the clock strikes midnight... as the dream slips through your head... this is no dress rehearsal... there is no second chance...

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

.. it's raining heavily... ceh...!
Looks like i have to stay home! <>

<3.30pm> Rain rain go away, little CT wants to play! So the rain went away.. got my stuff and off I walked to Safra. Arghhh! Minutes later, it started to drizzle heavily.. took out my umbrella and continued walking.
So I was there, waited for the rain to stop. Yes , it did. When I was just about to step into the pool, it rained again! Wah! Nature really didn't want me to swim!
Jus swam 1 lap, pack and left the place.

<4.30pm> Look for food. Had not have anything to eat since morning. Nothing nice to eat, jus drink soya bean. Walk walk at North Point, bought a pair of jeans from Hang Ten and went home.

Left the shopping mall and the sky was so clear. I like the after-rain effect... cooling. Saw a lot of joggers. Thought of jogging too but ah.. sleepy after that brief swim.

<5.30pm> Took nap.

So, what actually have i done today? hmmmm...

What's in my N6230?

Debbie Gibson-Red Hot
Debbie Gibson-Wake up to Love
Debbie Gibson-Out of the Blue
Debbie Gibson-Staying Forever
Debbie Gibson-Only in My Dreams
Alanis Morisset- So Pure
Cinderella - Coming home
Cinderalla- Gypsy Road
Dido - Slide
Drowning Pool- Bodies
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
New Order - Subculture
Republica- Ready to Go
Republica- Drop dead gorgeous
Twisted Sister - I Am( I'm Me)
Def Leppard - Gods of War
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Kate Bush - Running up that Hill
Radiohead - Creep
Van Halen - Why can't This be Love
XYZ - Nice Day to Die
XYZ - What Keeps Me Loving You
Iron Maiden - Caught Somewhere in Time
White Zombie - More Human than Human
Hardline - 31-91

Total of 26 songs which i tuned in to for the last 1 week. My favourites are Iron Maiden, Twisted Sister, XYZ and now i am liking Drowning Pool. Last Saturday, bought some CDs- Alter Bridge, Hoobastank for myself and Kevin got Scissor Sister. Going to transfer the new songs over the above list. Got to listen to the nowzadays artist.. feel so old listening to the oldies.


Last night play- play video conferencing with FD and Suk.. very funny. It got even funnier when Kevin joined in. I finally got to see how FD looks like and we all can see how much Suk can shine!

What to do? Plan just to rest at home since I will be expecting my cousin later tonight. Meantime, what shall i do? Go for run? Go for aerobics? Feels like going for a swim at Safra. But the weather man says that there will be showers in some areas.


Sunday, November 21, 2004

10km Mizuno WaveRun

I never thought i can complete the run. Told myself to finish in 1 1/2 hr. And I did it. My dear 15yr old nephew, Luqman, finished at 1hr and our LonelyRunner,Sukaimi at his best of 43mins.




Woah! After all that worrying i might end up last in the race..running all by myself along the quiet and dusty Old Tampines Road.. But it was not too bad.. I may be the last few ones but I thanked God that i reached this far. My first try running 10km.And doing it without Kevin. I enjoyed it. Thanks to Kevin, who picked and saved great songs in my N6230, and it kept me going. At one point, I was happily singing Twisted Sister's "I Am (I'm Me)". Call me crazy..

I would have completed at a better time if Kevin is around. Yeah..he will give me some stress but some stress is good.People refer it as "positive stress". His presence will somehow push me to strive. But, too bad, he has to work. So, today i didn't run much .. it's more like a jog-walk kind of. And yes.. u can say that the older runners are much better than me (but I'm better than the younger ones running along side with me, heheheh) But i'm happy! Very happy with what i have accomplished. Whoopi!

After 5km, I started to walk. Walk , jog, walk jog.. but i walked fast like in the Big Walk. By that time, my nephew was so way ahead of me and Sukaimi already finished. The weather was kind but I got my cap on. Apart from the songs i hear in my ears, there was other kind of noise in my head! Some of them were:
" aiyah... forgotten to apply sunblock!"
" Am I going to be the last one?"
"Cialat lah.. I'm worst than that aunty infront of me!"
"Wa liau.. how to finish like this if walk all the way!!"
"Kevin will laugh at me, if he sees me walking!"
" Alamak, that lady cut me.. oh no.. must be ahead of her.."
" Where's the water pont?!"
" Should i give up, i got my ezlink with me.."
" But i want the cert... must remember to look good. Take off the cap!"

Ahhh .. struggling to finish the 10km Mizuno WaveRun!!! Must show Kevin that I can do this! I felt great when I was approaching Hougang and the best part was turning into Kovan LRT. Ran all the way to the finishing line.. got photographers along the roadside towards the end. I took off my cap.. big smile and showed peace sign, yeah! "Making sure i look good on camera.. must finish in style....!" At that moment, I was thinking of Kevin. Flashbacks of those times we jogged around our neighbourhood, preparing for this race..., his pep talk.... ahh... "how I wish you're there to see me end this thing".

