And I have curtains in the room

Got curtains in my room!  And here's my curtain vendor - also a fellow cyclist.  Am I blessed or what?

He arranged the curtains very prettily and this morning, I undid it all to block out the setting sun which comes in to turn my room into a sauna everyday.

I do have a twinge of regret - I thought I picked white for my curtains - Kelvin's swatch appeared pretty white to me.  But in curtain form, it appears very cream colored.  I don't want cream, I want white!

Seeing the look on my face, Kelvin assured me that in the daylight, it will look white.  Because it was evening when he put it up, my yellow lighting in the room affects how it appears.  But in the morning light, I looked at it, and it was even creamier than yesterday.  Sigh.  Too late now.

I know understand why designers say, in a small space, details are magnified.

Almost there

The home is almost fully furnished.  It's still a little bare but main necessities are almost all in... I can slowly furnish the lesser important items with less pressure.

I've also started to tabulate the costs and thankfully it's been lower than earlier forecasted.  The largest chunk was renovation and I spent way less than forecasted since I chose a main contractor instead of an interior design (ID) firm.  My largest pain has been the awful carpenter, but then again, there's no guarantees you pay more with an ID firm, you'll get good carpentry.

I do have a small mountain of laundry to do.  Mostly new sheets that needs to be washed before I can put them away.  Couldn't do any laundry earlier cos the house was too dusty to hang out clean laundry.  And so it accumulates.  I could wear less to save on laundry, but without room curtains (that should be ready tomorrow or the day after), it's a little awkward.  I set the washing machine on delayed-start this morning as I left the house. Looks like I reduced the laundry mountain down to 2 more loads -  probably have the backlog of laundry cleared by the weekend.  I need sunny skies!

Need to return to Holland V tonight to get the last load - my old textbooks and such unimportant stuff.  On my list of to-dos, there is only 1 or 2 more high priority items after tonight's move/unpack.  Can take a short breather before slowly shopping for the lower priority items like throw cushions for the sofa.  I like this floral pattern ones from Ikea, but they are $40 each.  Cushions!  And Ikea ones are the cheapest around.  Ouch.  I'll keep looking...

Getting stoned literally

How ironic, getting stoned and you lower your IQ irreversibly.   Getting stoned and be a stone!
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/marijuana-lowers-iq/

Inherent dangers of sports

Last Saturday was not a good day.

Another cyclist got mowed down by a delivery van.  Then a gumby decked from the 25m high wall while rockclimbing at Yishun - I witnessed this accident.

Freddy Khoo, a triathlete and avid cyclist, died shortly after they got him into the hospital, he leaves an expecting wife and a son.  Please say a prayer for him and especially his grieving family who has to continue life without a husband and a father.

The gumby fortunately survived a 10m fall.  He landed feet first and still had feeling in his legs, thank God.  The circumstances behind the fall : they were not tied in with the typical figure-of-8 knot, instead they fashioned a knot and clipped in with a carabina.  So how did he free fall, leaving the knot & carabina still intact and hanging at the 10m mark?

My favourite sports have their inherent dangers.  This is a good reminder towards safety and being careful.  If you are reading this and also a cyclist and/or rockclimber, please observe all safety precautions.  Life is precious.

Marble woes

Decided to go with nice marble instead of glass for my bedside ledge to use as a bedside table, with my bed flushed against the wall to save room in a tight space.

Called a mutual friend and he was really quick with it - his dad, the owner, came personally to measure the ledge.  Roared down in his Porsche, measured and left.  The marble arrived 3 days later.  And it was half a cm off.  So there we were : 4 sweaty men and a slab of marble which does not fit.  4 sweaty workmen look at me : can we grind it to size?  Me : no! it's 8pm! and it's awfully dusty!.  

We compromised. 4 sweaty men heaved it to the carpark, grinded it off by half a cm, heaved it back up and back into place.  Then they sealed the slab down and left.

In the morning light, I inspected it carefully and found some chipped-off areas.  For the amount of $, it's a little upsetting that it is not perfect.  How?

M weekend

First I had D-Friday - last Friday when all my deliveries came in a single day.

