Looking Back

It’s that time of year again where its time to look back at what has happen in the year and where did my resolutions go …… Bad year for resolutions ha ha …

The year started as it ended, with the arrival of the twins back home from the hospital. The household definitely got crowded this year, we had a helper in for the babies and then it was the confinement nanny for 1 month. The first quarter was pretty hectic mainly around the kids. Getting their baptism done, 1st month celebration, doctor’s appointments and check ups, grocery shopping for baby food and diapers. Second quarter was mainly on the mom, the missus went back to work, and she got baptised as well, that was another celebration event. The 3rd quarter was when we decided we needed a little more help and got another helper. It was also the time where I rented a little box shop to put my trading cards up for sale. The 4th quarter was again the preparation for the kids first birthday and more visits to the doctors and I ran my first Marathon. So that was the year in summary for me.

Resolution wise not a good year of the 5 I think this year only hit 2 targets.
1) Baptism of the twins well that was pretty quick and necessary so we got that done.
2) Ran the Marathon and complete it well I finally got the courage to run one and completed it although not the best of timings I had hope for.
3), 4) and 5) on my Cataloging, Gaming and Toys …. well I think it looks like I have to go for another year of it.

Off to enjoy the final last few hours of the year … HAPPY NEW YEAR

TRON

Got to watch probably the last movie for the year for me. TRON Legacy, a movie I did not want to miss. I had watch the original TRON movie way way way back in the 80s and I had loved that movie, as a kid it was one of my all time favourites, together with the Star Wars movies. The Light Bikes were really awesome then and they still are now. That was like one of the defining moments of the original TRON movie. So what's in store for 2011 looks like more comic related movies are coming out including Thor (6 May), X-Men First Class (3 June), Green Lantern (17 June) and Captain America (22 July -- why this not on the 4th of July week beats me). The final chapter of Harry Potter (15 July) is another movie I look forward to since I saw the first one and there are bound to be cinema's that will show the full part 1 & 2 together again. There is also the following which I am looking forward to Pirates of the Carribean : On Stranger Tides (May 20), Kungfu Panda 2 (May 27) and Transformers : Dark of the Moon (July 1)

Boxing Day

Has been a busy few days. A little late but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone

The kids first real Christmas home and they did enjoy themselves although they did not know what was really happening. They just love getting the presents …. well I think they like the wrappings more than the gifts themselves. Forgo Christmas Eve mass this year and went on Christmas Day instead. Kids stayed up late .. for once .. but got them home before 10pm to get them into bed. (They usually sleep at 8pm)

The thing about the presents was strangely and probably a good thing, No twiney type of presents ha ha … they each got different gifts guess it gets a little difficult for family and friends to get them matching stuff when they are a boy and girl.

Well I need some rest now. Time to get back to bed for a bit before they wake up from their nap.

We Are One

Recently celebrated the twins turning one. Had a small little party for family and some friends.We got the Sesame Street cake from Patisserie, catering from Lavish Dine and Studio shots from Studio Loft. I had a photo for each of their first 12 months which with some photoshop touch up, A4 printing and lamination came out quite well and it was displayed on the walk for everyone to see their 12 months journey. The missus wanted to have a family dress code so new clothes and shoes were bought for the kids and Daddy and Mummy had to follow quit with matching outfits. Took too many photos to put them all up so here are just a very very small few.

 

Sesame Street

Went with the kids to catch the Sesame Street play at Plaza Singapura as they like Elmo. However the boy was more interested in sleeping. I guess he was tired out that day. However my little girl was total engross with the show and she definitely loved it. The show was short just 15 minutes only. But still I think she was excited to see Elmo.

STGCC

Singapore Toy Game Comic Convention – STGCC was held recently at the Suntec Convention centre. It was a paid entry but I had joined a tournament and it gave out free tickets to the event. I total stunk at the tourney but I guess the important thing was to get in and look around. There were a lot of stuff to see, in the end I got some toys and a few comics which were autographed by the writers and artist. A lot of anima and manga characters were about I guess the best looking ones were these 2 below.

So many things to see and so little time. The exhibit that I really love was the Star Wars 501st which were there in full force (pun intended) they even had a baby in ewok costume !! You could take photos with them. At their booth they also had this awesome display. A Hoth battle lego recreation and the Rebel Hoth Base with toys. they were totally so cool !!

There was this life size Simpson family as well which I though was cool.

