Day 1

Date: 1 Jul 07
Time: 8am Paris Time / 2pm S’pore time
Venue: Café at Charles De Gaulle Airport
Weather: 19C

It was a long 13 hours flight from Sin – Paris. I was in deep trouble when the check-in crew at Changi told me there’s no more aisle seat, no more emergency seat and that the one that was issued to me is a middle seat. Oh no!!!!! How am I going to survive in a middle seat for 13 hours. I need to move and stretch my legs.

While I was boarding the plane, noticed that someone took my middle seat. I asked where’s her seat, she gave me a blank look and show me her boarding pass. It’s just across the other side and it’s an aisle seat!! Without further delay, I agree to let her stay put in my seat and I’ll take her aisle seat…Phew!!!

After the last few flights from SQ, I now realized how good is the service and the quality. No doubt SQ is named as one of the best airline. In comparison to the one that I had today, the seat is as hard as a wooden bench, the food is cold, the quality is bad. The fruit seems to be bit and pieces from those canned cocktail. Urgh…Sucks…:(

I’m glad that I popped in a sleeping pill an hour before the flight, else I’ll be a walking zombie now. Not that I slept very well but I did have a few short nap here and there. If not because of butt pain and leg cramp, I think I can sleep thru all the way. I even missed out the 1st meal that they served, I think that was like 1am?? Can’t be bothered with the food at that hour. Sleep is more important J Finally, woke up at 7.30am and head towards the self service area to get water and juice AND a cup noodles….Hmm..Yummy… Snooze again for another 2 hours before they serve breakfast. Food…cannot make it at all….

1.5 hours more to go before I board another 3 hours flight to St.Petersburg. I shall try to get more zzzz again if possible :)

More update to come…..

Without any second thoughts, I just go for it before I change my mind again. No worries and just do it. That's my motto. Approximately 8 weeks from now, I’m going to venture out into a new experience, my first one but I’m sure it will not be the last. I know what will I be going thru on that day but I’m prepared mentally, definitely not physically yet :) I aim to complete not to compete. But then I hope to complete it in a reasonably amount of time :P

So, what’s up in 8 weeks time…… 26 Aug 5.30am – The Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon. Yes….. I am….I will be taking part in this year AHM – 21km. Now that I’m looking at the race route,it is indeed long long journey leh….. siao liao lah….. getting nervous. 8 more weeks for preparation, what would be the outcome, it will really be dependant on my discipline…..:) we’ll see…. I will "Jia You"!!!!

Here’s a preview of the route.

My Tribute

My tribute to Dmitry Golub, Software Analyst, Quest Software St.Petersburg.

In early May, I received an out of office reply from Dmitry stating that he will be on medical leave for 3 weeks. I have not heard from him since then and was wondering if he has already back to work.

This morning I received an email from a colleague in Canada. The email definitely caught my attention and it kind of affecting me the entire day. Part of the email content:

He was one of us – building labs, troubleshooting issues, working late nights and weekends, always ready to help.
Dmitry passed away in a hospital last month.

He went for an operation and died of kidney failure as what I was told. Dmitry has been really helpful to me throughout my stay in this company. Working with me at 2am his time, ensuring that I get all the help as much as I need. Maybe I’m kind of soppy, I was browsing thru all the past emails that he sent to me…. I felt worse….haiz….. Funny that we’ve never met, yet I was impacted by this incident. I was scheduled for a business trip to St.Petersburg end of this month and was hoping to see him face to face. And deep down in my heart, I would really want to meet him personally to thank him with all the help given. This will not happen…….. That’s my regret.

The World Harmony Run

Sgrunners @ Merlion

The World Harmony Runners @ Merlion

This is the 3rd year where the World Harmony Run is held in Singapore. Obviously is my 1st one. Majority of the runners are from Sgrunners, which is how I get to know about this run.

Not a race at all but a run to promote world harmony across all religions and race. The run started from Bukit Gombak and end at The Merlion, a total of 22km, which a few stops at 2 mosque, 1 temple and 1 Sikh Temple.

Run start at 9am - 2.30pm Pretty interesting for 1st timer like me with children cheering us and warm welcome as we approach the temples. Records show that we have a total of 70 runners on that day. For the first time, I have the St.John ambulance, a traffic police escorting me in my run leh. There’s even a van with photographers and supporters cheering us all the way throughout the run. Definitely cheer us up and bring in more laughter throughout the run. AND and and......it even came out from Strait Times hor.... Check this out...

