Looking For Me?

changes

2008-07-18T23:32:00.002+08:00

I think I should stop being lazy and write something on this blog of mine ;)

Yes, my dear friends. Thanks very much for the smses and short notes :) The "Looking for Me" blog is still v much alive. The new "by invitation" blog has not gone live yet...I've not missed you out in my invitation list :) I know this makes me sound terribly popular as a blogger, but trust me, I don't think I have that many fans..I am just lucky to have many caring friends ;)

Will start the new blog probably only in the last week of August or slightly before that, so stay tuned!

Change is the only constant. How apt. I guess most of us would have gotten used to it by now. I don't know why I'm so proud of this...sounds silly..but I've just changed my sms notification sound. Instead of the rather errm..irritating sounding Bugs Bunny speech "What's this? A letter! For me!", which has often earned me stares from curious onlookers especially in a crowded train ;p I've changed it to something, which I hope is less juvenile, maybe more sophisticated and more melodious ;)

I'm moving!

2008-07-02T23:00:00.000+08:00

Yes. As you may have guessed...from the header...or from the little hints that I have dropped in previous postings....this little blog of mine will be moving soon :)

I'll still be blogging as usual. Shall endeavour to blog on a more concientious basis going forward :) If possible, I shall aim to blog for at least 350 days from September 2008 onwards ;p Sounds like a tall order. May sound like a potentially boring read for some of my loyal fans out there ;p Have faith :) Let's give it a try. Let's give ourselves a chance :)

The new blog shall be by invitation :) The new blog will also be slightly different in flavour from "Looking For Me". Perhaps we could play a game of spot the difference between the 2 blogs if there's sufficient interest ;p

For those of you who are still keen to read my postings:
a) If you are v sure that I know that you read my blog, I have your e-mail address, no action required ;)
b) If you think that I probably may not know that you read my blog, please drop me an e-mail, msn message or sms ;p

For those of you whom I've already requested for your e-mail addresses, just sit back, relax nd wait for my invitation :)

Thanks a lot!

Special Kyushu Ramen

2008-06-21T01:34:00.002+08:00

This blog posting is especially for a good friend whom I just had dinner with :) Welcome to kestrel's blog ;p Hope you have fun reading it ;)

Thought I should write on the dinner that I had. As you may have guessed it. Special Kyushu Ramen :) It was rather yummy! Tastes quite different from the ramen that we're used to. Especially like the roasted sesame seeds that they have in the soup :)

I guess I'm pretty much into a ramen mood since last year when I was introduced to the marutama ramen (or as my friends fondly call it the basketball ramen ;p) at central mall. Yep. For those of you who have tried it, it's the ramen with chicken stock ;) Which, I think should be a relatively healthier option than the usual pork based ramen that we are used to :)

Anyway, back to Kyushu ramen. Googled on the specific differences of kyushu ramen. Apparently, noodles in kyushu ramen are very fine, and often undercooked (i.e. they taste rather springy). They use pork-based, very thick white soup and goes well with roasted garlic :) Not too sure how many outlets in Singapore sell kyushu ramen. But this particular shop that I went to was along Mohammed Sultan Road. Prices are relatively ok and food tastes rather yummy too :)

My new Toy :)

2008-06-15T15:34:00.003+08:00

Bought a new "toy" yesterday ;)Definitely took quite a bit of efforts to acquire it. Firstly there was the awful crowds of people at the IT fair to navigate through while I browse the various booths in search of that particular laptop that would suit my needs ;p Secondly, there was of course the rather difficult weighing process i.e. which model to buy, how much to spend etc ;p Thirdly, there was the queue to do the free RAM upgrade for my new purchase ;) and of course, finally, lugging my new purchase back home via the MRT cos taxi queues were long and it definitely doesn't make much sense to drive down to suntec and not be able to find a parking lot for the car ;)

All in all, am glad that I have finally settled on my new laptop :) Have spent the whole of last night and this afternoon downloading the neccesary programs to bring the laptop up to speed (more in terms of the stuff that I would need ;p)...and in case you're wondering, no illegal programs (maybe not yet;p), basically stuff like freeware and shareware ;) e.g. picasa, sun jvm etc ;p

Have got a new blog project in mind :) for this "project" to take off, would appreciate if you, my dear reader can e-mail/ msn me the e-mail account that you use the most frequently. Thanks :)

PS: Have loaded a picture up with this blog. Guess the picture serves as a reminder of the good trip that I had recently ;p This was also the first picture that I experimented with my laptop's bluetooth ;p Anyone knows where this is? :)

Back

2008-06-07T14:06:00.004+08:00

I realised that my blogs are always titled Back etc ;p Pretty uninspiring and uninnovative I gotta say.
Right. Shall work on it to make it better in the next posting :)

Been really away from SG for quite a while..a grand total of 17 days :) Must say I really really had a good break. 10 days away down in under in Aussieland visiting my family, followed directly by a 5 day course up North in M'sia..followed by a short 1+day trip in M'sia :) This is probably my first time transiting in Changi airport. Thought I"ll share my short transit experince at Changi.

I had a grand total of 2 hours to transit at Changi. Knowing me, needless to say, I spent like the first half an hour searching for an internet kiosk, to trouble-shoot my wireless@SG account..and of course to surf to my heart's content ;p Replied to a couple of smses on my handphone ;) (gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised to get 1 particular sms haha ;p) Next up, it was to treat myself to a really good chinese meal (having been relatively deprived) down under ;p

I walked into a particular restaurant after much hesistation, more so because, the people inside caught me eyeing their menu several times and asked me twice if I wanted to dine at the restaurant ;p (I was going through this complicated thought process of whether to head for the foodcourt for good ol Singaporean food or to head into the restaurant for Chinese food ;p). So, I went in a little reluctantly. Ordered food and asked for water. The waitress asked "still or sparkling", to which I very calmly replied "just water will do" ;p and she finally understood :)

Made my way to pay the bill after my rather satisfying bowl of noodles ;) Asked the cashier if there were any credit card discounts, to which she kept saying "yes, you can pay by credit card". Repeated my question twice, before she finally understood me and rather reluctantly said "yes. 10% discount for UOB credit card" Needless to say, I proudly whipped out my UOB credit card and got my discount ;p Perverse as this may sound, but I do get my kicks out of these really small victories ;p But then again, this really makes me wonder if (a) the restaurants in the transit areas are solely for tourists and not for locals like myself, or (b) I don't look Singaporean?

Just some musings about my 2 hour transit at Changi ;) Till next time. No pics this time I guess.

La Viva Tapas

2008-05-10T00:39:00.000+08:00

Was out for dinner with 2 good friends of mine. A very nice way to spend a Friday evening after a long week at work, with tapas, Sangría, nice company and great spanish music in a rather cosy ambience at Chijmes :)

For the uninitiated...like me (I may have taken spanish lessons before. But when it comes to spanish cuisine, I'm totally clueless!), here's some useful information, courtesy of wikipedia :)

Tapas is the name for a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine. Tapas have evolved into an entire cuisine; at Spanish restaurants, patrons may order many different small tapas, and combine them for a full meal.

Sangría is a wine punch typically from Spain and Portugal. The word sangría comes from the Spanish sangre meaning blood ("sangue" in Portuguese). It typically consists of
red wine, chopped or sliced fruit (often orange, apple, and/or peach; occasionally kiwi or banana), a sweetener such as honey or orange juice, a small amount of added brandy, triple sec, or other spirits. gaseosa (carbonated water).

Illustrations in the photogrid :)

The Local Tourist

2008-04-06T21:28:00.003+08:00

I recall writing something on being a tourist in our own backyard...a.k.a. the local tourist concept...Some time back, the ST used to have this column - The Accidental Tourist, which I enjoyed reading immensely. The column talks about the little known nooks and corners of Singapore...really, if we take the time to walk and explore around..we are more than our concrete urban jungle of buildings and HDB blocks ;)

Anyway, for work purposes, we have had foreign visitors for the past 2 weeks. Naturally, the conversation always strays to the attractions that they have been visiting in Singapore after working hours. To our amazement, our visitors have been very adventurous. They have taken the MRT on their own, and invariably, all of them would have visited Chinatown, Little India, Orchard Road and the Night Safari :)

For this week, we brought one group of foreign visitors from the former USSR for dinner at a seafood restaurant at One Fullerton. Well, guess the restaurant is a popular choice for one to bring corporate clients..and in particular, caucasian corporate clients ;) You can hardly find any table consisting of only locals at the restaurant.

Needless to say, we brought our visitors out to see our Merlion in its night time glory after dinner. Our visitors were highly unfazed (cos they have already seen the merlion in the day time on one of their trips ;p). But all of us were fascinated..and we the locals, were the ones who ended up taking pictures of the merlion haha. We were remarking among ourselves that we would hardly be at the merlion in the night, if not for the fact that we had to entertain our visitors, oh well :)
(posted some pics taken with my trusty handphone around the Singapore river)

Believe it or not. These pictures above are taken in Singapore. We still have such roads around ;p Simply paved single lane 2 way roads with no street lights. No buildings flanking the side of the roads. Never seen them before? ;) Let me know if you want to know where they are ;p

The thing about cooking

2008-03-22T19:55:00.002+08:00

No pretty pictures to complement this blog. My next posting..I'll try, will attach new pics to go with it :)
Was talking to an old friend yesterday, someone who's based overseas in the US and hence, we get to meet up once in a very long while, either in Singapore or in the US. The thing about old friends, I guess is that, despite the long periods of non contact, we never seem to have the problem picking up the conversation from where we last left off ;)

Anyway, my friend made a rather interesting point about cooking. Good authentic Singaporean food is hard to come by in the US. Hence, according to him, any homecooked food done in the US will taste extremely good. However, when he's back in Singapore and he reprises the same cooking, it simply does not taste as good. His reasoning being, once back in Singapore, comparables are abundant. When such food is no longer scarce, his cooking no longer tastes as good!

I wonder what it would be like to cook Chinese/Singaporean food overseas. Granted, one may be able to find Asian food/ingredients in Asian supermarkets or markets in general, but somehow, I don't think we'll be able to find all the ingredients to reproduce the same dish in entirety. This is purely based on my observations from browsing Asian supermarkets and markets in general overseas. When it comes to cooking Chinese/ Singapore food overseas, I guess we have to adapt the recipe based on the available ingredients that one can get overseas..

Agree? Disagree? If you have stayed overseas and cooked overseas, would you care to share your recipes? ;)

More people than computers

2008-03-09T23:20:00.002+08:00

Hehz. My friend said that I should try to keep up the momentum in blogging..more in anticipation of the next chapter of my life that I will be going into :) I said I'll try, so here I am ;)

Was down at the IT fair at suntec today. Was definitely amazed at the number of people thronging the exhibition halls at suntec. We kept encountering people who have made their purchases and were carting back boxes of scanners, printers, computers etc. Must say that I was rather impressed with the innovativeness of the vendors, who probably supplied trolley carts (think those carts that you use when you go travelling) together with the products, to enable their customers to cart back their purchases easily.

