Fortune for Taurus in 2014

2014 Yearly Horoscope for Taurus

Overview

2014 is the year of expansion, fulfilling work and stellar wellbeing, Taurus! If you've fallen prey to the typical Taurus legacy of neglecting your own needs and taking care of everyone else's problems, this is the year to take your power and your life force back so that you can invest in a brand-new life. No, this does not make you selfish or uncaring, this makes you true yourself and with a greater capacity to give to your loved ones because you will no longer be running on empty -- which is probably how you've felt over the past few years. You've certainly learned the art of releasing control in 2013. The good news is that the fog is finally about to lift as the South Node finally moves out of your stars this March. You've been letting go of so many things -- from material possessions to antiquated concepts around values and security. In fact, you've relinquished so much that you may barely recognize your life at this point, Taurus. You've certainly learned to simplify your world in 2013, and now you're getting ready to go rebuild towards greater beauty and harmony. The focus of 2014 is all about communication, work and daily ritual. If you've been promising yourself for eons that you'll get your daily routine into better balance as in: more exercise, better sleep and less work, this is the year to make that happen.

Hakone Hot Spring

My 2 favourite items in Hakone are the sulphur egg and Hot Spring.

Black egg look a bit like this. The website said that it's available for 500yen at the Owakudani egg steaming hut. Alternative is I got it at the Souvenir shop at the opposite of Hakone Yumoto station, level 2, in the cold section for a little over 200yen and it's cool and refreshing to eat (I like).!

And about the hot spring:

How to Make Japanese green tea

I just came back from Osaka, holiday from Japan looking fit and slim.Small wonder since the holiday involves 7-8 hours sightseeing and walking every day.

Then I read the article about the secret of Japanese food, to longetivy. Its common knowledge that the Japanese enjoys one of the longest life expectancy in the world. According to article, the key is control of the quantity food consumed, which makes a lot of sense. The diet also made up on unusually high number of seaweed, raw fish, veggie, tofu and green tea.

Speaking about greentea, I am inspired to as I recall a particularly beautiful green tea cup served in sturdy-but-light wooden bowl (non-heat transmitting so you can drink your matcha in comfort) that was full of light bubbles but delightfully light and pure. It was served with a nice pinkish bean-mochi. I think I had it at one of the traditional teahouse near Shinjuku-Gyoen, or Kyoto or Kamakura. In any case, I just viewed a youtube video to recall proper way those cup of greentea is served.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2doEhQaynLs

Another weekend is over

I had been travelling heavily in the past 2 months or so. For example, in the last Feb, I was in Singapore for 1 week, the rest - Jakarta, Perth, Tokyo, and Seattle.


A nice jet-setting life but pretty disruptive to my non-existent private social life now. This can't go on forever. I go on with this thought that I need to do things differently but the inertia is a hardest thing to break.


At least I have the following achievements to crow for:
1. I am very close to attaining my driving license.
2. I read very touching story about Mimi an 8-year old Aussie girl who realllly want a Surface 2.
3. I collected my miles.
4. I took care of all my credit cards.
5. I am very happy with my savings stat.
6. I blew up my marathon training.


Sigh... I really really Really need to do something.


Meanwhile, went to do night-cap stroll with mom throughout iLight at Marina Bay. While went to complete documents for Taiwan visa applications....


Logging out.

Archive: 2013 Target List

• Reach about Egypt
• 1 hr 10KM
• Increase a Life skill
• Improve a Skill
• Love More!
• Plan to Latin America
• Climb Kinabalu - Done Jan7
• Switzerland or Skiing

Korean Beef Bulgogi

Always when i crave for something sweet and savoury, the korean dish that is hot, covered with dark soy sauce and bbq-ed come to my mind, the beef bulgogi. Tonight i tried cooking the dish after shopping for some fresh beef flank and lean meat at FairPrice Finest, the "fresh and higher-quality" version of the NTUC Fairprice supermarket, after my driving lesson at kovan.

This is the recipe i used. And instead of sesame seed and sesame oil (which I ran out) I used LaYu chili oil that has strong sesame taste.

Marketing stuff

As we are closing the year, you start to receive interesting marketing mails for organization. One of it that I like is SPG Year In Review, that I think is pretty cool. It gave a piechart snapshot on my Starwood activities.

It recognizes, that I stayed the most in the Westin brand of this membership. Talk about its crossover promo with Delta airlines (I earned merely 1,800 miles) while the top earner was 120k points... It recommend some hotels around the region I'm in, and encourage me to explore more of the Westin hotels in advance.

Very innovative cross-sell and upsell campaign. Well done SPG. SPG is the award program name for the Starwood group of hotels.

Movies under the Star

This morning while jogging with Clarissa my little nice from Medan, I noticed the sign for DBS Movies by the Bay. www.dbsmoviesbythebay.com for details. Tonight's show is Thor!

I am quite excited for spend this Saturday night with this movie event!

as I'm watching my 2013 To-Do list

I feel a little bit depressed, melancholy. It's now December. The year coming to an end. It feels so fast, time flies. I have not done much useful things in my free time. On my weekend. Time just past.

The year 2013.
The year of Snake.
My lucky year.
What have I accomplished this year.

A sad year. A very touching year. A year of transformation. Waiting. Falling in love. Almost. Falling out. Heart broken. Carrying this sadness inside.

TV Series I am hooked on: The Americans

Normally I had a pretty good feeling on to-be hit TV series even from first seasons. I loved Heroes, Smallville, the Grey Anatomy. I also loved the Big Bang Theory, the Modern Family, and How I Met Your Mother. Unfortunately the former groups, the subsequent seasons turned to be less and less appealing that I dropped my attention after season 3 or 4. (Oh I also love the Fringe).

