Category: Diary

These days I work hard trying to get closer to the 8 hours of exercise a month target as set in my scorecard. Before today, I jog when the weather is cool, swim when the weather is warm, and frown at the sky when it pours. I need a fool proof strategy in achieving my target. Then a wonderful idea struck me: I am going to pump iron when it rains.

I met up with my friends Valerie and Tong Kiat for lunch and am still shocked by the size of Valerie’s tummy as I am writing this blog. She is just 3 weeks from delivering her baby boy! How productive Singaporeans are and that reminds me of a BBQ party I have attended last weekend. Between 5 couples, there were 6 kids. Even the newly-wed couple plans to have one this year. Amid the current situation of low birth rates and the future situation of an aging population, kids do find their way into this Planet Earth at this particularly small island called Singapore! Amazing indeed.

Having kids may not be in my mind after a sumptuous lunch, getting a dumbbell set was. Valerie kindly pointed me to a seemingly-everyone-know-but-me shop called AIBI that sells gym equipment. Don’t ask me why but I had an impression that the dumbbells I was used to practice with weighted 25 kg (on one side). You should see how Tong Kiat’s jaw dropped when I told him that I was looking for a set of dumbbells with such weight. I knew why half an hour later.

I stepped into the AIBI shop at Harbourfront shopping mall and the sale assistant showed me a choice of a 16 kg cast iron set (S$88) and a 15 kg rubber coated set (S$123). First of all, 16 kg (that is 8 kg on each side) sounded a bit … light. Secondly, to use rubber or not to use rubber, that was the question. I quickly called up my ex-girlfriend’s brother or shall I say, my perhaps-likely-future-brother-in-law-to-be (okay, my sister is going to kill me if she reads this) as I was used to practice with his dad’s dumbbells when I was still his … erm … brother-in-law-to-be (confused?). Benny gave me a very long and comprehensive explanation on what are the different types of dumbbells, the pros and cons, and even more than what I needed to know. Excellent. I learnt that a 15 kg dumbbell set is about right and rubber is good for protection … against cracking the floor. Imagine my trembling arms trying to raise the dumbbells high in the air and in one unexplainable lost of concentration, the dumbbells slip away from my hands … although I am sure that was not the image Benny had.

After a rather long phone conversation at AIBI’s counter, I have decided to invest S$123 to meet my monthly target. The sale assistant told me that the rubber ones are popular (due to New Year Resolutions I suggested) and they are all sold out. However I may put in a deposit and he will have them sent to my doorstep in 2 to 3 weeks’ time. I asked if other branches may have it and he told me that all the rubber coated dumbbells are sold out in all AIBI branches. I paid attention to his eyes and somehow I sensed that he may not be completely honest with me. I made a trip to VivoCity shopping mall next door and at basement 2, I found another AIBI shop that has the stock.

Buying the 15 kg dumbbell set was easy. Carrying it from VivoCity shopping mall back to where I parked my car (Keppel Bay Tower) was the tough part. My face was red and I was perspiring when I reached my car. Before I forgot, I better log down another 15 minutes of exercise today (event: walking with dumbbells). I swear my shoulders are still hurting and so are my legs!

I’ve got the question “what have you been doing these days” a lot lately. After leaving my relatively comfortably paid job last Christmas, my answers range from “I am taking a break” (that sort of confuses many people) and “I am taking a career break” (that gives a deeper confusion) to now “I am retired” and “going through my 11 years of to-do list”. The responses to the later answers are a palette of emotions ranging from a cooler tone of disbelieve, disapproval, uninterested, and shocked to a warmer tone of genuine interest, throwing in new ideas, and being supportive. Social norms dictate our reaction to events around us. We work, we save, and at 65 or hopefully earlier, we retire. We retire without knowing how much exactly we need (can you predict life?) and without a clear idea of what retirement is going to be like. By then we are old, having difficulties even to get from point A to point B and we are looking at this golden pot of Haagen Dazs ice-cream that it will probably kill us if we eat too much of it (it’s an analogy to indulgence in life that we cannot enjoy when we are old because we are too old for that). That is, if we live old enough to even look at this golden pot of ice-cream.

