Parking Ticket

Ai yo yo ..... Got booked twice ya TWICE in 5 days for parking ticket offences.

First one was in town where I overstayed the time I tore on the parking coupon (that's $10). The second one was totally forgot to put any parking coupon (that's $30) and that was after I even saw the little 'aunty' walking around !! Can you beat that !! Super dumb !

Anyways it's not the fine that has me bugged it's the payment. Once in a while I get a ticket for these coupon offences either overstay or forgot to tear. So far before these 2 came along,I normally pay via the ATM, some banks allow that. The 2 tickets seem different one was white the other was green, have no idea why it's like that. So paid up with one at teh ATM but the green one I could not pay via the ATM as it keeps saying ticket number not found. On closer inspection seems I could pay at the AXS machines, and not via the ATMs.

Ok well and good. Found an AXS machine and selected payment, then my troubles started, it does not say anything on which option to choose or which government organisation to pay to. I figured URA since that was who I paid to in all my previous offences. INCORRECT TICKET NUMBER flashes before me. hhhhmmmmm .... maybe Traffic Police, up pops INCORRECT TICKET NUMBER message again. Well it has got to be LTA then --- worng --- another INCORRECT TICKET NUMBER pops up. Was wondering what else it could be and I decided to try HDB, low and behold it went through !! So after 4 tries I finally managed to pay off by fines and learn a few things as well. Green Tickets are payable to HDB, White ones to URA.

GSS and PC Show

It's that time of the year again where there is the Great Singapore Sale - GSS. I have to say I was impressed by this Boutique Manager from Raoul. There was a sale at the Raoul store and I decided to get a shirt, of course the missus was there to help with the design and colour, you know me totally clueless in that department. After we picked one the Manager came over and asked if she could help us. So I told her I was looking for my size for that particular design and wanted a 16 half which was what I am used to wearing. Immediately she took one look at me and told me, no the 16 will fit you fine and off she goes to get the size 16 for me, came back I tried it on and it fit perfectly !! Outstanding !! unless of course it was a wild guess from her, but I don't think so only with years and years of experience would you be able to tell the shirt size of a customer just by looking at them. Impressive, most impressive.

PC show was on during the weekend. Some friends took the Friday off and went .... WITHOUT ME !! ..... but this year was a little busy on Saturday and was not sure if I could make it on Sunday. I managed to get some time on Sunday to pop down to Suntec, MAN !! was it crowded or what !! It's like some major security operation at Suntec, don't think it was that tight even during the WTO meetings. They close off the carparks and this is at around noon time ONLY. Could not park in there, most other parking areas was full. In the end I made my way to Millenia where there was still a fair amount of parkign lots. Short walk to Suntec. As usual there were lots of bargains to be had. I think it being the last day they really pile on the freebies and discounts. Got me my external harddrive, an MP3 / movie / picture 'Zen' player from Creative and of course some XBox 360 games including the newly released Kung Fu Panda !! woo hooo ... great movie hopefully an entertaining game as well, the missus would like it. But I have to say the organisers really did a good job so much more walking space.

KFP

Wow, if you ever have to catch just one movie for the year, (well besides The Clone Wars coming in Aug) it has got to be KFP - Kung Fu Panda. Absolutely hilarious movie. I caught it over the weekend and I have to say it was really funny and an enjoyable movie. Went with the niece and nephew and they did really enjoy themselves. This really is a family movie, bring's out the kid in you. I mean Indiana Jones was a little bit of a let down, somehow this installment wasn't as great as the other 3. Still prefer the one where Sean Connery was Indy's Dad. I enjoyed that movie. Just like the Empire Strikes Back is my favourite Star Wars movie. The other movies I caught this year were nothing special, have to see how Hulk turns out but I think this one is going to be a let down as well going by the trailers. There's Batman as well coming soon I believe and the much anticipated Clone Wars is something I am really llooking forward to.

Anyways Kung Fu Panda is about ........... spoiler alert !!!

Well it's about this Panda named Po who dreams of being a Kung Fu warrior but his father wants him to take over the family business. (see the movie to find out what that is) You have the group of potential heores all voiced by big name stars like Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu. You have the big bad guy who returns and only the Dragon Warrior can best him. Po gets chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, learns to be a Kung Fu fighter, gets the Dragon Scroll learns it's secret with a little help from his father and saves the village from the big bad enemy. Of course in the process of his journey to be a great warrior, there are the hilarious moments.

Tennis

Had my first game of Tennis for the century. I think the last time I picked up the racket was in the last century. Booked the court for an hour and went down to play. Had my sunglasses on as the sunlight was not good for my eyes at the moment, it's still sensitive, extra precaution to wear a cap as well. Had my wrist band on as well. In the end I think I look like a bloody 'gay' tennis player. Half an hour of running around the court and I am pooped !! Really exhausting workout. Body is aching again after that. It's really time to get back into shape.