Post Ponderings

The Marathon was a real experience. There were a few moments to savour. Here’s some of my thoughts on the run.

Banana
One of the things I learn from the race was that I finally learned how to eat and run. When I had picked up my banana at the banana station, I actually could run and eat at the same time. It was a first for me. ha ha ….

Deep Heat Rubs
I also realised that Deep Heat rubs were the way to go as it helps with the cramps and keep the muscles loose, but along the route I only used my left hand to apply the rub as I wanted to keep my right free to wipe the sweat off my face. Did not want to accidentally sting my eye if I had rub my face with it. Had to use the water to wash it off but what I could not understand about the Deep Heat rubs was people who actually were rubbing their legs like the cream was some sun-tan oil they practically had white legs after that. Don’t get it that they actually used so much !!!

Cap
I might just run with a cap the next time as the heat of the sub was really scorching how hot was it well I got a T-Shirt tan running in the heat. It was really bad !!


Gel
The body gel that I used really worked wonders I had no chaffing or abrasions. I even put some on my toes. I had applied it generously this round and I think the after the experience last year where I got abrasions on my body the money spent on the gel was well worth it.

Water Points
Wow the water points near the end were not so much water points but “paper mud points“ as at the later stages people really needed to hydrate and would stop and drink and throw the cups around and also they would pour water over their arms and head as it was hot. Soon the entire area was just a mess of soggy paper !!, Got my socks wet there as well with all the water people were splashing around.

Massages
I think it’s a good idea to have a massage at the end of your run or at least a day after. The Hotel where we stayed was fully book and I could only get a massage (paid for by my missus as a gift for completing the run) on the next day and I think it helps with the recovery.
So those were my thoughts on the run and at the end I guess my pride and joy was to get the finisher’s T-Shirt. YEAH !!!

SCM Singapore

Well it’s that time of the year again, I had signed up for the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) this is my 3rd year and after trying the 10K and the Half the last 2 years, it was time for me to tackle the FULL Marathon, all 42.195KM of it. I had collected my bib number 2 weeks ago and here’s a picture of it with the race route.

This year it would be a kind of stay-cation holiday for the family. We checked into Westin Stamford and got 3 rooms for 2 nights, I figured I would be too tired to check out on the same day. The hotel was fully booked, as we were checking in there were at least 3 other groups checking in who were there for the race. Got a nice high floor and one which overlooked the Padang and the day before the race could see that they had set up everything and were putting the finishing touches to the area.

It was 3am when I woke up, did my pre-run checks, got all my gear checked took my breakfast, got my isotonic drink and the most important part was to gel down my body to prevent chaffing and blisters. This year they had a novel idea where the races started at different timings and routes, the Full started in Orchard Road, the Half at Sentosa and the rest were at the Padang. So I took a slow walk to Orchard Road and there were many people heading that way as well. Seems the hotels around the Padang were fully booked too.

There was a party atmosphere at Orchard. By the time I got there it was almost 4.15am and the race was starting at 5am. Just enough time for a quick warm up and I was ready for the start. The race flagged off at  5am sharp and there was a LOT of people there. 20,000 runners from what was reported. It took me about 2 to 3 minutes before I even got to the start line and then it was off down Orchard Road, it was a bit tight as they did not full closed the entire road just 3 lanes and it was an experience running down Orchard under the Christmas Lights. We turn off into the Chinatown area and that was where it got really tight as it became 2 lane, Ran through the business district and back to the Padang area and up on Nicoll Highway which was better as it opened up I enjoyed running that bit. The 10K mark came up and from the results that were posted after the race I was going at 7min 36 sec per km pace, a little fast I think but still under 8 mins. or about 1 hr 20 min for that 10K.

The East Coast Park run was a long long long straight run before we turn back and headed down the same long long long straight again. The turn was also where the half way point was and by that time I had slowed down to 7min 59sec per km pace basically still managed to hold around 1 hr 20 mins. The 23km mark was tough as could feel my legs were cramping but luckily there were those deep heat stations along the way and I basically used as much as I could along with the water stations and the banana stations and the energy gel stations. The 30k mark was around the Marina Golf course, I had slowed to 9min 40 sec per km pace which was about 1 hr 30 min.

