Today was a good day

I had good sleep. Slept for 10 hours. Not yet hitting my record of 12, but good enough.

I had good cleanup. I threw away a few junk, and my room felt better.

I had good songs uploaded onto my Ipod. Finally found 五月天 人生海海 and threw in The Best of U2 (which cost less than 10 bucks at this shop in Chinatown. They is legal ok? Just from another continent in the world).

I had good afternoon catching up with my car. After being missing in action for 2 weeks, I blasted my Ipod and washed my car (I'm sure someone who lived on the 2nd storey missed the weekely session of hearing my Ipod blasting away on the travel speakers for that one and a half hour). It's good to see the layer of grey (gasp!) wiped away to show the real colour underneath

I had good swim. Haven't swam for a good 3-4months, and it's about time to start picking up the front crawl. Although I gave up after a few laps and decided to just have a good swim in my usual breast stroke (I is a weakling..I know..). My left arm is not mine now...but it'll grow to appreciate it soon, this I know.

I had good dinner. A really really belated bday treat from a long time friend at Ma Maison.

I had good desset after the good dinner. I had 鲜奶炖蛋 at 阿秋along Liang Seah Street。Is yummy!

I had good soundtrack on my way back. I paid tribute to the King when I grooved to Billie Jean and Thriller, amongst others, all the way back home.

I had good doggie. He didn't bark when I went home, not like on Friday night- Saturday morning, when I had to play with him after I reach home at 2.30am just to get him to stop barking and go sleep.

I is happy :)

家後

昨晚看台湾金曲奖， ”家後"被票选为第十一届到第十二届“我们最喜欢的歌”。

其实，我想在新加坡， 江蕙对很多人不是一个熟悉的名字，因为她毕竟是专唱闽南语歌曲的台湾歌后吧。所以，昨晚当这首歌被票选的时候，对这一首歌好陌生。经典名曲就是经典名曲。学友为他的“吻别” 做了现场演唱， 现场转播的镜头发现道，每个人好像都会唱。到了江蕙，因为生病， 所以她请全场一起清唱。 全场一字不漏 （有我也不可能知道吧，哈~）， 唱了“家後"的一段。

听了过后，对这首歌好好奇！And Youtube is my best friend! haha~哦，江蕙的歌声好委婉，好柔！ 不知道可不可能练到可以在ktv唱................



江蕙还有一首新歌获选最佳台语作词，让我再去找一找..like what I said...Youtube is my best friend :D

Double Jeopardy?!

Someone told me duirng lunch today, "Nobody will believe that you are still single at this age lor. They would have thought that you are attached liao."

I rolled my eyes twice over.

This wasn't the first time I heard this. Just last week during the dive trip, someone also commented, "Sure or not? You really single meh? Dont look like it leh"

Yes. I. Am. Single. SINGLE. You know, the kind that stay home on Friday nights, who doesn't bother to check phones, who doesn't plan for couple-y things to do together, who doesn't get flowers when she returns for work from long MC or when she feels a bit down.

Oh. The last bit was the-green-eye-monster in me ranting after seeing my colleague getting her third bouquet of flowers in the office :p

Heck. Already single, but the vibe of being attached is probably keeping potential suitors away. It's getting more frequent (that people commented as such) that I start to wonder, how does one look "attached"?? I walk as normally, talk as normally, act as normally as any bachelorette (I think). And how does one look "single"? Like "looking desparate"? Or being coquettish?? I rather somebody kill me first before I do any of these just to look "single".

Sometimes I think I may have ran out of my 桃花运, and the idea of getting into a relationship is becoming more foreign as the days go by.

There were friends who tried to help. An ex-colleague just forwarded me an email on those MHA club for singles mailer. I was grimacing just looking at the email title. Another advocates dating websites after he met his wife through one. I concluded that the aversion to such platforms may just boil down to pride and discomfort - I cant imagine having to meet a stranger with such loud intention "Hello, I'm single. You are single too. Let's try it out!".

A friend's take on those was that it's basically just to widen your social circle, which was a stand that I am slowly trying to adopt..to not much success.

Whatever.I will just continue to do stuff I like.. and probably continue to look "attached". Just help pass the word that I am not.

I'm in a-gummy-bear-kind-of-mood

Beware if I suddenly look at you and make you feel like the squashy colourful chewy.

Finale for the JWC 2009

Oh..and Germany won the Junior World Cup 2009.