Apparently, cash purchases saves one up to a maximum of 3% on the transaction price. Yepz. For payments by nets, you pay 2% more. For payments by credit cards, you pay 3% more.

I'm sure that there are people who carry $1,000+ (or even more) in cold hard cash to make their purchases of these electronic products. Maybe it's just me, but the idea of carrying a thick wad of cash (think $1,000 = 20 x $50) to buy computers certainly sounds odd ;p Must be rather hard to keep that many bills in one's wallet! It certainly won't fit into my fat wallet ;p I keep having the mental image of someone who takes out a bundle of cash from his front shirt pocket and counting out the many bills in front of the cashier to make their purchase. Hehz.

Back..but not with a vengence.....

2008-03-01T23:37:00.001+08:00

Just realised that it's been at least 1.5 months since my last update! Time flies....not that I have anything burning/ pressing to write about. But thought I should force myself to write somthing to regain some of the blogging momentum ;)

For a revival to blogging. Let's start with some observations and generalised statements.

a) Observations: Out of the 12 friends that I see online on my msn. only 2 are female.
Generalised statement: men likes to chat online more than females.

b) Observations: Had to honk (seriously, I hardly use the horn when I drive!) at an Auntie driving an SUV who tried to cut into my lane without realising that I was coming behind in the lane.
Generalised statement: I shall be cowardly and refrain from generalising. I might just reach this stage one of these days ;p

c) Observations: Out of the 9 blogs that I read on a regular basis, only the blogs by my female friends are updated frequently.
Generalised statement: Females like to blog more than males ;) (yep. I guess I can attest to that to some extent by this very valient attempt to update my blog ;p)

Ok. realised that it's rather crappy stuff that I've written..but at least it's something to spark off thoughs ;) I'm sure most of you do not agree with what I've written. do feel free to leave your comments ;) and we'll see how things develop from there ;)

The supermarket

2008-01-20T22:52:00.000+08:00

It's certainly been a while (again..yes. I'm sure I've said this more than once ;p)

Been going supermarket shopping for the past 2 sundays. Had errands to run over the past 2 sundays, so thought I'll throw in some grocery shopping as well. Yes. Supermarket shopping, in fact, hypermarket shopping is one of my favourite activities. In Singapore or overseas ;p

This probably sounds pretty auntie-like ;p (Yogz, if you're reading this, please don't laugh!)

Yepz. Imagine your friend here in T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, hair in a ponytail, joining the throngs of families doing grocery shopping, armed with the green shopping basket and the occassional shopping list. Afterwhich, I would be armed with plastic bags of groceries. Gives me a good workout too. Groceries can be very heavy! I've come to appreciate that I can't be too ambitious when I'm doing grocery shopping alone ;p

I would usually be walking in the carpark to the car amidst many pairs of watchful eyes. Why watchful eyes? Cos where I do my grocery shopping, the carpark's rather crowded. Parking lots are hard to come by. Hence, there are usually many waiting cars around who will kind of "trail" people who are going to collect their cars and zoom into their vacated lots. Yes. Getting a lot to park one's vehicle can be a mildly competitive experience in my area. It takes a mixture of luck, speed and skill :) Spices up an otherwise lacklustre sunday afternoon ;)

*No pics for today. Wanted to post the pics of my painted toenails (ys, they are still intact, but slightly chipped ;p) but decided that it probably looks too macabre ;p yes. me and my twisted humour*

Speed is relative

2007-12-26T00:31:00.000+08:00

Just got back from a short road trip to M'sia. We went as far as Penang before turning back to Singapore. I did about half of the driving ;p Needless to say, driving on the NS highway was definitely something blog-worthy ;)

As some of you may know, I don't own a car and hence I don't drive often. Majority of my driving experience is limited to weekend driving ;p (esp for those of you who were lucky/ unlucky enough to be my passengers ;p) Furthest for these drives would be to the eastern and western ends of our little island ;p I don't break 90km/h on expresways in general. Don't worry, I do not roadhog. I don't even take the 1st lane on the expressways hehz. Meek as this may sound, but I've long decided that there's no point in causing myself undue grief for being caught for speeding, particular since I don't even drive that often ;p

As such, driving on the NS highway has always been pretty much an adventure to me. Speed limit on the highway is 110km/h. Frankly, driving on the NS highway at 110km/h feels rather normal even though I'm very used to only 90km/h i.e. when I'm stuck behind vehicles that are going at 90km/h, well, I'll just overtake ;p When I get overtaken by other vehicles, I'll try not to be competitive and catch up and overtake them in return ;p Sometimes, I do feel that I'm roadhogging even at 110km/h. Frankly, when the road is all clear in front of me, the temptation is always there to erm go beyond 110km/h. hehz. Over the course of the roadtrip, I got to play around with stuff like the overdrive (which I never use in Singapore). Longed for cruise control for the vehicle (something which I got to fiddle around with in the US and Australia ;p) and of cos, for a roadster. When driving at such high speeds, the importance of the vehicle's pick-up is greatly amplified ;p

Oh I should add that a lot of my friends were very concerned when they heard that I would be driving on the NS highway ;p Friends in my office were advising me to go easy on the speed and to be extremely careful while driving :) 2 friends that I met for dinner a week before my trip were advising me on the speeds (as well), the bernoulli effect of large vehicles passing me by and erm on how to recognise tsunami alerts :) Was really touched by all these concerns ;)

Back in Singapore. Was driving around in the West today. Did my normal 90km/h on the highway. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as slow as it did on the M'sian highways. ;p I guess speed is largely relative to some extent ;p

Finally satisfied :)

2007-12-09T23:49:00.000+08:00

Hehz. This is definitely very long overdue :) My blog posting for my marathon ;p Will attempt to write it in a different way ;) But I guess only the runners among you would be able to empathise with this more ;p

Preamble: This is my 2nd attempt at the 42.195km run :)

First attempt in 2005 was miserable and grueling as my knee gave way at the 12km mark. So it was horrible for the next 30km. Mostly walking. Though I completed the run, but I really didn't feel proud of the attempt at all. Declared that I won't be doing the marathon anymore.

Took a one year break. Did only 10km runs and half marathons.

Come 2007. I definitely signed up for the marathon again on an impulse. A moment of madness perhaps. Trained much lesser than before. It didn't help much that it kept raining on the days when I scheduled my long runs. It really didn't help much either that I had to burn 2 weekends in Europe in the middle of winter, 2 weeks prior to the run. So much for training hard for the run ;p

By the week of the marathon, my maximum distance covered was only 22.5km ;p which as most seasoned marathon runners should know..is pittance...a well trained runner ought to have ran up to a maximum of 30+km in preparation for the marathon. Oh well....

Day before the run

To bolster my confidence, on the day before the run, I judiciously followed every single tip that I could find for the actual run:

a) realised that the power gel brochure in the race pack contained instructions on the number of packets of power gel that I should be consuming at specific points in time.

b) Worked out my game plan for the run based purely on my usual running speeds and giving allowances for myself to slow down every 5 km into the run after 21km ;p

Decided on the eve of the marathon that I will be happy if I can complete it in 5hr 30min. Feeding (power gel) time at all the stated distances. Yes. I ran carrying 5 packets of power gel. 3 packets strapped to my left arm. 2 packets in my back pocket. heh heh ;p Here's the game plan:

10km - 1hr 5min

15km - 1hr 40min

21km - 2hr 25min

26km* - 3hr 5 min

30km - 3hr40min

35km - 4hr 25min

42.195km-5hr30min

*spared myself the weight of one more packet of powergel. cos there's a complimentary packet given out at the 26km mark ;p

Day of the run

Start - Clear skies. Felt rather relaxed. Quite happy to see that my biggest boss was doing the flag-off ;p Was unabashedly in the sub 5hr pen with my other friends who were faster runners. Didn't want to be honest and be all alone without friends in the sub 6 hr pen hehz ;p started off at a really leisurely pace. It's gonna be a really long run anyway. no hurry.

10km mark - did a time check. Shocked to see that I was 2 mins behind my scheduled timing. Realised that I've been taking it too easy. Decided to speed up. Feeding time. 1st packet of powergel. Lighter load on the arm ;p

15km mark - Probably overdid the speeding up by too much. Was 20 mins ahead of schedule. Eeks. wonder how long I can last at such erratic speeds. Time to slow down a little again. Need to sustain for another 20+km..Passed the 5hr 30min, 5hr and 4hr 45min pacers along the way. Decided that there was no need to be too happy. Knowing myself, I'm very sure that I will lose steam in time to come..and they will pass me eventually ;p Feeding time again. different flavoured power gel. hehz. Backpocket starting to feel heavy. Strapped the 2 packets to my left arm ;p

21km mark - was still 15 mins of my schedule. Realised that I just did a personal best in terms of a half marathon ;p Morale boosted! Felt v happy all over again ;p Posed for a picture for my friends who came to support. heh heh ;p Ok. another "reward". Powergel again. More cups of water to swig and to toss aside ;p Yes. I'm rather unladylike during runs, jostle for drinks, crush cups or toss half-empty cups to the side of the road. Having some fun at trying to aim and make sure that my cups land in the designated areas hehz ;p

26km - Still 15 min ahead of scheduled time. fatigue starting to set in. but still holding on. Kept running. Told myself that I shouldn't be stopping to walk! Perservere. powergel up in front! I can only stop to walk when I'm having the powergel....you can imagine how happy I was to finally reach the powergel station....was quite contented that I managed to get a power gel flavour that I've never tasted before ;p (not that powergel is appetising to begin with ;p)

30km - Still 15 min ahead of scheduled time...couldn't quite take it anymore...starting to walk and run....walk in the shadier parts. run in the sunnier parts...bottomline is to keep moving....drinking and of cos...eating the powergel at appropriate times to regain my energy level. Spotted my supporter friends at the 33km mark ;) My morale was boosted all over again! Posed for pics again ;p hehz. Happy once more!

35km - 15 min margin remains...the sun did not matter anymore. Primarily walking. Ran when the road was downward sloping..just to gain on the time a little. 4hr 45 min, 5hr, 5hr 15min pacers passed me. Quite satisfied that my earlier prediction came true. 5hr 30min pacers catching on....starting to wonder if I should push myself a little more to finish the run before 5hr 30min......consumed last packet of powergel. No load left. Walking/ running free and light.

40km - 15 min ahead of scheduled time still. But still walking...couldn't quite push myself to run to aim for better timing....weather was hot...told myself that I'll let myself walk all the way till the 41++km mark..before running till the end....

41++km - Reached the esplanade. Told myself that this is it! I gotta run.....cos I've got friends who are cheering me on at the esplanade bridge ;p I need to be seen running in ;p (That was where I was last year...cheering my full marathon friends on, after my own half marathon) Felt motivated all over again...and was actually able to start running :) V happy to see OL waiting for me there. She ran for a short stretch with me (she did the half-marathon ;p) and we had quite a good chitchat that cheered me up considerably ;p Onwards till the v end..!