So now I am super HOOK-ed by the Americans. I found it watching on my Delta flight to Seattle back in August. It has 2 episodes, and so every month when I fly I always checked if the airlines have new update. Unfortunately SQ (Singapore Airlines) this month stopped at Ep 6. So watching online, I finished the rest of episodes, culminating with the finale tonight.

According to latest news, the Season 2 will return and shall premiere on Feb 2014. I can't wait. The Americans are TV series premiered in 2013 about a couple of KGB agents who operated in the US suburb of Washington DC, Virginia. They are master of disguises and were matched by the Centre to live in USA as a married couple named Phillip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell). Throughout their 16 years live together, they have 2 American children born and raised in the United States, Paige and Henry.

The series are tense, interesting, smart, and full of complex plot of spy agents and double-crossing. But what makes me glued on is the marriage love story at the core of the series. Whether that's between Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings especially but also the subsequent implications with Martha, Stan and Sandra, as well as the gorgeous Nina. The plots and consequences of actions are absorbing. Some of the scenes are eyebrow-raising I admit, but never seem far-fetch. In the bizzare hidden lives in Cold War and the brutal intelligence agencies and War, nothing is out of questions. That is what's so wonderful and engrossing about this series. Highly recommended!

Amazing things I saw this week

The beautiful 6am sunset at the Auckland Harbour on Dec 3, morning. The melancholic sunrise, shining thru layers of light clouds formation.

This Volvo ad video.

Back from NZ this morning, overnight flight from stormy Auckland last night. I'm lucky to have two empty seats in an-almost-full flight Auckland-Singapore. Thank you Singapore Airlines.

What's the latest in my live for sept-oct

After a terrible closing quarter, I had to take leave. So with strong determination, I summoned last remaining spirit to go and attend a weeklong team offsite in Seattle. Normally I lke this type of meetings of exchange of minds and views, but.. the Seattle team meeting is the worst type. After travelling 21 hours on coach / economy class each way (so 42 hours of life wasted on return trip), attending series of meetings while in horrible jetlag, and getting nothing much new information for work related stuff, amidst team members who are very political- this sounds like fun.

Normally I travel straight and back with min time possible. But this time is different since I am taking 2 weeks off after. The best is I found out bro is going to be in San Fransisco on almost the same week. Hurray! God must have taken pity on me. Plus for one strange bright idea I decided to check the cost of miles upgrade to business class. To my delight (bless the ladies at Amex corporate travel, they are the best!!! angels) it cost very little. It cost 25,000 miles each way, but hey, I have close to 200,000 miles on my delta account that I rarely used.

I am really lucky - to get such a good deal there. So after the strings of luck, I finally locked on my destination - Vancouver 2 days with Amtrak train thru Cascade. Beautiful. Scenic. And Las Vegas for 3 nights 2 days aaaand Grand Canyon, Arizona.

The wonderful thing is, the first newspaper article I read when I arrived in US, announced the impeding Government shutdown. Shutdown! And it's still going on right now when I am writing this on 14th Oct. They shutdown all "non-essential" Federal Government services, including the National Parks - yes Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and etc. Luckily Amtrak is not impacted, neither is the Border Services, nor Hoover Dam (which we visited) that is funded solely thru the sales of their power generated by the Dam.

Sigh, what an adventure. I'll tell all about it. now it's 7pm Singapore, and I'm going to bed still sleepy from the jetlag, but wow I really enjoyed the break. And I'm going to Beijing this weekend, after coming back from USA.

i'm starting to build my to-do now: driving class, cycling class, mani/pedi, gym. only hair is done. During the journey on the bus back, I realized something... about "Trust", "Risk Aversion" and the fact that I am starting to learn about myself about how I never really trusted anyone. No one, I'm the worst. And no relationship can start between two people who do not trust anyone else.

When I start to see things in this new light, I have relevations. Maybe I have to trust. I know I want to. badly, but it's hard. to trust. Really trusting.

Heading home

After 3 days in Auckland, I am sitting in the hotel lounge waiting for the cab to arrive. I can't wait to be back home. NZ has been a wonderful and beautiful country. Lots of shopping - my 1 luggage and 1 carry-on has morphed to luggage, extra bag, plus shoes bag, plus my Burberry coat and carry on with my purse....oops.

Such an amazing energy around the city, because of a big rugby match between the NZ team "All Blacks" vs South African team "the Boks" at Eden Park's stadium. As I was taking a train from Newmarket to Britomart the city transfort, thongs of people in blacks jacket were descending the transport system heading to the Eden park's direction.

what a masculine and rough sports. The images evoke primitive but also original spirit of sport.

in Auckland

Hello I'm in New Zealand! It's rare that I get to a new country these days, so I'm totally excited to be here. I'm staying at Hilton Princes Wharf, what a wonderful property that is located just ahead of a Quay. Already checked out the touristy Queens Street, with dinner at Fort Lane a steak house recommended by the hotel concierge.

what's lacking on the Internet is the list of "What's good to Shop in NZ":
> Manuka Honey - only produced in NZ from Manuka flowers
> Icebreaker - Merino wool product? maybe coz this week there is super special 30% discount off.
> Lush product - found them cheaper than in USA and Australia
> What else?

It's a 4-day weekend

After lazying around, and being worried by erratic escalations from India - oh gosh that's so stressful, they have no respect nor appreciation of other's effort - I am now on the Sunday.

