You make my world spinnin'.

Sundown Marathon - 10km down

HURRAY!!!

Finished 10km in a time of 1:17:37, but must take into consideration I was like 5-10mins behind the starting pack when the timer started!

Quite happy when I finally dashed through the finishing line cos the last time I ran 10km was back in 2004. My knees felt so sore after that, but it was worth it. I am looking forward to the next 10km already. =D

Anyway, almost wanted to buy 4D today cos:
1) My race tag number = 2137
2) My bag tag number = Q137
3) My finish time = 1:17:37

Like, woahhhhhhhhh...... too much of a coincidence, don't you think??

I saved myself $1...

A year on

I'm sure the Auto Retreat last year had been a very memorable one to most.

One year on, some have progressed; some have left; while some have joined. However, it now feels different.



It used to feel more like a family.

Phuket

It was a great trip. Not awesome, but still very great.

A good mix of outdoor activities and thank god the weather was very very kind to us for all the 4 days we were there! =D

At least it felt like a holiday, or a more decent getaway. Patong Beach is a rather touristy place. Almost every street is lined with only 6 different kind of shops:

- massage parlour
- shop selling Chang Beer or Redbull singlets
- seafood restaurant
- tour agency
- convenience store
- pharmacy

Like, seriouslyyyyyyyy! You only have to walk 30 steps to the next convenience store/pharmacy it's unbelievable. Nonetheless, I love Patong Beach because it feels so touristy with all the ang mohs bobbing around; it reminds me of Virginia Beach.

You would see every tour agency recommending similar tour packages to Phi Phi Island, shooting range, or to do ATV/elephant trekking/water rafting. Lucky I did my homework prior and we walked around before finally settling down on a price somewhat reasonable. On one of the trips we discovered that another grp paid almost twice as much as we did, haha.

















Look at the awesome number of fish! Quite amazing to be wadding around fishes :D

I paid only $90 for the air ticket and this trip widened my horizons and life experiences, lol.

They range from:
- First time riding ATV
- First time riding an elephant. It feels scarier than it looks.
- First time water rafting. Fun TTM!
- Visited a Thai-girl show. OMGOODNESSME.
- Got food poisoning, fortunately only minor. I couldn't walk more than 10 steps without stooping down to tolerate the sharp volleys of acute tummy ache. In the end I had to curl up in bed for about 1.5 hour and downed some medicine (thanks to the pharmacy that can be found at every street corner)
- Our tour guide was a pretty ah-gua and he/she was super entertaining, haha!
- Took beach-related pictures using a water-proof camera. Btw it is now not working.

Anyway, I would highly recommend Rayaburi hotel. The rooms are clean and spacious and has a rustic feel; the hotel's amenities are great (got Jacuzzi + swimming pool), breakfast is decent and the staff are very friendly! Anyway the Thais are all very friendly! =D

I had my decent share of cheap booze and seafood.

See:















Like seriously, who wouldn't pay 2 Baht more (roughly 8 cents?) for booze!
Haha.

Some other interesting finds:

Arsenal shop!


















I walked out empty handed cos too disappointed with them for the past 6 years.

Signboards by the beach:

The wings speed along the runway. The seats tremble.

Countdown - 30 hours to take off!

Certain songs remind me of certain someones.

一眼瞬間

Certain songs remind me of certain someones.

I look more 富有 now, don't I?

Rock your life

AH!

I feel more relieved now, that all preparatory efforts paid off. The big day is over and successfully. Phew! Thanks to all those who chipped in to help! Really appreciate the help. One major lesson I learnt from this event is that my Mandarin is really substandard man... I can read well but slowly losing my writing skills due to lack of practice... and my spoken is the worst of all. Guess I need to pick up a Chinese book to brush up brush up. I've wondered whether it's better to:

1) Be good at only one language - English/Chinese.
2) Be Jack of both but master of none.

I think in today's world, one can neither be 1 nor 2. If you can speak like ang moh but Chinese CMI, you'll click well with the other potatos but will face difficulty with the Cheena speaking. On the other hand, if you are mediocre at both languages, you'll probably pass off okay most of the time but have limitations when communicating with foreigners?

Anyway, now with today gone by, I can now return to my main portfolio and settle all the red flags in my email inbox. Have soooo much things to follow up on. Yes I enjoy a not-so-deskbound job but sometimes I appreciate the days when I have the entire day to sit in front of my computer to concentrate on working productively. Running a mobile schedule is inefficient and messes up the already loaded checklist in my failing memory.

Am looking forward to the next few weeks of events already! Rocks!

13 May - Stayover at Ra's
14 May - Butter!
15 May - Cold Stone x 2
17 May - Vesak Day holidayyyy!!
20 May - Seminar at RWS
21-24 May - PHUKETTTTT!!!!
28 May - Sun Down Marathon!
4 Jun - Housewarming
5 Jun - SENTOSAAAA!

WOOHOOO!!

The very looooooooong awaited until neck long like giraffe Phuket trip is finally round the corner!! It was booked... last September! Our proposed itinerary includes thai girl show, elephant riding, white water rafting, ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) riding, snorkelling, sipping cold cheap beer along the white sandy beach... OMGOSH LIFE ROCKS.

Short term goals keep life rocking! Rock on, my friends!

_

I was thrown a question today - "What do you think of Singapore's public transport landscape?"

I was... dumbfounded. And amazed that nothing came into my mind, absolutely nothing. Despite being in this industry for almost 2 years, I realised this question really caught me off guard. Good thing was that I wasn't seated in front of an interviewing panel. Anyways, I came to this possible conclusion:



I am still fresh to this industry, what possible comments would I have?


Sorry, that was an excuse. 2 years is a long enough time for you to at least speak something. Complain about the rising fares. Complain about the fruitless wait for the bus or the taxis. The squeeze in the MRT trains. Anything!

But I think I belong to the kind who is most of the time, neutral and happy-go-lucky, even in real life. I seldom have deep intriguing thoughts or emotions or perspectives. Say, even for the recent GE. I didn't vote; but I am actually quite neutral.

I don't think it's actually a good thing in the corporate world. People sitting on the fence are usually the ones who can be physically seen, but not remembered or formed impressions of.

How do I get my thoughts to whirr and stir up more?

I'm giving up my dear 3 year old Kelly to my mom.

I realised I love Kelly alot. I'll miss her. It has served me so well.

Good thing is that I'll still be able to see it everyday :)

Thanks for everything :)

Am so busy with work recently.

Suddenly my portfolio is transforming to that of collating information, putting them into powerpoint slides, editing the data, printing them out, and on the actual day, I'm a slides controller.

Blurred. I am at a loss as to why I'm spending my hours at work doing such things.

I am moving office to god-damn Woodlands Depot soon. Like next week. Poor soul me.

I am so occupied and bothered by work that I realise that maybe it's a good thing that after a loooong day of work, I do not have to check my phone and report how my day went; nor do I have to remember to ask how her day was. I just trot towards the cinema/beer place and Cheers, friends for life.