42.195km - Managed to sprint to the finish line, per my usual fashion ;p Yes yes. I tend to get very sluggish in the 2nd half of most of my runs..but I'm usually able to muster up enough energy..the rush of adrenaline.. to do my sprint to the finish line...regardless of the total distance I ran ;p Perhaps it's a matter of pride ;) I've always felt that it's so much better to be seen running to the finish line than to stroll all the way there ;p Finished the run in 5hr 13min ;) Completely satisfied. Told myself that this is it. No more marathons. I'm going back to doing only the half marathon ;p I hope I can keep my word this time round ;)

Back

2007-12-01T12:39:00.000+08:00

Yes. This must certainly be very long overdue. I've been back in town for 2 weeks. Been busy, tired and procrastinating to blog ;p But I'm back :)

Was in Zagreb Croatia for a week. Beautiful place. Felt very comfortable and safe there.

Thought I'll just share some of my Croatian musings with you guys. In point form :)

First thing that I learnt about Croatia - Colours of Croatia's flag. One of my friend (superman/batman/TLM - whichever is the flavour of the month;p)'s first reaction was to offer his knowledge of the Croatian national football team ;p

First TV program that I watched in Croatia - CNN program on SIA's inaugural flight to Sydney on the A380. Purely coincidental Heh hehz ;p Felt inordinately proud to be watching about our airline's achievement even though I was far away on the other side of the world in Eastern Europe ;p

First glimpse of Zagreb's touristy sites - Picture of the steeples of the cathedrals ;)First impression of Croats - Artistic easy-going people. As can be seen from the numerous statues that dot the streets and the architecture of the many refurbished old buildings, plus the numerous art galleries that you can find everywhere.

First unforgettable expriences in Zagreb - Snowflakes! My first time seeing snow :) Apparently, the temperature dipped below ice-point after midnight. In the day, it was generally a cool 5 to 7 degrees. There was only once, after dinner, when we were still strolling the streets at 1 degree celsius. Have attached a picture of the layers of clothes that I don before stepping out of the hotel ;p turtle neck, woollen vest, woollen sweater, winter coat, scarf. I started wearing gloves towards the last 2 days!

Funniest question that was posed to us in Zagreb by an artist who created jewellery from metal - "what are you doing here in Zagreb in the middle of winter?" ;p

Best view that I've ever had from an aircraft - this has gotta be the view of the alps and of London as we flew in from Zagreb :) Ok. I need to agree that flying in smaller aircrafts do have its merits :) Even though, I need to declare that the B777-ER is still my favourite aircraft to-date! Till I get to try the A380........;p

Going green

2007-11-06T22:45:00.000+08:00

It's been a rather eventful weekend. I thought I'll make full use of it before I spend my next two weekends in midair and crossing time zones ;p

Was on Pulau Ubin on sunday and paid a visit to Chek Jawa :) Yes. The photos in the collage above are all my handywork ;p Especially like the refurbished old tudor house which has since been transformed into the new visitor center for Chek Jawa. I can still remember how dilapidated and run-down it was, 2 years (?) ago when I was at Chek Jawa on christmas eve. The visitor center is now bright and airy. It's a very comfortable feeling to just sit there, to enjoy the scenery and the gentle breeze :)

Perhaps because I have always liked old buildings :) I always marvel at the blend/ integration of old architecture and new architecture in many cities around the world. We could certainly do with more of such integration in Singapore :)

Have always had a particular affinity to Pulau Ubin. Like it for the peace and quiet it offers. The largely untouched features of nature. Not that I do not like the vibrancy of city life. But a brief sojourn to tranquil Pulau Ubin once in a while is always refreshing:)

I've brought/ guided quite a number of groups to Pulau Ubin before. So if you ever feel like a short outing to Ubin, dial 1800-kestrel ;p Hehz.

New Rules

2007-11-04T00:34:00.000+08:00

Went for something really interesting today. No pictures to show yet ;p Will load them when I get them :)

Was the drummer (once again!) for my company's dragonboat team ;p

For the uninitiated, you must think that the drummer must be a really important person in the dragonboat team. Well, it's a "yes" and "no" answer :)

For teams who train with a drummer, more likely than not, yes. The drummer is important and will play an important role in determining the pace of the boat (if I get my facts right ;p).

For teams who do not train with a drummer, as in the case of my team, the drummer is there more for an ornamental purpose. Mainly because for competition purposes, a complete team consists of rowers, drummer and the coswain (i.e. the person who steers the boat) ;p

So, as my friends aptly put it, I qualify for the race cos I'm light i.e. less likely to upset the balance of the boat that they are used to and of cos, lighter additional load to carry;p

In any case, during last year's race, I recall I spent a fair amount of time clinging to the drum for dear life in the initial stages when I was trying hard to find my balance (if I drop off the boat, my team will be disqualified!), not really beating the drums at all subsequently (cos it felt rather pointless, no one is really listening ;p) and I was having more fun viewing the race from my vantage seat i.e. perched high on the boat behind the drum ;p

This year, there was a slight difference though. At the starting line, the announcer/umpire emphasised that "drummers have to drum their way from start to finish, if not, the team will be disqualified". No more free lunch for me. For the first time in my short "drumming history", I had to beat the drums in accordance with the pace of the boat (not that it really mattered ;p), but it felt "more like it". Must say it was a rather beautiful experience, as I felt the pace of the race so much more better from the perspective of a participant, rather than that of an observer as in the previous year ;p All in all, it was a more fulfilling experience this year :) Lesser number of bruises as compared to last year ;p *thumbs up*

Was ambling about in between races and cheering my teammates on ;) Spotted a certain company's dragonboating tee which I really liked. Won't mention names. But it's rather obvious. The design of the sleeveless tee is rather dressy. Pretty much in hard rock cafe t-shirt fashion. Back of the tee reads in pink wordings "Aircrew 2007 Dragonboat". Looks real cool ;)

For my dear junior..

2007-10-28T23:06:00.000+08:00

This posting is for my dear junior, who did a really sweet posting on his blog for me. I was absolutely touched reading it ;) (I won't be so obtuse as to give the link to his posting, but hint hint. It's one of the blogs that I read frequently. One of those blogs on the left hand column of my blog ;p)

Speaking of this junior of mine, I can still recall that very first night where I spent close to an hour on the phone, literally cajoling him to join my eca group. That was definitely an exception. But I'm glad I succeeded ;p For those of you who know me, I guess you would know that I don't beg/ "whine" for things in general ;p sounds like a toughie huhz ;p

Am glad that I've kept in touch with this junior of mine through the years. We maintained contact even for the 4 years when he was away in the US :) We have managed to keep the friendship going for the past 10 years. Really gotta thank him for being such a wonderful friend, for lending me a ear always and for being my trip adviser, for my 2 mega trips to the US ;p Here's to many more years of our friendship :)

My week of sin...

2007-10-28T01:01:00.000+08:00

It's been an eventful week. I think I"ll call it my week of sin! Before your thoughts start running wild, pray, please do hear me out :)

On second thoughts, I could probably call this the week of cheesecake and mudpies. Within a short span of 6 days, I've had 3 slices of cheesecakes and 2 slices of mudpies. The week has been eventful and foodful (a kestrel-coined term) ;p

Mon - started my lessons in something new. Gotta say it's fun and interesting. But I don't really think it's easy ;p Interesting classmates as well ;)

Tue - Had that first slice of bakerzin cheesecake plus a teh tarik during an afternoon meeting. Thought that I would have time to go for a long run after that. But was caught up in another meeting. Didn't have time to run. Haiz. So much for the carbo loading. arrghz.

Wed - start of my own private celebrations. Had really yummy jap food at this place called Matsuo - sushi platter and tempura udon (per pax) for lunch. Went for an indian wedding in the night. Yum Yum. Loved the north & south indian food. Must say my indian friend has the same taste as me ;) the songs that they chose to play for the march-ins were mostly my favourite English songs ;p

Thurs - Boss bought us yummy cheesecake brownie. Loved it so much that I had two slices. Sinful but absolutely delicious! (I got the address of the shop. Let me know if you're interested ;p)

Fri - Had yummy pasta for lunch. Am quite impressed with the standard of TCC's pasta ;) Celebrations continued in the evening with my first beloved bunch of friends ;p Mouthwatering wood-fired thin crust Italian pizzas (this is what I call the real thing!). Followed by a session at a min2 ge1 chan1 ting1 ;p Was absolutely cool to have the singers singing the b'day song for me ;p

Sat - Went for tea at the V cafe. Had this yummy chocolatey stuff. Yepz. Chocolate always works for me. I'm an absolute chocophile ;p Nice chit chat session with an old friend who turned up as well :)

Sat (cont'd) - Went to shop at zara for my birthday present. Am absolutely thrilled with what I got ;) A dress! This was followed by dinner with another beloved bunch of friends. Followed by yummy desserts at Ben&Jerry's @ Dempsey ;p Once again, chocolatey stuff (esp for me) if you can see ;p

Would love to thank all my lovely friends for taking time out to celebrate my birthday with me :)

Would also like to thank my msn friend, for remembering my birthday and for offering to throw my favourite flowers at me on facebook ;p

Lastly, would like to wish my twin all the best for his exam. Tough luck that your exam is still so close to our birthday (thought that would have only been during our school days) ;p Gambatte!

The anatomy of the photocopier

2007-10-21T01:23:00.000+08:00

Friday. I came to the sudden realisation that quite a number of us office workers must be good mechanics at trouble shooting the photocopier after a fair number of months/ years at work.

I'm sure all of us must have been stuck at least at one point of our working life stuck at the photocopier. The horrors grow especially when we are doing duplex copying (double-sided), sorting or simply using the feeder function of the photocopier. Spent close to an hour and a half dismantling and trouble-shooting the photocopier just to make duplicates of some documents that I was handling. Took a real amount of patience and discipline to not kick the machine, left it jammed or give up on photocopying totally ;p

Am totally familar with the 10 different doors (not to mention the other levers, rollers and other parts in the machine) by the end of Friday. Even had to poke my ruler into the machine to retrieve the different bits of paper that was jammed between the rollers. Arrghz. Was sorely tempted to do a short write-up on the anatomy of the photocopier. which I'm sure would bore all of you ;) But I'm glad that I managed to make duplicates of all the documents that I wanted. You can just imagine how triumphant I felt at the end of it all. Kestrel won the battle against the photocopier after 2 hours. woohoo ;)

Anyway, that was one of the highlights of Friday. End of a work week. Had nice nachos at a rather interesting cafe with live guitar music ;p

Happily ever after....

2007-10-14T22:04:00.000+08:00

Perhaps this is a really productive weekend. My second blog posting for the weekend ;p

To quote from one of my favourite songs..."somewhere inside me, there's a spark of inspiration"...