Now I had M weekend - a long weekend where I made 4 to-&-fro trips in my little car and physically heaved everything over in boxes.  In between I took 2 breaks : Sat morning to climb and Sun morning to run.  Yes M weekend is 'Move' weekend or 'Moo! I'm strong like an ox' weekend.  Simply exhausting.

My earlier plan was to pack 3 boxes, move, unpack them, bring them back over, pack... repeat process.  Alex gave me 5 more boxes so that I can be more productive.  And I promptly filled all 5 up!  So much for being the minimalist I thought I was.  I always said, if you can live without needing something in 2 years, you don't need it! Yet it's hard to throw perfectly workable stuff simply because I hardly use it!  So how, throw my old textbooks are perfectly good? *mutter mutter*

My new place is a total mess with stuff all over the floors everywhere as I slowly put stuff away.  I was busy unpacking on Monday when I/M/M came over to swim.  I could hear his happy squeals in his first swimming pool adventure - such a happy baby.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151070165248369&set=t.645738156&type=3&theater

I am so blessed!

I officially moved in last night - slept my first night on new sheets, new mattress, new bed, new apartment.  You get the drift.  It is a watershed moment for me.

Moved in early, heeding advice from concerned family/friends who insist I do so officially before the Chinese lunar seventh month.

So, the same evening Ah Chuan the lousy carpenter finally finished his remedial work, I moved in.  He had taken 4 weeks, 2 weeks longer than he committed to, yet with poor quality finish and careless work.  Employed IMM to nego for a price taking into account my unhappiness.  Considering I started out wanting to pay him his quoted price - my only ask was he do a good job, I feel sad that it came down to this.  Plus the many holes in my walls/furniture.  Sigh.

After the protracted negotiation with Ah Chuan, we all went to dinner late.  So Matty ate 2 meals back-to-back.  First his porridge, then his pre-bed time milk.  Back in the apartment later, I tried to clean the room a little (sawdust from Ah Chuan's efforts) but I was so sleepy.  I couldn't arrange curtains earlier while the dirty/messy work was ongoing (didn't help with Ah Chuan's delays).  So I spent last night without curtains - might be a week more of this!  Woke up at 7am to dogs barking and bright skies.  I love this room!

I am Maria

While all of Singapore is singing Majulah Singapura and Count on me Singapore, I was being Maria.  Well, at least I planned to.  I was barely in the house when Alex and daughter came by to help me nitpick faults for my contractors to fix.  Then we went to lunch.  Back in the house for a bit, then Ian/Michy and Matty swung by to do second round of nitpick, well, Michy at least.  Matty ran around opening drawers and doors while his father sat there, just sat there.  Then we went to dinner.

Finally back in the house again at 8pm, I started to clean til about midnight. 

Sat, I cleaned a little bit, Sun a little more... Progress is slow.  You clean some, you drill some holes, dust everywhere again, you clean more, you drill more...

Renovation diary - report week 3

No progress.  Yes, nothing's been done since Thu.  And all the furniture's coming in on Fri and I am moving myself in over the weekend.

Yelled at both contractors yesterday in the afternoon, swung by exhausted after a hectic 2.5 day weekend retreat and was livid. 

Thankfully Ian/Michy/Matty swung by so we had dinner at I12 together.  Now if only the Lord had given me that apartment across the road at I12 - perfect!  Oh well, can't ask for the sky and all the stars in it.  My prayer ask is simple - that both contractor and carpenter can just work hard these 3 days to deliver a finished and clean apartment by end Wed.  In His name all things are possible, amen!

At least I had a great dinner with Matty.  Matty scalded his hand over the weekend.  Dipped his left hand into some hot water (used to wash his bedding/soft toys, since he contracted bronchitis, they've been careful).  If you asked him about it, he'll show you his left palm (er.. then you turn it around to see his little blistered fingers).

When's a cabinet door not a door? When it's a drawer!

My contractor Ah Peng is nice enough, very down to earth and realistic.  That's why I picked him.  The problem is the carpenter he partners with. Ah Chuan the carpenter was a little too smooth for my liking.  Then he said his wife has health problems and is undergoing dialysis, I felt for him and didn't bargain him down when he quoted me his price.  But I impressed upon him that I wanted the finish to be good, that I am fussy.