The last 10k stretch was a real killer, it was at the Marina Golf Course and the Marina Barrage and then onto the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and down to the Marina promenade before heading to the Padang. ABSOLUTELY shadeless !! The heat of the day really got to you and there were a few casualties as at least 3 ambulances were racing around the course at that point. I had slowed to a 2 minute run, 10 minute walk pace. It was absolutely HOT HOT HOT !!! Most people walked as well and by the time we hit Benjamin sheares bridge practically everyone was walking up except for a few brave souls who still tried to jog up (less than 10 people I think were running up while I was there) In the end I was managing a 10 min 3 sec pace which was about 2 hrs to complete that last stretch.

At the end it was really exhausting and it was really tough just to job over the finishing line. But I completed my first Marathon in a Gun time of 6 hrs 16 mins 31 secs. (my chip time was 6 hrs 13 mins 24 secs) I was really pleased that I completed the entire course. Although I walked most of the last 10K. Well more thoughts on the Marathon later.

Pre Marathon

It's just 3 days to the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010. I had signed up for the Full Marathon this year. It will be my first try at it. I have never run a full marathon before (42.124km) In the course of the year the other runs I have attended, when you walk among the runners the conversation usually comes to "are you running in the stan chart marathon this year" most people are as its something on most runners calendar and most try the half and you hear the reason they give for not running full is that they are afraid. I hear that a lot especially at the runs nearer the year end. I too am a little apprehensive if I can actually complete the full distance but I kind of have a plan for the run. It's basically to take it slow at the start and get into a rhythm and hopefully get to the end around the 6 hour mark. Well that's my aim anyway. I will be have certain markers along the way and I am planning to carry some energy gel as well to sustain me over the course.

Plan is to start slow.

- 5 km will be my first marker as it's to say woohooo ... first 5K done.

- 8 km is the next marker as that is where I usually will feel warm up and comfortable.

- 10 km is next to remind me that QUARTER of the distance is over.

- 12 - 15 km will be where I take my 1st Energy Gel

- 21 km the HALF WAY POINT woo hooo

- 22 -25 km will be where I take my 2nd Energy Gel

- 26 km this will be the marker that I have run the longest this year, as I completed a 25k this year.

- 30 km the THREE QUARTER point and this will be the mark where I have run the furthest EVER in my life I did complete a 3/4 marathon something like 20 years ago.

- 32 - 34 km will be where I take my 3rd Energy Gel

- 35 km just 5 more to go .....

- 40 km just 1 more km to go  ......

- 41.124 km FINISH !!!

I will be hitting all the drink stations, banana stations, gel stations and even the heat rub stations. Guess the 3 biggest things I worry about are (i) Cramps (ii) My knees holding out and (iii) Chaffing and Blisters. Well that’s the plan anyways.

Missing Photograph

You know how sometimes you take pictures when you are at a restaurant and then ages later you download them from your handphone and you can’t remember what that picture was or where it was taken. well it happen to me and I finally found out where I took the picture and where. Here’s the Jedi Mudster !! a really awesome dessert !!

Day at the Zoo

Went to the Zoo recently with the family. What a start to the trip, as soon as we left the house I forgot my handphone and then the misses forgot the keys and then the helper forgot the kids pacifier so even before I could get 1 km away I had to make 3 loops, but lucky it was near the house that we forgot all these things. So we arrived at the Singapore Zoological Gardens at around 11am. We decided to head towards the White Tiger enclosure. But then found out that it was under renovation so that was that. had our lunch break at the Ah Meng Cafe, which was Nigel’s favourite place. He was not too keen on the animals in the zoo. Don’t seem to be very interested slept along the way even. We got to see the Australian outback, some crocodiles and lots of birds. We also managed to get to the wild cats area for the lions and cheetahs. But the place where we spent most of our time was at the Monkey exhibits, that was Natalie’s favourite place, she literally went ape (pun intended) over the monkeys, kept point and making all the little baby noises. All the other animals did not strike her fancy except for the monkeys. We did not managed to get far did not even get to the children’s animal area as the sky was getting dark and it was about 3pm and the kids were getting tired so we left the zoo.

A Very colourful picture of 2 parrots.

Another bird photo, i think it’s a crane or something.

Even more bird pictures, this one was a bird picking in a hole on a Rhino’s back !!

 

A Kangaroo in the Australian outback section. Went with little Natalie to view this as Nigel was sleeping !

Does this look fake to you, well it does too me but it’s a real Crocodile basking in the sun.

Something right out of Discovery Channel’s Meerkat Manor !!

A family picture of the missus with the 2 kids in their strollers.

