Friday, September 19, 2014

The happy things I do


I've been eating this for the past few months, overnight non-cooked oatmeal. I love healthy meals! 
Healthy veggie soup that I've learnt to cook. :)
Blue is the latest colour of my nails :)

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The crazy things I do

Its Saturday morning. My alarm went off at 5am or 6am and immediately my half asleep brain started battling with myself, or itself. Should I continue sleeping? Or should I wake up to go for my weekly LSD? Thankfully lately, most of the time, the better side of myself won.

More about LSD, its this long-slow-distance weekly run that people do a few months before their half marathon or full marathon to build up endurance. I know of many people who just sign up for the Standard Chartered marathon yearly, but do not train much and just complete it using 'brute force'. But I've sort of done that last year, and I know how gruelling painful the whole journey can be, so my target is to at least improve on my timing.

A month ago, I joined Running Department on a Saturday morning for a long run. Actually I only did 10km that day but at least I was motivated to go further than my usual 5km or 6km. Gosh, imagine me waking up at 5am and going all the way to ECP for that! I have friends who are very active with the running club and they had been inviting me since a year ago, when they've just started forming the group. I was uncertain as I'm not a strong runner, but I took the leap recently, when I've decided to train more seriously for the HM and FM coming in the next few weeks/months. Strangely, I did not regret the experience and I was looking forward to join them in the coming weeks, this Saturday perhaps?

Can you spot me? (Photo taken from Running Department fb page)


Remember the Asics shoes I blogged about last year? My friend who has been actively running told me that it's actually meant for trail running, and its not so suitable for normal road running that I've been doing. I cant fathom why the guys who sold me these shoes at Queensway Shopping Centre did not mention that, or maybe they did but I was just selecting the shoes based on design and colour. I was dismayed to know that I need to get another pair of shoes when my Fujiracer is still quite new, but at the same time its another opportunity to shop for new shoes! Once again, I went to Queensway as past season shoes are sold at a cheaper rate there. I've heard of other brands like Saucony/Brooks from the running community, but I still ended up with a pair of Asics, this should be my 4th/5th pair of already! The nice Indian uncle recommended the shoes as he claimed it suits my under-pronation feet.. Hmm, I should go to Running Lab someday to have this verified. Anyway, its a Gel-Cumulus 16 and the cushioning feels quite good for my feet, and of course the colour is raspberry pink!

The weekend before Teachers' Day, I wanted to do a LSD so badly that I planned one around my neighbourhood. Its the first time I ran all the way to Sembawang Park, it always seemed so far to me but surprisingly I only clocked 6km running there and back. To be frank, I did not enjoy the experience as the area was rather hilly. I passed home on the way back and it took a lot of determination not to stop running, but continued for another loop to the canal area and back, clocking a total of 12-13km that morning, the furthest I've ran on my own. The following week when holidays were approaching, I started to have sore throat, cough with phlegm and all on the day of Teachers' Day holiday. Sigh.. I skipped running that weekend since I was coughing badly.

After I've stopped running for more than two weeks, I fought a mental war just to get myself started on Tuesday. It was just a 6km run but I could not even push myself to finish it, I ended up walking and jogging after the 4km point. I felt really bad about it and told myself that I have to pick myself up. I came home early yesterday, rested a bit and changed into my jogging gear, thinking that I should try running in the CBD area for a change and some motivation. However, the ride on MRT train is so slow nowadays and with the haze coming back to haunt us, I reached town but decided to just visit my gym in town. It was a bad decision to travel to town for a 6km jog on the treadmill, as I spent 2h travelling but only ran for 45min, I could have just go to a nearer gym. Arghh.. I still did a good run nevertheless.

Looking forward to better runs ahead!

Philippines Trip #3



I took a budget flight to Manila. As always, I was so tempted to order these Nissin Cup Noodles, its kind of strange as I dont even eat cup noodles at home these days, but I always think of ordering these when I'm flying.

It all started in 2011, when I was on a work attachment trip to Hong Kong for two weeks. At the end of the trip, I was flying back alone and I was craving for local food. I was sitting next to two other girls and they did not know each other either. However, all three of us were sitting at the same row and we happened to order the same flavour cup noodles that day, the Tom Yam Seafood. It tasted so good and so much like home to me at that point of time, it left a deep impression.

This is my third trip here, and it became a tradition for us to visit the nearby small eatery for sisig after we settled down at home (always after midnight). I'm always amazed as there's always people and public transport (bus, tricycle) at any hours of the day, even wee hours of a weekday night. Anyway, this place sell really good sisig and it's one of the first thing I wish to eat when I'm in ph. 
P visited his favourite bakery and as usual, ordered a 9inch chocolate cake to enjoy it during his visit home. He's the only person who I know who gets a whole cake for no special occasion but just to enjoy the taste of cake. I have a sweet tooth, but he wins me hands down anytime.
I wish we have these in the KFCs in SG. They have more variety of salad and stuff here, therefore KFC is place we have to visit when we're here. P enjoy his fill of free flow gravy and I always stock up on some of these brownies to bring home. 

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Happy Mid Autumn Festival 2014



As mentioned in the previous post, we celebrated Mid Autumn Festival in school last week. Tonight is the actual night and I'm glad to spend it with my parents at home. Other than the Chinese New Year, I guess this is the festival most celebrated by the Chinese in Singapore, and it also signifies reunion, therefore it is meaningful to spend it with loved ones. We did not do anything special, just sit around to chit chat and have dinner together. When I look at my parents recently, I suddenly noticed how their backs have hunched and they are taking slower steps than years before. I promise myself to treasure all the time I can spend at home with them.

Teachers' Day 2014

This is the best time of the whole year, or almost the best! Sept holidays had just started and term 4 is fast approaching and we'll end the school year soon. Getting excited when I fast forward everything, past the exams, markings, events etc..

Last week was hectic when we celebrated Mid Autumn, Teachers' Day the next day and then had the Teachers' day dinner. But the feeling was really divine when everything was over. The most tiring point came just before the dinner, I fell deep into a nap, overslept and really contemplated not going out at all. 

This year's Teacher's Day is considered one of the best out of my 9 years here (woah, almost 10!) as we laughed a lot and had great fun dressing up as heroes. Anyway, here are some portraits of me drawn by my students as class activity. I can understand its a tall task for some of them as I dont have any artistic talent myself. When I was looking at them at task, some of them were really scratching their heads, drawing and erasing countless times but just could not get it right. Oh well, I do appreciate the effort.