On Tue night I went over late at night to check on progress.  I was hungry/tired after finally making the last of my big ticket purchases (writing desk/book shelf for the study room) and got most upset. 

Shoe cabinet - door opens the wrong way, against the direction of the door.  Unacceptably awkward.
Overhead cabinet over my fridge & washing machine - corner chipped off.  Apparently he dropped it in transit. -__-  Unbelievable.
TV console - has humongous drawers.  I wanted doors!  Who has humongous hideous drawers the size of Stonehenge!
My wardrope drawers has openings sliver thin, you need to have stick fingers to open them.  Who do I look like, Gretel from Hansel and Gretel?
Shelf over washing machine for doing laundry is positioned at my nose level.  What, now I pick up stilt walking so I can do laundry?

Overall finish was awful, sharp corners, gaps, unevenness, cracked edges, bad workmenship in short. 

Funnily enough carpenter guys behave exactly like those ad agency guys I used to work with.  So eager to show you what they created/made but then it isn't what you wanted at all!

Ever wondered if your style of driving scares the people in your car?

Here's a story of Matty.  His parents turned his child seat in the car to face forward cos he keeps throwing his toys onto the floor and then leaning half out of his seat to pick them up.  We taught him to always pick up his toys!

After turning his seat to face forward, his papa drives.  Matty stares at oncoming traffic and is fine.  Next trip out, his mommy drives.  Matty screams all the way to NTUC and on the return journey screams all the way until he pukes.

If any of you out there, reads this and have always wondered, "hmmm, is my driving style scary for the people in the backseat?", please approach us.  We can rent out our little tester.  For a small fee.

Progress report - end July

Slowly by surely, house is taking shape.  More updates this week.  Renovation supposed to be finished by end of this week.  Next week wash and clean up the place.  Over national day can start to move in.

My dining lights

Glass wash basin in my room

Seashell toilet seat

My running schedule from Aug to end of 2012

My planned mileage beginning Aug to the end of the year.  Includes 4 races : Army half marathon, The North Face 50k trail, Newton 30k run and finally, Standard Chartered marathon.  Opportunistically, might add in Taroko marathon (or half) in mid Nov.

Depending on how close I hold to this plan, it's 580km on foot!  Yipes!

I am happy today

Happy.

Got 2 pieces of good news this morning.

1. successfully recruited 2 new members to ACPT (my church ministry)

2. buyer's remorse without penalty.  I bought 2 mirrors Tue night and regret within the same night.  Asked for a refund yesterday and today they agreed to full refund.  It's the largest sized mirrors they had but still way smaller than the ones I have right now in the bathroom.  I fear removing the old ones will leave marks on the tiled bathroom walls that cannot be covered by the smaller new mirrors.

Updates on the house

The big things are more or less settled.  Just a few outstanding big ones like
- shower fixtures.  The existing ones are a little grimy but they are Grohe branded.  I am reluctant to downgrade yet to replace with new Grohe would cost me an arm and a leg.  How fussy am I about this?  I can't decide. 
- colors for my walls (got a general idea, but unsure). 
- study room's writing desk and book shelf.  After talking to Michy over lunch just now, I think I will go see Ikea again, if I can tolerate their poor quality.  I do not want shelves that will sag in 2 years (esp when the shelf cost but $79).

Thus far the whole journey has been pretty pleasant.  I have been very blessed with a lot of help from Ian/Michy/Matty.  Best example was Michy and I drawing on a page of Sunday Times a few days ago, (I was reading the paper midway).  We drew out where to place my LED lights in the ceiling, argued, dragged Ian out of his bedroom as another opinion and he had genuine alarm on his face to discover our discussions are drawn all over page 7 of Sunday Times. 

Jo took me on toilet bowl 101 - warning me of pitfalls and even drawing out the dimensions of everything. 

Peter offered to help me spray paint my bike rack/clock, after he heard I was going to DIY.   Clearly had no faith in my DIY skills - probably rightly so.  I only just passed both items over to him last night and he's already done 1 coat on my bike rack - awesome job too. 

