Category: My Good Life

Next time you wish to buy a book from your favorite local bookstore, do yourself a favor (especially if the book is a hardcover). Go check out the price at Amazon.com first before parting your hard earned cash. I am now holding a book that is selling at Amazon.com for US$12. The same book costs S$45 at Kinokuniya. Even with my Kinokuniya Privilege Card, which I have to pay for that by the way, the sum just does not add up. Adding up the shipping cost, it was still worth the hassle. How long have I waited? One week – with standard shipping rate (yes, the most economical way).

Watched the live broadcast of American Idol at Star World and I am not going to tell you the results. Say no to spreading the spoilers! People will still watch the show, regardless. And they wouldn’t have enjoyed the show as much. So what do those who spread the spoilers gain? Nothing really. Knowing the results first hand doesn’t make any one looks smarter … duh! I can understand how exciting it is to learn something first hand but surely we all know how to contain our excitement. I am so emotional towards this because I do know people who are that inconsiderate without themselves knowing it. I love entertainments and even if I don’t read Harry Potter, I don’t endorse the leaking of the ending of this upcoming novel (which it has already leaked out). Have some empathy.

Today I have to visit the airport twice. I needed to send Cynthia off this afternoon for her business trip at Jakarta and I will need to pick up my sister flying in from Hong Kong minutes before midnight. For 18 years my sister and I have not been staying at the same physical location. It will be interesting to see how things will turn out. Brother and sister go shopping together. Brother and sister having high tea together. Brother and sister watch concert together. Brother and sister … having drink together and talk about … relationships?! Certainly sounds frightening at this very moment.

SingPost called me and asked if I was aware that there is a M-Bag for me. Huh? I didn’t even receive a notice from postman saying that … sorry you were not in so please collect the package yourself. Good news was that this time round, they sent the package back to AMK Avenue 6 which is like 5 minutes drive from my home. My previous packages from overseas always ended up at Yishun which is like a good 15 minutes drive. SingPost must have done some software upgrade lately.

I am happy that my Amazon.com shipment 1 of 3 has arrived. Insider there is a self-help book on analysing my strength (after which I will go find a job or do a business!), a “bible” for all writers (after which I will continue to write my novel!), a great book on oil painting (after which I will paint more!), and a book on … I am not going to spoil the surprise but potentially this is bigger than Mount Kinabalu. This is so exciting. As though my life was on hold for a while looking forward to get started again.

Meanwhile I still have a book review pending to write, tons of CDs to share (on average takes me 10 rounds of listening before I can write something on one), photos from my Melbourne trip yet to be organized, and not to forget to mention the videos from the same trip too (Gosh I hate video editing). Recently I hear so many friends around me telling me how busy they are and time is just not enough. Well, time is never enough. I guess the decision lies in you to make time for something or someone that means something to you. Do yourself another favor. Take out a piece of paper and pen down “10 Things I Wish To Do If I Have Time”. Pin it up at the wall and actually do them. You may gain more from life that way.

I love jogging. I don’t love the sweat per se, nor the sweat even after I have had a deserving shower, nor the taxing effort on my body. Somehow, jogging is the only exercise that constantly challenges my mental strength. And this intense mental exercise at times put me into this mental space that with luck, I experience an explosion of ideas, my imagination can run wild, and I can be filled with a positive energy that I hardly experience outside this mental space that jogging brings forth. Hence, I love jogging.

Ever since my knee injury after my mountain trekking, I have rested my knees when possible. It has been hard on me – to take away the runner in me and I felt being caged up in my own physical space. I have extended my exercise bandwidth on swimming and weightlifting but they are not the same as jogging.

Some of my friends suggested to me to see a physiotherapist (you know how much we hate to see doctors and God knows how much they charge) and to take glucosamine supplement. I checked out the supplement at GNC and even with my friend’s VIP card, each pill costs S$0.83 and the recommended dosage is 3 pills a day. That works out to be the cost of a quarter of a packet of cigarette a day (okay, I don’t smoke – just an illustration). Since my knees did not recover the rate I wanted them to be, I gave in and have been taking 2 pills a day for a good couple of days.

Glucosamine is not a drug approved by the US for medical use in humans. It is a supplement that is commonly used as a treatment for osteoarthritis. The market of supplements business is unregulated but of course, distributors do get sued should there be bad incidents (remember the slimming pills that one of our local actresses took that cost her a liver?). Glucosamine is an amino sugar that is commonly extracted from shellfish and the only major side effect from my research is for those who may be allergic to shellfish – though depending how glucosamine is extracted, the proteins that cause allergy are usually destroyed in the process. Glucosamine has been used as a supplement since the 80s. After I have taken the first pill, the pain on my knees has vanished. I am not sure if it was due to the natural healing process and the pills just came in at the right time but glucosamine seems to work for me. Unlike other approved drugs that are taken by the patients who suffer from osteoarthritis, glucosamine does not mask the pain but rather rebuild the matters in around the joints. Some studies claim that glucosamine should be taken in liquid form because in some cases, the pills will just pass through our digestive system with the company logo intact. The big question in my mind is: if glucosamine is extracted from shellfish, will eating shellfish gives me the same effect? In as much as possible, I prefer the natural way.