To me, the approach to retirement should be like the approach of marriage: in normal circumstances, I endorse pre-marriage cohabitation just to have an idea of what marriage is going to be like. Traditions force people to plunge into marriage with less knowledge of what they are getting themselves into. We all think that retirement has to happen after the age of 65 (or before if you are well-off) but if we can take some breaks here and there, in the surface, we got a taste of what this golden pot of Haagen Dazs ice-cream is like. In a deeper sense, we know what to expect in our actual retirement and we know what we are working so hard for.

Many people wonder how I spend my time these days. I have known a friend’s friend who had a week of compulsory leave came close to consult me on how to spend his days (he never did). Some friends of mine from reading my website think that I have turned into a full time sportsman. Others think that I have turned into a movie-craze goer. My gaming friends think that I become a full time gamer. Some who know that I need to start preparing food at 6pm think that I have become a full time house-husband. Those of you who know I am working hard to memorise 5 of my songs for gig performance think that I am heading towards becoming a performing artist. And the books that I am suppose to write, my recent interest in oil painting … the list just goes on and on. In short, my days are very much fully occupied with all my passions on top of the time spent meeting up with friends for lunch and dinner and other social events.

Compares to my life before this break, right now I have 8 hours of sleep a day, eat healthy, exercise regularly, meeting people whom I enjoy the company, doing things I love to do, and most importantly, feeling happy all the time. Now of course, sooner or later I need to return to Planet Earth and do a reality check. Even if I need to return to the workforce in a couple of months’ time (provided that none of the business opportunities come through), I shall remember what this golden pot of Haagen Dazs ice-cream tastes like and what I am working so hard for.

I can’t remember when was the last time I made french toast but this image of french toast was my number one motivation when I took a swim early this afternoon.

Finally, the raining season is going, going, and sort of gone. We still have occasionally rainfall (look, this is a tropical country) but the day usually begins with a bright sunshine. In this time of the year, the breeze is cool to the skin. Perfect timing to do outdoor exercise.

My jogging ritual must have helped in building up my stamina, which by the way, my timing improves steadily shaving off 1 min from the last run record for 3 consecutive runs. I must have swam for 45 minutes with a hot sun above me and the cool water underneath.

The french toast was delicious – how hungry I was! – especially with those butter and honey. I mean, people exercise so hard so that they can eat to their hearts content … right?

Officially passed the 2-weeks point whereby a good majority of people by now have forgotten and put aside what they set out to do in their New Year Resolution (once again quote from Reader’s Digest). Having developed a Personal Scorecard, I found myself very focused these days on what I want to achieve. Just to give you an idea, I have consciously cut down on my gaming hours. I have clocked in 20.5 hours so far and it should not be a problem not exceeding the target of 40 hours a month as set on New Year Day. I hope that the new World of Warcraft expansion that is due to come out this week will not ruin my plan.

Avid readers of my website probably know by now I have put in a lot of emphasis in achieving my exercise hours target. I still fall short by a great deal and the idea of revising the targets has crossed my mind. But I must practice what I preach: scorecard is not a report card. The aim is not to get green lights at each reporting period but rather to highlight areas of improvement. I still think 8 hours a month is the right thing to do. I may not hit the target this month but I should get closer the month after.

And when I look at my measurements, it does have causal relationships like corporate scorecards. If I free up more time from gaming, I will have more time to do other things such as ideas on book publishing, practicing for my upcoming-yet-to-be-organised gigs, money matters, and etc. And if I wish to fully realise the benefit of all the exercise hours I have put in, I better stay away from alcohol and eat healthily (the other two measurements of mine). As for the healthy eating department, we have home cook food more than 50% of the time so far and I hope to see another measurement hitting the target.

In the medium term horizon, I do have some quarterly targets to achieve. I have public performance to think about and as the very first step, 5 songs are selected and day-in-day-out I have been trying to memorise them. As for the travelling budget, Cynthia has already picked Australia as our next destination. How about “extraordinary projects”? I have something in mind but it is probably too early to talk about it now. Last but not the least, I have already set up 2 private forums in this website as part of the collaboration effort in co-writing some books with my friends.

There are still some measurements I have no clue in how to tackle. By and large, I think I am in for a fruitful 2007. How credible is that statement? I am not sure but I hope that this Personal Scorecard will take me where I want to be.

People usually comment that women love to spend time in shopping and men shop with objectives in mind – just zoom into what they need and hit home run. I had my mother and sister’s jaws dropped when I walked straight to the pillow section of a departmental store and grabbed two of them in less than 5 seconds. These days, I am a changed man. This money saving mode has definitely lengthened my wish-list in every possible ways. And the real fun of shopping is to know that I have made a wise decision after exhausting all available options. Because of that, I was stuck in City Hall way longer than I have – how time flies when you shop! – and got Cynthia kept texting and calling me as subtle reminders. Look, it is really rude to pick up a call in the mist of an … engaging conversation with a salesperson, no?