Francis came by and took my fingerboard down and he will later on remount it up on my new place.  This is after I had a go at it and found the screws impossibly tight.  He did it effortlessly, apparently you need to hold the board at an angle and keep shifting as you unscrew to regain traction.

Do you eat when you're stressed?

It used to be that when stressed, I feel too sick to eat.  So I lose weight during bad times and gain during good.

Now that I'm older, when stressed, I eat more with the thought I need to fuel up to do what I need to, and when happy, well, I eat too.  So er.. regardless, I gain weight?

Sigh...  Humpty-Dumpty shape is a shape too right?

I am too strong for my shoes?

I got back to the carpark last Wed after the ride/supper and found difficulty clipping out.  Somehow my cycling shoe was stuck - on closer look : gasp - the sole had come undone! 

I literally placed bike on the road and yanked the shoe out with both hands.

Simon/KahHoe came over in dismay when they saw a forlorn Cervelo lying on the road and picked up Speedier for me.  Simon said "Cervelos cannot lie on road!"...

These shoes were a birthday gift from my buddies and I took them out to wear after my tragic accident where my old Shimano shoes were ripped.  So I really love these Bontrager as they are filled with love, plus I really like the feel of these shoes compared to the Shimanos.  Very stiff and the power transfer very smooth.

Brought them to the cobbler at HV and the grizzly experienced cobbler insist it cannot be glued back as it will come undone the minute I try to clip out again.  So I took them back to Treknology.  Trek will get in touch with Bontrager then come back to me - hopefully I get a new pair out of them.

In the meantime, everyone has a suggestion for me.  Coach says Fizik shoes (there's a deal with IR for $300) but I don't really like the color (white) and they don't have my size anyways.  Felix/Jo insist on just 1 brand : SIDI.  In Jo's words, "just pay whatever price for SIDIs - you will not regret it", with Felix surfing to the CRC buy site for SIDIs and passing me the iPAD.  These 2 are a very interesting couple - very fun being around them.

I'm still in shock - am hoping to get a Bontrager replacement pair.  SIDI carbon shoes costs $350 and above!

Going to dinner with my sayang

Collect the new home keys!

Very unceremoniously, I picked up the keys to the apartment from my lawyer's office.  BTW, they are complete imbeciles.  They actually made mistake with the math, against my favour?  And I pay them legal fees?  I need to go over the numbers again, no faith in them at all.

Ok, focus on the happy things! 

I took the keys and then... went to eat dinner with Matty!  I missed him since I was away in Taiwan!  Only finally stepped into my very own pad the next day.  Went straight after work and stood there feeling a little over-awed. 

Thankfully Michy joined me for a while and we both stood there discussing what I want done before Ah Teng came.  Yeah, my chosen renovation contractor is called Ah Teng.  AT - as Florence puts it, somehow making him sound cooler than he really is (think Phua Chu Kang in his 50s).

Trying to make it all fit in a tiny apartment takes some ingenuity.  Hopefully the contractor has some good ideas.

Frequent traveler's etiquette

Not that I travel very often these days, but in the last 2 weeks I made 2 very different styles of travel.

Flying Singapore Airlines with a Krisflyer Gold member to Brisbane and then just a couple of days ago, budget travel via JetstarAsia.

The contrast is stark.

So when I read today's papers, I almost laughed out loud:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/business/etiquette-for-seat-switching-on-the-road.html?ref=global-home

Yes actually, there is an unspoken rule about the whole business of travel.  Nicely put, etiquette.  And yes, those who do not travel often, don't get it and don't practise it which causes great grief to the rest of us.

I concur.  Do NOT,
- ask me to change seats with you (I chose that seat for a reason).  
- wave your arms in front of me.  Or invade my private space for ANY reason.
- attempt to make conversation with me.  What makes you think I want to talk to you?
- fidget in your seat with your elbows sticking out. 
- knock my neck cushion to wake me up because you need to use the bathroom. Can't you catch me when I am awake - which is the majority of the time. 
- occupy the entire armrest with your fat arms so much that you are literally leaning on my ribcage.
- remove your shoes and attempt to kill everyone on board with bio-warfare.