... were great people. I remember almost toppling over the huge steps of the Great Wall as I was laughing so hard.

Top 3 Dislikes
1. Having to speak Mandarin everywhere. I need to brush up my spoken Mandarin - had 1 too many gaffes as a results.
2. Polluted air, dirty everywhere.
3. Food - Must it always be either too salty, oily or fire-hot, often all at the same time!

Do I think I can survive working in Beijing? Hmm...

1st Race of 2006

My opener race of 2006 - Army Half Marathon. Did a decent time of 2.57. Everyone clocked slower times as the race takes us thru Orchard Road and we had to constantly stop for traffic. Which was good for me as my ITB started to ache again around the 10k mark.

After race, went home, showered, packed and flew to Beijing for a work trip. Thank goodness for the excellent masseurs in BJ! Managed to setup and do the show pretty smoothly and then climbed the Great Wall on Day 3. I am now officially a hao han! Applied leave to extend out with my colleagues so we managed to see the numerous palaces and immerse a little in China's very rich and historical culture. I am now a little more motivated to improve on my spoken Chinese!

The Times

It's not been an easy year so far. Sigh. Lots of difficult decisions to make. And I haven't been the most disciplined too.

Decided to go climb outdoors today - since Yishun is closed for Rock On until almost end Mar. It was surprisingly a good day.

Mustered up American Pie (6A+) and then toproped some difficult climbs (7a, 7b and a 6c). Met some new climbing friends too. So it was nice.

Gotta do this more, break out of my rut for fresh new things!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe my long shutdown holidays is over! I barely got started to chill! Whine!

Seems like only yesterday that we were working like dogs ahead of the shutdown. Then Christmas whizzed by, new year followed in a whirlwind. Spent Jan 1 all day at IGek's wedding. Today (Jan 2) I slept in, chilled, read my book.. only real physical activity was in washing my new car for the 1st time.

And now, its 10.15pm Jan 2. I am not looking forward to tomorrow - it's be roadmap, roadmap and more quibbling over components, pricing and cost... until Thu's roadmap review.

At least, there's Chinese New Year upcoming.. can smell more holidays to come!

My New Car!

I woke up early this morning to prepare my roadmap for Thailand - but he stood me up. Ended up working all day Wed, 9 - 5.30pm. The good thing is that I got ALL my countries including Thailand done! All set for country discussions.

Took a short nap then went to Tan Chong to pick up my new car. Like when I first traded in my new car for the Corolla, I was near tears by the time I removed all my personal belongings from my first car. This time, it was mixed feelings - am sure I'll miss my Corolla, but oh well. Nice to have a new car again. Shouldn't have so much hang-ups with material things too. I'll get used to the Sunny. My next car - if God permits, will be a nice one! Perhaps an SUV, or a little sports coupe.

Kuala Lumpur 26 - 27 Dec

Went for a KL climb. Bill kindly offered to drive. Weather was good - stayed dry most of the drive up. Got 1 day of climbing at Damai walls in. Am weak - only mustered up 3 easy climbs. Must be age catching up. Day 2 woke up to rain. Took a cab to Camp 5 at One Utama mall. Touted to be the largest climbing gym in Asia. Didn't think it was that big - but it's nice, new and airconditioned - sweet!

Mom joined me for this trip - she went shopping while I climbed. Worked out well. The Westin was as usual, very comfortable.

The other surprise was Moo wanting to join too. Although they kept mostly to themselves.

All in - great 2 days.

New adventure centre in Yishun

Open house for the new $1.7million adventure centre at Safra Yishun over Sat and Sun. Went down to check it out. Complete with ice-climbing (artificial), new climbing walls with crack climbing and chimney. Way cool!

While still oo-ing & ahh-ing over the new facilities, was asked to join the bouldering competition, part of the opening activities for the new centre. Apparently, not many applicants, high chance of winning a prize. I got 3rd :)

Nice.

Brisbane 8-15 Dec

Went to Brisbane to spend 1 week with mom. Uncle Simon was extremely hospitable. I hiked rainforest trails, climbed mountains, went on many beautiful mountain drives, traveled up/down Brisbane river on a ferry, visited a cheese factory, wineries, hugged a koala, stroked kangaroos, hit some balls in a golf driving range, shopped, visited mom's relatives that I've never met in my lifetime... Was a very full 7 days.

My uncle is probably recuperating from us right now :)

Was my first visit to Oz since I left in 1995 after studying. As usual, each time I visit a different country, I feel I can live there.. much more liveable than the Singaporean lifestyle.

Introspective mood

In Jan this year, I had to make a trip to the Philippines and was in Davao - south of Manila. I had half a day off and the tourist brochure in the room suggested a beautiful church set on a hill with grand yearly processions. How very Catholic. The sweet elderly taxi driver took me there, cut the engine and the meter, and proceeded to make himself comfortable to wait for me.

I took my time - said my prayers at the church, at the various shrines. As the church as set on the highest point of Davao (up a mountain), the view it offered of the entire city of Davao was breathtaking. Round back of the church, I lit 4 candles : for me & Hon, for my family, and for 2 of my closest friends who were having relationship problems.