Had a phone conversation earlier today with my bro for a joint property investment. I then read an article on Times magazine about the horror of men or women grieving about relatives becoming victims of the violence in Egypt. I felt sad and urge to do something. It's ironic and somewhat made me guilty that my ideals are wasted on weekend, and I do something not nothing about the better of the world, helping the helpless, poor, and oppressed. they seemed like a world a way, different times and places - from the save contented Singapore...

I need to fire up my fires more. helping in ways I could help best, not foolish stupid ideals but just thinking without action. I am normally good at putting myself in situation that I am best. What I need now is a plot or a plan. If I can bring myself to it rather than wasting my life away in games and lazy weekend. Am I bad.

Herbs and Apartment living

I am cleaning house frantically, maybe coz I'm board. Deeply satisfied that the kitchen floor is now sparkling clean. So when I was searching web for some herbs/indoor gardening tips, plus playing Fantasica (http://www.fantasitrading.com) I come across sites of apartment living, that inspired me to clean up my small office area in my apartment. Staring at my clean stack right infront of my office table now :)

Some useful links to start:

• (overseas): best herbs for indoor
• (sf-overseas): ideas of potted herbs - motivation
• (Singapore based forum Green Culture): location of nursery gardens in SG.
• Some nice pictures of herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley.

Ritz Champagne Brunch

Went for the Ritz Carlton's champagne brunch. After my pocari sweat run 10km run. My timing was horrible, joined the 3rd wave flag-off time at 7:21am, and arrived at 8:54.......

The champagne was very nice though. I must be drinking 5-6 glasses of the Moet 2004, Vintage. Waiting for the photos to be uploaded from my WP8 to Skydrive.

MOET vintage

 

They also have the best seafood section. 1) Baked lobster, and 2) foie gras with gold specks.

Fresh oysters - 5 types:

 

 

Seafood section with unagi maki, fresh sushi, and sashimi belly....

Pocari Sweat Run

My worst timing ever for 10k run.

You'll see that the original 2.7Km wasn't bad - 8min/km.

Then the next 3.2km towards 5.9km split 8:45/km. Pretty good considering, there's marina barrage first slope and 2 water points.

The next 2.7km (where there is no waterpoint and super hot) with marina barrage final slope, and towards Garden's - the timing is 11:33/km. I started having very bad stitch then.

The final 1.4km is 9:20/km is not bad. I started to regain speed after final waterpoint and run quickly towards the finish line.

What Type of Business Executive Are You?

I am a Value Negotiator!

Follow this simple quiz from Insead Business school.

Body Fat Percentage

According to this article, the ideal body fat for healthy/normal women should be 21-24% (athlete), or 24-31% (acceptable). My weight today 59kg. Body Fat 20.9%

According to that: my body fat is 12.33kg with lean body mass of 59 minus 12.33 = 46.67kg. With my goal to achieve ideal weight, I should aim for 18% (let say) = 57kg. I think my weighing machine is broken. There's no way I have body fat of only 21%.

How to measure body fat? A link here has 5 ways to measure.
Adult body fat % = (1.20 × BMI) + (0.23 × Age) − (10.8 × sex) − 5.4
Sex = 0 for man, 1 for female
BMI = body weight (kg) divide into height (in m) square. So 59kg / 1.62m = 36.4 / 1.62m = equals 22.48

Making BakChang and weekend

Today I woke up before 7am *yay* after a long while. During a short run towards marina bay, I could see very dark ominous clouds forming above Asia Square blowing towards the MBS. I tried to run, run to beat the clouds and wind, but i could feel the tiny drizzle catching up. Finally, towards the end of MBS, I made detour to the mall.... so there goes my morning run.

After 15 run in the tiny gentle drizzle, I reached home. I didn't want to wait and waste time, so I ran in the rain (felt so nice) and reached home by 8:18. After shower, I felt great as I haven't been for so long. After breakfast of mom's meat porridge (with little jewels which are the salted yolk, very fresh and nice) I helped mom to prepare the ingredients for her making of bak-chang (literal translation from Hokkien dialect, Bak = meat, chang = dumpling) by preparing the yolks and cleaning the dried bamboo leaves. I also marinated pork meat as pork chop for lunch with my collection of herbs.

After lunch, I wanted to make a good use of the heavy cream I bought last time (for $8 1L it's a good price, it's also too good to waste). So I whipped an 100-ml and have it with green tea ice cream Haagen Dazs.

It's lovely bitter green tea macha + sweet whipped cream . Product link

Here's more information about whipped cream:

My bath and body works candles

BBW always stock beautiful candles - and in my latest spree, I used the Comgateway service to do buyforme service - they buy for you on the website that only accepts USA credit cards and charge 5% buyers fee of the total amount.

I bought 4x 3-wick candles under a sale. Normal price is $22 each. Under sale it is US$35.70 incl concierge fee.

Comgateway then shipped it - the candles were huge and heavy. I paid 3.50kg shipment for 4 candles, after sharing it turns out to be US26.80.

Total pricing:- $35.70+$26.80 = $62.5 x 1.3 = SG$81.25 / 4 candles = $20.35 each. vs normal price of US$22 or US$11 during sale.


On average the international shipping cost adds about 30% to the cost - so if you think you can still save after factoring the pricing then you should shop, otherwise get the products locally especially in Singapore which is a global trading hub.
Example 1: my latest bakeware supplies from Amazon shipping is US$27 for 3kg after repack (US$5 fees) for US$102.50 worth of goods - refer to my earlier posting. Also there's often fuel surcharge, and insurance (in case goods are damaged during international shipment, and other miscellaneous fees).

