Farewell 2008

It's the Last Day of 2008 ! What a year it has been, new car (since my previous car is already 5 + yrs old), new handphone (after I lost my old charger - what an excuse to get a new phone), new job (well almost new job), new computer (got me a new notebook), new printer (after the old one died on me). It's also been such a busy year for me, work has taken up most of my time. Trying to keep fit was the other thing but don't think it was successful.

 

Well looking back at the year, I guess it's time to see what happen to my resolutions. Oh dear somehow sometimes, keep forgetting that I have resolutions to keep. Well let's take stock.

2008 Resolution Checklist

1) Complete 4 XBox 360 games.

Well it looks like I only managed to get up to 3, it started well in the year but then did not have time due to work. So only finished Shrek, Mechassault and Kung Fu Panda. Currently I am 56% in Spongebob the Moive, about 50% in Spiderman 3 and just tried out a few other games. Guess I'm just slow :( maybe 2009 will be better.

2) Run 10km in under 1hr.

The closest I got to this was about 1 hr 11 mins. and I think I ran 3 10km races this year. Might have been 4. Maybe next year I try to run a half Marathon.

3) Complete Comic Book Cataloging.

Wow this was a really tough one, I think I managed to get around the 60/70 % range, still got a ways to go.

4) Complete my Mcquarrie Star Wars Toy collection

YA ! this I managed to complete woo hoo, after some searching and all that I managed to get all the McQuarrie figures. They are now hanging on my wall in my study room.

5) Loose 5 kgs

Damn this the toughest one of all and guess what as of today it seems I have put on 2 kgs !! what the hell, there goes my exercise routine, total no conviction to maintain. Looks like next year have more to loose.

 

So looks like only 1 out of the 5 resolutions I was able to fulfil. Well that's 20% guess it's a start maybe the resolution next year is to fulfil 2 of my resolutions ha ha.

Well off to watch some TV and maybe catch the fireworks. Happy New Year everyone.

Kat Killer

I ran down a cat today. I was driving towards the expressway and was about to get on it the slip road had bushes along it and suddenly this shape ran out of the bushes right in front of my car and bump, crack, thud and splat one flatten cat. It's likely a cat don't think is was a dog as it was just too small and it darted out very fast. Checked my car after that and everything looked fine, did not see any fur or blood stain on the fenders.

This is the second animal I ran over, I mean not counting the numerous flies, beetles and other insects making contact with the windscreen. Actually I hit a dog once, a big dog actually it was caught in traffic and started skipping around the lanes got hit by a car got up and went into my path and got hit but I say it in time and could break but still the car hit the poor dog. It yelp away but managed to get to the side of the road without any further damage, It seemed fine. Well the first animal I ran over was a RABBIT in New Zealand. We were driving around on a free and easy and it was night along the country roads. This rabbit comes up from the opposite side of the road, stops at the centre line, looks in my direction, with the headlights shining on it and waits, my car gets closer and closer and at the last possible second I have no idea why but the rabbit just hops out and bam, gets squashed by the wheels. That was really strange it was like the rabbit was sitting there waiting for me to pass before he crosses the road but then at the last minute guess he decided to commit suicide and hop in front of my car.

Post Christmas Shopping

Hah !! guess what !! Finally did some shopping AFTER Christmas :)

There were sales galore in town after Christmas, roads were jam and I finally did some 'sightseeing' of the Christmas decorations in town, yep a little late for that as some area's have started their Chinese New Year decorations and goodies for the Lunar New Year were on sale as well. All the Christmassy stuff was going at discounted prices, good time to pick up stuff for next year I guess ha ha .... Well in the end spent almost $300 to $400 on some new shirts, pants, belt, health supplements, causal wear, toiletries etc. Well there goes the year end bonus. :)

CHRISTMAS 2008

25th December, ah that time of year again where people decorate their houses with fairy lights, Christmas trees (some real and some not so real), go out caroling or just enjoy the carols and make their way to churches to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Reindeer horns and red caps with bells are also in fashion this time of year as well as those red suits and pillow's to give you that extra pot belly if you don't have one. Had Christmas Eve dinner with my family and as usual I always would open my presents on Christmas Day and never before, it's something which I like to do just keep all the little gifts under the tree until Christmas day and then open them up just like a little boy who has always enjoyed Christmas.