Actually, I did have objectives in mind – besides the box of brown sugar and the can of WD-40 that I have conveniently forgotten – I needed a pair of goggles for my swimming and a pair of running shoes too. How else am I to hit my target of 8 hours of exercise a month when so far I have clocked in … ahem … half?

My buddy TK recommended Running Lab at Funan Center and indeed, I must say, these folks are professionals. This specialist Marc first asked me to take off my shoes and socks, roll up my pair of jeans, and he gave me a concise introduction on what we would be going through. Had he not told me so, I would have screamed: dude, take your hands off my feet! And when he ran his fingers along the sides of my feet as part of the diagnosis, I tried so hard not to giggle (yes, I am ticklish). After which, he asked me to run on treadmill and I gasped and told him that I have never run on a treadmill in my life!

He nearly gasped and put me on speed 2. I asked him what sort of speed do people usually run and he said 7 to 8. Okay, that hurt my ego a bit. Nevertheless, I did my best on speed 2 and he was observing how my feet landed on the treadmill. He kept asking me to run normally and … I really did my best to act like running on speed 2! I mean, it was sort of slow you know.

His diagnosis was that I need extra support on the inner sides of my feet. I countered that from the wearing and tearing of the heels of my shoes, I may need support on the outer sides instead. He counter-countered that from his observation, my feet landed on the outer side of my heel and then they curved inwards. Alright, sold! Extra support on the inner sides then.

He took out a couple of his recommendations that ranged from S$169 (gasp) to S$269 (gasp to the power 2). I chose the cheaper ones and we narrowed down with two models. I recalled that Marc did mention something about being able to try those shoes on the treadmill and hence, I asked if I may. Marc hesitated and said: you know, since you have never been on a treadmill before, it is rather dangerous for you to do so. But … this month’s motto is “nothing is gonna stop me!” … so I begged and he conceded. I did a speed 8 – proudly – and how I love those shoes! Still couldn’t decide which one to go for and he took out … an orange one. The orange one looked (still do) absolutely fabulous. He touched the heart of a customer and I fell in love with the orange one instantly. At that moment, I didn’t care which brand is which. He surely knew how to help me in making decisions.

So … a pair of orange running shoes worth S$169 … a pair of goggles worth S$30 … two CDs from HMV and an accessory (don’t ask) worth S$45 … BreadTalk snacks worth S$11 … guitar strings for my 12-strings worths S$13 a total of S$268!

Gasp! I really should have stayed at home.

Edit: Thanks to Tong Kiat who pointed out that my pair of running shoes cost S$169 instead of previously written S$269. Dude, you are good!

Edit: I have forgotten that I have bought guitar strings … till I emptied out the plastic bags.

Thanks to my VCR that has proudly served me well for 8 years and recently went out-of-order, I have finally set my feet onto the brand new Courts Megastore and the famous 24-hrs Mustafa.

Getting to Courts Megastore was not as easy as I thought it would be. Though I saw the huge buildings (the brand new IKEA is right next to it) on the other side of the highway, it took me a few maneuvers to reach it. Suffice to say, Courts Megastore is huge and spacious, but I have my doubt over the variety of goods. Identical to IKEA, Courts Megastore dictates the flow of the human traffic. You are advised to start from the 3rd floor via the escalators and work yourself down. Of course you could take the lift and get to whichever floor you want. However, they do encourage you to shop in a clockwise direction.

I asked for a Hitachi Plasma TV and they don’t carry Hitachi brand (huh?). I needed some advice on DVR and the salesmen of Courts are as useless as ever – just reading off labels.

Complains aside, it is a wonderful place for me to spend hours inside trying out new stuffs (I didn’t as I have to make a dash to VivoCity shortly after). I love the XBox 360 corner. There are huge LCD TVs and sofas for you to try out some of the games. It has been a really long time since I have played console games and gosh, this XBox racing game is brutal. Not only do I need to take over other cars, I need to “take them out”. If I was to play that game for hours, I wonder how would my driving habit be changed.