Another one is: Injiji socks at amazon US$7 each x 3 items = US$21+ shared shipping ($4 for 0.5kg) = US24 for 3-pair of socks.

Finally: Coach factory outlet $99 sale item plus fee $9 plus $10.50 local shipping plus $3 repack plus $9 international shipping.

I found Comgateway service is fast, good and reliable although the shipping charges for large boxes are exorbitant. If you encounter that you should write to the customer service, and they can try to trigger a manual repacking order for you (it's going to cost you $3-$5 and they did not ask your permission to do that). Well, often once you bought it and you spend hundreds of dollars and the items are already in the warehouse, you are stuck. and I think those forwarder tried to take advantage of ignorance... but Comgateway service had been good.

Gu Energy gels shipment vs buying locally

Recently I just completed my shipment of the running energy Gu gel from Amazon, tabulation of the total cost are:

Amazon per pack of 24: US$26.95 (Mandarin Orange/Tri-Berry) ordered on March 15.
Delivery charge from Amazon: free
Comgateway: for 2.5kg $29

Total : $83.9 for 2boxes = US$42 = SG$2.3 per packet.
For incremental box - $1.8 per packet.

The gel is sold at $4-6 in either nutrition shop or exhibition near runner's events.

My cooking today

After a depressing but unsurprising news from my massage therapist, I decided to do my home-cooking hobby to ease tension in my body. I am hooked on recipes from this book from Amazon (shipped all the way from US!), I tried:

• A variation of Rochers today - with cashew, almond, and Cointreau.
• Honeycomb candy - honey, corn syrup, lots of sugar, gelatin, and baking soda
• +coated with chocolate
• Also did the dark-chocolate truffles (with some success).

Honeycomb-candy

Coated honey comb in the fridge

For ganache, I used chocolate from Cacao Barry - while I supplemented my chocolate coating with Callebaut. The Cacao Barry turned out to be oily as I managed to skim about half a cup of chocolate oil that bubbled up from my ganache. The box indicated 41.8% Fat.

Ps. I also cooked Carbonara for dinner with mom. :)

Photo of the week - Kamakura

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south-south-west of Tokyo. Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the Kamakura Period.

As of June 1, 2012, the modern city has an estimated population of 174,412 and a population density of 4,400 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,000 /sq mi). The total area is 39.60 square kilometres (15.29 sq mi). I visited Kamakura on a short sidetrip late Summer 2011 from Tokyo thru NEX. I took a late flight into Tokyo, stayed in a tiny hotel near Kita-Narita and then took the first NEX at 6am to Kamakura.

Kamakura is known for its Buddhist temples (unlike the Shintoism which is followed in majority of Japan) and has a number of "big" Zen temples. The famous sites are Kotoku-in and its Great Buddha, Kencho-ji, and Engaku-ji. The Zen temples and their serenity really touched my heart and soul.

Energizer Trail Run

Saturday morning! I went to get ready for the first Energizer Trail run Singapore! That I am joining. It is organized at one of the NS-men camp, at lorong Asrama, which after searching on the streetdirectory map, is normally off-limit for normal civilians. (later confirmed by the MC of the event too!).

It was a very hot and humid day. The weather was pent-up with the rain that almost drizzle (luckily it didn't for the sake of thousands of runners with kids who were looking forward for the event). I arrived at 230pm after various arguments with Mom, whom I dragged and whom is energetic enough to accompany me to the event. My mom is so adorable.

The Energizer 2013 race route and obstacles

Chocolate fascination

So I went out and borrowed a book about a beautiful potential new hobby, Chocolate and Candies.

Book cover - link to Amazon.com

And managed to fill-up my amazon cart with the following.

which I am still gathering the courage to order...

Some of the tips of melting chocolate, tempering, about how to choose essential equipment, and at-a-glance-simple recipes are so tempting.

Friday night I missed you so much

I feel asleep thinking about your email. a very short email at that... so foolish, girl.

My friday break

I was feeling overwhelmed at work so rather than losing my temper and cool, I decided to take a short 1-day break. I went to anti-stress massage at Bodywellness my usual spa place, and went for a nice stroll among the Duxton Hill. It was very nice to be walking around 130pm, the weather was beautifully blue sky and found a number of places. I was apprehensive about having lunch on my own, but what the heck - I was hungry. I finally settled on a place called Mozarella - in hindsight a beautiful Italian bar and restaurant. I ordered tomato soup, the oh-so-tender Lamb shanks, capped with affogato served with super strong Italian expresso. Beautiful

the scenic duxton hill

affogato with vanilla ice cream. I love this version,

the vanilla was beautiful with a tinge of tangerine

I then hungout at the Loft, where it was very quiet and peaceful. I'll remember to go back to the Group Therapy place next time, but I most probably would feel misplaced with a loner here. In the afternoon, I peeked at my work inbox and was cheered by a lovely message. *loved*

White Wood Oil or Minyak Kayu Putih

Since I am baby I always love the smell and fragrance of jamu Minyak Kayu Putih from Indonesia, or oil of White wood in its literal translation to English language or "Pek Cha Yiu" in Hokkien dialect. Last month, I received my shipment from Amazon for essential oil from US. I only ordered 2 types in tiny quantity as the essential oils cannot be shipped according to IATA (International Transport Authrority) as it is super inflammable. Lavender and Eucalyptus. Upon smelling the Eucalyptus, I was struck by its similarities to MKP.