Saw the Malaysia event posters on the way back to SG, and the bus I was on passed by the exit from the highway to the stadium. I was like"argh....if only...".

I would like Ned to win though...

And SG beat the Yankees. Real good!

Woohoo~

Ok I am damn tired now.

First from late nights last week.

Second from having to run different things on Fri itself, and running off at 530pm sharp, when there were still stuff unsettled.

Third, from reaching Mersing at 11pm and waiting for 2 hours just to get onto the transfer for the boat to Aur.

Fourth, I dont remember the boat ride to Aur is so long; by the time we reach Aur, it was already 6 plus in the morning (I had reached Aur at 2.30am the last round). With only about 1 and half hour's rest before first dive, no wonder I was feeling quite pucky after the first dive.

Fifth, keeping on one's toes were tiring!!! Watching from the corner of the eye for some form of simulated distress, waiting for the moment when someone shout "Panic diver on surface!" or "Missing diver!", followed by the flurry of action - grab BC, grab fins, jump into water, , sink-fin-grab-tow-flick-give rescue breathes-lift-perform CPR.

But it's good :D

I just wonder if I am mad to be loading myself now, given that the casinos are going to be opened in half a year's time.

Sting's Shape of My Heart

I'll swoon over any guy who sings to me, exactly like how Sting sings in the video :p

Another of my favourite emo song

Weekend is gone again!

:s

Weekend seemed shorter now even compared to when it was 5 and a half work week. Where have all the hours gone to?

I remembered chatting with Bunster. With motherhood and having been the entreprenuer, it was just not the same for her, to work for someone else and to do all the corporate climbing stuff.
For me, I still have not found the challenge yet. I was just lamenting to an ex-colleague over emails, that I missed the hours I put in for the 2 odd years when I was still doing staff work on the ground. Even if it meant working till 8-9pm, coming back on weekends, clearing work before and after coming back from holiday, meeting never-ending deadlines, but it had been productive and meaningful. I even told her that I missed the horrible big boss who was known to be exacting, demanding, and downright critical of everybody's work; but then cos she knew what she want and expect the same from everybody else. Knowing what I had been through for that stint, my ex-colleague said I was mad.

Now, I just look forward to more "me-time". Long holiday (away from work), go diving, read a book go running.

Maybe I was addicted to deadlines, linking productivity in work to some sort of self worth. Shit. The last one's scary but I can understand the psyche though - the euphoria that you cleared another hurdle, with some pain no less, accomplishing the target with flair and some flourish, telling yourself "Damn I am good".

Maybe that's why I still keep pushing myself to go running, to continue playing hockey, to pick up divemaster course. The ache in my legs after the run on Saturday reminded me that yes, it's good to keep moving again (even though I was procrastinating to start running again after so long).

Maybe I am addicted to pain. The pain of pushing myself to meet deadlines. The physical pain of muscles straining, heaving breathing.

Gosh. That sounds pyscho. But I know I am looking forward to move away from oblivion.

What bad planning.

Went to watch the Aussie played the Germans at the Sengkang at 7pm. It was worth the $2.50 and the long drive home after the good match. The Aussies were skillful over the ball while the Germans were tencious; Both team really strived for the full game; it was an exciting match that saw both teams tying at 1-1, down to the last 69th min, giving away 1 penalty corner each within the last min which could likely turn the outcome in the other direction, but not converting either one eventually. Depending on goal difference, the Aussies will either meet Netherlands or India in the next round, both very good matches no matter how.

But that is not going to be the bulk of today's entry. I am so going to bitch about the bad planning and lack of common sense.

By the time my car reached the vicinity of Sengkang, the snake of cars parking illegal around the stadium was horrendous. In the end I still had to park about 5 mins walk away along the roadside. And this is only the prelim round. Wait till the semis on the 20 Jun.

I was already late, and the Aussie game would have started 5 mins ago. As I walking from the car towards the stadium, I could hear the announcement from Pitch 2, that Netherlands won India by 3-2 and the crowd was going mad cheering (that could be the reasons of the number of cars there..the Dutch turn out was overwhelming the last weekend).

I walked past the tables that served as the gantry with a few of the kids wearing the "CREW" t-shirt chitchatting. They were supposed to be checking tickets and doing bag check. But as I mentioned, they had done away with the ticket system and they no longer do bag checks. I wonder what they hell they were standing there for. Then I noticed a small crowd gathering in front of the stairs leading to pitch 1.