 

I love this time of year, Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year. Maybe it's because you get to reflect on the year and on what the birth of Jesus means to you. Then again maybe it's the presents ha ha .. anyways whatever it is I really love listening to carols, this year did not really have a chance to catch any, only bought CD's to listen in the car.

 

We went to church as usual and we happen to be standing behind Mr On. He had this black shirt with yellow luminous looking like patterns that if the lights went out he would probably glow in the dark. Yep definately a Mr On, a Mr Ne On :) me and the missus had a good little chuckle there.

Well Christmas is almost over, here's wishing everyone who reads this a very Blessed Christmas. Ho ho ho ....

Busy Busy Busy .....

Normally the Christmas Season is where there is a whole load of shopping to be done and I normally rush around getting stuff but this year none of that but still find myself rushing around the whole time. Well I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet for Christmas and teh year end, just going for a Chrsitmas Eve midnight mass and meet up with my parents, my sis and family, some friends coming over on Christmas day for dinner. Probably end up doing more housework since the missus has been askign me to do up some chores for the longest time, guess that's how I'll end off the year !

Open Eyes

Well it has been about 10 days since I went for my 'performance' enhancement Lasik Surgery. It's better now, I see things clearer, no more fuzziness, reading is easier now. When I went for the checkup and had my eyes tested I could actually read the small letters. Eyes are still dryish so have to keep th eye drops handy.

SCSM 2008 - Update

So the result's are in for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) 2008. Well I did check the website and it seems due to the crowd rush at the finishing line I guess the photographers were not able to get a picture of me so sad .... But I did get 1 shot at the Addidas booth where they did some free photo taking against the logo backdrop. At least there was something.

Well my 10km time was 1 hr 10 min 36 sec based on the chip time which is the time the run started and not the 'gun' time as they call it which is taken from the time the flag off was started. The chip time gives you a more accurate timing since you could be right at the back and only pass the start flag maybe 5 or 10 mins after the first few runners had started. I guess I'm relatively pleased with the timing. It's the fastest I clocked this year. So looking forward to completing a half Marathon next year.

Lasik Enhancement

Today I went for my Lasik Enhancement procedure. Doc said he will do a bladeless for me this round just to correct that astic that I still had. Both eyes were done again. Although I have been through it once before, somehow I was still tense when the procedure began. I did all the standard test before the procedure, had to wait a little as it was quite crowded today. Did the fix and it seems ok at least I hope it will be better. Eye still hurts and all that but it should heal over the next couple of days.

SITEX - new Handphone

At the recent SITEX show, I finally decided to get a new handphone after I lost my previous phone's charger. Went to the exhibition on a friday evening. It was not as crowded as it would be on the weekends. Found the phone which I was looking for the Omnia. I had tried this phone out on the previous week at one of those Hello! shops to get a feel for it. It's not too bad actually was looking to get the iPhone but decided against it.

Was at the Samsung booth and was talking to the sales person about the phone and finally I decided to get it I asked him if I could trade in my current handphone while was a Nokia 6110. He said he will check. He came back an said that can trade in for a $130 rebate, but needed my charger if not I could always go to any shop later and submit that in for the rebate as he said they needed the charger for the rebate. So I stood in line and when I got to the payment counter the counter staff took my order, got me my phone she was very helpful to get all my numbers transferred to the SIM card and put it in the new phone. I asked again about rebate for my Nokia and she said yes will accept even without the charger, how much I asked was the rebate ? She checked with her supervisor who was beside her and he said $140 and I said ok take it. I don't know why there was a $10 difference strange. Anyways got me my new Omnia still trying to get used to the interface.

We had dinner with some relatives a couple of days later and I got to use my handphone's camera, we were at Sakae Sushi and boy did they have the biggest bowl of noodles that I have ever seen, The waiter said that it's called the Bowling Bowl as it was as big a a bowling ball. The missus's nephew had a noodle soup and it came in that huge bowl, actually it's more gigantic than huge.

