Back in Singapore!

I am back and I think I am going to start blogging again... simply because I need to keep my rather dull mind active during this long term break. The next few weeks will be pretty packed with the house move and all so I do hope I can log in a couple of good entries. I'll be writing about my trip too.For now I'll just re-decorate the blog for the summer holidays :)

I just succeeded in getting myself a flickr account! That was a random snippet of information but an important one nonetheless in time to come :)

One more FTW :)

Thanks Lala... :) Will pay up soon :)

Collection thus far :)

Absolut Disco Case

Absolut Tropics

Absolut No Labels

Celebration

Nothing much to celebrate this year end... BUT what the heck anyway :) Trading in those biking shoes for biking shoes and morning training sessions for late night clubbing escapades!!! Woohoo!!

Morning Call

Woke up at 4 a.m. Downed a cup of cappuccino and two cream puffs before stumbling upon this beautiful song. Listened it a number of times... decided to post it here before heading back to my final prep for the PS2237 paper this afternoon :)

enjoy :)

PS: I decided the make the song play everytime someone logs on here!! Woohoo!!!

Roma Termini - Paris Percy

Sleeper Train to Paris in... 2 hours time :) Tour De France... Here I come!!!

In Camp Rantings

In all honesty, reservist isn't turning out as bad as I had anticipated it to be. The fact that I am able to sit down and pen out my thoughts before the work day really begins (@ about 2 - 3 pm) should give you a good idea just how well everything is turning out. Its amazing how time flies and just walking around the camp, which I once had a stint at approximately 2 - 2.5 years ago, certainly puts this "time-flying phenomenon" in perspective. Contrary to popular belief, I ain't working with the newly enlisted individuals here but those returning for ICT or RT, HENCE... I need to be nice. Besides, I haven't really done this before so its pretty interesting just tagging along and watching the others go about doing their stuff. The dude here are really nice and really hospitable, which again was something which had me pleasantly surprised. Most of them are around my age so its pretty fun just bumming around with them and doing... stuff...

I intended to head out for a morning swim today before cycling to camp but getting out of bed at 9.30 am certainly didn't help with the realization of my glorious plans. I did however, manage to finish another episode of Pushing Daisies before heading out. The ride was unbelievably short, with me cycling a grand total of... 5.3 km from my home to my camp. I was expecting at least 10 km. The rear derailleur is giving me a bit of problems and it doesn't seem to switch around smoothly. I really need to get that one sorted out before I proceed on anymore long rides with the Fondreist.

Anyway, if you really need to know, I am just sitting at the comp, in my lime green running attire waiting for the rest of the guys to come in. A number of them are already in camp but I don't have a clue as to where they are. So, I am going to sit here and continue hacking away at the comp. With any luck, this might just turn out to be my longest post ever... for this week or month at least.

The plans for the Europe trip are somewhat on track. I have now a basic itinerary done up and a simple costing list provided to me by the travel agency. I feel however that this agency should be slightly more forthcoming in their information and show a bit more enthusiasm in helping its customers plan the trip. Rephrase: in helping its customers source out the best deals for the trip. Anyway, my mum and I made a call this morning to the company and hopefully they'll start getting their act together.

Its now the 9th of June and the trip is approximately just 3 over weeks away. I hoping to slot in a "full dress rehearsal" sometime this week or the next. I don't feel comfortable flying off and participating i the longest race in my life without really getting to know the gear that I'll be racing with. This again, leads me to another checkpoint in my to-do list before the trip. I need to sort out: my wetsuit; how to pack the bike; my bike servicing... and a whole host of other stuff. Not to mention keeping focus and maintaining some form of consistency in my training, which I admit, I have been doing a terrible job of. On another note, my goals for this upcoming race aren't too lofty either. I think I might need a coach for the year-end training. For that race... I do have some ambitious goals which needs fulfilling. Sigh... alright most of the guys are coming in already. Till the next entry!

Take that Desaru and Faber.

I am gg to own this hill... one day...

Bintan Tri: Pre-Report.

Yes everyone. I am back. Burnt, dehydrated but thoroughly rejuvenated. Proper write-up on the race coming soon!! :P It must be late cause I just had a terribly random thought... 

Bintan

I am pretty excited about my inaugural trip to Bintan. Happy Birthday Sis :) 

Jason goes to the hospital :(

And that above was the sight that greeted me as soon as I pulled the brake cable out of the rubber sheath that covered it :( I had started my afternoon earlier by making a resolution to make better use of my new found freedom. I decided to kick off the day by taking apart the old Raleigh which had stood there in the dust and rain for the last 12 years. The hands on session began very well till I reached the brake cables. I didn't have the right tools at that point in time (If I had looked 0.25 percent harder, I would have found the damn wire cutters under my coveralls...) so I was basically pulling and sawing away rather recklessly at the cables. As I was trying to remove the cable that was attached to the rear derailuer, I guessed I pulled it a tinge too hard, snapped the damn cable and sent a fragment of it THROUGH my thumb. Trust me... it hurt like hell.

