Zee

Belated Merry Xmas to all...

The edict is given.. and I'm to train my abs. Time frame given is 1yr. Well, sort of a new year resolution too I guess.. HA.. To achieve it is one thing, to maintain that is another. Hmm.. Shall see what I can do about it.

Anyway. I've been watching movie for the past 2 days. Watched YES MAN with my sis on christmas eve, and Twilight on Christmas day with dear..

YES MAN, is a rather hilarious show, which teaches us that every yes may bring on an opportunity. If you keep on saying no, you won't know what you've been missing. However, to achieve best results, it's to exercise some common sense and think what is the right thing to do at times, some things can still say no.

Twilight, a teenage vampire show, set in a outskirt of a ulu countryside. It's very teenage fiction story book like, and it reminds me a bit of those days when i was reading such story books. A teenage romance show between a Vampire and a mortal, it's kinda mysterious and fairy tale like. But then again, the bad guys die a bit too fast le. make it more exciting by prolonging it a bit, reduce the superiority of the good guys =D my dear LOVE this show so much..

Played soccer at punggol with the SK gang in the morning, the weather is just damn hot. Drained.. Got no shoe to play in le. Had to dig out my new pair of NB shoe, which was never meant to be worn. ( was supposed to be placed in my field pack for standby only ). Anyway, took it out of emergency and play with it. I guess this will be my pair of make shift futsal shoe le. It's very painful for the toes though. awkward position whenever i kick the ball..

Went to Sofra, A Turkish restaurant at Shaw Tower. Famous for it's Kebabs and Grilled food. Tried the Jumbo set with dear, and Kk, HC, edwin, all tried different dishes. Prices for it range from $13.90 to $35.90 for a jumbo set for two. If you do like Grilled food kebabs, this is a good place to try out, plus the ambience of it, its nice for ppl to hang ard.

Actually, the setting of it was very similar to what we have in India One year ago, at the Restaurant in Bangalore, and it's just nice 1yr Anniversary for the formation of the COT. Woohoo.. To think I've already known the COT group for 1yr le.. And it's being one yr since I went to India.. What a memorable experience it was.. =)


The Jumbo Kebab set.. $35.90

Grilled Dory with Cheese and beautiful Tomato cravings.

Junior Kebab set, $17.90..

Though our COT this time rd was not full family. But it was still an enjoyable dining out.. And I actually purposely wore the shirt that I bought in bangalore exactly 1yr ago. This long sleeve shirt that I bought while shopping tgt with COT.. =D haha... Thanks chaps.. Really been nice knowing all of you..

To be able to make me fume and scold during tuition shows how much the kid has put me through. Not understanding the thing, but still pretending that she knows, and trying to copy from the other kid, that's utterly too much. If I don't scold, that's not me. If don't understand, tell me, so that I can explain slowly again. If don't tell me, how am I suppose to know what you don't know? Keep whining and say I hate it, I don't know how is not going to solve the issue. Tearing will only make the books wet, but no info will go into your already empty head. Put more effort into listening and memorising and perhaps that would make you able to understand a bit more.

Just came back from 2 days worth of 108bds. Quite a no. to play, and that means high level of concentration and brain juice. Got squeezed really dry for the first day, especially so when my partner gave me difficult contracts to play. And seriously, 2 hot-boiled ppl shouldn't be partner. As I've previously experienced before. This is repeat telecast liao. NO proper partnership agreement, and understanding can result in horrible situation. The issue is, the bidding is unorthodox. Which he came up with, and only he can understand. How to play properly? It's either we take more time to accept and use his OWN conventions, if not, play the standard, and u can play with almost everyone.

Seeded 5th from the start, and we ended 6th. Just slightly off from 5th place, who was lucky to pull it off. The top 4 were in their own league, a class of their own. Can't catch up. ended off the last day well, scoring 67 / 75 VP. A good score to round it up. But well, it can't make up on the lost ground since yest le... At least I know I did my best, and I didn't make much mistakes. perhaps it's about time for me to move on and find outside clubs to further improve myself. I don't know if it's the right time to do so now...

