3rd race for 2007

saucony passion run. very very disappointed with my timing. 46min...for 10km last year i could hit 40min.
like i said...very frigging disappointed.

june's purchases

motoko kusanagi from ghost in the shell 2nd gig(by far one of the best looking pvc figures around imho) and classics bumblebee(doesnt get any closer to the G1 cartoon design than this) and grimlock(not shown)

pen-spinning...wow

another classmate got married

another one of my primary school classmate (minyi from rvps) got married last sunday...dinner was held at noble house at tanjong pagar

food was good...above is the dessert dish...well half of it...the other half was red bean soup

one of those things you watch and you go "WOW"

infinite justice gundam completed!

took my time to complete this kit...the sculpt is by bee-craft...smaller head+longer limbs(particularly the legs)...a pretty good kit i must say proportion wise...it makes the old justice gundam kit look like crap...

my saving grace after a disgusting week at work

when it rains, it frigging pours

just when i thought i was going to safely pass my 1st anniversary at tos without any major catastrophes, some major shite just had to happen...it's the type when u throw a pile of shite into a ceiling fan that's on and it splatters all over the frigging place...

wawawewa...cant believe i came up with such a great analogy man...cus when you throw shite onto a stationary fan, only the fan gets it....now when you throw shite onto a ceiling fan that's turning....hoho...shite starts flying man...and not only will you have to clean the fan, you have splattered shite all over the place to clean up...

so what was the shite bomb i kenna-ed...a frigging part supposedly repaired in 2004 failed and caused an engine failure...my company is being accused of being the repair shop that last overhauled the parts. there's no concrete evidence as to who actually repaired the part as yet.

so that shite just led on to more shite...being the product engineer i had to be involved in investigating whether our shopfloor is performing certain operations according to tech data...that just dug up even more shite...now my boss is personally auditing my product one on one with me...line by line from the engine manual to the op sketches...an enormous load of shite got unearthed...stuff which i wanted to clear on my own time and thus didnt want to bring up all gets discovered by my boss...

you should have seen that kind of disappointed look my boss was carrying on his face today...although he said "maybe it's not your fault, you weren't given enough training"---i think he only said it once though...after which the tone of his voice i could tell he was saying "knn this kind of thing also dunno? this kind of thing also never go and find out? this kind of thing also do until liddat?"

and of all times it happens at a time when we might be getting our performance review pay increase...knn...

and it's as if i dont have enough daily shite to clear by year end, now i get this kind of nonsense to clean up...wtf man...cleaning somebody's else's leftover shite somemore...i dont see anyone digging up so much shite when there were no engine failures and when the company was making shitloads of money...

so there...so much shite already...and it's only monday...

Zhen Fa seafood restaurant

according to mum, dad has wanted to visit this place for the longest time since his friends brought him there. so we went there for dinner on friday. the place is at marina south and it's $12 per person. you have to queue for your food, you have to collect your share of 2 crabs+1 bowl of prawns, you have to mash up and clean your own crabs...well impt thing to remember is you cannot expect too much when you are paying $12 for a buffet style meal.

anyways the crab was really good...a pity we only had 2...prawns were fresh...char siew, fried chicken wing, satay(u have to queue for this and only 8 sticks were given each time u queue) were good...

this was my share of trash...the baby corn were sourish...eewww

our table of trash...

and this my dear friends is a scallop...still in its shell...this of course is my first encounter with fresh scallops...my encounters with this delicacy is usually when its already in its processed, white, savory, meaty form...

this is what inside the shell...notice the white center...that's the yummy stuff we usually eat...well in this case the stuff that's around it is also edible...
fresh scallops tastes just like seehum...hurhur

mobile phones

above are the 3 mobile phones i have bought since 2000.

i'm a fan of chocolate bar phones...those sliding, clamshell, twisting and what not stuff you find on some other phones are too much for lazy adrian

my first phone--panasonic GD92
it had blue coloured backlit+polyphonic ringtones which was all the rage back then.
i can still remember i signed up with M1 and got the phone at $198. (it was sort of my reward for passing my SOC test during that weekend) awfully expensive for a phone with the specs it had if you compared it with the phones of today, and with line somemore.