Dawned on me last nite (ok, so it took all year to realise, nontheless) :
1. my baby brother will be marrying Michelle next year
2. Francis is engaged to be married too
3. Moo is happily with Tim

I got 3 out of 4 prayers answered.

Running the Standard Charted Marathon 2005

I did it! I ran my 1st marathon! Ok, so my knee gave out at 37k and I had to walk the last few kms, walk thru the finishing line too.. So much for the glamourous finish I had in mind. And so what if I exceeded my target by a whole hour and 20 mins. I set out to run a marathon, trained 18 weeks and endured the balance of time/schedule it took to train.

The race was great - atmosphere and logistics fantastic, kudos to the organisers of the Standard Chartered marathon. I ran a nice constant speed and was overall pleased. I overcame my mental weakness, overcame physical pain and cross the finish line.

Now that my big goal is over, time to focus on my life. I need to better balance the various major components : work, play vs the more impt things : God and people. And very timely too, being Advent and being end of year when one typically gets more retrospective.

Another reminder of life's fragility

Was a regular NPI meeting at work - as all Thursday go. Received an SMS from an old MBA classmate saying a classmate has passed away. Couldn't believe it... called another classmate, only 1 Stephen in our cohort. Refusing to believe, I went to his wake after work. When I saw his photo there, it sunk in bad.

He had a viral attack on his heart.

He's sporty, healthy. Used to see him returning from jogs when he lived in the block behind me. And last year during the corporate triathlon, he called out to me - he also participated.

The injustice of good people being cut down in their prime is really starting to get to me. Where is the fairness? And meanwhile evil people continue to prosper and live happily, healthily.

It sucks.

To Stephen - the sweet guy who had a quick hello for everyone, may God have mercy on your soul.

First jog after 10 day break

I was lazy, and again and again. It got to 10 days in succession... Finally I reached in deep and summed up every little muscle and got out and ran today. Felt like 15-16k in 1.45hrs. At least, I ran.. so no begrudging distance nor time.

Looking forward to the weekend in KL with family. Will be a good break from the stresses at work - at last we have Spr cycle out of the way, whew!

Holiday today

Took a midweek break. My plan is
1. start with a long morning run at least 2 hours
2. midday mass at Novena
3. boulder a little at CA
4. nap / chill

So much for plans - got lazy first thing and couldn't convince myself to get up and go run. Sigh. Snoozed til 11am in time for mass.

Bumped in Arthur and had a long chat over lunch after mass. Feel that I'm somehow missing something - something that began over the weekend retreat. Just can't quite put my finger on it - will pray that God speaks louder.

Bouldered a little - finally, I managed the 6B route! It felt sweet! Spent long time playing with the cats today - today they were very friendly.

Came home for a quick nap and again, I couldn't convince myself to do an evening run. And then Calvin sms to say he'll visit with dinner and the dogs. Done - run cancelled again.

Well, 3 out of 4 achieved today isn't bad. Although I missed the most impt goal of running - or was that mass and that funny talk with Arthur. Hmm...

Weekend Retreat

Had a stay-in weekend with the NET team on retreat for Alpha-Cafe 2006 directions. After a bumpy start on Friday evening where the sharing on our uphill challenges ended on a rather depressing tone, it was all great from Sat onwards.

I learnt :
- difference between being a disciple vs being a volunteer
- servanthood - that is an an honour to serve God!
- committment - to take up our cross daily.

The food was great and plentiful. I'm sure I am heavier now. Rooms were brand new and clean and roomie (Emily) was great, spent time chatting alot. Emily also introduced the group to meditation. She said that meditation was invented in the early days by Catholic monks and it's not just a Buddhist thing. I need more work on this, cos after catching wondering thoughts, I caught myself nodding off to sleep!

It was such a refreshing weekend - 3 days just thinking about God.

Is it Friday?

Nice to have 2 public holidays in 1 week!

Very restful week. Plus enough time (minus the work hours) to visit family, nap in the day (decadence!), run/climb (all the fun things in life).

The cloudy morning gave me an excuse to sleep in a little. Went to Macritchie to do a short run late morning. Was a little muddy, a little crowded, but as always Macritchie is beautiful place to be.

Since I was up and out, might as well join my friends in Climb Asia. Plus been neglecting my climb kakis since I started training for the marathon. Climbed some, chatted some, played with the resident cats.
http://www.climb-asia.com/home.html
Fortunately, it was relatively empty. Was a little crowded on Tue (Deepavali) but yesterday was nice. At one stage, I had the whole downstairs to myself. Funnily enough, I can't manage the 6b endurance route anymore. Keep falling off the 6th handhold. I must've lost upper body strength ever since I began marathon training in August.

Picking up the pieces

Today's a public holiday - happy deepavali to all Hindus!
Also All Saints Day - a blessed day of reflection for all Christians.

The last few weeks have been rough - to put it mildly.

Trying to pick up the pieces in the last 3 days or so.

My running program's back to normal. Resumed with a 5k run at Macritchie. But mentally weak still - kinda hard to push myself. Should I be pushing harder?

Went for 1st climb with gang after ignoring them for weeks. It was ok - kinda rusty but nice to sit around with gang, goading each other up routes.

Short work week this week. Thank goodness. Plenty time to run/socialise/work and still breath easy.