Anyway, met up with 03S12 just now at Shokudo. Chose that place, cos of the locality, and the price variation, not too ex. if hungry, can buy more. The no. of ppl that turned up in the end was 11. Not bad. 2 ppl suddenly last min back out due to some reasons. Those that were present, Jermanyne, Mindy, Anu, May2, Jia Cai, Allen, Fatt, Cheng xun, Kristy, Jia yu. Amazed that Jia yu and kristy came. They like how long never appear le. lolz.. well done mindy for pulling them along. It's good to see all of them again, and seriously, it's nice catching up with them, and the conversations were very interesting, with diverse fields such as law, Medicine, Actuarial Science, Econs, life sciences, Pharmacy, Bio Eng, Biz. Sharing all the different views and stories. It's being some time since so many ppl turn up all at once for a 03S12 gathering le.. =) nice nice..

Shall see when it would be for the next gathering..

Went for tuition in the morning, and i think I may have an additional student incoming le. One of the girl that I'm currently teaching in a grp, is interested in extending the tuition to next yr. Really don't know if I should accept it. It's at Sengkang, and it's sec 1, definitely, I won't need to spend much effort, cos I already know their syllabus. But now I've accepted the clementi one, it's not nice to push it away, after following her for 2yrs,

Played pool with Tuck at our usual place. Concentration level is lower than before, can't fully concentrate for 3hrs. Ha.. but still, enjoyed the game with him. relaxing n just out having fun.

Thereafter, met Tuck, Ben, Ping and dear for Chong qin Steamboat. Nett price of $18, with the variety and quality of the things available, I think it's quite decent. The ingredients are fresh, and the soup was good.

After the steamboat, we went to TCC to chill out and chat for a while at Parco. That's actually my first time at TCC u know.. lolx.. always walk past, but never went in before. Drank the Mocha Oreo Frap. Thick and nice, in fact, i think it's better than starbucks or coffeebean, which are both a bit too milky for me.

Only 3 of us.. still got missing ppl lor.. Des and Lianghe.. MIA due to other committments.

Times are bad.. everyone is experiencing that too. Not much money to spare, trying to scrim and save on every little bit that you can. It's bad for you, so is it for others. try to take away what others should have, it'll only make things worst, cos it's a vicious cycle. As the saying goes, money makes the world goes round, literally.. Without expenditure, the economy won't recover. if it won't recover, you will not get any better..

So you want the economy to return to the better state? start giving me a bit more, raise my pay, and it'll eventually come back to you in a bigger denomination.

Worth it isn't it..

A busy weekend, filled with events and excitement, especially highlighted by the Highs-lows of the Golden Harvest Competition ( Bridge ).

Shall begin with Fri..

Fri night, went to my Cousin's condo with dear, for a family gathering. She enjoys cooking, and spends a lot of effort into it wor.. To think she prepared food for 20 of us, adults and kids, It's not easy chore. And it's not simple food like bee hoon, curry, etc.. It was a Christmas party, So there was Home-baked turkey, sausages, drinks, and even home-baked log cake. OMG... She baked the cake from scratch, starting from swiss roll, then add the cream, then do the decor.. many many X hours. It was delicious.. =D

The big Turkey.. nicely baked. Meat was very tender too..


On sat,

Taught tuition in the morning, before meeting dear for lunch at Cityhall. Had a craving for Roast duck, so went to asian kitchen to makan. The Roasted duck was marinated well, with crispy skin.. yum yum..

Thereafter, played bridge whole day till 11pm. Didn't really do well for the day, missing 2 slams. hanging ard mid table by the end of 5 rds. Our handicap is actually quite low.. 19 out of a possible 32. With many teams getting ard 24... They rate us a bit too high liao lar..