it lasted me a good 4+ years and it had this voice recorder which allowed me record the happy tree friends theme to set as sms alert tone (correct me if i'm wrong but most phones during that time could not set special sms alert tones). the phone however couldnt read bloody chinese and it could not delete your smses all at once.

my 2nd phone--sony ericsson J210i
during a time when everybody else are already carrying phones with camera and coloured display, my GD92 decided time and again to give me more and more hang time. so i had to get a replacement and (for some reason) not really gian at phones with "more features", i decided to get a $0 phone.

just so happen M1 was having this promo for J210i and thus i got my "basic" phone. no camera (comes in handy for army camp visits and places where no camera phones are allowed) function. coloured display which cannot be viewed under the sun. got IR. can put wallpaper. wawawewa, what a major upgrade in phone specs compared to the GD92!

my 3rd phone--sony ericsson K550i
with my J210i coming to almost 2 years of service, the charger plug starts getting a bit loose which in turns affects the charging of the phone. i contemplated on getting a new phone and with more spending power, i now wanted a phone with "more features".
having already eyed the k550i, i pampered myself with my first "feature phone" wawawewa

Tao's restaurant

celebrated a belated birthday for mum by dining out at Tao's restaurant...food was not too bad...service was excellent!
only took photos of the main entrees we had...for more info, visit http://www.taos-restaurant.com/menu.htm

my baked atlantic flounder with cheese---it's some fish with cheese on top

edwin's oven roasted steak

mum's slow cooked pork back ribs and dad's marinated lamb cutlet
and they served their cold fruity beverages in these small jugs..we had tropical grapefruit tea, rose apple tea, ice summer peach tea, grape mallow tea...good thing about eating with your family is you get to try out more flavours...hehe

here's one for the digital photo album...

look what i've got!

March/April sales were good at TOS, so senior management decided to give EVERY employee (yes all 800+ of us) a dvd player...wawawewa...not that i need one cus my home already has one...but this one can play divx, mp3 blah blah...wawawewa

got myself TF classics rodimus and jetfire from the least likely of places to get my toys...carrfour! wawawewa

Ramly burger

to all Ramly burger lovers out there...we no longer have to wait for the arrival of pasar malams (which seems to take forever to come to my area) or make a trip across the causeway to enjoy our favorite burger.

if you are craving for one right now...you can make a trip to tanjong pagar railway station, there is this Bambai food catering eating place...got prata, murtabak, roti-john, meegoreng, banana ball, goreng pisang and all the malay/indian makan stuff and of course the main attraction-our Ramly burger!

many thanks to guorong for unearthing this gem of a place...*slurp*

Murphy's Law

for the past 2 days, in between feeling sick, sleeping and what nots...i had alot of time to think...i thought about alot of things...most times i thought about her...and i remembered this entry Ian made in his blog sometime ago about Murphy's Law

i quote from wikipedia:
It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time," or, "Anything that can go wrong, will," or even, "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment")

then i thought of my relationship i have with huiyi...indeed...everything and anything that could go wrong went wrong...

for the first time i gathered enough balls to ask a girl out face to face...i find out she has a bf...

when we were getting really close, she finds out she's pregnant...

when i'm so sure she's the one for me, she has to return home to get married...

friends have been telling me to forget about her...that there will be another one...i understand where they are coming from but moving on is sthg extremely tough for me...because for the times we were able to spend together, she really made me feel complete...and that naive side of me still really hope that someday we will be together again...

i told myself this morning, my door will always be open for her but at the same time i have no other choice but to keep a look out for other gals...

growing old is scary...but growing old without a partner is even scarier

2nd race of 2007 and my first MC

started to feel abit feverish with itchy throat on wednesday and decided to skip gym...went home to rest for the race on thurs...same feeling still persisted on thurs...still i endured through the workday and made it to the race...funny thing was i didnt feel sick at all during the race...