Feel like writing about weddings. Yes. Following the seventh lunar month, this is the period where weddings are in full swing again :)

Having been through i.e. helped out, at so many weddings by now and in a variety of capacities from jiemei, emcees to reception, I dare say that I more or less know quite a bit of how weddings are held. What goes into the preparations. What to look out for. What are the taboos. The possible sore points that might crop up etcetc ;p

Take for example, on the side of the bride. One of the most exciting part would be assembling the wedding entourage of sisters or "jie meis". Different brides have different "requirements". Some brides are strict. All jie meis have to be unmarried. All married friends will have to be part of the entourage waiting at the brides' home, but they can't follow the bride to the groom's place ;p Some brides are easy. Anyone can be a jie mei :)

Some brides want their jie meis to be in the same colour e.g. green, pink or white :) Some brides want their jie meis to turn up in multi-colours except white. Cos white is strictly for the bride ;p hehz ;p

For me, anything goes :) The bride is queen for the day ;p So I'll just take instructions and follow them to a T ;)

For the record, I've been a wedding emcee thrice, wedding receptionist twice and going to be a jiemei for a wedding the third time in a row ;) Despite the fact that this means that my wedding dinners are disrupted ;p I must say that these are all pleasant disruptions. I loved every one of those "helping out" experiences ;) Weddings are happy events. I'm glad and honoured to be able to chip in to "contribute" to the happy day :)

Sometimes, I really feel that, if I am not in my current career, I would love to be either a wedding planner, events organiser, travel planner, national park ranger or working in the hospitality industry e.g. hotels or airlines hehz ;p Hehz. For those of you who know me personally, I bet you can't tell that kestrel would have these secret aspirations, right? ;)

Anyway, I've also gotten round to collecting the wedding memorabilia that I've been getting at weddings. Posted a picture of some of the cuter stuff at the beginning of the posting ;)

Especially for you..

2007-10-13T23:28:00.000+08:00

I would like to dedicate this particular blog posting especially to the 4 lovely people who had dinner and the yummy dessert (in picture above) with me on Friday :) Macha ice-cream, sweet potato and yam! For simplicity, shall simply term them as Ms CSFB, Ms Exxonmobil and Mr&Mrs PM ;p (if you folks prefer other nicks, please do let me know hehz)

Would also like to thank Ms Stardust and daniel for leaving such interesting comments on my blog ;) Hehz. As I've always said, it feels so good that my blog is read by u guys ;p

I thought I'll write a little about friendship today :)

I consider myself rather lucky in the area of friendship. I've had my fair share of hits and misses when it comes to friends. But generally, they are mostly hits. I've hardly had any misses. Perhaps one or two borderline miss cases which I'm still trying to figure out ;)

Glad to say that I've been able to "keep" most of my friends through these years. I really treasure their friendship very much! My "oldest" friends have been stuck with me for 20 years hehz ;p In proper facebook entourage lingo, my collection of friends have grown through the years :) Particularly in the last two years, I'm proud and thankful to say that there has been a sudden spurt in growth ;p You people out there who are reading this, I think you know that I'm talking about you ;p

My friends are a diverse bunch of people. Folks from different walks of life, very different interests, personalities, career paths. I'm fascinated and drawn by all these differences between us. Whilst, I do take comfort in the similarities that I share with some friends. In any case, no two individuals are exactly alike. I tend to see it as a form of chemistry or perhaps fate between two individuals, that transcends beyond character similarities or differences, that binds us together as friends :)

Agree?

Jack of all trades

2007-10-10T23:11:00.000+08:00

I told myself that I ought to be less trigger-happy when it comes to blogging. Even promised myself that I would not be blogging today.

But oh well, something just inspired me on my way back home ;) So here I am again. Friends who know me well should know what kind of frame of mind I must have been in at work today. Hehz. kestrel shouldn't reveal more ;p

Realised out of the blue that being Singaporean means that many of us are multi-lingual to some extent ;p Take for example, I'm sure many of us can say "thank you" in more than one language. Did a short tally of the number of languages that I can thank people in. I counted 8 - English, Mandarin, Malay, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese.

Have taken formal language lessons in English, Mandarin, Malay and French. But I'm really quite lousy at Malay and French. Made me realise that I'm really a jack of all trades but master of none. Hehz.

To make the picture more complete, I think I ought to learn how to say thank you in Tamil. Yogz, if you know how to say thank you in Ceylonese, teach me! ;p Other languages on my radar includes german, flemish and some other eastern european languages. Hehz.

Realised in office today that my usual font size is rather trying on the eyes. So, have decided to change the font size that I blog in as well ;p Is this better? Let me know :) Adios.

The Oh So Familiar...

2007-10-08T22:21:00.000+08:00

A very good friend, who went for jazz and martinis with me over the weekend, suggested that I update my blog on my first day of work. :) So here I am again.

First day of work. Had to wait for more than half a day, made a couple of calls to pester the IT folks, before I finally got my password to log into the system :( Teething pain. arghz. Made a couple of calls to "harass" my old friends while I was free as well ;p

That aside, looking at the oh so familiar portal, parts of which I helped to develop and do user acceptance testing about 3 years ago. To see the stuff that I lodged into the system 2 years ago...to pick up from where I left off. It's nostalgic but I do seek comfort in the stuff that I am so familiar with all over again. Yeah. I'm quite the sentimental person who seeks solace in memories. You'll be surprised at the number of smses, e-mails and other trivia that I've accumulated over the years ;p

Some of my friends suggested that I should have done my rounds and said Hi to all the people that I know from the 24th floor of the building down to the basement ;p They jest ;p

Despite the comfort, I think I'm raring to go :) The scoring board and the dartboard's up again after a 2 year break. Kestrel likes challenges and resolving complications ;p hehz. silly me does not always choose to take the easy way out of things. This has resulted in either much satisfaction or much pain ;p Yeah. sometimes. I learn things the hard way.

Ok. enough of all these emotional out-pouring. shall get back to blogging about the more normal trivia stuff soon ;)

2 good friends of mine have commented on my lastest profile picture in facebook. Gonna take their advice and change the picture now ;p

New Posting. New Life.

2007-10-07T14:04:00.000+08:00

Last day of leave. Mixed Feelings. Time to move on. To start work in my new posting. Time to rejoin the corporate rat race after a 2 year hiatus.

With a new posting, comes a new life :) Sad to leave the good memories behind. Good opportunity to let go of the unpleasant memories as well. Life's a balance of the good and the bad. Guess the bad memories shall serve as learning experiences in life :) Don't dwell. Move on.

Should write about something chirpy in typical kestrel style, rather than to sound moody and philosophical ;p

Have lotsa stuff that I want to share about my Korea trip. Shall share them bit by bit.

Hmmz. My Korea trip was done in a package tour style. Granted. Package tours are value for money. Comfortable. Relaxed. One definitely gets maximise coverage of all the touristy spots in a country. Coupled with juicy bits of information on the country from the social to the political aspects from the local guide. However, what I miss was the sense of initimacy that one gets with the country. Miss the days of just ambling about and exploring a country be it on foot, via public transport or in a car. Topo-ing my way around with a map or GPS for reference or simply by talking to the locals. Hmmz.

Came up with a couple of grand travel ideas during my Korea trip. For my next travels, shall aim to do one predominatly by rail and another that involves lots of sea travel. Am also eyeing a country that has the most number of UNESCO attractions (if I get my information correct). Shall aim to do this country from one end to the other ;p Guess where this is? :)

Still on leave

2007-10-04T11:23:00.000+08:00

I'm currently clearing my carried forward leave from last year. So it's 1 week in Korea and 1 week bumming around in Singapore.

well, I wouldn't exactly say 1 week of bumming. Have been up to quite a bit of things actually. For starters, there's all the archiving and cleaning up of my office laptop which took me 2 nights to complete. I've gone for 3 straight days of yoga lessons, probably will keep it up for another 2 days or so. Queued for 1.5hours at Raffles City for donuts ;p Gone for facial and shopping.

Been contacting quite a number of old friends to catch up :) First batch of catching up on Tue. Sent out messages to 3 people whom I've known for at least 10 years on Wed. Managed to meet up one of them last night. First time in 5 years! ;p Going to meet another of the 3 today this evening. For the last one who did not reply, arrghz. no comments.

1 week of leave passes by fast! There's still quite a number of things which I wanted to do badly, but can't seem to find the time for it. I still have an unfinished book on hand and a magazine to complete!

Thought I'll share something really interesting about the old friend whom I met last night. This is a friend whom I've known for close to 20 years ;) We share the same birthday. We will always get in touch every year on our birthdays! That's probably the strongest reason why we have never really lost touch through the years. ;p Upon catching up last night, kind of realised that we both seem to share similar experiences in certain aspects of our individual lives despite the fact that we have both led very separate and different lives for the past 10 years. We seem to be in similar limbo situations now and we are both wondering if this is some form of "retribution" for some of the stuff that we have both done previously ;p

Wonder if you guys have friends who share the same birthday as you? ;p Any similar experiences with these friends? ;p

I love mushrooms!

2007-10-02T23:28:00.000+08:00

I'm back from Korea! Bursting with things to blog about. Thought I'll start off with something close to all our hearts. Food! :) Need to appologise a little for the messy layout of the pictures. Too lazy to change the html codes to put all these in table format, which would make a much better presentation. So do bear with it! :)
Pan-fried black pig on Jeju Island. Yum yum. Think those stir-fried korean meet that you get in foodcourts, on the hotplate :)
For those of you who have watched Da-Chang-Jin, this is the sulphur duck soup ;) Something delicious to have on a cold autumn night ;p

Grilled pork :)
You eat the grilled pork by wrapping it in a piece of lettuce with bean-paste and rice :)
A typical korean meal. Seawood soup at the four corners, complete with all your side dishes. Spot the beansprouts, ikan bilis and kimchi!
Bean paste soup. My all time favourite for Korean meals ;)
Raw Abalone on Jeju Island. Yepz. I ate that. with chilli sauce and freshly cut chilli. It costs us a total of 10,000 won (approx S$16). Hehz.

Bimbimbap ;) 'nuff said. Dunno this? Check out the korean food stalls at our foodcourt.

Shabu Shabu!! Mushroom hotpot with chicken. Mushrooms! My all-time favourite :) Eaten raw, grill, stir-fry, deep-fried, sauteed, in soup, etc. I love them all :)
Yellow fish hotpot :)
Seafood hotpot. :)

Hotpot with Inoki mushrooms (my favourite too!!) and pork :) plus vermicelli (another of my favourites )

Some typical korean side-dishes :)

Korean ginseng chicken soup :)

Time flies too fast

2007-09-22T16:57:00.000+08:00

It's certainly been quite a number of days since my last posting. Been a rather busy, tiring, stressful and emotional period for me. Partings are never easy I guess.