Here’s the gang walking in the Zoo.

And the missus with the Monkey that was just walking along the railings. Kept asking her to get closer but she dare not !

Natalie’s favourite exhibit the Monkeys and here are the Orang Utan’s playing.

 

As you can see little Natalie is so engrossed with the Monkey’s !!! She was absolutely fascinated by them.

More monkey’s we stay at this enclosure for a while for the little girl to get her fill of what the monkey’s were doing.

One of the great things about the Singapore zoo is that they have this open concept of enclosing the animals and they use natural barriers and some even no barriers. As in this case this was an Orang Utan taken from below, meaning we were actually walking under it and it could at any time just swing down and land beside you !

  

Images of some monkey’s fighting which ended with one of them falling into the pond.

My favourite sign on what a women is worth ha ha ….

PACMAN

Wow .. 3rd post of the day, I think this is the first time I ever submitted 3 post in a day. But its catch up time I guess. Anyway, watched the Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito Boxing match this morning. Actually I did not even knew about the match until Friday when I wanted to cancel my Starhub Sports channel and they had this on their phone log which was an interesting marketing ploy. So I finally got to see the “pacman” in action live ! They had a few smaller fights before the main event. So Let’s Get Ready to Rumble ….. as the announcer said. After all that hype and even when Manny was smaller, lighter, had less reach, it was still a one sided affair, it was all Manny from start to finish. Margarito had a cut below his right eye and both his eyes were almost swollen shut, many times either the doctor or referee had to check that he could see before continuing the fight. It was really one sided and even in the 10th round there was a time where not only the announcers were hoping the ref would stop the fight but after a flurry of blows, Manny looked to the ref with that why don’t you stop the fight look. In the end Margarito hanged in there till the end and made it to the 12th round. The Pacman won and he has 8 titles now to his name outstanding fight !

MacRitchie, Monkeys and Medics

Went for one of the last long runs at MacRitchie over the weekend. It was an unusually crowded day. I think a lot of people were out and about as the weather was pretty cooling. The missus and the kids joined me as they wanted to see the Monkeys at MacRitchie. I took the loop track round the reservoir, along the track at the back as I was running in, came across a small scene where someone had fainted or had heat stroke. A lot of people were gathering round him, he was about a kilometre from the exit of the track. The guy was just lying there and people were trying to make him comfortable, he was not moving from what I see, someone had already called for help it seems. As I continued on my way, came across the paramedic's, all 3 of them, quite poor thing they had to track in all the way to get to him with their gear, and they had parked their ambulance at the cafe area, so basically they had to trek up the slope, walk round the back area where the kayaks were and then head into the track for 1 kilometre or so. They look exhausted. At the cafe area where I went to meet the missus, there was a patrol car and 2 policemen were making their way in and asking for directions, I told them where the guy was. Soon a Red Rhino could be seen and heard. I have no idea why they decided to park the vehicle at the other end of the compound in the car park when the ambulance and police cars were parked near the cafe area. I think they were walking all over the place and was lost. Finally they came to the cafe got the correct directions and made their way in. The really puzzling thing was I think they knew that a person had fainted or something like that but the 4 SCDF personnel who went in did not seem to carry anything except one of them was carrying a portable fire extinguisher, a small one not those big ones. I still can't figure out what he wanted to do with that !!

Well in the end the Monkeys did not really make their appearance just some small ones and they were quite far off, it was disappointing for the family. So we took a drive to Pierce Reservoir where there was sure to be Monkeys. Nigel was fascinated with them. Little Natalie on the other hand went to sleep and was not really into the Monkey Business.

Halloween 2010

This update is a long time coming but finally getting round to updating the blog. We had a small party over Halloween (Oct 31st) with some friends and relatives. I bought for my 2 little ones Star Wars outfits, the little boy was Darth Vader and the little girl was Princess Leia. The outfit for the girl was a little big but luckily we could fold it and she looked adorable in it with the 2 'Leia' hair buns. The Boy really did not like his helmet and kept flicking it off, although it was made of cloth. The Vader costume came with cape and helmet and I got him a glow-in-the-dark sword to act as a lightsaber but he got a little hot in his costume and had to change out.

 

The party started in the afternoon, we had friends come over to help decorate and prepare the goodie bags of sweats. Food was catered, great food incidentally I think it was from Mum's Kitchen, the missus did the ordering. Oh she came in her big grey 'Rat' hat costume, but she keeps insisting that it's a chinchilla but I think it's a big floppy ear rat.

