changes

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!

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

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 :)

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

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

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

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

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

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.....

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

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

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 :)

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

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

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

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..

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...

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

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....

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 ;)