So today, I am researching the differences between these oil type. According to this article from the Dept of Forestry in Indonesia, MKP comes from a variant of genus that includes Myrtle tree, and its export is governed by the strict law. While Eucalyptus originated from Australia, been used globally. Hmm since both trees are originated from very closeby location (the Austro-Indo group) and have very similar smell, I suspect more connection.

Here's pic of my favourite- the best brand of MKP - is Cap Ayam from Medan, North Sumatra! It's advertised by local online shops at 150ml for 38.000 Indo rupiah or around S$5.

 Memory of childhood: minyak kayu putih cap ayam, bikinan Pt Jamu Sari

More research to come.

About pitbull

Listening to songs, and International Love by Chris Brown ft. Pitbull - made me check on Wikipedia entry on Pitbull. Found this sad story - http://www.sfweekly.com/1997-06-11/news/shouldn-t-we-just-kill-this-dog/.

The story of Fred made me want to hug my puppy: *hugs*

Annual Health Screening package

Parents safely in journey to MBS, tonight I am focusing on research of the best annual health screening package that utilizes my perk accounts from my company. The due date is end of June which is the fiscal here. I've been going to Raffles Medical for my GP so I thought this year I would consider package here instead of the one at the Executive Screening centre.

Step 1: Comparing the Executive General package at S$802.50 and the Elite General $1,588.95.

Step 2: Research what each tests mean and whether they are necessary or not.

Step 3: The Singapore Health Promotion Board has a guidelines about age and tests. After carefully reviewing them corresponding to my age and my family medical history including other risks, I have determine that the executive Ladies package is the best for me (an early 30's lady). Even though I can afford any packages, I avoid excessive waste and false positives. The most important is to live healthily.

Livejournal

Today receive message from livejournal about my super old account (that I had  totally forgotten too).  First post at livejournal @ http://starell3.livejournal.com/

Singapore Household survey 2012

Singapore govt is carrying out the survey for 2013 latest. This is a document from the last one in 2012 - useful and informative for my weekend reading. Local file and website of http://www.singstat.gov.sg/publications/population.html#household_income_and_expenditure.

My trip to India 2013

I flew to India, Mumbai on Monday morning Apr 22, 2013. Stayed 2 full nights - including conf calls on the first day, concluded with a brief lunch at 2pm where the lobby lounge is with some mimosa and cordon bleu chicken and steak sandwich. Lunch is brief at Celini, the hotel's Italian restaurant.

2nd day we rode the car to the office, I was eager arriving at a little over 8am. The office is located at Windsor tower, with no road sign, other than designation "off CST Road" at Santacruz Area, Mumbai. Finished with a nice local India dinner, at the Grand Hyatt Soma. The tandoori platter, esp the mutton and chicken were excellent. The warm roti with garlic was very nice. The crowd was upmarket and pleasant.

Sakura Season 2013

I love spring.

The cool weather with sky starts to open up to blue-ness and plants everywhere start to groom, and bear new flowers.

This year, the cherry blossom season arrives in Tokyo early. During my last business trip there, I took a path down to Shinjuku Gyoen to checkout the last bloom of the year the week of 8th Apr.

I did it!

I completed my first half-marathon. Timing 3 hours 3 mins - is okay average considering my lack of training. I am so elated and am donning my nice finisher's tee.

Final week to 21KM

I'm in kind of trouble because of my lack of training for my first marathon.

My original plan heading to the week of March 18th is 5KM (Tue) + 7KM (Thurs) + 12KM (weekend). What I did was 2KM (tues night) + 5.5KM (Friday night) + 7KM (Sunday night).

Song Fa Bakut Teh

A nice simple meal with my parents - at Song Fa. They liked the casual environment and the relatively inexpensive price tag. We had a nice table outdoor with cooling sunset air, thanks to my swift action. They now had a novel idea of serving tea with traditional small clay teapot and tiny cups with boiling water self-served from the gas stove next to the wall. We ordered Tien-Lo-Han and the bunch of the half-tea leaves went mysteriously missing in the middle of the dinner.

I had 10km refreshing run thru Garden by the Bay East this morning, then Chinese New Year lunch at Eco Sanctuary showroom @ Chestnut (dissapointing food but fabulous Dragon and Lion dance) and followed by Hi-Tea with choco fudge cake and Long black at the Marmalade Pantry Ion.

Kinabalu

After 2 years of talking, finally due to a sudden incident, I went to Kinabalu, and climbed that mountain. My fully body is now sore beyond belief. Sitting upright and especially standing up, becomes painful. And stairs... oh don't mention it. I cringe at the sight of stairs now.

Archive: 2012 Accomplishments

• Buy a property
• Love myself
• Travel to Taiwan
• Reach Nordkapp
• Try something new (camping)
• R'ship exploration
• Scandinavia travel

Purpose

It is a bit intimidating.. in a good way, facing with someone who knows exactly what his priorities in life. I feel clueless.

Decisions are all making sense. The choices. Speed. Career choices. Relocation. The travel.

I suppose a wanderer warrior one day must go home with his identity. I can understand that, I felt the same and lost as well sometimes. Unfulfilled and empty. Having a sense of purpose and dedication is important. It's almost vital. what's the use of lifeless paperwork.

The Taurus Woman

I like the description of the Taurus Woman here:

The Taurus woman

As the bull is a supremely masculine creature, the cow is supremely feminine. The female Taurus is often the epitome of the instinctual feminine archetype, with all the gentleness, strength, wisdom, patience and sensual passion of her goddess-antecedents. There seem to be two distinct types of Taurus woman.