The kids all came dressed up as witches and pumpkins which seem to be the 2 most common characters. We even had a werewolf. The parents did their bit in dressing up as well. Some came with outfits bought overseas !!

There was even a Pinata and all the kids had a good time whacking it and it finally broke there goes Barney’s head and the kids all rushed in to grab the sweets. Poor Barney lost his Head and no one bothered about him !!

kids in costume VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

More sweets were given out and in the end I think all the kids went home with sweets to last them the entire year. My little ones even had their own baby juice since they could not eat the candies.

Baby T

Visited the doctor again as little boy has a cough and runny nose. It was crowded and we had to wait a while to get to see the doctor. Finally it was our turn and the doctor got to see both of the kids. Little girls got sensitive sick which react quite badly when she gets an insect bite, it inflames quite a bit and the doctor decided to give her some cream to help out. She has gained weight and is now almost 9kg (she was weighed in at 8.9kg) She was at the 70th percentile for her age group but as she was born premature the doctor took the corrected age and she would have been in the 80th percentile.

Little boy on the other hand is a whopping 11kg. Hitting the 95th percentile and I think if they did the corrected age check he probably would have gone off the charts !! I could just imagine the doctor saying “ my charts not big enough to plot this “. Anyway the doctor checked his lungs and throat, lungs were ok the wheezing seems to be coming from his throat and not the lungs. A further check on his throat revealed that he has Baby Tonsils !! Well just like the daddy he seems to have tonsil as well. Doctor gave him some medication for his cough and the runny nose and we left the clinic. He seems to get sick quite often poor little kiddy.

RIP – Captain Phil

I finally got to watch the episode from Deadliest Catch where they had the death of Captain Phil. I knew that he had passed on early in the year as it was at CatchCon where they paid a tribute to him, but I had yet to see the episode about his passing which was shown on Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch (which is one of my favourites shows, the others being Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and Man vs Wild) It finally came round and it was such a sad episode from his collapse on his fishing vessel, to him being rushed to Anchorage and the surgery, his recovery and finally his relapse and death. They even showed his funeral and I think he was cremated and his ashes put into a Harley Davidson gas tank. It was painted red and has his face on it. Very touching when his sons laid him to rest.

 

There was even a part where the other boats got a pod and put a bouy with his name and some dedication and put the whole thing into the pod and let it drop into the sea in his remembrance and at the same time the ships bell was sound, very touching.

Water Babies

Went swimming with the little ones recently. It was their 2nd time at the pool They did not like it previously but we figured it’s been a while now and maybe they will like it. AND THEY DID !!

Here’s little Natalie, splashing away with her Rubber Ducky. she knows how to say DUCK now.

Nigel on the other hand likes to sit in his float. It’s just a little big for Natalie but just nice for him and he likes to get to the edges as he can stand then. His feet just touches the floor of the baby pool currently. He is quite lazy just wants to sit in the float and get people to push him around refuses to do anything. Unlike his sister who kept splash away when she got into the water until we had to keep taking her out to dry her face.

REAL Run Roundup

Went for my yearly REAL Run, it’s so far the only run which I have participated in for the last 4 years straight. Twine running the 10K and twice including this year running the 15K. This will be my 6th event for the year. was suppose to stop at 6 but then I added in the Tour de Trail run recently which will take my tally for runs this year to 7. The final one will be in the year end Standard Chartered event. As usual the REAL run was held at the Changi Exhibition Centre. I bought my $3 bus ticket to get that. (Its one of the things I like about this run they have island wide pickup service) It’s also the run where you get your goodie bag on the day itself and not before. As with my other runs this year, I have my number tag capture.