Start of Sunday, Day 2 of comp..
9.45am, start... after 2 more rds, we didn't qualify for the finals, so we entered the Round robin. After 3 rds in round robin, we managed to get 25, 16,25 for the 3 games, making 66/75 for the final part. It all ended well, and we managed to get top for the consols. not bad lar.. At least got back something, overall standing 5th out of 14. The other team of NUS, they managed to get 1st overall, winning everyone in their way.. Well.. that team had 3 players who are in national youth.. so erm.. ya.. no need to say much.. lolz.. well done team.. It's been sometime since NUS managed to win something in the outside tournament.. ( not counting against NTU ).

My team.. The guy in red is the Tournament director.. and the lady, is the bridge director.. the rest are my team members..

Anyway, This is one of the photos that was taken during my SCSM last week. The bright orange shirt, makes it so obvious lor. hahah... Holding hte mini NUS flag.. so funny..

Haven't been blogging for the past few days, so now got quite a bit to update.

On monday, went to dear's house. and we made Tiramisu, and Chocolate cake, both added with Baileys. lolx.. It came out rather nice wor.. had quite a bit of fun mixing and preparing the ingredients. Not that tough to prep. Just that it's rather long hours.

*forgot to take photo of our tiramisu.. it's in the stomach already..

On wed morning, started teaching tuition to a grp of 2. A little different from individual teaching, and a bit harder, cos their learning pace a bit different. So it's a little unfair to the one that learns faster actually. Shall see how I can improve on that...

At night, Met up with COT to go pitstop.. So long never meet this group liao lor. And not all were present sadly, due to some other committments. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun playing some brainless games. Laughing all the way, and making funny noises. The animal sound game, ( Woof-Woof, Moo-Moo , Hiss, Quack, etc) and many more. Quite nice to just let ourselves out.


This is a nice grp of friends, and I really hope that we'll keep going. Don't keep fragmenting till nothing left..

On thurs afternoon, met fang for lunch, and we went to "Sun with Moon" at Wheel-lock place. The ambience was nice, and the service was quite fast. The setting was good for chatting and chilling ard. Not those too bright or too dark restaurants. All in all, Enjoyed my lunch there, with a set lunch with delicious salmon sashimi.


The salmon slices, uber thick and juicy. one of the better salmon I've eaten so far.. the price justifies it. 5 slices for $18.90.


Our set lunch. Hotate Set with udon soup and fried karage. $18.90


Chicken set done in 3 ways, Fried, Grilled, and teppanyaki style, with Kani salad and miso soup. $17.90

Just finished my 3rd full marathon. 42.195km. It was a tiring run, especially so when insufficient training and preparation was done. hampered by the injury, totally didn't run for 3weeks, before i did some light conditioning of 5km on wed. Wanted to start off with the 4hr 30min pacer, but started the race 10mins late. So had to play some catch up. When I begun, I could only see the 6hr pacer. Got hell lots to catch up. Furthermore, cannot chiong too much, if not sure cui one.

Chased for nearly 11km, only managed to catch up with 4hr 45min pacer, and I stuck with them for a period of time, then cannot liao.. Hei gu.. Too fast. The initial game plan was to follow 4h 30min pacer, for first 21km, then drop back to 5hr for the next 21km. reached the 21km mark at 2hr 16mins. Quite a good time, and it's on course for 4hr 30min. But of cos, energy will be depleted, and sure to slow down de. So Changed strat, and did walk and jog. Interchanging every now and then. Knowing my body was really drained, I had to conserve some energy.

ard 23km, the 5hr 30min pacer came by. And of cos I'm stunned. How come so fast de. So decided to follow them, and hope to finish before 5hr 30. Upon checking further, realise that they are 15mins ahead of schedule, cos they followed the gun time, and I started 10mins later. So I'm still 25mins earlier. phew. Followed the 3 nice pacer for 10km, till 33km, before I call it quit. Cramps are coming in, and I'm dehydrated. I consistently reminded myself to drink more water along the way, and I drank every 3km. So there wasn't much cramps till the later stage. normally by 26-27, it'll come liao.

For the last 9km, I slowed down a lot, and energy has run out. no energy to push further. met a few friends along the way, and chatted with random ppl, mainly those who wore Team NUS, and VJ ppl. One of the fren still tell me " mind over body ". yes i know it's all abt endurance. But to run at that pt of time, the cramps may get so bad that I can't even walk. And I aim to finish it by hook or by crook. So cannot risk by pushing myself too much.