made it back in 24.19min(on my watch)...was hoping to do slightly better by maintaining 4min per km but couldnt keep up at the last 1.6km...oh well.

the aftermath...fever came back...went to see the Dr...diagnosed with throat infection which was giving me the fever...so there...thank goodness the race was only 5.6km...exercising when "unwell" is not the brightest thing i've done i guess...

my first MC from work...so sick that i even had to give my saturday at motherland a miss...sigh...

first race in 2007...those darn slopes...

slope after slope after slope...that's what this race got lots of...slopes...

the most strenuous is the clmib up mt faber...and as if that was not enough...another few slopes welcomed us at telok blangah/henderson area...

good thing was no matter how slow i was i didnt stop and clocked a 50.17 on my stopwatch...spent way too much time at mt faber...by the time i was out of that area it was already 21min

collected a S size tshirt this time as experience from wave run told me M is a little too big...came back and found out S is now a little too small...geez

Gundam...then and now

couldn't help but post this to make my point of how toy engineering has progressed over the years after seeing this http://www.sukumizu.jp/#20070420



from the proportions, color, poseability, articulation, boxart, it's amazingly clear that its progress is in the category of "leaps and bounds" over the past 20+ years in which gundam has been around...

come to think of it i wanted to post sthg like this long long time ago (when i posted sthg about toys of the past and what nots) but never got round to doing it...anyway gunpla is the first example...perhaps those TF G1 bricks will be next...

Girl Shot Through Basketball Hoop

at first look i was like "wawawewa"
at 2nd look i was thinking "isnt that frigging dangerous?"

3 x 2.4km intervals

yesterday evening's rain disrupted my 3x2.4 at the 3km mark.

so this afternoon seeing the weather being so sunshiny, i decided to give it another shot...i really wanted to prove to myself that i can still do this, albeit the timing will be slower than what i could achieve last year...

so i laboured through the 3 sets...wasnt breathless, just quad pain...10.34, 10.57, 11.09.

terribly disappointed with the timings...was hoping to go sub11 for all 3 sets...oh well...

mizuno mt faber is next sunday...first race for 2007!

inside the bandai gunpla factory...

every gunpla fan's dream job no?

Sony Ericsson K550 and W660

i've never owned a fancy handphone before...so i'm thinking of indulging myself with one for my next handphone purchase...

i'm leaning slightly towards the k550...specs are almost the same with the W660 heavier by abt 10grams

thinking of ending my M1 line when the contract ends in september and start a corporate plan with starhub...not much perks at M1 and the choice of phones they have so far are mediocre compared to singtel and starhub...unfortunately TOS only allows starhub corporate plans...so not much choice for me also...

but i'll have to wait till september? warao...

music and retail therapy

it's good to know there is still music and toys to keep myself entertained and happy...

latest purchases---TF classics ultra magnus vs skywarp 2 pack, alternators rumble and ravage, MG strike noir

training training training

it's back to run trainings for me...have to pick up the pace abit more so as to get some decent timings for the upcoming races...

got mizuno mt faber run on april 22nd and JP morgan corporate run on may 3rd...

cant help but notice how weak+slow i am compared to last year...sianz...kind of expecting my timings this year to be a pale comparison of last year's...

almost didnt get into the mt faber run as i only got to know about it last weekend...all other places near my area had ran out of number bibs....had to travel all the way to vivocity mizuno shop today after work and heng ah...by the time i paid for the registration and left the shop (after purchasing a top at 30% off), there were no more men's open number bibs left...