It gets more interesting where we felt that we own the entire road. Anyhow swing from first lane to the third lane with the police blocking the cars and let us go our way….wuahahahhaah Boh Jing Hu. Actually, the Jing Hu is on our side…J

This is the first time that I'm running this long (with stops of course) and at such odd hours. Mind you...running at 12pm is no joke. Super hot!!! But then the pace is just nice, not too fast, just nice for long distance. I'm happy to be part of it......

I’m getting so sick of all this anonymous call from banks, timeshare, insurance..etc offering me this and that at no obligation.

I just had one minutes from an insurance company :-

Lady: Hi, Can I speak to ……

Me: Yes, speaking

Lady: I’m calling from xxx insurance company…… Would you like to earn $10,000 selling insurance?

Me: No thank you. (***I’m earning more than that now***.Haha…I do wanted to give this statement if she keep pestering me. But well…she didn’t)

Lady: Ok. Thanks.

Haha…I’m bad….Sometime I like to make fun out of this ppl. Something like….”I have more than enough cash in hand, why are you forcing me to take up your loan??”
Haiyah…so easy can earn 10k per month meh…. Then everybody will be in that line liao loh…

Conquering Mt.Faber

It has been close to 2 weeks with not much physical activities due to my recent business trip, followed by Dad and mum in town. I can feel that I'm starting to feel lethargic again. I need to get my butt up and start working out.

After 1.5 weeks, I finally put on my running shoe again and went for a short 45mins warmout around PR neighbourhood. It's a total failure. No stamina, no endurance, no strength. Feeling a bit disappointed, I make another attempt again on Monday. This time on a threadmill with some speed as well as hill run. Not too bad....getting back in form.

Tuesday - the usual CBD run but this time round, tigger decided to add some spice into it. We will be conquering up to Mt.Faber thru Kg.Bahru Road. I've been hearing a lot a lot abt this route. How tough, how hilly, how it 'kills' runners. I wanted to give it a try. I wanted to experience how tough it really is. We started off a pretty easy one from Tanjong pagar. The chiongster is all way ahead after the 1st km. I was somewhere in the middle with a couple more behind. Soon...the chiongster is no where within my sight. I looked at my back... there's no one behind either...Oops!!! Siao liao...did I go the wrong way?? I slowed down, looking around and I think I spotted one of them like 200m ahead of me. Off I go until I reached the foot of MF. Approx 3km from starting point.

The faster one have already started to chiong up the hill when I reach the foot. Tigger waited for me and soon was joined by Jodan. I started to conquer the hill, warned by tigger to look out for a 4m height barrier which is where the killer is. He chiong his way and I slow down my pace to prepare for that 'slope'. Jodan ask me to go ahead as he is slowing down his pace too. It was still alright for the 1km..the slope is pretty mild until I spotted the 4m barrier. Wah seh...... I can clearly see what is ahead of me. Start to change my strategy, small stride and medium pace. Soon...I reach this slope which looks like a 45 degree to me. It's killing my calves. I have to stop...to walk.... Buay tahan... I rotate between jogging and walking all the way up until the slope is over!!! Yea.... I'm happy that I get to experience the toughness of running that slope.... Reached the Jewel box, waited for Jodan and off we go on the same way back to TP. Approx 9.5km. Good one :)

Now that I know how bad that slope is, "someone" actually did 6 loops on that same route, 10km per loop, totalling to 60km in his Safra Ultramarathon challenge last Sunday. Under hot sun some more!!! Wah piang.... I'll either faint or attack by heat stroke. I now gave him a new nick - "Super Extreme Ultra Marathon man".

After my last business trip back in Dec, I went for a second one two weeks ago. This time to Tokyo. It was purely for business really.... with not much personal time except for a couple of hours after work.

Depart on Sunday 9:45am, reached Tokyo at 5:15pm. Upon immigration clearance at 5:45pm, I rush straight to the limousine counter to get a coach ticket that bring me straight to the hotel. Cost me 3000 yen (S$36). You may have wonder....come on...it's business trip, just grab a cab. Well well.... it's a definte no...That will probably cost me like S$300!!! So there I go, head off to the bus stand to wait 20 mins for the coach. Almost the entire Sunday is gone. Tired, sleepy.... yet to endure for another 1.5 hours to get me to the hotel.

Reached the hotel approx 8pm. Weather is getting cold at night. Argh..... Cold + hungry + tired is the worst combination. Agree?? I have no idea where am I, nor do I wanted to go out recee the place and find food. Simply....too exhausted from the 7 hours flight. Head off to the room, order room service and Zzzzz.