I took the 5.15am shuttle to get there. Arrived around 6pm which gave me enough time to change, deposit my bag and warm up. The race started at 7am, It was not a very hot day, a little cloudy but still humid. The flag off was done at 7am sharp which was great as did not have to wait around too long. I did the 15K last year in a net time of 1hr 53 mins. I knew I could better this time this year. It started off a little more crowded than usual but I think there were same number of runners but it felt more crowded. Ran through the bush before going onto the road stage. The 9K mark came up for me on the hour. Which was a 6 to 7 min per kilo pace. A little fast actually but it felt good once I hit the 5K mark and was running quite well. Then it really started to get crowded as the 10 and 15K runners converged onto the path and beach. Most people start walking once they hit the beach as the sand is not something that is easy to run on. I plodded on in the sand. Alas my race basically ended at the 12.5K mark just as I was hitting the road after the beach. I think the run on the beach put too much strain on the legs. I felt my right calf muscle pull once, 2 steps later it pull again and that was when I decided to stop and walk. The last 2.5K was the longest ever. With walks and slow jogs as I did not want the leg to lock up on me, definitely did not want to arrive at the end in an ambulance. I did managed to get to the end and as I was approaching the last 100m I could see the clock at 1hr 59mins and 30secs, put on a little faster jog and I think I managed to just get under 2hrs. Not one of my best runs but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I really like this year’s medal as it’s gold in colour. They gave out the same T-Shirt and Bag which is normal every year. Just colour changes only. Now its to prep for the year end Marathon.

 

Mighty Miners’s

This week saw the rescue of the 33 Chilean miner’s from their underground home which they shared for the last 2+months. I was really fascinated with the rescue bits and what they did. I think the 3 things that really caught my eye were (a) That Capsule which they so appropriately named the Phoenix would make a great capsule in those fun fair merry-go-round thingy. (b) I would love to get my hands on that liquid food that they gave the miners to make them not get dizzy or vomit on the ride up. I;m sure it would help with my sea and air sickness. (c) The other thing from NASA that really caught my eye were those special underwear that they gave the men which was used on space flights. Keeps fresh for days, I would really love to get my hands on it then no need to change for months woo hoo. Been hinting to the missus to get me one for Christmas.

Well I’m just glad the miner’s are safe. Well Done to the men and women who got them out.

Retrolicious turns out to be Retroridiculous

We got some discounted tickets to watch the Retrolicious concert at Fort Canning Park. The missus was pretty excited as she had wanted to go watch it. They were bringing in 3 acts – Johnny Hate Jazz, Debbie Gidson and Rick Ashley.

We arrived around 7.30 as the concert was suppose to start at 8pm. Actually we were there around 7pm but there was a massive jam and parking around the area was all taken up. In the end we parked at the Concorde Hotel and walked over to Fort Canning. by the time it was already 7.30pm and there was this MASSIVE and I mean MASSIVE queue to get in. It snake for like forever, from the gates it went up the slope, round a carpark, up more slope, curve round a u-tun point, goes back down the slope, makes another turn round another carpark and down some more to where the main road was to be. Since it was a queue we joined in and actually there were like more and more people joining the queue. Had no idea what was holding this up seems they were tagging people as they entered and that caused this massive queue. As expected the missus got a little frustrated and started complaining. Well actually everyone in the queue was complaining. By 8pm we were still in the queue and heading up the slope (still have to loop the loop and head down) There was pratically no security people cut queue and they were still selling tickets to gain entry to the event. Finally I think someone decided enough was enough and started allowing people in with out restriction as long as you had a ticket. But by that time it was 8.45 before we got in. Queuing for over an hour !!

They also got the show going then so we did not miss much. Johnny Hate Jazz came on for an hour or so. They changed the instruments after their performance, which took another 20 minutes or so. Debbie Gibson came on and did her stuff for an hour before the really star of the show Rick Ashley came on. Overall I think the show was great, the queue was terrible but the show was good. When we entered we moved over to the other side where there was enough room to move around and all that and not too crampy. The show stretched over to way pass midnight. By the time we got back it was almost 2am before we hit the sack.

So how were these 80s singer’s now. Well Johnny Hate Jazz you can tell they have aged and the voice has changed somewhat. Debbie Gidson, just imagine a 40 year old Gidson with a 20 year old voice, that’s her high pitch voice never seems to change. As for Rick Ashley, don’t think he has changed a bit in all the 20 years since he appeared. The look and voice still the same, he can’t move on stage still :)

First Panorama

Over the weekend, my little boy was running a fever and he vomitted his food, so we had to sent him to see the doctor. There were a lot of kids getting sick that day. We arrived around 11am and registered him but was told to come back later at 2.30pm as the doctor would be free only then to see us. So we went for lunch and got back at around 2.15pm we waited for my little boy's turn and while I was in the waiting room I started to fiddle with my handphone's camera. There was a setting for panorama view and I tried that. It actually took 8 shots at around a 180 degree angle and below was what I got. The doctor saw our boy at around 2.45pm and got some medicine for his fever and vomitting. Took a urine sample which came ou fine and we later found out that his upper 2 front teeth were growing and that could have caused the fever. He is well now.