To quote a phrase that was used by someone in my farewell card "Time flies too fast".

For those of you who are in constant contact with me, you may know that I've finished my 2 year stint at my current workplace. In the words of Princess M's mommy, kestrel will be going back to being the gatekeeper ;p The place where many people have said that they will fatten me up again, when they realised that I lost weight hehz.

Many thanks once again to my wonderful friends (yes. I've been told by Yogz that I should not be using cold words like "we worked together" ;p), who have continued to indulge me in my final food hunt in this final week :) *touched*

In a way, thank you for sending me off with a "big bang". Being observed and chased all across the ballroom of Novotel Clarke Quay for 6 times in a day, in front of a crowd of 300 people, including bosses, was definitely a rousing experience. I hope my CEP didn't drop though ;p Erm, if there ever were any pictures taken of the spectacle, do send them to me hehz ;p (For the uninitiated, CEP stands for Current Estimated Potential in civil service lingo. Yeah. it determines how far you will go in the public sector)

The subsequent hours spent at the pump room was swell too. I have this feeling that I must have been speaking in a louder volume and laughing even more loudly than the din that I create in the office on a daily basis ;p Nonetheless, it was fun. To my dear unit-mates, thank you for sparing me, on the sly, when I couldn't meet my KPI ;) Will work harder on it. Probably may try again for the October parties that we were planning last night ;p

Am glad to say that I get to take a 2 week break before starting work proper in my new place. 1 week will be spent overseas eating kimchi on a daily basis. The remaining week will be spent wrecking havoc on you guys' life hehz. Me having fun while you guys are working. I jest ;p

Just to digress a little. Just came up with a small project in mind ;p Yeah. I'm rather prone to doing small projects that pops up in my mind ;p I came across an interesting article about "Attraction" on the net. Yeah. Kestrel here likes reading about such stuff ;p

To summarise the article, it said that Attraction is not a choice.

For a relationship to work, there must be attraction on multiple levels: physical, emotional, and intellectual.

If you are attracted to someone’s mind, chances are you will make good friends.
If you are attracted to someone’s mind and heart (e.g., how they treat you and others), chances are you will make great friends.
But you cannot have a relationship unless there’s a strong element of physical passion.

Agree? Perhaps we could do a little poll here ;p It's been quite a while since I dabbled in polls on my blog :)

Thought I'll end off this posting with a picture of the latest gadget that I got :) Courtesy of the wonderful friends that I have made in my recently ended 2 year stint. Just spent the entire afternoon loading stuff into it. Am bringing it with me for the trip :)

Foodie unconfidential!

2007-09-11T13:47:00.000+08:00

One of those days when I'm back early from lunch again ;p

Thought I'll do a short update on my food trail. Half of my lunch accomplices went AWOL on Monday. By Tuesday, I'm the only one left of the lunch gang. Need to thank Namsteroy and gang for helping me continue with the food trail. Despite the rain on Monday and the hot sun on Tuesday i.e. today ;)

Had my long awaited duck rice at Circular Rd. Just had the Nasi Padang on banana leaf at Circular Rd today. Complete with the sumptious Tahu Telok yum yum :) Am satisfied.

Had another surprise too. Was in the mood to wear a new top today. Basically, was running out of ideas of what to wear to office. Was pleasantly surprised when 3 of my colleagues actually noticed my new top hehz. Ok. I know I'm vain ;p But still, you know, it feels good to be noticed LOL ;) Really makes my day :)

Have posted a picture of my new top ;p Hehz. In line with my "no show face" policy, you guys get to see just the top :) minus the face. Trust me. You ain't missing much ;p If you're observant enough, you might just spot that small abrasion that I got from Sunday's 10km run ;p

Running in shape and yellow duckies

2007-09-09T22:11:00.000+08:00

Completed my 10km shape run today :) am glad to say that I did a personal best! was quite a pleasant surprise cos I felt quite lousy and had a massive case of inconfidence before and during the run. Just didn't feel that strong doing the run....

Before I talk more about the run, just would like to thank a friend for making some references to my blog in his blog ;p Hehz. You know who you are. Not sure about you, but kestrel here always feels very touched and gets quite a kick out of getting all the comments and references to my blog in other blogs ;) Thanks for reading my blog!

Back to the run. Thought I'll share some really heartwarming scenes that I saw today :) The shape run is a women's only run. Men are not supposed to be taking part in the run. For my 10km run, there was this guy, who kept running along the pavements to alongside the run. He would sprint ahead. Stop. Take pictures of his wife/gf who's running. Sprint again ahead. Take further pictures again. So sweet ;) I'm definitely very impressed. ;p

Nearing the end of the run, I saw this guy, hand in hand with his wife/ gf, walking towards the finishing line. The lady looked rather tired but this guy kept cheering her on to complete the run. Hehz. Absolutely heartwarming :) Kudos to the guy :)

Went off for lunch at central mall. Was very lucky to get a table that has the perfect view of the Singapore river. Caught the ducky race - which unfortunately would be held for the last time. Some pics to share with all of you :) (at the top...hmmz. gotta figure out how to put pics at the end)

Very Important Lunches

2007-09-05T13:35:00.000+08:00

I'm back by popular demand! ;p I jest ;p Received 2 feedback from my friends over lunch asking for updates to my blog (think they are just being kind;p) so impressionable me is back to blogging again. Just a short one though ;p Catch a few minutes after lunch ;) Must say that I've not eaten at this speed in a long time. Lunching with 7 guys is really quite a challenge!

As some of you may know, I'm moving from one phase of my life to another phase of my life soon (a bit of an exxageration..but somewhat true).

To mark the completion of my current posting, I have embarked on a culinary trail around my current workplace. Have pre-planned my lunch menu for 3 weeks. Gotten a bunch of 3 other "accomplices" ;p Just to ensure that I will get to finish eating all my favourite food around the area before I move off to my new/old place ;)

Monday marks the beginning of Kestrel's culinary trail :) We braved the heavy downpour to make our way to Chin Chin at Purvis st (hope I got it right) for hainanese porkchops ;) Yum yum. Picture attached ;)

Tuesday was lunch at Sushi Tei. A treat - courtesy of my lunch "accomplices" ;p So sweet of them :) Took a nice pic of them as well :)

The trail will continue come next Monday....probably around the Circular Road area. Readers, if you are interested to join, please let me know ;p

Holding Hands

2007-08-30T16:49:00.000+08:00

Hehz. Another of my misleading titles? Read on.

First thing first, would like to say my thanks to quintessence and stardust979 for the ever engaging exchange of comments to my posting on "Daisy" ;p Thanks a lot for "boosting the "readership of my blog"(quintessence exact words) hehz.

Would also like to welcome a new reader to my blog, codename warren foo ;p Thanks for the encouragement and compliments! Kestrel will endeavour to blog more!!

Got this very nice pic from The Ugly Betty Blog http://blogs.indiewire.com/uglybetty/archives/hands.JPG
was thinking it would be a good complement to today's blog :)

Got inspired this afternoon while on my way to buy lunch back to office. It was a rainy and gloomy day. So I guess it's not too difficult to imagine me, armed with a big umbrella, walking gingerly in my heels, avoiding puddles along the way.

Saw this middle-aged couple (probably in their 50s) in front of me. The husband was holding on to his wife's arm as she kept her wet umbrella, to prevent her from slipping while walking on the wet steps. After the couple had kept their umbrellas, they proceeded to hold hands on their way to the eatery. I was right behind them. Somehow or other, I found the back view of the couple holding hands, making their way to something as mundane as lunch oddly touching. Hard to explain. yeah. Kestrel is a romantic at heart. Coupled with the rainy weather outside. It just felt rather heartwarming. hehz.

In any case, I did a quick search on google on holding hands after lunch and found the following amazing facts that I thought I'll share with all of you. Reinforces my romantic notion that handholding is good hehz

Do you know.....
a) holding hands may help to reduce stress?
http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20061220/holding-hands-may-reduce-stress

b) Hand-holding is the one aspect that’s not been affected by the sexual revolution,” found this lovely article from the NY Times. quite an interesting read
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/fashion/05hands.html?pagewanted=1&en=df52753c074593e8&ei=5088&ex=1317700800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Last but not least, some trivia and techniques that came out from the google search, hehz. For your interested folks out there..
Top 10 ways to hold hands
http://www.romancetracker.com/top-10-ways-to-hold-hands-with-your-sweetheart/

Slowest ever

2007-08-28T13:26:00.000+08:00

Once again, it's rainy weather and I am back early in office from my lunch break. Thought I'll just update my blog..had some fun reading the different kinds of comments I've been having on my blog ;p

Just completed the AHM (Army Half Marathon) or now known as the Singapore Bay Run on sunday. (I was already thinking about blogging this halfway thru the run hehz)

*have added a picture of my finisher medals for the 3 AHMs that I've completed*

New route this year...same starting point, longer route in ECP and ending at the floating platform at Marina Bay. Unfortunately, it was my slowest ever half marathon. Am a full 10 mins slower than my timing for last year, which is absolutely demoralising. In my 3 years of running, this was the longest that I've ever taken for a half marathon. Am trying to attribute it to the congested running lanes in ECP (longer route there, means I get stuck at a slower pace for a longer stretch ;p), starting 5 mins from the start line and perhaps a wrong strategy of going too slow in the first 10km. Wanted to try a new approach this year i.e. to run at a slower pace for the first 10km..conserve energy..such that I will not slow down exponentially by too much towards the last 5 km....

Had a really leisurely and happy first 10km..was merrily past the 1 hr mark after 10 km...but the pace started to slow and get congested in the middle of ECP..that's when I really start to tire and feel frustrated...keeping pace with the people around me feels kinda slow..but to constantly overtake others saps up a lot of my energy..so I was really really tired by the time we turned out of ECP eventually. Muscles were horrible fatigued and close to cramping by the 15km mark....kept reminding myself that I shouldn't slow down to walk...tried to speed up to prevent the cramps from developing. Didn't want to stop. Sprinted at traffic junctions so that I will not have to stop at the red lights.....

Made beelines for the drinks station that serves isotonic drinks (cos salt is suppose to help prevent cramping)

Oh, I should really emphasise that getting drinks at runs like that requires some form of strategy and technique. Let me explain. The drinks stations tend to consist of several tables laid out with drinks. Most runners will tend to aim for the first table for the drinks. Hence, a lot of people will congregate at the first table. If you are running for timing, don't want to queue for the drinks or crash into people who grab their drinks and dash off from the drinks stations, always head for the middle or last few tables of the drinks station ;p Less of a hassle. Don't have to fight with people for drinks. At places like that, it's always every man and woman for him/herself. All the stuff about "ladies-first" are never observed. I've had to jostle with many guys for my drinks, or endure getting elbowed at drinks station at runs like that;p Last but not least, it's always rather hazardous at drinks station. One always run the risk of getting hit by cups thrown by other runners, tripped by cups/ bottles (if they serve the drinks in bottles) on the lanes closest to the drinks station. So gotta be real careful around there;p

Back to my run. Had to endure the last 6km..before getting fooled by the finishing line banner outside the stadium, only to realise that it's not the end, and we still had to turn into the stadium itself to reach the finishing line. Found the energy to sprint into the stadium eventually..just for some face-saving grace arghz. Was wearing a red running cap which really helped. My friends spotted me running in from the grandstand and were waving madly to me. So it was easy to meet up with them to just complain about my performance after the run hehz ;p

Next run coming up. Shape Run - For women's only. Gotta put in a better performance. Am looking forward to the goody bag ;p At least, I won't be getting magazines like Men's Health again ;p I hope they give me some spa vouchers :)

Daisy

2007-08-17T00:00:00.000+08:00

pictures downloaded from www.daisy2006.com

hehz. thought I'll do a short blog in response to stardust979's comments.