"Sorry the stand is full. We cant allow people in. There are no more seats inside" a guy wearing a "Security" vest and another woman wearing the "Crew" t-shirt were saying. They were bombarded by the audiences coming from the other pitch after the Ned vs Ind ended and wanted some action before the NZ vs SG game.

Called a friend who was already inside. " Got seats leh." he said. But the gatekeepers had firmly refused entry. Ok lor..even my helpline cant help much. So it was watching the game from the other side of the pitch behind the fencing, while waiting for another friend to come. And as I stood at the other side of the fence and looked over to the stand - ok, cant really see..those red spots at the far end seemed to look like the unoccupied plastic foldable chairs. And there were at least a handful. Oh well. Nay mind..maybe half time can try again.

Friend came and we were peering at the action through the metal fencing and mesh netting. A guy who were sharing our side of the fence said that he had tried to get the free tickets from the ticket booth, but they said no more tickets. (of course..they are not using them anymore..)

Half time came and both of us went to the entrance again to try out luck. And there was a group of 15 people trying to get in.


"No, there are no more seats. " the "CREW" people said.

"But we looked from the other side of the pitch. There are seats!" "My friend called me from inside, he said got seats!" "But I got tickets!"(all of these were not said by me, though I would have gladly collaborated)

As the group parried with "the CREW", ang mohs were steaming out.

The Crowd : "Why can't we go in?There are people coming out"
The CREW : "We have to let people who walked out to toilet or get food come in again"

The Crowd: "I got tickets!"
the CREW: "People inside also have tickets" (I wonder if the idiot who said this was asking for it. I could have easily slapped reality in his face by saying that "No, your guys in front are not even checking. How can you be so sure?")

The Crowd: "But my friend said there are seats inside!"
the CREW: "Sorry we cant let you go in cos we havent receive any new instructions"

The Crowd: "Then get the instructions!"
one of the CREW : "I'm only a student!" (ooppss.not very professional)

And concurrently they are just letting ang mohs in from the other side of the barricade. Not even checking if they had previously walked out or whatever.

WTF??? You are already not checking tickets which led to this mayhem! And why defer so much to the ang mohs?

Eventually the Crowd managed to grab an ang moh wearing "The CREW" t-shirt, and was demanding for some actions. Eventually, about 5 mins after the second half started, the CREW finally decided to let the crowd in And THERE WERE MORE THAN ENOUGH SEATS! Gosh. Any idiots would have seen that just by doing a visual check and relay the message back to the gatekeeper in front. What kind of instructions do you need for that??

I wonder who is managing this event; I heard it was ESPN. Apparently, most of the Crew were kids from Republic Poly. One of the gatekeeer was a kid. The other one was clearly from ESPN. I can understand if the kids (obviously part timers) were inadequate to manage crowds, but then the key people should have taken charge. The whole process was clearly lacking in organisation and common sense.

• If you are not checking tickets there is no way to enforce exit and re-entry.
• If you dont have a re-entry system in place then people leave at their own risk of losing their seats. Why should it be your job to guard their seats for them?
• There are people who had made effort to book the tickets prior to the whole tournament or came down early to try for the tickets! Only to be fooled by your incredulous lack of planning and poor events management, being denied a chance to enter and seeing other people walking in and out freely without tickets.
• Basically since it has already become a free-for-all situation, be fair! Dont only let the ang mohs have their way!

It was a faboulous international event to be held in Singapore, especially in view of the upcoming series of youth sportings event that will put Singapore on the international sporting map. But with this level of sophistication of event management, it creates a really bad impression on the whole event and leave a bad aftertaste. And this is only one tournament. What about bigger events such as YOG?

Next week will be a trying week if THE CREW don't brush up their events management system in time.

I can't help not blog about this..

I came across this blog was when one of the FB friend posted a link to the blog, and I thought the name was pretty interesting. And the blog is uber cute!

"The Story

When I was young, I placed my baby teeth under my pillow and when i woke up I'd find a shiny new quarter. But whatever happened to those little teeth? Where did they go? Would I ever see them again?Many years later, a little tooth was standing at my door. It looked familiar. It's name was ickle. Welcome home, my milk toof! "

http://mymilktoof.blogspot.com/

The other "toof" is his friend Lar-dee. Who has a magical red bag. I wish I have one of those :p

(Images from http://mymilktoof.blogspot.com/)


Check out ickle and Lar-dee out on FB too ;)

How many does it take to name a dog?