10bucks = race event tee + 10km run....woopie

stranger than fiction

great film to watch...loved the quote at the end...
"sometimes when we lose ourselves in fear and despair in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. Unfortunately when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or a subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort..."

well you'll have to watch the show to know why Bavarian sugar cookies was being brought up though...but nonetheless a very enjoyable show=)

first week without her...

not the best week i've had...had to stay back at work for 4 out of 5 days...1 time for process review...3 times for C14 course...

almost everywhere i look at reminds me of her...it's like sthg i used to be doing with her and i'm no longer doing it anymore...like some part of my life went missing...

i knew not having her around would be tough...but i never expected it to be THAT depressing...coupled with that C14 which we have to stay back till 7.50pm is just a pain in the ass...

dad asked me this morning during breakfast to bring ahYee home after work cus he is going to cook some orh luah...i told him she went back to ipoh already...he asked "for qing ming ah?"...i said she no longer works downstairs anymore...he asked "where she work now?"...i just replied that her parents wants her to go back"

and i just kept it at there....

i know i should not lie to my parents but i think this time round i'll just keep it to myself...

so what do i do now with the time i used to spend with her?
went swimming and jogging this afternoon...been catching up on the downloaded stuff...hope to start on a gundam kit real soon...

slowly going back to orz days le...hehe...haiz...oh well...

and then she's gone

we met for the very first time on 14th oct '06 at the rear gate outside motherland...

we went on our first "date" on 3rd nov '06...

we pak tor-ed for a total of 49 times...

today was the very last time...

i will miss the warmth of her smile and gaze, her presence and her company...

ahYee...thank you for making me complete for the past 5 months...no doubt it was short but for once in a very long long while, i was happy...very very happy

updates updates updates...

ooh...havent been blogging for awhile...come to think of it also not that long la..10 days only ma...
so anyways here i go with the updates...

training
still visiting the gym regularly...weight has gone up to 59.5kg...thats a 6.5kg increase since july'06...

runs on the other hand has taken a step back(in fact many many steps back dammit)...i keep having this feeling that my peak was reached at 25yrs old...cant even do a 3x2.4km interval now lor...sian...trying my best to do at least some sprints to prepare for my ippt come May...

toys
no major purchase at all for february...Roy from TFH have yet to call me regarding the motoko figure which i've been itching to get my grubby hands on for the longest time...nothing i can do but to wait patiently since Roy promised he'll be able to get a set for me...

akatsuki and MG strike noir should be arriving by end march...pondering whether i should preorder the Revy figure too...

gunpla fixing has come to a standstill...hehe...been busy with this and that until no mood and time to do any kits...probably resume in late march ba...

me and her
making the most out of these last few weeks of her stay in sg...her last day at motherland is 15th march, leaving on 19th march...fate (yesssss...i would like to believe it is fate no matter how cheesy/corny it sounds) brought us together in Oct'06...if it is meant to be...we will surely meet again in the future...things might change by then...but who knows? we can't predict the future...both of us have to move on but we will always be good friends

work at TOS
more and more things just keep coming in...Na is starting the crank up the pressure making work more tedious to complete...
attending C14 course this march/april...crap thing is it's in-house and have to stay till 7.30pm 3 times per week...nabeiz...

Debu-Note

found this on dannychoo's site...the title wrote "Death Note parody. Must see LOL"...now how can you not see something that's a "Must see LOL"...hehe

not exactly an outstanding LOL video but heck you can watch it for Karina-chan...woooooooh

bearing the consequences of your actions

this issue has been bugging me for the past few weeks...didnt blog it out earlier on cus i really hoped that sthg miraculous would happen...that my very own fairytale ending might come true...

but it was not to be...the scenario i've been in for the past few weeks, which i thought only happened in movies didnt end the way like those movies did...

the weekend before vday she suddenly told me she had to leave sg to go back to ipoh...but she didnt tell me the real reason then...she couldnt bear to lie to me and finally told me the following monday that she found out the previous friday that she was 1mth pregnant with her bf's baby...and it was expected of her to return home and get married and have the baby...

we have gotten closer ever since her sis went back to ipoh and i really thought i had a chance of winning her over...maybe i was too naive but the more we got together the more i couldnt bear to let her go...to see someone u like take the burden of sthg so huge at such a young age just because the bf decided to "chop" her first without even thinking about his own financial capability of supporting her AND the baby...

