Ezra

I watched '2012' lately. Quite frankly, I think it is overhyped. It is just a family surviving one disaster after another. The luckiest family that ever lived. But maybe, that's just me.

I have nothing much to mention for now. My 21km training is going okay now. I feel good and ready to take on the terror. And Christmas is still not here yet. Such is life. So short post for today. And Ynnib Nai would like to impart some words-

"Never test the depth of the water with both feet."

Chronicles

Chronicles: A retelling of events.

Like the poster above? A lot of offices have such 'motivational' posters in their office. So I decided my blog should start putting up such posters too. More to come.

A while ago, Christmas didn't seem that far away. It seemed like it could come by tomorrow. Or the day after that. Now, after 'many days', I am just getting a tad impatient. The world really needs more Christmases, cos is it just me, or is everyone just a tad more grumpy the rest of the year? The only other time people are just as happy, is Chinese New Year. And that is because the Chinese actually close their businesses for 2 days (which is the greatest miracle ever), and the rest of us are happy cos the streets are a tad less crowded.
I recently won a ticket to catch the 'This Is It' movie. It was okay, and I only receommend it if you are a big Michael Jackson fan. The biggest beef I had, was that I had won 'A Ticket'. Not 'A Pair of Tickets', which is usually the case, but just 'A ticket'. And there were so many empty seats around, which means they could afford to actually give away 'A Pair of Tickets'. This was my first time watching a movie by myself, and I must say that it felt awkward, and not as fun. After the movie, there was no one around to talk about how cool Michael Jackson danced, or how wierd he was, etc. This just makes me more convinced to never watch a movie alone ever again.
My training for my 21 km run, which is on the 1st week of December Sunday, is going along fine. My original training plan was to run 21 km 2 weeks before the actual half-marathon, 15 km 3 weeks before, and 10 km at least twice a week for the rest of the weeks. I have now changed all that. I have decided to run just 10 km 2 to 3 times a week, and then go for the 21km on the day itself, and wish myself all the best. To think there was a time I vowed to not run such 'mad' distances.
Lately, I have come to realise that I think a lot about stuff in my life, and each day I make a different decision and opinion on the same topic. It all depends on my mood and my train of thought on the day. Things like music, videos, etc, can also sway my thoughts one way or the other. It goes the same if I am hungry or too full. This is screwed up. It's more screwed up that I am aware of this. What a life.

Kings

You know how I mentioned before that I will be taking a degree in psychology? Well, that was some time back, and I have yet to take it. Everytime I think I am ready to enroll, something comes up to throw me off. And I have to be honest, I am scared.
There are a lot of things that I am willing to try, eat, do at considerable risk.
But ask me to study, and I start to freak out. I am really afraid. Afraid that I will fail. Afraid that I will lose interest when it gets tough. Afraid that I will drop out. Afraid of failure and that it won't work out. You see, I have never really been good at studying, and exams. The moment the exams come around, I panic and everything just leaves my brain when I need it the most. And my past results from Kindergarten, to Primary, then Secondary school, and lastly Poly, have all been average or below average. Studies and me never seem to work out.
But the thing I am most afraid of, is losing the freedom that I have now. Without the studies, and just working, I have been able to get to a healthy lifestyle, and I have also been able to travel, a lot. Once I start on my degree, I will have to undertake a mugging lifestyle. Someone told me that all the 'freedom' can be gained back, once I finish studying. That I would need to make sacrifices to achieve that degree. But what a sacrifice. And I am really afraid of it.
If I work and study, then juggling both would be tiring. But I will still have income. If I quit my job and go into full time studies, I will be able to concentrate on school better, but I will be back to being next to broke in no time.
So many things to consider. So many options. So much that life has to offer, and so much that can happen from now till the next enrollment date, which is at year end, that could even throw up another unforseeable option.
Right now, I feel like I am in 'no mans land'. That I need to take my life in another direction, and soon. So much to think about and consider. The choices we take in life shows us what we are made of. What am I made of?

Samuel

Samuel- Under God's laws the rights of all people, rich and poor alike, were to be maintained.