Getting out of Courts Megastore is a nightmare as there are no road signs that get you back to the highways. Having absolutely no idea as in where I was heading, I got onto Tampines Avenue 10, followed the road to a nice smooth and new flyover, and into … Bukit Kaki. Where on earth is Bukit Kaki anyway? It seems like an old industrial town with narrow streets (sorry if you are an elite resident of Bukit Kaki, it’s just my first impression). I kept going straight and I saw signs saying “Eunos”. I punched my fist in the air (YES!), happily got myself into the highway PIE – though, I must say, not without hair raising moments cutting through a jammed traffic in rush hour gambling if the highway entrance of the correct direction was to the left or to the right – and arrived at VivoCity on the dot.

I thought I have traveled lots of extra miles but I did a check and realised that going through Bukit Kaki was the shortest route in reaching the highway PIE to the city direction from Courts Megastore. Moral of the story? At times you feel lost, just keep going straight and keep an eye on your surroundings. You may find yourself better off in the end.

Mustafa, on the other hand, is the opposite of Courts Megastore. It has a wide variety of goods and it is one of the favorite shopping places amongst the Indian community. I can find hundred and one types of can openers inside. There is a floor full of jewellery in gold and there is a floor full of jewellery not in gold. There are so many entrances guarded with 2 to 3 Indians that I did not know which one to enter. I asked one of the guards for electronic goods and he pointed me to basement 2. I thought he thought I was heading to the car park and when the life door opened, lo and behold, a huge floor cramped with all sort of electronic goods. They even sell electronic pets inside.

I did not get anything from Mustafa but it was certainly an eye opening experience.

Every so often, my Windows registry gets corrupted and as a result, I can’t even boot up my computer. Microsoft programmers ought to get shot. If registry is so sacred, shouldn’t the programmers at least implement a robust approach to at least restore the last-known registry when it is evident that the registry is corrupted?

Spent more than one whole day re-installing Windows XP and all my favourite applications. You know what? It took me 46 steps to get back to where I was and it is no joke.

According to the January edition of Reader’s Digest, 40% of people have already given up their New Year Resolutions by the 2nd week. Also, it is motivation rather than discipline that keeps the momentum going. Interesting. Since the first two weeks of New Year is so crucial, I better buckle up and really do something about the ten things that I said I’ll do.

After a nice lunch with my buddy Mark, I returned home and the sky outside was blue, weather was warm, the swimming pools were … inviting. So I have decided to kick start my exercise initiatives and start to score some points. As I was fiddling with my computer, its health started to deteriorate and I was glued onto it minutes after minutes as the sky turned dark, thick cloud was forming, and a heaving rain was looming. I got out of my seat and made a dash into my bedroom looking for my swimming gears. Nothing was going to stop me …

… I took out my goggles (with degrees) and gasp, it was broken! I opened my second drawer and where was my swimming trunks? Finally I found it buried underneath some places that I wouldn’t even dig into in any given day. I changed, grabbed my towel, and made a dash to the swimming pools downstairs.

The water was so cold! But nothing was going to stop me. Not even the water that kept irritating my eyes. It must have been years since I swam. I did a round of breaststroke (my two swimming pools are sort of round in shape) and I was breathless. Remembering how one time I couldn’t even walk out of the swimming pool due to lack of practice, I have decided to take it easy. I regained my energy and made another round. And there was this man who kept surpassing me with freestyle. Men, how competitive we are, I am sure one day I will get back at him – but not today. I found myself another spot and did a backstroke instead (how wonderful that water was not getting into my eyes this way) and this guy did a butterfly! If only I am fitter …

Anyway, raindrops falling from the sky and time for me to head back to shore with my … freestyle. I swear my head was spinning due to such an intensive exercise. I looked at the clock when I returned to my apartment and how I hate the honestly of time. It certainly felt much longer than 15 minutes of swimming, I swear.

The last time I got frustrated with Internet connection was when StarHub was my ISP. The customer service representative pointed me to InternetTrafficReport.com and told me, “Look at those numbers. The whole Singapore is affected by [a damaged underwater cable].” Little did he know that back then, it only affected StarHub. Now I am with SingNet and this time round, due to the earthquake in Taiwan (more recent news), both ISPs are affected. Connection is down to crawling or non-responding speed. I have to hold off publishing a few of my blogs because they require content streaming. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal soon (StarHub took weeks last time).

My buddy Mark asked if I am glad that my website is now hosted in Singapore instead of US. Oh yar … definitely.