Heart Rate Monitor

I tried out my new Heart Rate Monitor which I got recently as a goodie bag item. It came with a watch and a strap. It’s one of those cheap China brand models - JS-711 can’t really ask too much since it was free. Got it at the Tour de Trail run which was a 10.5km run (which I completed in 1hr 12 min) through the forest of MacRitchie.

 

I had to strap on the strap above, did some adjustment to it but it still felt pretty tight. I’m not sure but it feels like I’m wearing a bra or something, not saying that I have used one before. It needed to get used to having that thing strap across your chest. It actually worked and I could see my heart rate and percentage on the watch. It beeps when I am over or under the target I think, not really sure what values to set so I just followed what the manual put, probably wrong figures ha ha … anyway at least the good thing was that it showed my heart rate and at the end once I got it down to my normal rate I knew I had warm down enough and could go home. Another good thing was my other watch strap just broke on the day that I tried the Heart Rate Monitor so the watch that came with it double up as my running watch and time keeper as well.

National Stadium – finally ……

The time has finally come. The National Stadium will be torn down after a 3 year delay it’s finally happening … its the start of the end.

The National Stadium holds fond memories for me. My earliest recollection of it was during the Malaysia Cup days when Singapore played any visiting Malaysian team. Some of the more popular matches, my dad would get us tickets and the whole family including my mum would go. We had to reach there early to get a good spot and usually we left just before the end to ‘escape’ the mad rush after the final whistle. It was more of a family picnic my mum would make sandwiches or hot dogs and my dad would get the balloons, sometime my uncle would join us. I really love those balloons, it was the long kind usually had stripes on it and you inserted the ‘whistle’ part at the end and when you let it go it would launch with that  wheeeeeeeee sound. It was my first encounter with the National Stadium and football in general the great nicknames of the footballers like Camel, Gelek King, Banana Kick, Spiderman, Crazy Horse etc. were all familar to me. When it rain you used newspaper to cover your head or if you are lucky you would have your umbrella with you. No one can forget the Kallang Roar (and later the Kallang wave) and the most famous 3 words …. “Drinks, Kachang, Keropok”. In my later years during my secondary school days, it was where the Sports Day would be held and I guess I had the opportunity to at least run on the track. My National Service days saw me training there for formation runs and relays. When I started working, it was a place I hardly went. I can only remember 3 times I went there. Once with a group of friend to watch Man U play in Singapore, another time was the most recent visit by Liverpool and one of the last was a sort of Family reunion where my whole family including my mom and sister went was to watch Singapore played Thailand in one of the last matches at the Stadium.

In a couple of years the spanking new Sports Hub will be ready and I will definately look forward to that. Would catch a game or two :)

“ROYAL RUMBLE”

No the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is not in town but what I am referring to is the very innovative name of different sets of Nasi Lemak at the famous stall at the Adam Road food centre.

At the stall you could order the various standard Nasi Lemak like the egg set, fish set, chicken set or otah set. If that is not what you wanted you could then try the Full House or Royal Flush combination and if that is not to your liking then there is always the ROYAL RUMBLE (pictured above) which basically has everything from Ikan Bilis, chicken, fish, egg, otah, begadil and of course the chilli which is out of this world one of the best I have tried.

Popeye

When we say Popeye the first thing that generally pops into mind is Spinach and Popeye the Sailor Man (toot toot) The last thing you would associate it with is Fried Chicken !!

I have tried Popeye’s Friend Chicken and I love it !! The Chicken has that crispy and crunchy skin when you bite into it you can still heard the crunch. The meat is moist and not dry. It’s very tasty too. The biscuits that comes with the set give it a nice touch, it’s not that bad, the fries are just ok. But the chicken is really something you have to try it. I would give it a score of 5 out of 5. If you have not tried it. I highly recommend you to go down to your nearest Popeye outlet and give it a try. It’s out of this world.

And just to inform you I was not invited, I did try the meal a couple of times (different days), I went alone and I paid for the meal in cash :)

Changi Point Broadwalk

Family took a stroll to the Changi Point Broadwalk recently. Actually with the kids it was just a short walk down to the Jetty after which I took them in the car to the end point at Changi Village where we met up with the rest for dinner.

A Family Shot before the walk

 

 

Nigel in his little buggy and new Socks

 

Mum and Natalie