The PAIN .....

wah liao, never felt to sore after a race before. legs really sore, backside sore, head sore, every where pain pain pain, thank goodness for elevators, don't think can walk up stairs today. Really out of shape, time to get back into shape. Pear's a shape.

PAssion Run & BM aka 2 Lions

Today's the day for the PAssion Run which I entered the 10KM route. It was held at East Coast. Start point was at the Food Centre all the way to the former Big Splash and back and if you are in the 15km to Changi Jetty as well. Or if you were in the Fun Run of 5KM you just turn at the MacDonald's area I think.

Anyways, as usual, I prepared the number tags and gear the night before. Got up at 5am and made my way down to East Coast. I forgot about the crowds as there was a jam, in the end there was no parking and I had to park a fair distance away. Walked to the start point and by the time I got there the first wave of runners were gone at 6.30am at least they started on time. and in every 15 min interval they release some runners. I think that's great as it does not lead to overcrowding at the start. Mine starts at 7.30am Had time to checkout the events and what was on show as well as do some warm up.

7.30am came and we were flagged off by Dr Fatimah. I actually expected the run to be cooling as it's near the beach but for some reason there was no breeze at that time. It got really hot and humid but at least it did not rain and the sun was bearable with lots of shade from the trees. Interestingly they had cheer squads along the way and even had students holding signs encouraging you on with 'words of wisdom' I can't remember any of what was on the signs, guess too shack out even at the start.

Things I learn from the run :

• Some signs like 'Water Point 100m ahead' seem like 100KM ahead, they never seem to come.
• First time running without my glasses, felt a little strange.
• Very cool the cheer squads with their clappers and face paint and signs.
• Never run at the beach, the smell of BBQ just makes you hungry !! (bump into some friends from my former church who were having a BBQ, just managed to say hi)

Well I finished around the 1hr 20 min mark a little disappointing for me. I thought I could be a little faster but the legs really felt heavy today I only felt comfortable around the 6/7km mark and that was when I got into a rhythm. So I finished the race, got my goodie bag and headed for the rest area. Saw some of the exhibits on display. Caught performances by Fitness First some body jam or body combat or body workout thing, had those fancy kick boxing moves and kung fu action. (which reminds me, got to get tickets to watch Kung Fu Panda) This was followed by a cheerleading group from NTU I think and from their performance, I learn that you should not do cheerleading under a tent, the first throw and I think the ladies almost hit the roof of the tentage. Stayed back for the prize presentation (presented by SM Goh) and then the lucky draw. Well did not win anything. So that ends the first run of the year, on to the next one.

Balestier Market

There's a new eating place in Balestier where the old Balestier Market was situated. I call it the 2 Lions as there are 2 stone statutes of Lions in the front. It's billed as a 24 hr food join with over 80 varieties of food. They had an opening special today dishes going for $2, and you can get can drinks for $0.50. Me and the missus decided to try the food there. Not a bad place to be, it was corwded but we could find places to sit and have our lunch. We had Wan Ton Mee for $2 and Carrot Cake for $2. I think it's a one day special only.

Halfway There

Finally took some time to complete the last few levels for Mechassault 2 on my XBox. Ya it's an old game but I like it. That's 2 down and 2 more to go to complete my resolutions.

Currently playing around with Spiderman 3, Simpsons, PGR 4, DOA 4 & Lego Star Wars.

Side Effect

hhhhmmmmm ..... just reaslised that after my Lasik without my glasses there is no more hiding by taking off your glasses during scary parts of a movie !! It used to be when there is a scary part in a movie just lift up the glasses and wah lah everything is blur and you don't really see what is going on. I was home alone today got back late, decided to rest up a bit, watched the news and then wanted to have a shower but saw that Supernatural was on so just decided to catch the starting before going to shower. Damn it was scary and there is like nowhere to hide, after that just sat there, change channels and waited for the missus to get bck before going off anywhere even had to hold the pee in. :)

PAssion Run

Collected my running tag for next weeks PAssion Run, huge crowd yesterday at Velocity to collect the tags but today it was better no long queues.

First run of the year for me, but haven't really been training for it since I went for my holiday and after the Lasik, still not recovered fully yet, but it's going to be a run which for the first time, I will not need to wear glasses. There's that timing chip as well and it will be the first time running at East Coast Park since my college days when I was in VJC. I happen to sign up for the Wave Run as well as I was at vivocity recently and saw the ad for it, that's in July. With the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) already in full swing, there are a lot of sales going on and the problem is I can't really make out the price tags yet. Looks like my eyes are taking longer to heal than the missus, she's perfectly fine now and back to work. I am still contemplating the Bay Run (what was previously called the Shearer's Bridge Run) looking at the half marathon 21km for that as the route takes you across the Marina Barrage, that should be interesting. But that's in August so looks like there's a run once a month now, hopefully the eyes can focus better by the end of this week.