she is worried that life with him will be tough cus he isnt quite a saver and even told her he has no money for the wedding...but she has decided to "do the right thing" and that is to marry that bugger and have the baby...

i advised her to think abt the reason for doing this...is she marrying him because she really loves him or just because she's carrying his baby? her parents wants her to have the baby but was a little apprehensive abt letting her marry him...but they suggested to her if she could try it out first...if things dont work out she can opt for a divorce...

i was like...wtf...

she had to make a decision by last night cus her future in-laws are paying them a visit today...she told me it wont be fair to me to ask me to love a gal who already has a child and she chosed to put her happiness on the line...she is going to take the gamble on spending her life with that bugger...

i really hoped she would at least not marry that bugger...but realising that she still wants to "do what's right" i wished her well and gave her my blessings...i told her we will always be good friends...and she thanked me...

this experience for me has really drove home the point of thinking twice of what you do in life...have you really thought through it enough? will you be able to bear the consequences of your actions? will you live to regret the decisions you make?

i'm pretty sure we all make mistakes in life...some are big some are small...hopefully everyone of us will be able to at least learn sthg useful from these events...

she gave me this last saturday...it was supposed to be my '06 christmas present...she was waiting for me to ask her out and i didnt...i will live to ask myself this question..."what would have changed if i had asked her out on the christmas of '06?"

when everyone were slim...and bell-bottoms were the rage

last sunday's reunion dinner at grandma's place was a very nostalgic one...grandma had unearthed some photo albums of long long time ago during spring cleaning...she seemed very happy and was very eager to show us the photos...she kept saying we were all so small and cute back then...

anyways i didnt appear much in the photos...i wasnt exactly the cutest either hehehe...

i noticed my mum changed quite alot of hairstyles over the years

hairdo 1:mum-2nd from left

hairdo 2:mum-on the right carrying edwin

hairdo 3:mum-on the far left...beside her is dad carrying edwin

hairdo 4:mum-2nd from the left...and i think the little bugger on the far left drinking sthg is me...i noticed dad(3rd from left) was much more plump back then

hairdo 5:mum-2nd from the left...i'm 3rd from the left..followed by edwin and then dad

grandma's "older" batch of grandsons...from left: derrick, roy, edwin, me, zelin, zewei, zesheng

one last photo...notice the bell botts and the shirts with the huge collars and the dress/skirts? must have been the rage back then...and everyone looked really young and slim...heh...

4 years too late...

4 years ago i was single...
4 years ago i wasnt too bothered about being single...
4 years ago she was still in Ipoh...
4 years ago she already had a bf...

4 years later i am still single...
4 years later i become more and more worried about not having a companion as the days go by...
4 years later i finally got to know her...
4 years later she is still with the same bf...

for the few times i've tried to break out of singlehood, the same ending happens over and over again...

the more i want it, the more it eludes me...

good things are worth waiting for...life goes on...it's not the end of the world...some self encouragement for myself....haha...wooooooooooooooh

motherland annual dinner+somemore surprising auction transactions

boss kevin invited me to go to motherland's annual dinner/cny dinner...it was held at a some dragon gate restaurant at excelsior hotel yesterday...food wasnt the best but heck how bad can restaurant food get right...its not everyday that we can go restaurant eat also...

there was this mini lucky draw...well actually there was a prize for everyone ...it just depends on which prized u picked...i got this akira portable player of some sort...and then there was this extra mystery draw in which you got sthg special if there was an angbao underneath your chair...so i also got that...the prize in the angbao was a "princess hours" vcd...

being there only by invitation and a part time staff, i felt quite paisei winning those prizes...hehe...so i gave the player to yvonne and the the vcd to ahyee...

update on my auction business...remember these? toy catalogues of the past...



i remember i used to browse thru these stuff quite frequently...eyeing which toys were nice and at the same time had some visible degree of articulation...1 thing about toys of the past is that poseability and articulation always had to suffer at the hands of looking nice...anyways i never got to own any of the toys i was eyeing also...haha

oh by the way, i managed to sell off the catalogs above too....hoho