NOW That's what I call a BOWL of Noodles :)

Stan Chart 10km Run

Weekend was the Standard Charted Marathon, I entered for the 10KM event. I think among all the runs I went to this year, this has got to be the best organized. From the collection of the Race Bibs -- my only grouse with that was it was at the Singapore Expo which is way way off in the east instead of some place more central. To the end of the run, it was very well organized no wonder so many people took part in it.

There was 20,000 runners in the 10KM event, with another 15,000 for the full marathon and another 15,000 for the half marathon. Total of 50,000 people descended on the Padang and Esplanade area. The full marathon started at 5.30am and the half was at 6.30am with the 10km events starting around 7.30am for the men's while the women's had a 8.15am start. But our start was delayed by 15 minutes due to safety issues, well that was what the announcer said. Anyways what it did was to give us time to actually see the Elite runners of the Full Marathon coming in. Even before the 10km got off the runners were already coming back, I think they would have freshen up, showered and changed by the time I got back !!!

SO we finally got going at around 7.40am, the route was pretty similar to the Army 10km run over the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, there was some change to the starting run up to the bridge and after the bridge we got to run on the recently completed F1 race track, quite cool since we got to run on the starting grid. It was a relatively cool day. I enjoyed the run, did the fastest timing for a 10km this year, around 1hr 11 mins, just a minute faster than my previous best time. I was pleased. They had the runs staggered such that as you ended most of the other runners were ending too so at the finishing line all the 10km, Half and Full Marathon runners were coming in. I think that was great just that it got a little crowded at the end. I collected my finisher medal, got some freebies, had my photo taken at the Addidas booth, wolf down some bananas, enjoyed some of the carnival atmosphere and then decided to leave since I had parked at Marina (Raffles was full) and did not want to incur too much parking charges.

Over all it was a well organized run, I think I will be back next year for the half marathon !

$1.90 Wanton Mee

A rarity in this day and age, $1.90 Wanton Mee is still available in Singapore ha ha  .... they have Chicken Rice at that price as well.

This week had a real workout day. went to the gym in the morning for an hour, then had a bowling session for another hour played 2 games, terrible scores, first bowling session in a long long long while and it really shows. Had a game of tennis after that for 2 hours, at least it was not so painful as the other time when it was my first tennis game in 10+ years. at leas this was my second ha ha  ... after all that next morning back ache, hand ache, wrist ache, arm ache. But it was better than the previous time.

Vouchers

 

Ever seen what $10,000 in $10 vouchers look like ? Well here it is :-

Actually it does not seem that much just 1000 pieces. It was a gift from my bog boss who donated the amount to the team and we all shared in it. We could select from Takashimaya, NTUC or Capita Land Vouchers. It was a nice early Christmas Present for the team.

An awful incident happen at Whampoa Market recently me and the missus was having breakfast there and there was man who was slumped on a table some people tried to help him. The ambulance was called, a biker medic or whatever those paramedics on a bike are called arrived first, started CPR on the man, before the ambulance came, they tried to stabalis him I think before they took him away in the ambulance. quite tragic. I hope the guy is ok but it really looked serious.

What A Week !!!!!

Well it has really been a very very hectic pass week. It started with me and the missus finally finding a new dinning room set for the 6 or 7 year old dinning table and chairs, the legs were a little wobbly and you had to screw in the screws once in a while but it's still in good condition especially the glass table. Delivery was in 3 weeks and we needed to get rid of our current set of furniture. The missus called the Salvation Army and yes they do take away used furniture as long as it's in a reasonable condition. They came mid week and took away our dinning set they were quite professional according to the missus, took everything away and even had a receipt and thanked her from the Salvation Army. So I guess if anyone wants to dispose of bulk used items you could always call the Salvation Army and they can collect the items. Anyway's it's for a good cause.

We had dinner with some friends also during the week, we were at this teochew restaurant somewhere around the Paya Lebar area I think, lovely dinner but I forgot the name of the place ha ha  ..... it was just after the announcement of the $2 COE prices and there was a fair number of people looking at buying cars.

My car also got bumped by a Taxi. Here I am waiting at a junction for the car in front to move and everyone was stationary and for some unknown reason the Taxi behind decides to 'kiss' my backside. I could feel the bump. Got out of the car to inspect the damage but surprisingly there was none, Apart for some scratches on the bumper of the Taxi, everything else looks fine, I think due to the height of my CRV, the taxi may have hit under. Everything seems ok so far for the past few days. Was really worried that there would be a mess with the accident but all looks good.