There were :

1. Number (Wan) (my brother's bright idea =.=")

2. Brownie

3. Cocoa

4. Fudge

5. 乐乐

6. Tom

7. Chino (short for cuppuccino)

8. Gino (cos it sound more "man" than Chino)

So now it stayed at Gino. I still prefer Chino leh..should I lobby to use that name??

Right now I may just call it Yuppy..cos it is yupping its protests being put into the playpen for the night now.

Men's Junior World Cup

After getting all the stuff for the new pup (I became the sucker cos I have to go out - got the playpen, got the dog dish, got the dog food ), I rushed to ulu Seng Kang for the first day matches of the Mens' Junior Asia World Cup . This tournament is split between JB and Singapore, 2 pools are played in SG, and the other 2 in JB, while the finals are going to be played in JB.

JB has the interesting teams : KOR, MAS, PAK, ARG, while SG is hosting the games for : AUS, IND, NZL. Argentina was the reigning champs from 4 years ago. If only they are playing in SG. Wasted. The finals would be really interesting to watch; I am guessing Argentina, Australia or Netherlands. But travel to JB? (Anyway I should be diving that weekend too. Heh :D)

Seng Kang was..well...Seng Kang. It is darn (bloody!!!!!) far and would have never appear on my usual roadmaps. And to think that if the league is going to be played next year there, means adding to carbon emission every weekend. Gosh.

What was this thing about free tickets that you have to book in advance or queue for?! It was damn messy and the guys standing at the entrance checking tickets were flustered and seemed a bit overwhelmed. When by the end of the 1st game, people are actually streaming in without tickets. Like..huh? Then why you make people pre-book tickets or queue for them in the first place?

Anyway, the turn out was quite impressive, given the sign that there was long snakes of cars parking illegally along all the roads adjoining the stadium. Of course, supplemented by the Dutch who came to support the Netherlands playing against SG at 5.30pm at pitch 1. But then we decided to watch the Jap vs S Africa game on pitch 2 instead, which started at 5pm. But our seats were good in the sense that while watching the game on pitch 2, we can turn around and see the action on pitch 1 as well.

But Jap v S Africa game was boring, since both were more or less equal in skills and play, and the game drew at 1-1. The Sg vs Ned game seemed more interesting, in that Ned's passes and short corners were sharp, precise and powerful. Our boys didn't stand a chance I guess.

Oh well, there is always another chance to watch them.

The next game, NZ won Poland in pitch 2 (ooohh...NZ guys' acceleration was so fast! And their reverse shots! wah..)

The NZ Black Sticks. NZ's national sports image is so strong everytime with the black turnouts and fern symbols.

Picture from ESPN.com

After that, I went over to pitch 1 where Germany was playing the remaining 15 mins against Chile. hm...boring. Results here.

Ok, maybe next weekend. Sigh. Tues game of Aust vs Japan should be interesting, but Seng Kang is so far... I miss Delta already.

New addition!

Puppy!

Fudge is the tentative name for the toy poodle now. Cos my brother is not around when the name was thrown out, and my mum has a tendency to say "Far-ch". The alternative was 乐乐. Which is also good actually.

Mum had secretly went to book the puppy with a breeder through a family friend, who also had a toy poodle at home too, and had apparently planned to bring home the pup to give all of us a surprise. But the transportation help was held up last min, and that's when she had to call me yesterday to tell me about it, to drive the pup home today.

Pup is a a bit emo-ey now , today being taken from its mother and had to travel to 2 new places (from the breeder to the family friend's place, and then to my place), so it was kinda moping around most of the time (as can see in the photo). So poor thing.

Hope it can settle in well to the family.

New addition!

I wasn't supposed to know..till tomorrow, together with the rest, if not for the fact that a driver is needed.

Hmm....

London! post trip

I survived another 13 hours flight, knocked out for a good 12 hours before waking up to humid Singapore today, which made me miss the London cool weather.

The last day in London was spent shopping, to Harrods, Selfridges and Bond Street. Thank goodness (or should it be otherwise?) that I only had 6 hours of shopping time, if not I would have hit more stores (I would really like to have gone to see the G-star concept store though..sigh..). Out of the stuff, only 1 was for myself, and that took only 30 mins. The rest were orders and favours from friends, and other what-nots.

I was glad that I had taken today off, or it would have been to the office straight. I just heard some re-org's happening in the office, which doesn't sound good. Crossing fingers..