I was demanded by colleague to buy 10 mascaras for them!! Very good woh.... Only japan can get it woh... So, that's my mission after work. To explore Shibuya and Shinjuku hunting for 10 sticks of mascara. Thank goodness I have Frank with me. To cut the story short.... I swept out all the stock from 3 drug store, just to add up the total of 10 mascara!!!! Urgh..ladies ladies.....haiz.... Other than that, no shopping, no sight seeing, no pictures.... :) chop chop 4D3N trip.

Boss was away for the last one week and will only be back by end of this week. I'm getting a bit sick tired mentally having to deal with part of her work in addition to mine. Can't wait to take at least a day break when she's back. To think about my business trip to Japan next week makes me even sicker!!! I'm starting to have a bad impression on Japanese culture. Well in a way, as what we always see, they are very well mannered, clean...etc. But when come to the corporate world and when you really have a colleague who is a Jap.....it's totally different!!! Trust me....untill you experienced it...you never know. Don't talk about the fun time exploring tokyo after work. It will be good enough if I don't get high blood pressure over there.

Wish me luck........

I was supposed to be on my way back from gym at this hour. But I'm happily enjoying a bowl of ABC soup,in the comfort of my room, blogging.

That is because, something terrible happen while I'm at the gym hours ago. Initial plan was to do some speed training on the treadmill. I did a warm up jog for 5 minutes and slow down, eventually stopped to tighten up my jogging pants. In that split of seconds, I had the worst ever feelings and it is just terrible.

I suddenly run out of breath, my vision is blur, my shoulder is aching, I felt like throwing out, my heart beat is increasing. I felt like I'm going to black out very soon. It was indeed a scary feeling I tell you. And it lasted pretty long. I was still standing on the threadmill trying to control my breathing but it's getting worst and worst. I was praying deep inside that I will not black out and collapse. The way that I perspire after just a 5 minutes warm up, it's really NOT me. It usually took me at least 15 mins to start persipring. Something is terribly wrong. I slowed down and stepped down from the treadmill, still trying to control my breathing and slowly walking towards the water cooler, still perspiring. My vision is still blur, I am seriously worried that I'll collapse. Continue praying..........

It lasted for 5-10 mins and the heart beat slowly resume back to normal. And for the next 10 mins, I was wondering what went wrong. Did I run too fast and stop immediately? Not at all, this is the not the first time I'm doing it. Did I ate too much? Not at all. I have no idea what causes that. Anyway, it was a bad experience. I do not want to push myself as I still have a little bit of nausea. I decided to take a shower and call it a day. It doesn't really matter to skip the workout for a day. It's more important to listen to the body...

So, in a way, I'm thankful that I can sit here, blogging this unique experience that I had and not ended up in hospital.......
I shall sleep well and rest well tonight.....Zzzzzzzzzz

Worth it, worth it not

Just when I was blogging about work satisfaction few days ago, I came across this article in asia1.com with a header - Dead after 8 hours on laptop.

Looking at the title, I'm pretty sure that this lady is dead due to overworked. Sure enough, it is. It was such a pity and there are indeed people out there, working day and night to climb the corporate ladder, only to realized that they have neglected their family, their health when it's too late.

Like what I told my sis the other day, enough to eat, enough to use and possibly enough to go holiday can already loh... Money is important but it's not everything. So, don't spent too much time trying to earn as much as you want, cuz it's never enough and you will probably end up being a slave to money. What's the point of earning so much, yet you loose something that is much valuable, something that money could not buy.

I am quiitteeee happy with my job lah

Are you?

http://www.blogthings.com/shouldyougetanewjobquiz

Hmm....The conclusion.....I shall be contented and look no further for the time being......

The King & Queen is here

For the past 2 days, it has been a shiok morning as it started to rain at 3am and lasted till around 7am. Shiok for those who is in bed. Definitely not for those ready to go to work and because of that, we actually had to cancel our monthly east side run on Sunday....:(

Haiz.... I went back to bed on Sunday morning after my alarm rang at 6am. Woke up at 8am and it was still drizzling!!! Win already loh...cannot go run.... By the late afternoon, the king & queen is here. Yeah...it's my dad and mum. So I can't go for evening run also loh. Dad and mum is here for this week to help me put on weight...haha.... I probably have to workout harder for I surely have a sumptious dinner this few nights. Dad called this morning and already let me know what's the menu for tonight :-

- bitter gourd with chic
- home made sharkfin soup with mince chic. It's vegetarian shark fin lah but it's as good as real one loh.