A funny incident happened the other day while I was driving the missus around, we drove pass an transvestite or 'ah-qua' and the missus commented that he/she looked good and that he/she even had better hari than hers. We had a good laugh about that.

I also went for my Eye check up at the place I did my Lasik. Finally after waiting 6 months, the doctor finally said that my eyes are ready for the enhancement. IT's got astic of about 125 still and hopefully the doctor will correct this. Looks like I have to go under the knife again.

Singapore Vertical Marathon 2008

Over the weekend I participated in the Singapore Vertical Marathon. As I had a complimentary hotel stay at the Fairmont, me and the missus decided to check in over the weekend, I'll be able to get up a little later the next day then since Swissotel is just next door. We got an extra room for the nieces and nephews and aunt. Since it was the nephew's birthday as well we have dinner at Prego's the Italian Restaurant. The food was great dessert was good and the staff at Prego even gave us a free cake with a candle to celebrate the Birthday.

A Complimentary Birthday Cake from Prego's

Since there was time still and we were here at Raffles City, did some shopping, was at Robinsons and saw a nice shirt, found my size and the sales lady asked if it's my Birthday, we told her, no just buying as a Christmas present. The next thing you know she says she'll add a tie to go with the shirt at no extra cost. Well I'm not sure if every shirt comes with a tie or not but it was a nice surprise Actually we were just there to collect Christmas Wrappers.

Finally back to the hotel room to rest up for the night, set my alarm as well as the hotel clock alarm and lucky thing I did that as for some reason my watch alarm did not go off and I was woken the next morning by the hotel clock alarm. I got up changed and dressed in my running attire and headed down to the Swissotel.

 

The Swissotel The Stamford Singapore Vertical Marathon has been a yearly event since 1987, this year they had over 1500 participants their largest number to date. Participants are divided into age groups and there is an Open category where you get to compete for a place to the USA to compete in their own vertical run. It's a run up the Swissotel which is the tallest Hotel in Asia. It's a race up 73 floors and all 1336 steps to the top of the building.

All participants had to register on the day to collect our timing chip and race number tag. There was already a queue when I was there. Joined in and got my tag and chip, tied that on and did some warms ups. Everyone was there. The oldest participant was 81 and the youngest was 16, even spiderman was there, here he is Spiderman and Friends.

Incidentally Spiderman is over 50 and still very lively, everyone wanted a photo with him. The race started at around 8am, the participants were sent off depending on the age group and in waves of 6 people each time. There was an interval of 30secs to 1 min between each wave.

When my age group came it was almost 9am. I happen to be standing in one of the early details and was off at around 9am. The run took us into the Swissotel stair well. It's not a straight ascend up, halfway through or almost 2/3 through we had to switch to another stair well and you go up in a different direction. It was really gruelling, by the 10th floor everyone was walking in my detail, I was just counting down the floors, from 10th to 20th to 25th to 50th to 60 to 68th to 70th and finally 72nd, one more last flight of winding stairs and I reached the top.

It really was a relief to reach the top, almost fell down when you are climbing up the stairs and then suddenly you run straight the muscles were geared for climb, almost lost my balance there. Well I am so glad I reached teh top, my timing was not the most fantastic but I managed to do it within 20 mins. A good start. The view was really good only thing was it was really sunny and the sun was getting in my eyes, No wI understood why some people wore sunglasses, I was thinking at first why they would do that when you were running INSIDE the building ! Guess they have done it before.

Some views from the top.

 

 

After the climb we got to stay on the roof for a while to cool down catch our breath and get our medals and drinks before heading down, more stairs to climb down to the Equinox where we took the lift back down.

The only thing that spoilt the whole event was there was some printing glitch for the certificate printing and in the end somehow a range of number beginning with 31xx were not printed. I was in that range of numbers. In the end had to wait like 3 hrs before they finally found what happen and had to reprint again.

