nearly 3 months since i've blogged.
just had the worst standard chartered marathon this morning.
ok, i've only done 3, haha, but this is the worst of the 3. Not that the timing was the worst, but it was quite the bad experience and the obvious lack of training and preparations.
Actually, it all started well, hit the 30km mark under just about 3 hours, and 35km under 3:30. Well on my way to beating my personal best of 4:28, could have achieved a timing of maybe say 4:12 or so... when suddenly i felt a pull on my right calf and left quad.
And that's only the start. Then both my calves tightened, and my quads pulled up. totally could not run at all, even walking became slightly challenging. in the end, i walked the remaining 7.195km and only managed a timing of 4:48. sucks.
it's so weird, how running marathons can be slightly addictive.
the first time, all i wanted was to complete it.
then i wanted to better my timing and now it's becoming slightly crazy.
now i wanna go over overseas and do a run and holiday at the same time!

time to start saving up. and rest. waking up at 4am to run. really crazy.

my blog's back!
for a few minutes, eunice came and ask me why i deleted my blog when i didn't.
and somehow, i couldn't log into my blogger account too! weird stuff.
but everything's back and fine.

nothing's much been happening, except that school has been really busy and tiring and everything just feels so sluggish for me. sucks!

if only i can shift gear just like a car. haha.

who wants to read a boring laundry list?

Im sorry to those who still, i have no idea why, randomly, occasionally, still check this blog. Actually i do have interesting stuff happening and i did have the intention of wanting to blog about them but i have been really lazy everytime i get home and see my comfy bed. haha, hence, to those who are reading, worry not, it won't be a boring laundry list. at least i'll try to make it as interesting as possible.

firstly, i was in hongkong last week. had quite a good time. I must say, food in hongkong is really DAMN GOOD. how is it even possible that any random "cha chan teng" serves food that probably tastes better than some of singapore's restaurants?! in addition, the street hawkers also seem to have some special ingredients that make their food damn shiok. eg, the curry fishballs. haha, i was like addicted to it and felt like eating it everyday. another thing we had everyday was this dessert franchise in hongkong called "hui lau shan", (xu3 liu2 shan1 in chinese hanyu pinyin). the mango dessert is really damn shiok, its like mango is damn cheap in hongkong and the sellers dont need to scrimp and be miserly over the portions.

One flaw though, after eating the dim sum in hongkong, i came back to singapore and went for dim sum lunch with my mum and my aunt at peach garden thomson plaza. i totally missed the hongkong dimsum. haha.

shopping, however, was not that great for me. things aren't exactly cheap, and most boutiques sell female stuff. so i din get to buy much, partly also because i had certain items in mind which i looked out for and i wasn't tempted by other random buys, which i might have bought if i were feeling rich.

last highlight from hongkong - disneyland. wasn't particularly fun for me cos there weren't any exciting rides but it was indeed an eye opener. could tell that HUGE amounts of money went into that place. haha. pictures are up on facebook, check them out if you wish.

one thing i wanted to blog about but i was lazy to, happened in hongkong international airport.
we were shopping around in the airport and went into the levi's outlet, in my search of the perfect ideal pair of jeans. ying was looking for this pair of jeans, which she found in sg and was hoping to get a better price in hongkong. she had the item code and went to ask the staff if they had it. at first, they said they didn't have it and so we left. who knows, 5 mins later, ths staff came out of the store, looked for us and said he found a similar pair and asked if my gf would like to try it. we kindly declined.

this is excellent service. i wouldnt know if it was due to the lack of business or hongkong's friendly culture ( more on this in a while. ) He went out of his way to find the pair of jeans and was willing to search the airport for us just so that my gf could have her pair of jeans?
about the friendly culture, i must say, the people are all very nice and willing to help. with our broken cantonese we managed to find our way around, get good deals and food and stuff.

moving on, today i nearly lost my atm card. freaking shit. i have no idea why i was so absent-minded today morning. this morning i went to j8 to change back my hkd to sgd and deposit my spare cash into my account. after queueing like 10 mins to the atm, i deposited my money and left. totally forgetting my atm card! thankfully the lady behind me quickly rushed and returned it to me. SUPER GRATEFUL! i shall be a nice person from now on and help ppl around me. spread the good deed and graciousness! :):):)

till next time.