But before that, I got to go burn the extra cal before I head home....:)

The Spirit of Marathon

http://www.marathonmovie.com/home.html

This was indeed a truly inspirational movie clip. Probably it’s even more appealing to me as I’m working towards a similar goal. I am not mentally prepared to take up a marathon at this point of time but I truly understand the emotional struggle that one have to go thru throughout the 42km that will probably last for at least 5 hours as a non elite. Because……this is exactly how I felt on every of my long distance run. You are tested on your endurance of pain, cramps, emotional struggle……. But.. the after effect of running...you will have to try it yourself. It's simply 'high'..

One of the comments from the clip: “When you complete the marathon, there is nothing in life that you can’t try to do after that”.
I would probably want to agree to that to a certain extent. You will definitely be a stronger person, not only physically but mentally. I can never believe that I can run a 10km 2 years back. On my first attempt to do a 10km run in 2005, you can never imagine the excitement and sense of achievement I had upon crossing the finishing line.

“When you cross the finishing line, no matter how fast or how slow, it will change your life forever”..... I'm yet to find out myself….. I may not even have the guts to make the decision...:)

I always try to associate running a marathon & giving birth. Every woman who has been thru labour before will surely comment that it’s the most painful experience they have ever had.

Some similarities that I’ve been thinking about:

The 10 months of pregnancy is something that you may not enjoy (water retention, backache, lethargy…)
The training period prior to the marathon (strict diet, intense training schedule, abrasion, blister, black toe nail)

While in labour, the pain is beyond description. You swear that you do not want to go thru this again.
The pain and struggle you went thru in the 42km run. Cramps, stitches, emotionally and physically worn out. You question yourself why are you going thru this.

BUT

When you finally see your baby and holding close to you, you felt that you’re the most blessed person on earth. Month later, you’ll probably consider to have another baby :)
When you cross the finishing line, you felt that you are the WINNER, overcoming all fear and struggle. There’s no other thing that can stop you. You will want to do it AGAIN!!!

THIS IS SO TIME CONSUMING!!!! I gave up....for the day.....Wait till I'm free and feeling bo liao...I'll beautify the blog ok......

Siao Liao....happily hand itchi go change this template...now got to dig inside the code where to place back my shoutbox and hit counter :( ke kiang lah!!

I'm getting a little bored with my blogs. Not much pictures, theme is boring.

I'm lazy...Anyone want to volunteer to help me revamp?.....free meal from me :) Or at least...point me to some site that can help me do it with a few clicks lah. I search also lazy....:(

Being a "Tang Jia"

In my past experience, when our bosses are not around be it on leave, on mc, all of us will be utterly happy. The whole department will be a “boh jing hu” department. Things are never the same again ever since I join my current company. I have a strong bonding with my boss. She is the best among all the bosses that I’ve had before. As she is currently away for 2 weeks, ‘semi’ officially, I became the “tang jia” of the department.

It was a little stressful but I guess I’m doing well. How are you able to respond to certain situation in a professional manner, ensuring that you are not offending anyone and is not giving an impression that you are running away from responsibilities and at the end of it, you gain respect from ppl….Hmm…..that needs quite a fair bit of experience as you go along…. Cannot learn in school loh….

Last year, I had an agreement with Calvin Chin that if I were to go for a half marathon at this year end SCSM 07, he must go for a full marathon. I guess he must have never thought that I will go for it..hahahah…. On Sat night, I received a sms from him asking if I wanna to join him to run at east coast. Well…I was considering quite a while with the fact that it’s in the evening and it’s at east coast which I’m not so in favour of. Also, he is going with his girlfriend who have just started to run (maybe it’s because of him :)) and could not run far/fast. And they both need some motivation to run long distance. After a bit of hesitation I agreed to meet up with him, requested that he pick me up from Bedok.

Looking at his gf, my first reaction was…..this is a typical Calvin Chin type of gal…J If I were to see this gal by the road side, I do think that CC would like this kinda gal…99.9%. Anyway, STOP commenting abt ppl’s gf. And so we started off our run somewhere near MacDonald toward the seafood restaurant, which is merely 1.5km. U-turn back and head all the way up to Fort Road. I have no idea how far, maybe just less than 5km one way. I dunno what happen but my performance sucks on the day. I was pacing CC for the first 3km and he soon departed further from me and chiong his way to the front while I slow down to do some stretches and enjoying the breeze along the jetty before I start to run again. I just dun have the ‘feel’ of running that day. Nevertheless, I continue to do a slow one towards Fort Road and bump into CC when he is on his way back from Fort Road which according to him it’s about 200m away.