I proceeded to leave a note on Facebook, informing the world of my terrible plight, and rushed off with my mum in tow to CGH to get the stupid thumb attended too. The nurses seem pretty amused at how I got my injury (or perhaps at my injury...). Its probably (in my opinion), refreshing to see a true and honest A&E case in the A&E ward after going through tons of NSFs with phantom fevers, construction workers with invisible injuries etc... A supporting observation would be that I was the only one in the A&E ward with an open wound!

Anyway, the wait to be attended was expected and for a short period of time, I was worried that I might die of a tetanus infection whilst waiting for someone to attend to me. My turn soon came and after a preliminary examination and a "before" x-ray, the doctor soon proceeded to yank the damn wire out of my poor miserable aching thumb. After 3 yanks, the wire slid right out and that's where the pain jumped a notch up (I have a rather low pain threshold... FYI). The feeling of having the wire slide out THROUGH ones thumb... priceless... After a secondary examination and another X-ray to make sure nothing got left inside, I proceeded to get my tetanus toxoid vaccination. After much deliberation on which arm or buttcheek (kidding) to jab, we finally got the jab done and I was soon homeward bound :)

The rest of the day proceeded rather uneventfully and ended with a nice seafood dinner with Mum and Dad at ECP. With this little report on my poor thumb out of the way, I can now retire peacefully to bed in preparation for tomorrow's ride:) Till the next entry...

My Lullaby :)

Excellent piece of work. Stunning... if only I could do... that :)

Mad World - American Idol Contestant Adam Lambert

Beautiful rendition of an amazing amazing amazing song :)

Game Theory

9.23 am... Well I think there was a significant improvement over 10.23 am yesterday. Anyway, I still went for a 3+ km run with my new pair of shoes :)

I am quite a noob at the technicalities of running but I do know that I have always been rather heavy heel striker when it comes to running (even walking...). With the new pair of shoes, there was a significant shift in the way my feet contacts the ground... I'll just stop here cause I am really sounding stupid trying to explain something I ain't too sure about. 

Pukka was good last night, with the three of us gorging on two waffle baskets worth of ice-cream. Nic proposed a boycott of Pukka for at least a week, because the prowess of its calorie booster is starting to take effect in a sure yet altogether subtle way. 

The hall accommodation arrangements have too been finalized. Things didn't go exactly according to plan but hey, all things happen for a reason right? I'll just take things as it is, be grateful that the 5 (or 6?) of us will be together for another academic year to come :)

My training program's pretty crapped up. I lack the discipline to get things going and to stay the course. I guess I'll be looking to Norman and JJ and the training bible for that extra strength. 

Alrighty... with that quick little update... its back to Vizzini and Wesley and their strategy profile of who's going to drink some bottle of poison on some random table... :(

 

The Curse of the -OH group

No fun. Period. I'll take that back. A teeny bit of fun. Period. :)

The lack of painkillers is... disastrous :)

Oh shucks, I just realized that my dosage of painkillers will end by tomorrow evening. I tried doing without the afternoon dosage of painkillers against my better judgment and man, am I regretting it. So much for taking it like a man :) 

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.” 

- Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC), Oedipus at Colonus

I think the word tribal girl was looking for was morphine, painkillers and death :) The last I checked love was the weight and source of the worse kind pain ever known to man. I maybe wrong, but I guess only time and :) will have to prove me wrong.

Pleasant evening

It's a pity I still can't appreciate the effects of alcohol. The sheer thought of loosing self-restraint and becoming a total fool in front of everyone still haunts me every-time a toast is made or a vodka-red-bull is shoved in my direction. Perhaps it is the possibility of offending someone with the gibberish that comes spewing out whilst under intoxication, but more I think, in what hurt the truth may bring should it be left unchecked and unrestraint... Whatever it may be, I enjoyed last night very much... :) 

“Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” 

- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

:)

Not a word need be spoken,

Not a sound need be made.

Neither need not be together,

to feel the other's warm embrace.

Nor do they need to see each other,

to bathe in each other's eternal gaze.

As both sit beneath the same blue sky

Their faces caressed by the same cool breeze

Regardless of time, place and mood

All they have has left them by,

All they want has come and gone.

Yet both still smile as the hope too fades,

Cause what they need is here and now.

- Jason Yip

Help needed

I must admit that some of the blogs published on the net are simply works of art in their own right. I ain't exactly the tech-savvy sort so till I succeed in figuring out how to read html, xml, and  so on and so forth... this will have to suffice for now :)  

THANKS!!!! for helping me make my 21st a very very memorable one!!!

To all those who came for my little gathering, Thanks again for the great company and well wishes. Thanks for the gifts as well!!! I will be putting up some of the photos here soon so yup till then!!!