Ruth

Well, I went to Kota Kinabalu 2 weeks back, and had a damn good experience and a darn good time. Me and 4 others set off on Sunday, and came back on Friday. The goal- Conquer Mount Kinabalu. To be honest, when the idea was suggested to climb it, I did not think it was a big deal, as I did not think it was a very famous mountain. So not famous = easy task? I was so wrong.
We set off for the climb on Monday. Eventhough I thought it should be an okay climb, I was training, and so, the 1st day climbing up about 6km was ok for me. But then again, we did take a lot of breaks. Practically every sheltered area (called 'Pondok'), we rested, and ate and drank. After hiking up for about 6km, we came to our lodge, where we would spend the night with dinner provided, before waking up to set off at 2.30am for the climb to the peak.
I realised it is warmer to just keep moving, but because of the picture moment opportunities, I had to endure the freezing cold winds to keep still and smile myself silly. But it was worth it in the end. The view was breathtaking, and to know you are standing on top a mountain, just gives you that feeling of achievement and accomplishment. A contented fuzzy feeling that just makes you feel good all round.
Little did I know that it was time for the hardest and most difficult challenge- getting down the mountain. Sure, seems easy in theory AND practical. I mean, would you prefer to climb up or down the stairs given the choice? Of course 99.9% of us would choose down (Just like dettol killing germs). It is a given. But going down the mountain was different. Of course coming down was faster, but by the time I reached the bottom, my knees were screaming in pain, cos the cartiledge in my knees could not take the pounding. It did not help that it rained when we were coming down, so there was the added fear that we would slip, fall, and roll to our deaths (or fear getting a broken ankle, which feels like death!). We waited for a van to take us back, and the pain grew and I found myself unable to kneel. Not that it was too painful, but my legs just refused to bend to that extent. I feared getting up the next day, as I was not sure if my legs would be able to move when I woke, but when I did wake up, my legs were actually feeling better.
Thank goodness we had no plans on that day. Just rest and relaxation. It was a Wednesday, and lo and behold, it was Movie day! Movies going for like RM$5! It was such a good deal, and being Singaporeans, we had to take advantage! So we watched 'GI Joe' and 'The Proposal'. 2 movies in a day. I'm not going into details of the movies, but I will just say that 'The Proposal' was funny, 'GI Joe' only had action to offer.
The next day we set off for White Water Rafting- level 3 and level 4. Water was muddy, but apart from that, it was fun. Was scary when the bus was trying to go up the mountain and stalled, and started moving backwards, but we arrived safely at our destination. Took an old train to the mountain which passed by villages and kampongs. It was an experience to see and take in all this.
So overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I actually hope to do more of this in future. But I have stopped exercising since the trip and need to get in shape again. Anyway, I shall sign off here with a sign, and a question- what do you think this means?

Judges

Take time to relax especially when you don't have time for it.

My last post had this comment left by a random reader who stumbled upon my blog. She said she loved reading my post, and will keep reading my blog often. I was glad when I read that comment, knowing that someone really enjoyed reading my blog, and would visit often. I felt inspired and thought that I would write as often as I can. That was about 4 months ago. By now, I think most people would have had already decided not to come back here, seeing that I have not updated for a long long time.
My first order of business, was to take down that annoying Michael Jackson tribute that I had put up. I have not a clue what possesed me to put that up. But it is gone now. If there are still people reading this, well, now you can read in peace.
I realised I have not had a day to myself for the last few weeks. Today, I originally had 2 appointments. But both were cancelled. Which I why I have actually found time to blog. Cos I have practically been home the whole day.
I have been keeping myself very busy lately. There are a few lifestyle changes I have had to make, cos of various reasons.
Of course a lot has happened within these past few weeks, and there a lot of things to come in the following weeks as well. So much so, I am not sure where to begin.
In summary, there was the Langkawi trip, Genting trip, Jasmine's Birthday party, The Liverpool saga (very heated debate going on now), and a visit to the aged living in Toa Payoh.
And in a weeks time, I will be flying off to Kota Kinabalu. I will be going hiking up the mountain and white water rafting. So I have been training to try to get in shape to survive that trip. I will fly off on National Day itself. I think it is best I start there. Starting with National Day. Singapore celebrates National Day on August 9th. And as we near it, there is a debate going on about Liverpool having played Singapore about a week ago. First off, let me just state that I am a Liverpool supporter. When I heard that Liverpool was coming to Singapore to play, I could not care less who they were going to play against. I just wanted to watch Liverpool play their beautiful game. So I paid a whopping $88 dollars to watch them show off their stuff. I enjoyed myself, having seen the players do what they came to do, and there was the Liverpool 'You'll never walk alone' song that was played that added more to that fun atmosphere. Now, there are people asking why the National Anthem was not played, and why the supporters did not cheer for Singapore. I think I already explained why I did not cheer for Singapore. I have the advantage of seeing Singapore play whenever. But to meet and see Liverpool play over here is not as common as seeing the National Team play. So darn right I cheered for Liverpool. After all, it was a Friendly. It should not be a big deal. No one boo'ed Singapore as I recall, so what is the big hoola about it?
And on why the National Anthem was not played, seeing as it was not an International match, or a serious competition, I don't think it should be a big deal that it was not played. Why was the Liverpool anthem played? To give us an experience of hearing that anthem being played on the stadium speakers, to us. I believe the organisers were just trying to be nice and give us that Liverpool atmosphere that we listen to and watch on tv, whenever there is a Premier League game or Champions League game on.
I feel that it is unfair to 'take appropriate action' as the FAS put it, against the promoters, who I believe, had Liverpool supporters best interest at heart. I'm sure it was not their intention to belittle the Singapore team. Did they belittle Singapore? Seeing as how it was just a friendly soccer match, I do not believe they did. If the Singapore team, or other Singaporeans, are unable to take all this in the name of fun, then perhaps next time if Liverpool visit again, we should just have an S-League selection playing against Liverpool. Or even a foreign selection, so that we Liverpool supporters can truely have our dream of participating in an Anfield like environment in peace.
Well, I think I have really trailed off in this topic. So I should just end here and let Ynnib Nai leave you with some wise words of wisdom-
"Sex is like nose picking. It's fine as long as you practice it yourself, but it's disgusting watching someone else doing it."