The first is the real Venusian Taurus, with a perfectly made up face, surrounded by beautiful scent, dressed in sensuous, expensive designer clothes. Pampered, indolent, and preoccupied with her own attractiveness, you may accuse her of vanity and self-indulgence, but she knows that self- confidence and pride in herself are the best guarantee of being treated with real respect.

Then there's the Taurus woman who reflects the purity and harmony of nature. Organically grown food, natural fibres, a ban on smoking, a refusal to use chemicals in the garden or artificial colouring on her hair, this woman harks back to the old temple priestesses in the days when the power of the Earth-goddess represented the power of life itself.

Either way, the Taurus woman is wise in the ways of love, and is devoted and usually loyal -provided she has security and knows she's valued.  Her tenacity and faithfulness are admirable. Sometimes they're too admirable. Try to release yourself from this kind of Taurean woman and she will hang on with that incredible Taurean tenacity until you give up and come back out of sheer exhaustion. Taurus women can wait, and they often do wait, and wait, for the promise you made ten years ago to be fulfilled.

Flirtatious at the beginning of a relationship, Taurus settles into stable routines very easily and quickly. If you enjoy spontaneous trips and unplanned holidays, give this woman at least three months' notice. And don't, for heaven's sake, change plans at the last minute.

Taurean women can be very literal, believing what you say and holding you to it the next day. Or the next year. Or the next decade.  If she promises something, she'll endure all kinds of hardships to keep her promise, and her sense of responsibility is very highly developed. She doesn't like letting people down, in personal life or at work. If you promise something to a Taurean woman, mean it. Otherwise, learn to think before you speak, or choose another sign.

There is an innate simplicity in the Taurus woman, even in those whose practical abilities and business acumen have led them to build a solid career in the world. "Simple" doesn't mean "stupid", so don't make the mistake of thinking, because she didn't win any prizes on the school debating team, that she isn't grasping exactly what you're trying to say, even when you thought you meant something else.

Although some Taurean women are gifted at verbal gymnastics, most prefer clear, plain, no-nonsense communication where nothing is concealed or ambiguous - and because they're usually straight and direct, they know when you aren't.  Despite her strangely childlike quality, the Taurus woman can be terrifyingly shrewd when it comes to seeing through shams and pretences. She isn't innately suspicious or mistrustful, but she can spot a fake from a long way away. That applies to fake antiques, fake flowers and fake people.

Taurus' eye for the realistic, the stable, the reliable, is unerringly accurate. Her common sense is a wonderful elixir for the jaded visionary, and her capacity to get to the basic core of a problem allows her to find simple solutions while you're still pacing up and down tearing your hair and wondering how you'll ever even begin to sort out the mess. The Taurus woman brings everything - including her partner - down to earth. And because it's a gentle sign, it's likely to be a soft landing.

Lunch today

Grilled ribeye steak
Asparagus and carrot - boiled/steamed
Grilled potatoes with tomatoes
Fruit appetizers - starfruit, granny smith apple, plum

Result: colorful delight for lunch with camomile tea. While jamming with Dj Earworms 2009 mix.

First Tiramisu on Sunday rainy morning

Tried my first Tiramisu. Result - nice with right sweetness and right alchoholic contents. But I made the mistake of leaving the egg white for too long that it spoiled.

What I did to track marathon progress of my friends

Bond: SkyFall

Just came home from watching 007: SkyFall. I like the show. It's not so emotionally gripping - but I enjoy the beautiful movie by a wonderfully skilled cast. Daniel Craig, as buffed, macho, and serious as Bond. 3 beautiful Bond women, and my favorite Judi Dench. I like Ralph Fiennes' straight guy but gentlemanly and Javier Bandem's performance is chilling - so cool.

And guess what, today 11-Nov is Bond's birthday.

Sunday Morning

The title reminded me of Maroon 5 song, so now it's playing in my head.

I exercised this morning, circling Hong Lim Park 5 times - 1 round more than target - yay - on my Vibram shoes. After 2km failure yesterday, tempted by the yummy thought of MacDonalds' fries - I resorted to cook my own fries today.  So my run was preoccupied by the thought on how I would prepare and slices them in 3 different sizes thus batches,

One the chubby finger fries like you normally get on Fish and Chips. They are filling!

Next skinny long ones like McD's which is my fave when some of them crispy and some are meek full of potato goodness.

The last batch, turned out to be the sides. Which I am enjoying now. I didnt have size in middle to make it midsize...

Tada...

so what I wanted to write about is my experience as Publicity Assistant secretary. Maybe through my life I am aggressive to try to make up for that period of time, when I felt I am more deserving as the Main Officer, and how I executed the job. When I look back the only thing that hindered me is that I didn't have the confidence. I wasn't confident enough to stand at public speech. I wasn't ambitious enough to stand up for that post. I felt I didn't have enough friends to support my selection. But in the end, I was egged on to nominate, that must be from my friends because I wouldn't have thought about nomination myself. So because of that, despite I am the driving force and I executed the plan, planned for work distribution, I then feel cheated by that post. By 3rd year I was focusing on my Industrial Attachment, and my Accelerated Masters program that I wouldn't think about running for the second time. But I am proud of myself going through that experience. I just hadn't been thinking or digesting that time enough to realize the underlying subconcious on how it formed me today, aggressive, ambitious, vocal - that was created by joint experience. I am sure that experience must have helped to form this single-minded focus on work and progress.