Yes. the movie that I was talking about is Daisy - a korean movie.

Quite a beautiful but sad movie...the kind that leaves one with lingering afterthoughts...always the "whys" and the "what ifs" in life.....would have loved to discuss the movie in detail.......

I find the classical piano pieces that were used in the movie hauntingly familiar. Think I've played that particular song before...shall go digging through my piano scores to find out more.

Stardust, can you recognise which pieces those are? Sounds to me like they are from either the romantic or classical era...definitely not baroque...chopin or schubert?...I can't quite put my finger on it......and can't figure out from the korean website....

Flowers and their meanings

2007-08-14T13:30:00.000+08:00

It's one of those "off" days...packed lunched back to office to eat while surfing the usual blogs that I read...am rather cheered by 2 friends' blog...

1) to know that one friend is making good progress in her running :); and

2) to read about the cute antics that my friend has been up to with her new baby. New mums are usually very trigger happy. Readers like myself never fail to be cheered by the pictures of the cherub's rosy pink smiling/ sleeping face or wrinkled crying face. It's such a joy to see pictures of babies who are always naturals in front of cameras, absolutely photogenic. No pretenses and poses.

Was watching a DVD on Friday night. About a killer, a detective and their common love interest, a painter. Movie was shot in Amsterdam and played around the central theme of "daisies" - which in the movie stands for "hidden love". Whenever there was a job for the killer, he would notified via a pot of black tulips that was left on his doorstep. A pretty moving love story..but really rather sad..

*pause* went to rescue 2 colleagues who were caught in the rain. Now back to continuing before I start work again.

Following the movie, thought I'll do a google on flowers and their meanings and share it with you folks.

Baby's Breath: Innocence Begonia: A fanciful nature
Carnation-red: Alas poor heart Carnation-pink: I'll never forget you
Chrysanthemum-yellow: Slighted love Daffodil: Regard, You are the only one
Daisy: Gentleness, Innocence, Loyalty and Romance
Forget Me Not: Faithful Love, Undying Hope, Memory, Do Not Forget
Lavender: Loyalty Lily-white: Sweetness
Lily of the Valley: Humility, Sweetness, Return of Happiness
Rose, Red: Love and Desire
Rose-single red: I Love You
Sunflowers: Pride
Tulip: Love and Passion Tulip-red: Declaration of love

On hindsight, I recall getting a sunflower bouquet from a friend when I had a really bad fall and was limping around in office. The sunflower definitely cheered me up. I guess we do need to have some pride to pick ourselves up after a bad fall.

Looking at the meaning of Lilies, I guess I can better appreciate the use of lilies in wedding bouquets. Some of my really sweet friends do love their lilies.

A purely platonic friend once bought me two of my favourite flowers for my birthday. On reading this, I guess we will both chuckle and be glad that he bought the pink version and not the red version.

Coming of Age

2007-08-10T00:10:00.000+08:00

Happy National Day! :) (I bet there are many blogs which start with similar words today ;p)

Went for 2 old friends' house-warming (well, they married each other ;p) today. Basically, all of us drove our own vehicles and converged at their place. For the infrequent drivers like myself, we got lost along the way, but eventually found our way there ;p Similarly, when we left the place, well, 2 of us left together, and followed each other's car to find our way out of the suburban maze in the west back home to the north ;p

Just a sudden realisation while driving back. In the past, all of us would have arranged to meet at the MRT station and walked to our friends' place together. With the coming of age, most of us are lucky enough to acquire a set of wheels, or have the means to gain access to loan a set of wheels. We don't really have to car-pool that much these days. (Hmmz. Maybe there's scope to be more environmentally concious ;p) We trail each other along the same routes in separate vehicles instead of taking the same vehicle. What a stark contrast.

The things that come with the coming of age...

Everything in Its Time

2007-08-04T23:20:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since my last entry.

Hehz. been sorely tempted to leave single liners like "Kestrel is busy figuring out what shape her petronaus will take - maybe the shape of the gryphon ;p" *lousy joke huhz*

But then again, I decided it's probably not worth it to leave such lousy one liners. Ok. Maybe I was just too lazy and too caught up with reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the nights. The crack at the gryphon was more because of the 10th anniversary at my old JC that I attended last sunday and also the gryphon theme that I got for my handphone yesterday. Courtesy of aadvark ;p

Attended Corrinne May's concert at UCC yesterday evening. I've been a fan of hers right from the very beginning. Quite proud of the fact. :) I can still remember first seeing her perform at Fort Canning. In the days before the release of her first album. Was very impressed by her voice, songs and the sight of her strumming her guitar on stage. V country and indie style. Simply loved it. Following that, I guess I was behaving v much like a teenaged fan. I actually turned up for her next performance at Borders. Apparently I was caught on camera and this clip played over and over again on Arts Central. Didn't even know about it till my colleagues told me ;p Since then, I've continued being a fan. Buying her CDs and attending both her concerts at UCC.

Back to talking about the concert. As always, Corrinne delivered a wonderful soulful performance. The combination of piano, keyboard, strings, guitars and drums coupled with her vocals packs a solid punch. Though I gotta say that I seem to have a preference for songs from her older albums instead of the new. Nonetheless, the songs never fail to tug at my heartstrings. Yeah, I spent the first half of the concert feeling rather emotional for some weird reasons. Maybe the music and the lyrics are just too good..

Thought I would share one of my favourite Corrinne May songs with you guys :) Rather like the lyrics...about how Everything has its own time...

E V E R Y T H I N G I N I T S T I M E
Written by Corrinne May Ying Foo & Carole Bayer Sager
Copyright 2001 Corrmay Gourmet Music (ASCAP) / All About Me
Music adm. by Warner Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)

Sometimes I wonder what lies ahead
How long till my hunger is fed
They say it's hard to make it in this part of town
So many people on this merry-go-round

Some folks try astrology
Some turn to crystal balls
To find an answer,
To get through it all
I just fall on my knees and I try to pray
In the silence I can hear Him say

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time

I often feel like I'm two steps behind
Somebody must have moved that finish line
There are a thousand reasons
Why I should give up
But I'm stubborn in the things I believe

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign

'cause maybe there's another plan
One I still can't see
A little surprise, like your love in my life
Funny how time changes how we see

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time
Everything in its time

Google Analytics

2007-07-28T19:18:00.000+08:00

Am having a very restful Saturday at home since Sunday will be a rather packed day..the rainy cool weather has been extremely conducive to a lazy day as well....

Still haven't gotten my hands on that last Harry Potter book yet.....been rather envious of my colleague who bought lunch back into office to finish reading the book on Friday, of my brother who stayed up on Friday night to finish the book before passing it to my sister this morning at the airport so that she can read it on her 18 hour direct flight......haiz Need to be rather careful these days. With the increasing number of people around me who has finished reading the book, my worst fear is to overhear details of the story being discussed by people around me who has read the book...oops.

Thought I would share something rather fun with all of you :) Especially for those of you out there who blog. ;p Google Analytics! I stumbled upon it while browsing through the possible add-ons to my blog one fine day. As the name suggests, google analytics helps to track the number of visits, visitor profiles etc to any website that is under one's charge ;) I've promptly added it to my blog.

http://www.google.com/analytics

Yes. Dear readers. Your every visit to this humble blog of mine is noted. Hehz. I now know the number of visitors I get, the length of time, the number of pages you guys read etc ;p Lest you start getting uncomfortable with being "spied on", fret not. :) Smart as the analytical software may be, it is not able to identify the readers at all. It is only able to tell if you are a repeat visitor or not, probably based on your IP address I guess ;p Nonetheless, I've been getting quite a kick from reading all the analytical reports generated :) And of cos, being very encouraged by the number of visits that I get :)

Needless to say, nosey me is now brimming with curiosity over the identity of my readers ;p To satisfy myself a little, I've added this little poll to the right hand side of my blog. Please do help me by taking part in the poll! Thank you! Gracias :)

Pottermania

2007-07-22T00:15:00.000+08:00

It's been exactly a week since my last posting...not that I have nothing to blog about. In fact, I constantly have ideas about what I could write about...even have a slew of ideas about how I would start off my blog etcetc... Alas, when it comes down to doing the deed, there's always this inertia in me...and as a result, nothing much gets produced. Hehz.

It's been a rather busy week for me. Lessons by day. Work by night. Equates to long days of 8.30am till 12 midnight daily. Almost a punishing routine. The only good thing was that I managed to catch up with many old friends during the week. Bought 2 pairs of shoes. Slipped in a 10km run and a 20laps swim :) So I guess you could say that the week was relatively eventful.

Just caught Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix tonight. Enjoyed myself thoroughly. Though the movie did not capture the full essence of the book in its entirety, nonetheless, there was relative justice done in my opinion. Have always enjoyed the Harry Potter movies. Am very glad that they managed to retain the majority of the cast for the various movies. It's amazing to see how the characters have grown and matured from the little mites that they were in the Philosopher's stone, to the teenagers that they now are, exchanging kisses under the mistletoe ;p Just realised that there were no scenes of Quidditch in this movie. Curious me shall go check out the actual book to see if this part has been skipped ;p

The last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has just been released today. Yipee! I've been walking past the Harry Potter display in the bookshop in the shopping complex next to my office building countless time. Can't wait to lay my hands on the new book. Shall wait for a while, when the hype is all over, to buy the book :) At a better price ;p (if I can resist the temptation till then). Pity's my b'day is still almost 3 months away. If not, I could have hinted blatently for the book as a b'day present :) Alright. Guess I'll probably console myself by re-reading the 2nd last book Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in the meanwhile. I recall that I bought it to entertain myself for my official trip to Sydney last year. Was reading it till late into the cold winter night in Sydney last August ;p Need to refresh my memory and to prep myself for the last book. Gosh. I couldn't even remember the part about R.A.B. .untill it was mentioned in the ST spoiler for Saturday. ;p Just who in the world can R.A.B. be? Who's the traitor? Oh boy, the suspense is really killing me...please don't tell me the answer, just get me the book ;p LOL

About Me

2007-07-15T20:10:00.000+08:00

Something rather sad happened this week. Reminded me of some of the musical stuff that I was doing for close to 8 years, in the years before I started to do my pounding on the tarmac.