Joshua

If anyone did care that I did not wish April fools, here is your wish. And also I wish one and all a Good Friday, and in advance, a Happy Easter. I'm sure no one cares about an April Fools wish, but strangely, I still go ahead with it. It's not like a public holiday. In fact, it seems more like Tylers day. My close combat buddies will know who and what I am talking about.
Anyway, if you are wondering if I am going to be talking about someone named Joshua, I am actually not going to. So why title my post as such you ask? Well, I realised that every year, I have the usual cliche titles for my blog. For instance, around the begining of the year, it would read- Happy New Year, or around CNY, it would read- Happy Year of the... etc. Something most blogs would also have I guess. So I have decided to try something different. I will title my posts according to the books in the bible. So, the next book in order, is titled 'Joshua'. And I have nothing to write about anyone named Joshua, or even rhymes with 'Joshua' (I bet you are now thinking what rhymes with Joshua huh). So I will just proceed to blog about, what else- my mundane life. Yeah I know, I'm a strange guy.
What have I been doing recently? Well, I recently went cycling at Ubin, and visited Chek Jawa while I was there. I have been to Ubin a couple of times before, but up to this point, I have yet to have travelled to Chek Jawa. And it was my first time riding on one of those double seater bicycles. Why? Cos apparently, one of my colleagues does not know how to ride a bike. Yes, I went there with some of my colleagues. It was not a company trip. Some of my cool office buddies decided to go there for the fun of it, and so I went along. It rained, but we still managed to cover the whole length of the island. Bike rental being at $8 a whole day, we might as well make the best of it.
I read the New Paper today. Apparently, the reporter did an 'investigation' and 'found' the Geylang Serai market with cockroaches and rats. I can tell you right now how many coffeeshops and hawker centres are filled with cockroaches. Almost all! And I don't have to do any investigation. It has been like this for some time now. They make it seem so shocking, but cmon, who didn't know this? I see rats at Lau Pa Sat, an eating place that is apparently meant for tourists to come and eat at, to try and experience our food culture. The reporter than asks if people must die for us to change our mindset. You know what the sad answer is? The answer is a sad YES! You know what makes me even more sad? Once this incident blows over, people will get complacent again. The sad truth. The only thing that can fix this is for the government to step in and to make checks and punish those that do not keep to the proper hygene standards. If not, coffeeshops and hawker centres will continue with the same unhygenic ways even afer this incident.
Look at the SARS incident. Everyone was scared to come to the office and spread the flu virus. Now? People come to work with the flu, sneezing and coughing all over the place, probably thinking that they should do so cos it is 'only the flu'. So what if your germs spread right? So what if people around you catch it? Some even think they might score points with the boss, showing up sneezing around, showing that they still came to office sick to do work. Showing how hard working they are. How about showing how kind and considerate you are to others health and stay home?
Some may disagree with my statements, but hey, I pride my blog being an open place for discussion, so go ahead and disagree.
Well, tomorrow I have an Easter party to attend to at home. Will catch up with you guys another time. Anyway, here is a short poem about Easter-

"Little Easter, the comedienne bunny,
Tried too hard at being funny.
She juggled and she dropped the eggs,
They fell and smashed between her legs.

Poor Easter left the stage in shame
And thought that she might change her name.
But then that bunny read this ad,
"This Sunday we need help real bad."

So Easter Bunny kept her name
And through the years has gained much fame,
When Easter's Sunday comes each year.
She delivers eggs and we all cheer."