Well I am proud that I am able to subconsciously realize and assign the funniest person to do lecture announcement, because I know instinctively what would catch people's attention. Assign the most aestatically gifted to paint the banners, etc.

Hurtful and Heartbreak

Do you have feel shattered when your heart breaks and you felt that painful feeling ...

You feel that you are right and being misunderstood, but that emotional moment you can't try to understand the other POV like you always do (and almost be expected to). Sadness can't begin to understand how I feel.

I can't breathe. I am longing for more air.

Liquids streaming down my face.

I am feeling waves of emotions that I never know I felt before.

I sense something intangible, breaking out. breaking apart. The silent scream fills my ear. For a moment I just want to grief. I feel useless. I see no purpose. I can't understand. Comprehension is lost.

Oh my god. I am alone.

My Sesame Street favourite

I am so sad today to hear the death of the man who is essentially Count Von Count from Sesame Street, Jerry Nelson at 78. It is  always very strange feeling to hear an icon from your childhood passed on. I guess it gives a sense of awakening on age. That time passes. And that I am getting older and old. Until this news, I've not even considered death of puppets. So sad. I guess this must be what some people had been feeling about the Muppets characters.

Holiday and Expectation

I am back from holiday for almost 20 days in Europe. We hit 5 countries on the first 6 days. beyond statistics, as my number-driven travelling companions like to say, I love this vacation because it has no expectation. I had no expectation on myself, how I should spend my time, how I should behave on politeness , that I should keep in touch with the world through tv, internet, all and my thinking just roam and be free.

Post 20 days relaxing holiday, I hit the office this Tuesday so chilled'out. And dive into 12 hours workday with jetlag and little sleep. Oh boy. My mentor said "it's because you came back and realize how stressful this role actually is."

Master Your Workday Now!

Proven Strategies to Control Chaos, Create Outcomes, & Connect Your Work to Who You Really Are by Michael Linenberger

• Create Lists: Now Tasks:- review daily
• Critical Now = today
• Opportunity Now (over this/next week)
• Over the Horizon:- review weekly
• Move oppt now to here on lower priorities
• Defer to Do
• Defer to Review
•  Significant outcomes

Vision Goal = Aspirational
Target Goal = realistic and executable

Vision Goal + Target Goal = Now Goals.

A Project-Manager based approach over mastering Workday.

The Dark Knight Rises

Dark Knight Rises

The third-movie of the Dark Knight trilogy is intense, dark, but also realistic. I feel that most part of the movie is very fast-paced, sometimes felt rushed in terms of most of the scenes. So it's exciting but takes a while to digest all the things that are happening with multiple villains and frenemies. The themes however is very relevant to concerns today about the decaying moral of modern society, the have- and have-nots clashes, and various urges of the powerful characters whether to cleanse, defend, forgive, punish, or to trust.

I love Christian Bale's portrayal of Batman, he is egoless outside of the custome, and dark menacing inside the custome so you always feel such that his character is reigning in something immense. Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle is alluring, cunning, and street-smart. She is lovely and unsettling as the feline character. I love Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman as the supporting Gentlemen of the Batman ensemble. Marion Coutillard is so lovely and fully composed as Miranda Tate. Joseph Gordon-Lewitt feels familiar (a number of characters from Christopher Nolan's Inception) as tough police-detective and finally Tom Hardy portrayal as Bane is evil and chillingly scary.

Go the Goodness and Hope!

Garden by the Bay and Morning Run

So Dad read out a book he borrowed from the library. It has healthy advices such as:
1. We should rest from 11-1 when the body processes and recuperates.
2. 1-3 is when the body recover from toxins processed
3. 3-5 when the body and lung functions are rejuvenating.
4. 5-7 is the best time to wake up and start slow as the body is ejecting its digestive by-product.
5. 7-730 the best time to have breakfast.

Today, the whole family awakens by 630 and we started off exploring the route to Marina Bay and the Garden by the Bay all the way to Marina Barrage.

What a beautiful dawn!

In-flight entertainment

8 hours flights each way Singapore - Brisbane

3 episodes of the Big Bag Theory
Hunger Games
Friends with Kids
Lorax
Act of Valor ***1/2
The Artist ****
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ****1/2 (my favorite)

Zodiac' Today's Theme

Mine Taurus


A person who is a Taurus is born between the 21^st of April and the 21^st of May. The Bull is the symbol assigned to Taurus. The ruling planet for Taurus is Venus and their element is Earth. Fridays are said to be lucky days for Taurus people. Strengths of Taurus include being compassionate, dependable, loyal, reliable, and also being strong both physically and emotionally. Stubbornness, aggressiveness, sensitivity and a dislike when faced with change are all weaknesses associated with a Taurus.

The Bull symbolizes strong and silent, and this is exactly how a Taurus is said to be. Until you really get to know a Taurus you will probably not see his or her true self. Taurus are very stubborn individuals and once their minds are made up, swaying them even a little is next to impossible. If you do not try to push, Taurus folks will come across as being laid back and reserved. Take heed though because if you anger a Taurus, it is likely that you might find a violent temper. However, Taurus tempers generally will not flare until they are pushed.

Taurus make wonderful friends, and whenever you need them they will certainly be some of the first ones there. Taurus know exactly how to brighten the day of friends in need. Don't count on a Taurus ever calling on you to return the favor. They are very in tune with their emotions and rarely display them. Taurus are loyal and will stand beside a friend until the bitter end.

Sounds about right ;-)

Credit for Yahoo!

My weekend with good book : SEAL Team Six

Sometimes the most unexpected can turn out to be most rewarding.