So would I do it again next year ..... hhhmmmmm..... maybe :)

Christmas comes early

It's that time of year again, you know it's here once you see Christmas decorations being put up at the Malls and you start getting brochures for all sorts of promotions in the mail both surface and electronic :) It'll be a quiet event this year for the family, maybe just a small scale down dinner as it's still the mourning phase for my father-in-law. Minimal Chirstmas Shopping to do ha ha ... I'm currently also preparing for this weekends Vertical Marathon up Swissotel, 73 floors of it. I injured my foot the other day but I think it's recovered sufficiently for me to do some stair climbing. I figured the last timing I toold was like 6 minutes for about 30 floors, the time incidentally is what the top runners would be needing to scale the entire 73 floors and I am only half way up !! I think I should be able to make it up there within 20 minutes .... I hope ..... target time for me. I've been askign the missus if she wanted to join me but she keeps saying she'll rather take the elevator up. Tried to get her to join the New Paper Big Walk but she felt it was too hot to walk around. Anyways let's see how this climb goes and hopefully I get to the top.

Ice Kachang

I've been running up stairs the last week -- well actually only 3 times so far, as I signed myself up for the Vertical Marathon run up Westin all 73 floors of it, with 1300+ steps. So far I've managed something like 600+ steps and boy was it tough. Just hope the knees hold out to the end. I think it's cool to get up to the top of Westin.

I collected my goodie bag today for the run which would be held next week. They gave everything except the race chip (to record your time) and the bib number which they said will be given out on race day. After that we had dinner at Raffles and ordered the Ice Kachang for dessert. Now the thing about Ice Kachang for me and the missus is that we don't eat the Kachang -- don't ask how then it's Ice Kachang -- we both don't like the Kachang so we either eat it still or in most cases when we order Ice Kachang we take out or leave behind the Kachang. Here's what's left fo teh bowl after we've gone through it.

New Shoes

Recently bought my new pair of running shoes. Very similar to my previous pair, will need to break them in. A light pair of Nike Free.

Tampopo

Recently me and the missus had dinner at this Japanese Restaurant called Tampopo at Liang Court. It had this really cool conveyor belt system where you could order your sushi and it will be delivered to you direct from the conveyor belt to your table.

I thought the contraption was really cool when it gets to your table it will push the sushi out onto your table from the conveyor belt, so the sushi does not just go round and round on the belt.

The place was famous for it's Black Pig noodle which basically is pork from a blank pig !! It was not too bad, something unique but it does not look that.

 

Halloween

31st October is Halloween. It's not really a festival celebrated in these parts but my estate decided to have party. I guess it's one of the occasions where the kids get to wear a costume. There was a best dress contest, spooky party games and they even went treat or tricking around the homes. It's a little different I guess in a high rise. The organisers even decorated the lifts with spooky dim lights, 'cobwebs' and even a spider or two.

The lift which was decorated I think it's suppose to turn the lift into a cave.

'Cobwebs' and you can just make out the 'spider' on the web.

Super BUG !!

It all started at the beginning of the week. Was not really feeling too well. By mid-week I was having a cold and runny nose. Don't think I had any fever but the body ached and had this cold feeling everywhere. My tonsil's were exploding. Went to see the doc who gave me the standard antibiotics and this time he commented that the tonsil were really swollen, no fever yet and he suspected it's some viral infection which was beginning to set in. Got a day's MC to rest but actually did some work at home that day, cleared emails etc. The following day I felt terrible, the tongue felt like it was swollen and I felt like throwing up. drop by the docs and he said the tonsil are big and may have touch the tongue giving it the impression of being swollen. He gave me a gargle to try to bring the swelling down and told me to really rest after he found out I did not really rest the other day. He said, his mistake was not giving me 2 days MC and my mistake was not resting ! And he goes on about why doctors require people to rest and get well as soon as possible and how they disobey the orders and go to work and start spreading the germs around. Finally he gave me another 2 days MC. Got home and practically slept the whole day that day. The following day a rash appeared, but soon it disappeared, I think the viral infections is finally going away. Getting better now and almost back to full fitness except that the tongue and mouth just feels awful after taking so much antibiotics.

I'm One !!

Who would have believed it, the blog is ONE today, it's a year since I started this blog. It has been an experience and hopefully will be able to continue on. I have to say it has been an enjoyable experience, at times just had too much stuff to write about that there just was no time during my busy schedule to document them down. Other times just could not thing of anything interesting happening ha ha ....