Was trying hard to explain to my colleagues the exact nature of the instrument that I played in the orchestra. Thought I'll blog a little about it, complete with illustrations. As the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. There you have it, to your left. The instrument that I played - the Chinese mouth organ. Not very glam and rather unladylike I guess ;p

The one to the extreme left is the 中音笙 (zhong yin sheng). This is the instrument that I played in the orchestra. It's usually located right at the very back of the orchestra. This picture shows the side of the instrument that faces the audience. I would be seated right behind it. If you know me well enough, I guess it's not hard to imagine me behind the instrument. Yes. Once I have my music scores propped on the instrument, to be honest, you can hardly see me from the audience. But, I can be heard if you recognise the sound of the instrument well enough hehz. And yes. I don't deny that given my not too large and not too long frame, I do have to sit on double chairs to reach my instrument ;p And I'm very often reliant on the goodwill of my fellow orchestra mates to carry my instrument for me from one venue to another ;p To play this instrument, as the name describes it, I'll need to blow into a pipe and press the buttons on the panel of the instrument that relate to the relevant notes ;)

The other instrument to the right is also a sheng. It's the more traditional kind. It's also used when people perform solo. I mastered my basics on this version of the instrument. To me, I find it harder to play this instrument as it's not that light, and I'll really need to support the instrument with both hands, prop it up to blow it and at the same time figure out which notes to play. Over time, the weight of the instrument can get to me and when tired, it gets harder to blow. Not to mention when there are all the other techniques that we need to use to create different kind of effects and the complexity mounts when we tend to play chords as well ;p

'nuff said about my instrument ;p Come to think of it, it's probably been about 6 to 7 years since I last performed in the orchestra. Oh well, those were the days I guess. Making music in those days was fun and I'm sure it will always be fun if I get back to doing it. Many thanks to my family and friends who have turned up at the concerts to watch me perform over the years. Yeah. I guess it's tough being my friend, cos you'll be expected to turn up for my concerts ;p Especially miss the bouquet of flowers that my friends will generously shower on me at every public performance ;p

Rest time

2007-07-07T12:12:00.000+08:00

I thought I'll follow through with my current concept of posting pictures together with my blog :) Finally find a good use for the humble camera on my phone ;p The pictures were taken at the eatery from where I was seated at last night. Nice view of the river :) But I couldn't reach close enough to the window to take the picture to minimise the reflections, my appologies ;p This is quite a nice cosy eatery at Centrall Mall. Apparently it's a branch of a Japanese chain ;p Food is ok (by my standards), but the ambience is quite good and quaint. Service is good and it's a little interesting when it comes to settling the bill :) If you want to find out where it is, let me know ;)

Many thanks to the friends who have left comments on my blog. Keep them coming!! They are really my primary motivation to keep on writing (not that I have interesting stuff to write all the time)

Nice rainy and cool weather today. Didn't really feel like waking up. Don't we all just love cosying up in bed on days like that. Alas, duty calls, I've got no choice but to wake up to make a trip to the far West for some errands :) Road conditions were not too bad along the way. It's quite enjoyable to drive on a route that's finally long enough for me to listen to the 20+ songs on the CD that I burnt.

Was reminded of something that I learnt last night while driving. Heard about my friend's experience of "drifting" in an Altis. Was mighty impressed. I must have been watching too much of Initial D. Perhaps I should really find out more about "drifting" hehz.

Was at the doc's actually. Been told to rest (offered MCs - which I declined since it's the weekend), take lots of water and refrain from taking heaty stuff. Doc even looked me in the eye and told me firmly no exercises. To which I wondered. I've never told this doc of mine that I'm a regular runner who's training for various runs.....wonder how he knew....bet I look like a workoholic and a "runnoholic" if ever there's such a term! Oh well. Guess I'll be good. Not check office e-mails. But first, I'll need to "complete" my double appointments for this evening. I guess I"ll just take it easy tonight. By the end of today, I would have traversed Singapore from the far west to the far east. Hehz.

Seduced!

2007-07-04T21:57:00.000+08:00

Sorry, I thought I'll start off with a sensational header just to prove my point about what I'm about to write. For those of you who are hoping for something more saucy, my appologies once more. I'm the last person you would expect to blog about racy stuff ;p

Well, I've indeed been seduced. By the gigantic poster(s) of a particular magazine that flanks the walls of cityhall MRT station on my way to work everyday. It's the coverpage of a magazine that caters primarily to female readers ;) One of the articles headlined on the coverpage caught my eye. Literally tugged at my heartstrings. After repeated days of being seduced by it, I bought the magazine. Ok. I gotta own up that I did attempt to sneak a look at the article at a major bookstore. However, to my disappointment, I could not find a copy for browsing. After struggling for a few minutes i.e. taking the magazine off the rack and putting it back and taking it off again, I finally decided to buy it. Not too bad a deal I guess. It actually comes with an astro-seduction guide. LOL ;p

Honestly, buying a women's magazine is really not a big deal. Tons of women get their weekly or monthly fix of the latest fashion updates, health info, gossips etc from such magazine. But not me. Hehz. As a general rule, I really don't spend on such magazines. Prefer to save the money for my next trip or for other uses ;p The only time when I buy such magazines will be when their subscription can be offset against my running registration fees (;p) or when I'm whiling my time away at the airport waiting to catch a plane :) Not that I do not like these magazines. Gosh, I love leafing through them when I go for my hairdressing appointments :) It's just that, somehow, it does not seem to make much sense for me to buy these magazines. Maybe it's just me ;)

Anyway, back to the magazine. Well, to be really honest, the article that caught my eye proved to be a disappointing read. I was expecting more from it. Thought it would answer some of the burning questions in my mind ;p Turned out to be just a series of social experiments conducted in different settings. Tugged at my heartstrings in a bittersweet sort of way. Yeah. That's one of my main grudge against these magazines. They come with sensational headlines, but often the written contents leaves much to be desired. It's the pictures that are really worth the read. Hence, my perennial resistance to buying them.

It's been exactly one week since I bought the magazine. Sad to say, I've yet to finish reading it with my usual fervour and rigour for books. Have finished leafing through the pictures. But am a little slow when it comes to text. Alright. shall attempt to read it again tonight since I'm rather under the weather today..could do with some easier entertainment on the mind. Adios.

Kestrel speaks - part 2

2007-07-01T22:54:00.000+08:00

Well, got lotsa stuff to say ;) But decided that I should break up my blog into different parts. If not, it will look really really wordy.

Let’s talk about the weekend.

Saturday-woke up feeling rather screwed. don't ask me why. But got increasingly inspired as the day moved on. Think I’m probably going to go back to dabbling in some stuff that I used to do. WAX members who are reading this. X is getting back into the fray. If I can sustain this spark of inspiration. Will share my work with you guys if there’s any. May go into collaboration with one of my old friends (the one that I did some recordings with for ZH. He was on the guitar, while myself and HX were the vocals ;p can’t remember if I shared those tracks with you guys ;p) Am reviving my one time dreams of doing pop piano and going for proper vocal training again ;) so guys, send me ur lyrics or tunes. I'm game once again. *time to unleash the creative me hehz*

Sunday - went to watch fantastic 4 today. Loved the show :) Rediscovered my passion for all these cartoons with the sci-fic slant. Used to like Mask and transformers and a couple of others that I can't quite recall offhand. Looks like Transformers may be the next show for me. ;p I wonder if they will ever make a movie for Mask. I would really love that! Made an interesting observation today. Kinda thought that Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4 looks a lot like Jolin Tsai or vice versa. No offense to all the Jessica Alba fans out there ;p I stand to be corrected :) Parts of Fantastic 4 was in NYC...the streets, Chrysller Building...Staten Island..Love the city for its vibrance. Perhaps I could make a trip back there one of these days.....

Went to quite a nice place for dinner. Glad to say that Singapore still has some nice corners that are surreal, quiet and with nice ambience. I know just the people to bring to these places and I know they will appreciate it ;)

just a slight "shout-out" here. Anyone interested in going anywhere in September? Pls let me know :) I'm in need of plans for my annual pilgrimage to the rest of the world ex Singapore and M'sia ;p

Thought I'll end off with a pic again. Dedicated to Namsteroy and Yogz. Let me try to explain the pic a little ;p It was taken just recently on Friday evening. Post work, pre-weekend ;p when things get crazier in office ;p In the foreground, the flower and red doggy are mine. The beer monster and little brown bear are Yogz. In the background, the tables are mine and Yogz ;p If u've been a colleague of mine before, u'll know how bad my desk can get ;p I'm pretty much the same wherever I go, whatever the size of my cubicle ;p 'nuff said.

Kestrel speaks - part 1

2007-07-01T22:23:00.000+08:00

Hehz. gotta thank Sharon for leaving behind so many comments to my blogs :) Thanks for reading! Ok. to answer your questions.

Why kestrel? Firstly, let's go to the meaning of kestrel first...If I may lift its definition from wikipedia...

The name kestrel is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around 10–20 m over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects. Other falcons are more adapted to active hunting on the wing.

Came across the bird kestrel when I was in Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia. Liked the look of the bird, how free it looks soaring over the cliffs of the gorge and the sound of its name :) I've always been a big fan of mountains, canyons and gorges and other natural landforms ;p So I decided to go by the name Kestrel for the purpose of my blog :) Just that :)

One of my friends commented that I write too much! I should post more pics to spice up my blog. Since I don't think that I'm photogenic, shall post pics of other stuff instead ;p Namsteroy, this is for you. Picture of kestrel, courtesy of wikipedia ;)

Runs

2007-06-30T01:49:00.000+08:00

Yes. I'm back in blogosphere again. Been a couple of days of absence ;p Would like to thank all my wonderful friends for leaving such lovely encouraging comments on my blog :) Leaves me with such a nice warm fuzzy feeling reading all of your kind words ;p *dare I say, keep them coming hohoho*

I thought I'll write about runs today! Running season's back in full swing again. It's gonna be back to more intensive training for yours truly.Back to the days where I will wake up at like say 3am on Sunday mornings, grab breakfast and head off for my runs at 4+am ;p

Let's do a quick count of the number of runs coming up (based on my memory and radar):
1) 1 July Milk Run
2) 8 July Passion Run
3) 22 July Mizuno Wave Run
4) 26 Aug Army Half Marathon(AHM), Sheares Bridge Run
5) 9 Sep Shape Run *yum yum*
6) 21 Oct Great Eastern Women Run
7) 28 Oct Real Run
8) 2 Dec Stanchart

My real interest lies in the AHM, Shape Run and StanChart.