I often hear, and believe in the phrase. But in my forgetfulness, in times when it happens the life turns out its most pleasant surprises in little things.

Like my weekend. After spending enjoyable drink with my colleagues, the three of us chatted on a table near fantastic view at L33 on MBFC. The weather was hot and humid, and the Singapore skyline turned out its lustrous heart-meltingly beautiful lights at dusk. Always my favorite time of the day.

I woke up with a slightly swollen right eye. Unsure why and only half prepared for a ruined weekend, I while away the Saturday, reading stuff like how to use egg cartons to dampen the noise and soundproof your room . In fact when I walked away to Yakun to pack takeaway breakfast, I eyed quietly at their egg and finally emit enough courage to ask. Also arrange a contractor to come down next Saturday for an exact quote of a double-glazed soundproof window. I then travelled to Bras Basah for a trip on library and shopping trip of my arts equipment finally getting a nice-setup for my painting project.

Almost accidentally, I walked past the wall that displayed library's newest books on my way out. I spotted the book by Howard Wasdin. I have been knowing the book since I got first my kindle. I read the trial but thought the story was so far removed from my live that it would be waste to purchase it. So fate brought the book to my hands this weekend.

The book, editing and content was very good. The action, details, and the drama - as well as the valor, courage and the sheer mental toughness of the soldiers so admirable. I woke up on Sunday, today with a heavily swollen eye. surely my night cap reading half of the 308-pages book.

Now a bit worried, I travelled to check which clinic opens on Sunday. If you ever need one (non A&E), Raffles Hospital has GP practicing from 8am-10pm. I took my time to travel there, inhaling the sweet fresh air of Sunday morning. Life is beautiful. Except for a swelling tearing right eye.

I had my check-up, a bout of antibiotics (Moxiclav), Sofranex eye-drop and anti-histamin. Then travelling to the art school, in vain, then the cinema. Headed home with JCO half-dozen donuts and some groceries. Cook a pigrib soup with cordyceps and ling zhi, settledown with some painting done on my tiny canvas, and proceeded to finish off the book.

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin. Amazon rank #4,947 today.

The Painting I am trying to copy

Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne. By Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)

Men In Black 3

Last week went to watch MIB 3. I didn't watch the second installment, and I didn't crave in excitement to see this one. But I am glad I did.

The movie is fantastical, but entertaining. Normally I didn't like action movie nor Will Smith, but this movie humanizes and touches. And it's cool to see all sort of gadgets that the movie dreamed about these days, time travel, memory swipe, violent aliens, plus the nostalgia of the wonder years of 1969 where dreams are purer, air freshers, and life tho ignorant, less complicated.

I like this review from TonyMacklin.net.

Lady gaga concert in Singapore

A couple of girls and I went to concert in Singapore. 3 nights sold-out, and we went for the first day. Standing ticket - so fun!

Amazing energy and showmanship. Also great personal touch and real showcase of dancing, energy, and also controversial message. Checkout her full tour schedule across Asia. This is still followed by 2 weeks in Auckland, New Zealand and every major cities in Australia.

It's amazing that the concert started at 830+ (after one-hour of waiting and bad organizing in the Singapore venue first day), and by 1030ish the audience energy is waning. While the singer is still so energetic, so its appaling that the encore shout is weak, and some people seen left the venue already! That's the reason the concert organizer decided to run both encores consecutively to end the day.

Vinegar drink

Japanese seems to like healthy and natural food. One of which that caught my attention is the 2 vinegar mixes (Honey or Berry) served at breakfast buffet. It came with instruction that the proper way of drinking it is to mix vinegar to fresh milk with 1:4 ratio.

The resulting drink is sour and sweet, not unlike yoghurt. Enchanted I had my eyes on any of these vinegar culture on sale outside. On my last day luckily, I chanced upon Food section at Mitsukoshi at Ginza at B2. There brand is VISS 1882 launched by Japanese famous vinegar specialist, Imazuya. I was lucky too as the store was apparently the only one in Tokyo, and I found it by chance ;-)

There's interesting mixes available. The most popular one is Apple-mix, followed by Grape then Passion fruit.

De Clutter

I fell ill badly after catching cold on Monday night. Today I am on medical leave. My body lethargic but my mind is restless and distracted by the cold.

I threw away the half-progressing beautiful Lily flowers that I was trying to dry. They were turning brown from the pure white it was. What a shame. The most beautiful flowers remain to be living ones, although no body can deny the pure romanticism of getting a bunch of flowers -oh..



I read the articles about decluttering and memories. Seems like there is symptoms or trends that are against Hoarders in USA. I just watched an episode of Dr. Oz talking about the ills of it (the same episode also talks about some bugs of the household pets).The guy who couldn't throw away stuff from childhood sounds like my brother. He would be agitated if mom throws away anything - those robots, toy cars, spidey soft toy, from his childhood. How cute. He is 30 this year and has a baby girl now.

The Avengers

I went to watch the Avengers with my collegue, last nigh pre-preview 4/30. Her brother's company is having movie night. I caught cold in mid term and had to rush back home immediately after the movie finished at midnight.

What a great show. I love how the new Director creates a logical story. The acting is strong and characters very compelling. Love it.

Also how wonderful that the interactions and dynamism between relationships of these superheroes - being playfully and quite realistically displayed. The only thing that I think is lacking is the feeling of watching a Movie than just a series. But maybe that's like reading an epic from the comic book.

Normally I have very good taste on what's good movie. Rotten tomatoes has it opening in USA on the 5th 96%.