Regular Exercise Active Lifestyle - 08

Regular Exercise Active Lifestyle or the New Balance REAL Run 2008 was held recently at Changi. I finally found out what the REAL in REAL stood for ha ha  ....

I went for my second REAL Run on Sunday. It was the run which allowed you to run on different terrains. It's held where they did the Changi Airshow. I got up bright an early around 4.45am to get the 5.45 shuttle from Toa Payoh to the run venue. I had a mild case of diarrhoea the previous night, I think it might have been something I had for breakfast the other day, was not feeling particularly upbeat. Anyway's got to the venue, the driver of the bus got lost and took a wrong turn but still we managed to get there around 6.30am. Had a quick change of clothes, did my check-in of my bags and some warmups and before you know it, it was almost 7am, the atmosphere was electrifying, really gets you in the mood for a run. The run starts at 7.30am for 10km, while the 15km runners start at 7.45am. The announcer started to call everyone to the start line, as I was making my way there they had these ladies going round giving out free samples of NEAT 3B (I think that's what it's called) it's to prevent abrasions and stuff, usually applied to the underarms, groin and for guys the nipple area while for ladies the bra area. One of the ladies (who incidentally also does the warmups, probably some aerobics instructor) came up to me to ask me to try some, there was a photographer with her and so just happen to have a picture taken with the lady. I tried the product but I think the race is short so don't think abrasions really come into play plus these days the clothing material is better and you don't get abrasions. I used to get them over long distances before but abrasions don't happen very often these days. Well to me anyway's. Well we did the warmup with the instructors and soon it was flag off time.

I don't know who flagged us of as I could not really hear the announcer and was too far away to see who it was but I think it might have been Mr Ho Peng Kee, but could be wrong. So the run started and this year they had a new route. It was a hot day and with the sun rising we set off into the sun. For the first 4km we were running on a dirt track with low shrubs by the side, fairly wide, hard sand but no shade. It was freaking HOT !! After that it was another 2 km of running on the road which basically was the access road to the Airshow area, it's a 6 lane road with no trees or shade. The sun was really HOT !! The next 1km was on a forest track and at least the only good thing about this section was there was some shade. We then turn to the beach and I had to practically squint my eyes as the glade was really bad. 1km of beach running in the open on soft sand with the sun beating down on you and reflected off the water, really test your mind and body. Finally the last 2 km consisted of the road again to the finishing line where we got onto the runway. Again no shade. It as a really killer of a run with the heat, no shade or cover and hardly any breeze. You would think a beach area would have some breeze but there was absolutely none that day. Last year after the run I could mingle around near the finishing area to watch the other runners come in but this year it was soooooooo hot that I just went into the hanger area to rest up. Most people did that too.

Well I was pleased with my time it was around 1hr 17mins or so but will wait for the official confirmation when they sent me my certificate. At least it was an improvement over last year's 1hr 20min+ timing. The run was a really killer, especially the beach and coming in stretch. Absolutely Hot Hot Hot !!

They gave out bananas at the end of the run. I collected my goodie bag with the T-Shirt and other freebies. Normally at these runs at the end NEAT also provides this leg massage service. Usually there is a long queue and I never bother to wait around, however this time when I came in there was less than 20 people in the queue so I decided to queue up. Waited for about 20 mins and I got my turn to get a rub down. Not too bad, at least got a free leg rub of my aching muscles. Took off my socks and was shocked to see a tan, so you know how hot it was. They had some entertainment and lucky draw stuff but I passed on those as I just wanted to get home. Took the 10am shuttle to the Pasir Ris MRT station, caught the train to Lavender before getting on a bus.

There is only 1 word to describe this year's run -- HOT !! -- my tights are still aching and this time round the stomach area hurts as well and I am not sure why that is. No pictures of the event as I was just too drained.