For Stanchart, it's always this internal debate as to which distance I should do. I had a terrible experience doing the full marathon (shall share that one of these days) and have since taken a 1 year hiatus. Am I ready to take on this challenge again? Or should I just stick to my safe and comfortable half marathon and concentrate on bettering my timing? Hmmz...tough choice. Shall give myself more time to decide :)

Love the shape run for the wonderful goody bag that it comes with! With no offense to the guys, it's actually a better feeling running and jostling among a pack of ladies in a women only run as compared to the mixed run. If you're a regular female runner like me, I think you will agree that running the shape run is a more comfortable experience than running say the Army Half Marathon ;p Just imagine squeezing your way through a brood of sweating males ;p As for the other women's only run, let's just say that, purely on economics ground, it makes more sense to do the shape run than the other run ;p

Am in 2 minds for the Real Run. I like the idea of running on different terrain i.e. running on tarmac, sand etc. Am a little disappointed that they shifted the Run from Sentosa to Changi. Still, Changi is one of my favourite areas around Singapore, hence, I'm still tempted to give the run a go ;p Only thing that is really holding me back is that, I'm not really too sure if I fancy waking up at 3am and doing a 10km run on the day when I turn 28. Thought I should be treating myself better ;p Oh well, we'll see how it goes again. There's still time to go :)

Calling all my lady friends out there :) If you've signed up for the shape run, and is looking for someone to train with, or to meet up together before or after the run, my door's always open :)

Tentatively...

2007-06-27T23:29:00.000+08:00

Hi There. Time now is 11.32pm and I've just finished my work for the day. Haiz. sad. Screws up my original plans. Wasn't intending to do work tonight, given that the next working day is but a mere 8 hours away :(

I thought it would be nice to do a nice long blog for today to kind of round up my 3 days away from office. Had plenty of ideas of topics to blog on e.g. long distance running, tax agents, road trips, holiday plans, home decor, ermz sleeping alone etcetc ;p Yeah. I may not talk that much some times, but those screws in my head are constantly churning :)

Sleep beckons. Looks like I gotta KIV my grand plans till another day. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow...first meeting at 9am (I think?) last meeting for the day at 5pm...lots of items on the agenda...I predict that my phone will ring non-stop again now that those people know that I"m back....dread those calls cos I know that I do not have the answers that they want.....wish me luck!

Loyalty

2007-06-26T13:19:00.000+08:00

I guess I haven't been exactly that consistent in updating this blog ;p Unlike some of my other friends. Bravo. I can finally comprehend how much efforts it takes to do that :)

Well. Day 2 of my official leave. Gotta say that the current leave period is a rather pseudo one. I've taken to doing my own things, going for appointments in the day time. But logging in to do work only late at night when I get back. Am finding it difficult to fall asleep afterwhich. End up waking late the next day not feeling very refreshed. Rather screwed up huhz.

Anyway, on the issue of loyalty. Nothing too serious. Just wanna talk about it in a light-hearted tone.

My friends are all supremely confident of me being a loyal person when it comes to many things. gotta say that I disappoint them greatly when it comes to hair salons.

Yepz. I paid a visit to the hair stylist yesterday. Was itching to bob my hair originally. But was persuaded by many of my friends, who consider themselves to be connoisseurs of female beauty not to do it, so I decided to be really good for once and not rebel :) Nothing too drastic this time round. I'm actually rather easy-going with hair. Afterall, I've long decided that there are no permanent mistakes when it comes to hair. We always outgrow it after a while. At most, it's money gone down the drains ;p

Back to hair salons. I flit from salon to salon. To whoever offers the best deal (especially via credit card offers, b'day promotions, vouchers via women's only runs ;p). Sometimes, it could merely be a matter of proximity of the salon to wherever I was at, at that moment in time. However, agressive marketing and promotional tactics at some of the salons really put me off. Especially those salons which offer prepaid plans, where after plonking down $x, your cost per session would actually be cheaper. Based on my current experience, I think there's only one chain which offers this currently ;p The people that they put at the counter at the end of the session to hawk these plans are really agressive. Totally kills off the good experience that I've just had, having my hair done at the salon. It's usually bye bye to such salons. Or I'll probably go back only on the days when the agressive marketer is on his/her off day ;)

By now, I've probably got a good collection of hair stylists' namecards tucked in a corner of my home. Quite a waste, I gotta admit. I should have refused the namecards when they were offered, especially since I know that's probably the last that those stylists will see of me. But I feel bad rejecting the cards, so I end up hoarding a collection. Along the way, observed that almost all the stylists sport english names. Not just that, many of them have the "newer" forms of english names i.e. where the spelling differs from traditional ones but sounds the same, or are hybrids of 2 english names ;p Helps to leave an impression on potential loyal clients I guess. This disloyal client can still remember some of their names and the salon that they come from ;p Guess it's quite a winning formula.

We are expecting!

2007-06-24T23:43:00.000+08:00

Now that my blog has come out of its closet (forgive the pun ;p), I feel more motivated to write :) I've got plenty of ideas on what to blog about.

Firstly, let me thank stardust, kopitiam-uncle, DK, momomui,Ms Low for reading my blog ;) If there are any of you out there who have read my blog, let me know please..leave comments..or tell me over msn/sms...indulge me ;p And Yes. kopitiam-uncle, I just changed my blog template again....

Hmmz...on to the topic for the day. "We are expecting". Been wanting to share my views on it for a while. No mistakes. Yepz. I do mean "expecting" in the context of having a child ;) Not that it applies to me ;p

I recall reading an article in ST-Life a few weeks back. They did two interviews with two bad boys turned into good daddies ;p Oh yeah. Everyone loves the idea of reformed rakes. Guys who have done it all. Probability of them straying in the future to try out newer experiences is low. Anway, what struck me was the phrase that one of them used when asked about why he got married. His simple answer was "we got pregnant". It struck me then how times have changed. Instead of the concept of only the mother getting pregnant i.e. responsiblity of the unborn kid rests with the mum alone, fathers these days do seem to take an equal role and pride in the pregnancy process. Attending pre-natal and post-natal classes etc..Kudos to all these fathers. :) (Princess M's mummy, I suspect that I've probably been reading too much of your blog ;p)

Was at a colleague's place the other day. One colleague's wife is pregnant. When he used the phrase "my wife is expecting", many of those present pointed out to him that he should be saying "We are expecting, my wife is pregnant" ;p To which, my colleague readily conceded. Looks like this trend of verbalising equal ownership of the pregnancy is getting widely accepted and hopefully not a passing fad. I see this as a good thing :) A good example of the evolution of societal roles in the family unit.

Back to more mundane stuff. Need to confess that I mistook Phomn Penh to be a country today :( Arrghz. This coming from a person whom others turn to for tips when playing drinking games on country names and capitals. Haiz. Need to brush up on my geography of Indochina.

Back to blogging...or rather attempting to blog ;p

2007-06-23T00:35:00.001+08:00

Yepz. I'm back again. Not that I have much readership for my blog, since it's not publicised to all, not even to most of my friends ;p

Social experiment as mentioned in my first post in March has sadly failed. No one has stumbled onto my blog haiz.

Shall try social experiment no. 2 now. Another attempt to "guide" my friends to this blog of mine via msn. Dear friends. If you are finally reading this blog of mine. Please let me know ;p Let's see how this goes. Will give a quicker update. :)

My friends tell me that I am a rather transparent person cos the personal messages that I post on msn clearly betrays my current state of mind. Duhz. Yes and No I guess. Subconciously, when those personal messages were posted, those are the things that I do want people to know or do not mind people knowing about me ;p

Enough of those rambling about my amatuerish social experiments :) some updates about myself, for those of you who finally reads this blog of mine ;p

I would like to proudly announce that I'm finally on a short 5 day break! *big grin* 2 days for the weekend and 3 working days. Not that it would be a long complete break (I'm still expected to check my work mails intermittently cos there are some outstanding issues for which my head is still on the chopping board!), but oh well, a somewhat form of break is better than none at all.

It's been a mad and intensive 6+months, close to 7 months since my last 1 week break way back in Dec. The past few weeks have been extremely stressful and trying. My friends even said that I'm back to grinding my teeth in my sleep during my short weekend sojourn in Bintan. My backaches are coming back. Extremely glad to be able to be on this short break. I guess I gotta thank my enlightened boss for approving my leave ;)

I've got grand plans for the next few days.

a) Catch up on my running and swimming - I took a one week break. Too much work and too many post work engagements this week

b) Go shopping - my wardrobe needs an overhaul. It's actually quite troublesome when my weight keeps fluctuating at different points of my life. I haven't had a participative piece of action in the GSS.

c) Be a local tourist - I've always liked travelling. Always felt that leave should only be taken for urgent matters or for overseas travelling. Since I cannot afford the time luxury of travelling overseas for this occassion, perhaps it's time to revert back to the good old days of me, myself, backpack and my pair of legs to go trudging through Singapore ;p I would love to go tramping in the wilds, but I guess that would have to wait till another time.

d) Tidy up my finances - Need to put my money to more efficient use. 'nuff said.

e) Cook - there's something that I've been rather keen on experimenting with. Finally, I can find time to get down to doing it. Too bad my oven's spoilt. Baking experiments have been halted for so many years. Just chanced upon a new brownie recipe today. Haiz.

Sounds like an ambitious list huhz. I hope that I can do at least half of the items listed.

*yawnz* Time for a good rest. Happy to declare that I survived 2 consecutive shots today. My first attempt at drinking shots. Not too bad an experience. Most importantly, it tasted good :)

Song of the Moment

2007-03-24T20:49:00.000+08:00

This is my song of the moment...my current obsession...a song that I will master and probably use it on my handphone. Come sing with me, baby.

****************************
Way Back into Love Lyrics

I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on

I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away
Just in case I ever need `em again someday
I've been setting aside time
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
Ohhhhh

I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine
I've been searching but I just don't see the signs
I know that it's out there
There's gotta be something for my soul somewhere

I've been looking for someone to shed some light
Not somebody just to get me through the night
I could use some direction
And I'm open to your suggestions

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart again
I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end

There are moments when I don't know if it's real
Or if anybody feels the way I feelI need inspiration
Not just another negotiation

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart to you
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do
And if you help me to start again
You know that I’ll be there for you in the end

****************************************

Still no sign of recognition from any friend. Couldn't resist the temptation. Dropped a bomb on a blog today. A further test of the degree of anonymity that the internet offers.
I quote. Anonymity is not absolute.

Count me in

2007-03-21T22:08:00.000+08:00

Well, what can I say. I've caved into the temptation of blogging too. No definite ideas as to what I'll be writing on my blog yet...watch this space? No promises.

Am blogging for the sake of blogging at this juncture ;)

A lot of my friends have been tempting me to join the blogging crowd.

I guess I'll conduct a short social experiment on this blog. Am not going to tell any of my friends about this blog of mine. Let's see if any of them will chance upon this :)

If you're a friend, do drop me an sms if you see this.

The blog address of my blog is already a big give-away. Will drop another hint here on the upper right hand corner of this posting ;)

ciaoz.