Well well. It was torturing, but the weather was quite kind to us. Only towards 10am, did the sun really come and "pengkang" us. Anyway, completed it. Not exactly very happy with the timing, but still within my buffer of 5hr 30mins. Finished it in 5hr 24min.

by the last 200km, there were NUS ppl giving out little flags, Took one of it and ran down the stretch. It was the moment of joy that you see the finishing pt, and ppl are cheering for u. Supporters really makes a difference, hypes up the morale of the runner after such long hours.



Dear, ran the 10km race, and did a PB also. not bad wor.. good job. =D Really nice to have someone waiting for u at the end of the race, and I really appreciate you waiting for me in the hot sun for an hour plus.. Thanks dear.. =)

This may well be my last full marathon le. It's taking a toll on my body. perhaps I shall stop at 21km. Next up.. Sundown marathon next may. =X

This morning after I finished teaching tuition at SK, took 27 back to tamp to change train.. And along the way at Tampines polyclinic, the bus met with an accident, E-BRAKE suddenly. and a lot of passengers got flunk forward. including me. I was holding on tightly to the handle, but 4 passengers weight landed on me, and I got thrown forward by the heavy load. luckily, the bus was quite packed.. so I had some natural human cushion to stop me from flying that far. One lady wasn't as lucky, she fell and hit the handle, as a result, suffered from shocked for a moment and injured her knee, ( it hit the handle )

okay, now to how the accident happened. I didn't witnessed it with my own eyes, only heard from those that saw it, so I can't be a witness and testify it..

The bus was abt to do a right turn, and a MPV driven by a lady, was in front of it. trying to do a U-turn at a junction where no U-turn is allowed. Then there was a guy who ran across the road, cos it's red for the other side, causing the MPV to E-brake, resulting in the Bus following suit, Which some how or rather stopped just in time, only smashing the rear wind screen of the MPV into pieces. ( i think it got hit by the wipper of the Bus ) if hit by the bus, the car sure gone case. it's like throwing an egg on a rock. The whole road was filled with broken glasses, and I alighted the bus shortly after when making sure there wasn't any serious injury to anybody, or any contribution that I can make.

In this type of situation, whose fault is it? The reckless-ness of the driver who flauted the laws of the road, making an illegal U-turn ? or is it the fault of the guy that ran across? Is pedestrian always not at fault? I think it's a combination of both ba.. Sadly, the guy ran away and can't be found.

on another note, just attended a fren's grandma's wake. This is the 4th wake I've attended this yr. Perhaps its cos we are all growing old, and the older generation that brought us to this world has reached the age, where illness starts to plague everyone. take care bro..

well... life goes on..

I can't believe that i waited for 3hrs to collect SCSM race kit.. a bit wth.. 1.5hrs more i can run the marathon liao can. Wa laoz... last yr, i took like 5mins to take and go.. what a vast difference. ^&%$^& pissed off can.

Just a few more days to go.. Must rest well le.

Resume tuition again.. This dec will be another hectic month of 6 sessions a week.. Got a lobang to teach for this dec only. Machiam holiday work.. still sufficient to cover my 1-mth hols. Work work..

It's Official. It's the end of another sem. So fast.. I've finished 3 sems. Just amazing how time just fly by. This sem wasn't exactly very good, with much hic-cup along the way. But it has all come to an end. Just got one fear in my head now. Which I really do hope won't happen..

Nvm.. Shall just do what holidays are supposed to be. Work and relax. Hmm.. haven't met up with so many frens le. Perhaps its time to meet up with some of them. for some, it's being 1-2 yrs le ba. Can't even remb clearly. Haven't been going out much since Uni..

5 more days to SCSM. My leg seems a bit better le. Let's just hope that everything will go smoothly, and I can complete it on 2 legs running. no more aiming 4hr 30mins. now, it's just completion that would do.. perhaps 5hrs as a rough target for myself.. =)