Oh well.. saw my brother at the finishing line and he called out to me " I thought u can't make it! Wondering where are U?" I screamed at him" ahhahhhh, ..told u i would finish in 1 1/2hrs! I was jumping for joy! He took a video of me!

Overall, it was a great feeling.The best!

My nephew is happy with his time of 1hr. He had set his target to complete in 50mins. Well done, Nephew! Let's do this again, shall we?

To you,LonelyRunner.. glad to see u there! POWER!








Friday, November 05, 2004

Say what?

Yesterday was my 2nd out of 10 mandarin lessons. Will be completing the basic course by end December. Michelle liao-shi is from Beijing. Proud of her nationality and language, she delivers her lesson with so much passion. She always has a big smile and eyes wide open whenever she introduces a new word, showing us how the word should be pronounced. Her facial expression makes me laugh. She wants us to speak like a Zhongguo ren (Beijing slang) and not Xinjiapo ren. There are only 3 non-chinese locals in class while the rest are of other nationalities. Is she trying to tell the class that Singaporeans are not speaking right? Why are we there for?

A 40yrs old indian lady, and she's local said that 90% of job ads require mandarin speaking. She is afraid that one day she will be out of job and may need to find another. But the sad thing is that most job market requires mandarin speaking. Being a minority in S'pore, I feel the same way.

The minority here may still suffer unemployment because of language medium. Thank god the job ads reads mostly as " Mandarin/Chinese speaking" and not "Chinese only" but there are, not many though, and btw, it would not be nice to publish it that way as it may sound like racism but then again it still is, but if you think that the choice of employing chinese over malays just because of their laziness good-for-nothing and the Indians stink, I think they are no more like that as time has changed.... and that's another story. Since most of the local co's here run by the Chinese, and might be dealing mostly with their chinese counterparts, they obviously needed someone who speaks mandarin. That I have to agree. But what I don't understand is why some companies require mandarin for admin or any simple office work which the only communication is probably with machines. I know that some Singaporean chinese can't speak mandarin but some mandarin knowledge which was learnt in school still help them secure a job. And who are the "others" that benefit employment in S'pore: none other than the Chinese Indonesian and Chinese Malaysian.. so what is left for the non-mandarin speaking nationalities, particularly the Singaporean Indians and Malay? Aren't we part of S'pore citizen, as one united people, regardless of race, language...... blah,blah,blah... The unemployment rate will rise if the job ads do not do away with the "mandarin speaking only". It will definitely have a great social impact on the malays and Indian society.

If Mandarin is going to be so important in our livelihood here in S'pore, why not make Mandarin as a compulsory second language for all in school. Let our Malay, Tamil and Chinese dialects / languages be part of our language culture or what ever you want to call it. Now I have to spent money to learn it.

Having married to a Chinese for 8 years, I have not mastered the language. It's quite embarrassing. I can speak but not very good. I'm learning it basically to be able to communicate with my in-laws better and secondly, help me in my future career.

One thing for sure, for me, it's not that easy and simple learning the language. Don't know how others can do it. There are so many similar sounds with different meanings to it and remembering it, is the toughest.



Monday, November 01, 2004

Testing my new toy.

It didn't feel like it was Sunday yesterday. Kevin has to work and I am all by myself, not knowing what to do,besides housework and sitting in front of the PC, and of cos' meddling with my new toy. Wonder what other women do at home when their hubbies are out especially on Sunday: watch tv whole day, cook , sew, knit, karaoke, blogging, chatting?

So, I went to WOS @ Wisma to sign up for the Mizuno Wave Run. The start and finish point will be at Kovan Hub, running route covers from Serangoon Rd to the stretch of Tampines Rd up to Old Tampines and u-turn running back to Hougang and the finishing point ~ 10km. The WOS staff wished me good luck. Thanks, I really need that.

Along the way, at Takashimaya, there was this great challenge to win the Subaru car by placing one hand on the car for as long as they can. I was thinking.. I should be taking part in this as I have lots of free time, don't need to apply for leave.. no work, no stress.. sure can tahan one! But it's too late! Next year, Next year!

Morning was hot but heavy rain in the afternoon. The weather had been like this for the past weeks, which i kind of like, especially during the fasting month. Yesterday's weather was just great after the rain. With my new gadget wired to my ears, listening to Alannah Myles, went for a jog at 1820hrs. Same route.Saw the same people running. Each time I passed-by any one of them running opposite my direction, and many times I give them, a smile and a thumbs' up but sadly, none of them smiled back. Hmmm.. maybe they are warned not to be friendly with strangers.Or maybe, they thought I'm crazy. But we are regulars, I see no harm returning a smile to me.

Anyway, reached my block area abt 1845hrs,dropped by at one of the provision shop to get a nice drink, Gatorade, to break my fast with.

As for running with my new toy, it was so much convienient. It was so much lighter and slimmer to hold. Answering the calls is easy too. No fuss at all.