I decided to u-turn and follow him back. He looks tired but continue to move on while I continue my slow pace back. Got stopped by a siau mei mei standing right in front of me with her arms open wide to stop me asking me to take a group pics for them. I was like……&E*#^e*#^e#r^(*!!!!!! Cannot see I running izit?!?!?!? Break my momentum only!! And so…I walk towards that group of siau mei mei, unwillingly snap a few pics, return them the camera and run my way back. I heard a few ‘thank u’ here and there but ANGRY….dun want to say “welcome” leh!!! Give them a black face..hahaha….. The fact that there are sooooo many ppl strolling along the path….of all people out there, why approach someone who is running!!! AIYOH….siau mei mei…..haiz……

We ended at McDonald again. Checked my time, it’s merely a 50 mins run. Given the pace that I run, I doubt we hit 8km…probably less. Hmm…..not a good and enjoyable run for me. CC looks very tired. He hasn’t been running that far. I’m feeling alright cuz I did not put in much effort throughout J Hmmm…sometimes running also must depends on mood…cannot means cannot. Just hope that I won’t have this kinda ‘mood’ on any upcoming raceJ

Satisfying run

I am demoralized on Tuesday when I happily changed my work attire to my running attire, head up straight to Tanjong Pagar to meet the running kakis for our usual Tues CBD run. Having high hope that the drizzle will stop at 7pm by the time we start our run. Who knows…..it’s getting heavier and heavier as I reach TP. It was still bearable, still can run when I met up with the kaki and hide underneath a shelter. But by 7pm, it started to pour….don’t talk abt run. Walk out also a bit difficult. Our spirit drops…..wanted to give it another 5-10mins before we decide to call it a day. Haiz….we gave up by 7.10pm and head off to Marina Square for makan. Not happy loh L

Feeling real dissatisfied, Michiy asked if I’m free on Wed. I say yes. And the question pops up, “Wanna run?” **Wink wink***…eyes open wide…Of course!!! Cut the story short. To replace the CDB run, we met again on Wed at Suntec and start our run towards Marina South.

Suntec -> Sheares Bridge -> Sundial -> Steamboat area -> Jetty -> Tanjong Pagar (DBS building) -> Esplanade -> Suntec.

While Michiy is nursing a mild flu, she took her time for a slow one while I was slightly infront of her, trying to chiong a bit and to improve my speed. Not forgeting to check out from time to time to make sure that she's alright. It was a real satisfying run:

1st, there’s only 2 of us of similar speed. There is no speed monster in front forcing me to chase after them and ended up panting like nobody business and ponchet half way.
2nd, nice weather after a slight rain.
3rd, for whatever reason, I am so into the spirit of running on that day. Dunno why.

No ache, did not run out of breath, in good form, we completed an approx 11-12km in 80 mins. Not a fantastic timing…but ultimately…I feel good!! Woohoo!!!

I have been earnestly looking at other ppl's blog every day without fail, not realizing that I haven't been updating mine for quite some time :P

The past 3 weeks at least have been a real busy week for me. At work of course. Where else can I get so busy... It's always the trend. When u get busy, suddenly everything seems to be coming together. When u start to slow down a bit, you literally have nothing to do throughout the day.

Being a public holiday today, went up to the pool at Suntec for a swim. Wuahaha!!!! shiok ah..I had the entire pool all by myself throughout the 45 mins. The sun is blazing right on me which is what I wanted. I like to swim in hot hot weather :P Being very new to swimming (since there's no one in the pool), I tried something silly. So that I am the only one who can laugh at myself...muahahahaha....!!! I tried to swim free style. Yeah..u knew it. All I know is just the froggie style and I still haven't master it. Now, trying to be a little ambitious, I'm trying free style :) Since nobody around, I can just twist and turn whichever way. My last few attempts in the past doesn't seem to give me any results. 1st, there are ppl in the pool. I pai seh lah. Secondly, water seems to get in to the nose right after the 1st stroke.

Anyway, cut the story short. After a few try, I managed to swim just 1 lap in free style without stopping. Quad super tied!! Don't talk about posture, stroke whatever lah..I know, I can feel that it's pretty awful. My body is crooked while doing the stroke..hehe...need more practice. But it's a good start :)