Durians and Ghosts

Was away the last two weeks, serving my first reservist training.
Much have changed in the green organisation since i ord-ed in nov 07.
New uniform, new systems, new equipment and all, but still the same familiar faces and familiar feelings.
It was really quite nice to be able to meet all the old friends, sort of like hangout, talk cock, do stuff together, just like during NS, only more enjoyable with less restrictions.
And the canteen no longer sells the good ol favourite roti john.
One new experience was that it was the durian season when we were out in the field, so everybody was just picking durians and eating. the two problems were, however, that it made us feel like shitting and heaty, which is actually damn troublesome out in the field. thankfully it was only a short exercise.
And there were freaking lot of civilians trespassing into the training areas to pick the durians, causing some inconvenience here and there. the durians aren't exactly fantastic or tasty, but it's the fun involved i guess.
Anyway, all's well that ends well and everybody got home safe and sound!

In case you're wondering what's "Ghosts" about, it's not about spooky sightings during training. but i just watched ghosts of girlfriends past. and i must say it's a pretty good show. nearly invoke some tears.

Too Many Broken Hearts In The World

No, i'm not refering to the mambo song.
I'm pretty sure there are at least 80,000 people out there who are heartbroken at this moment. (approx. the capacity of Old Trafford)
and that gives it away. I am totally heartbroken by the result of the Champions' League Finals.

Well, i don't exactly hate barcelona, for it is without a doubt that they are one of the best teams in spain and now, europe and the world, with some insane players like messi and iniesta. But it definitely still hurts when I see Man Utd fall behind to their own sloppy defending.

I would have to say, the trophy was won by the better team on the night. And as it always is, the football is round and anything can happen. Even the best team can lose on any occasion.
oh wells.

Football is such a passionate sport. It can't exactly be described with words, but it's the emotions and feelings involved, the twists and turns of the plots (and of course, the players) that makes it such a popular sport.

Anyway, i guess this sums up the season for manchester united. Well done Devils, see you again in August.

the last day

i just watched the last matchday of the BPL 08/09.
what the shit. i cannot believe that newcastle are going down.
it's kinda ridiculous when you think of names like alan smith, michael owen, obafemi martins, mark viduka, damien duff, jonas gutierrez and the likes playing in the championship.
but then it all becomes possible because they have ameobi.
it kinda sums up their season, not playing to their full potential and at the end of the day, they couldn't keep their fate in their own hands.
hope they win the championship next season and promote again. see you in 2 seasons.

And then there was 1.

I can smell it already.
ahh.. the sweet smell of freedom. one more paper to go. 3 days.

today's paper on japanese studies was really challenging.
well, i would admit, if you had studied hard and read the entire coursepack over twice or thrice, it would probably have been fairly simple. but sadly, i have been relatively slack and i couldn't really put everything into my memory. so i was probably pulling out a few hairs here and there. totally not helpful.

anyway, after dinner with my brother and mum, we went for a little shopping trip and i bought a new pair of berms from fox! haha. happy. clearly retail therapy works for me. nothing can't be solved with a little shopping.

now i'm in such a fix! i wanna go on a holiday, a shopping trip, but my finances can barely make it. i probably would have to break that little piggy sitting in the cupboard (metaphorically).
BUT! i have been recently introduced to the vice of "online shopping."
not that i'm addicted yet, but i can feel myself, standing on the edge, ready to fall into the bottomless abyss anytime, with the simple click of "add to cart".
I've been looking at loads of clothes online and i think i would like to make some purchases soon, after my exams. haha. but then i know that if i really were to go on a holiday to, maybe say taiwan, i might be able to find similar clothes too. :S

maybe. just maybe, i'll try and set aside US$100 and buy some stuff to make myself happy in time to come! haha. we'll see. we'll see.