Run

Weekend will be going for the Real Run at Changi, the one run which I started last year and got be back into running. Havn't really been trainng due to work, but hopefully should get a better time than last year's. The only run where you get to run on different terrains including trakc, road, sand and even on a runway. I received my certificate also for the last run I went to which was the Bridge Run, 1 hr 12 mins for 10KM, best time this year for me. Let's see if I can break that 1 hr barrier. After this next month will try the Veritcal Run up Swissotel and finally end the year with the Standard Chartered Marathon, but I only run 10KM there, the missus still teases me about all the runs, getting her beauty sleep disturbed at 4am in the morning which is about when I most likely have to get up and prepare for the run. This weeks pickup point for me is at the Toa Payoh stadium, got to get an early night and hopefully after the run it will not be like last year where the whole bloody body aches !! Should be in better condition now ..... well I hope :)

Petrol Kiosk

The car was running low on Petrol and I decided to get some in today. When I was at the petrol kiosk, I was pleasantly surprised that I was just in time to get cheaper fuel as the kiosk attendants had just set the pumps to a lower price range. YES !! I am in time for some cheaper petrol. I went in and took a bottle of air freshen for the car as well. At the cashier counter there was a lady in front of me who was paying for her petrol and she turn to me and said "Cheap Petrol". Told her "yep we are just in time". I asked the cashier lady if there was any Parking Coupons as I needed some. She told me "No more stock". The lady in front of me heard that and said "Wah like that cannot park any more". She then offered me coupons if I needed some as she had spare in her car but I told her it's ok I have spares too. I got some other things at the Kiosk as well. Besides the Car Air Freshen, I took 2 boxes of Ribena (you get an umbrella), Now Car Air Freshen also comes with a free 'Mr Muscle' window cleaner, interesting wasn't that oh ya and the Singapore Sweep tickets as well :)

Servicing

Today I sent in my car for servicing, well actually it's not really time but I guess it has been more than 6 mths already so it'sbetter to get it serviced. Also had them polish and steam clean the engines as well as buff up the leather seats. All in about $400 for the servicing and grooming.

Car Decal ??

I caught this in a car park today a very unique Car Decal. Very patriotic with the Singapore Flag but the name and blood type which really makes it stand out on the window.

EEC

 

Eagle Eye Centre, EEC for short (well some of my office colleagues will probably have a different meaning to the abbreviation) was where me and the missus had our Lasik done. Recently they celebrated their 2nd Anniversary. With the release of Steven Spielberg's suspense thriller "Eagle Eye" what better way than to thank all their patients with an invitation to a private viewing of the movie.

It was held at GV Max at Vivocity. I've never been to GV Max before, it was my first time in there. Seating was on a first come first serve basis by the time we came about 80% of the seating was taken up. We got relatively ok seats, about 10 rows from the front. There was buffet dinner provided, it was not bad, a simple goodie bag was given out to all who attended. The theatre was huge, and the seating and leg room was very comfortable. The 3 doctors (one of which was an MP and another had just joined less than 2 weeks ago) from the centre gave an introduction of themselves and the centre, on how it started with 2 and 6 nursing staff to the present strength today of 3 doctors and 15 nursing staff.

Above is the welcome message and speech by one of the doctors in the theatre. The movie was excellent, I enjoyed it and so did the missus. All in a fun evening for us with a free dinner and movie.

It's been about 5 months now since our Lasik surgery. The missus is ok her correction was good. For me I still need some minor correction as there is still some degree which needs to be tuned. The eyes are not so dry now, we don't rely on the eye drops that often. But you can tell the old habits of adjusting your spectacles was still there every now and then you would flick your hand up to try to adjust the spectacle only to find out that there isn't any there now !!!

Day Out

It seems people just love getting out and shop even if the shops were not open ! Was having a day out with the missus and we started the day bright and early at Vivocity, it was only 9am and the shops were not yet open but the crowds were already there. I think most of them were there to get to Sentosa Island. Anyways we had breakfast and caught the early morning show Mama Mia, that really was a very entertaining show full house by the time we booked our seat only the first 4 rows left. Surprisingly lots of kids were watching the show and we had one little girl dancing in the isle as well during the movie that was cute. We did some shopping there was well.

Visited the Tampines area which had Ikea, Giant and Courts megamarts. It was my first time there and the place is huge, lots of stuff to look at we were shopping for some dining chairs as it's felt that the dining set needs a change. But alas nothing really stood out so did not really buy much.

Had dinner at Raffles Hotel's Tiffin Room. It was a buffet dinner mainly indian curries and other spicy stuff. It was enjoyable order the Singapore Sling. I've tried it a few times even on SQ flights, but the original is still the best. It just taste different from the others.

KFP is down

Finally completed my third game for the year - KFP or better known as Kung Fu Panda the XBox 360 game it is so similar to the movie if you have watched it.

Up Up and Away

Well it seems like everything is going up. Rice went up, Petrol went up. Electricity is going up too with an increas of 21% and even the daily papers will cost more. Cost of everything is rising, wonder when our pay will rise as well hhmmmmm.... Seems like the only thing going down is the Stock Market !

Singapore GP - wrap up

        

Some final pictures of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix. Let's start with the side events and other non-race related images.

Padang with the Suntec Area in the background.

  Old Supreme Court by night.

Below another night scene of the Singapore Skyline and one of the 'mod' cars on display.

Lamborgini's all parked in a row, another 6 more turned up later in the night, they were all parked at the Hotel.

F1 route sign of the F1 Park area.

Check our the different sets of types !

More on the support races coming up next.

  The Support Race Area, cars waiting to race.

CRASH out !!

Below more pictures of the Support races, in practice, qualifying and actual race, the support races all finish before dark, only the F1 cars were running the race under lights.

 

Finally some F1 action.

 

 

 

And last but not least me at the Races ........ at the Padang Grandstand and with my friend who was one of the volunteers there.

 

After 3 days at the races here are my top highs and lows of the event.

Low

1) Dropping my sunglasses and getting it trampled by the masses. I dropped my glasses as I was just about to keep them as the sun was going down and it slip from my hands as there was a mass of people walking in this very crowded and cramp walkway (see point 2 below) between the flyer and marina area and no fault of anyone it got stepped on.

2) Needs improvement on the movement of people especially at the area behind the Bay Grandstand, it is always crowded, but before the races it's not too bad it took me 10 min's to get to the flyer from Marina, but coming back when the race is about to start it took me more than half an hour and there were Police officer getting people to move still, in the end they had to open the emergency exit to get some flow going.

3) The high prices for food and drinks, especially for drinks since you need it and we could not bring in any bottled water.

4) The seats at the grandstands, they are just too small and too close to each other we were packed like sardines and they are not the most comfortable seats around.

5) Insufficient entry and exit gates which lead to the jams when the event was over, but it seems finally found out faster to get out of the area by the back through Raffles MRT area than from the front at City Hall.

High

1) Excellent idea to hold the race in the evening, it was so much cooler and there was a breeze blowing on all 3 days, partly I think due to the fact that we were near water.

2) The atmosphere, woo hooo...  it was outstanding and of course those ear plus really help keep your hearing. The F1 machines really make a huge amount of noise.

3) Side events were great to watch inbetween races. There was things to do and see everywhere.

4) Usher, Ticketing, Security and all the other volunteers -- never had a problem getting in as it was relatively fast and enough lanes, getting out was the big headache.

5) Getting to meet one of the drivers, Nakajima as he was going into the Paddock area. Must have been the highlight of the weekend for me.

Post F1 Race Pictures (Day 3)

Finally got the pictures out of my camera, not many shots from the last day since most of it I have already taken, and I had my video camera with me today to capture the F1 cars, something my camera could not do.

Above is a close up of the BMW's which were racing in the support race. They were in their holding area. The drivers were all in their vehicles waiting to go !

The Porshce Carrera Race, the drivers getting strapped in.

The cars all lined up and ready to go. They were the Porshce's.

And here he is Nakajima !! I was at the entrance to the Paddock area when in walked Nakajima, actually that's who I think he is since everyone was taking his pictures and asking for his autograph and he was very obliging even to pose for photographs. Since there is only 1 Japanese F1 driver I figured it's got to be him.

The Ferrari and McLaren fans, the Prancing Pony wasn't prancing for long !!

LOOK ELVIS LIVES !!

Drivers Parade before the start of the race. I think this is Alonso the eventual winner of the F1 GP in Singapore, he seemed amazed at that trophy when he got it.

And this if I am not mistaken is Nico Rosberg, the 2nd place finisher, pity Lewis Hamilton's picture did not come out nice too many people trying to get his picture.

Lets give a round of applause to the Safety Car !! It was busy on the night.

And this was the corner just after that bend to the left that the Ferrari crashed out in the dying laps of the race.