Last night before I went to sleep, there was a strong desire within me to resume my ritual of jogging. My knees they seem to have healed well. A friend of mine asked me to give my knees a month to rest but I guess I crave into my desires easily. This morning I woke up, I had a glass of orange juice and 2 bananas. I did my stretching ritual and I felt some nagging pain on my right knee. I said to myself: okay, let’s see how far I can go. I did a walk around my condo, headed to the obstacle course and did my ritual of pull-up – 3 sets of 3 pulls each, 2 sets with my palms facing me and 1 set with the bar over the back of my head. Right then, I think my muscle sore surpassed any pain I may have felt on my right knee.

After my pull-up, time to jog! As I started jogging, I felt like I was gliding over the surface of my usual 4.5 km jogging trail. Right after I exited my condo, I faced the same old slope I needed to conquer. God I missed that little hill. I felt my body switching into a high energy mode, I felt my heart started to pump harder to deliver the energy supply to my muscles, and my lung took in more and more oxygen to facilitate the process. God I missed how it feels every time I jog.

Over the hill it was a gradual descend. That was when I felt some pain on both my knees. Before I hit that halfway mark, I felt the cramp on my abdomen muscles due to lack of practice. Midway I changed the strategy and have lengthened my breath for twice as long taking in air twice as much. My abdomen muscles seemed to have relaxed while I began to feel the familiar pain on my knees I have experienced half a month ago. And I realized that fear from past injuries is probably the nastiest demon that an athlete has to battle with.

In my mind, I wanted bad to complete my route. I said to myself even if this is the last time I can jog I must make it worthwhile. Mental strength is a peculiar thing. Even when my body wanted to give up, thinking that this could be the last time I can jog, my body continued.

I reached the finishing line at 21 minutes – my usual record one month ago (I hit 20 minutes once but mostly at 21 minutes or longer) – covering a 4.5 km. I think my knees are giving me problem again. I will probably give them a week rest before my next jog – aiming to reclaim that 20 minutes record. Even for that one moment of happiness, I think it is worth it.

My life history as such, I left Hong Kong at the age of 17 and have studied in UK for a good 6 years. Fell in love with a Singaporean girl and I have decided to settle down in Singapore. Truth been told, in my days in UK, I fell in love with the various cultures of the Southeast Asians – the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Thais, and the Singaporeans. To me, Singapore is the logical place to be. Within 3 months, I have become a permanent resident (PR) of Singapore. My then girlfriend and I did not work out (which by the way, I am truly happy that she has established a family with her and her husband and her kid) but I persisted on my own and have become a Singapore citizen 3 years after becoming a PR of Singapore. Sang the national anthem without the presence of any of my friends. If not for my overseas assignments, I would have been a Singapore citizen much earlier.

Since then, I have met my Indonesian wife Cynthia during my overseas trips in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and have happily settled in Singapore. Recently I have come across a job opportunity in Hong Kong that has everything I dreamed for, except that I have to relocate to Hong Kong. It is very enticing indeed. I have had an interview with the regional CEO and had an phone interview with the managing director of China. I am pretty sure if I give it all that I have, I may have a chance to land my dream job.

But then again, what would happen to my life in Singapore? Cynthia is now having her overseas trip in Jakarta and she called me just to tell me that she can’t live without me. And my frequent lunch with Mark? Movie trips with Tong Kiat? Drinks with my Singaporean friends? And how about my band and my legendary guitarist Jason? All of sudden, I realized how much I am rooted in Singapore.

Singapore is not perfect. There are policies that I may not agree with. But having said that, Singapore is my home and I am blessed with all my friends here who accept this “foreigner” as one of them.

Love y’all (and I do love Singapore too)!

For the first time, I foresee that I have hit the exercise target. In actual fact, I have only clocked in 4 hours so far but since I am heading to Mount Kinabalu for the last week of March, I am almost certain that it will surpass the 10 hours mark. Also nothing to worry about in the habitual category. However, for the first time, I missed my home cook meal target.

I put half of my savings into fixed deposit and it is definitely not hitting the 3% target. Perhaps I need to rethink the strategy. As for public performance, my guitarist and I have set a new date in June. To be fair, when I first set this quarterly target, I have not consulted him. Hopefully I get to perform at least an open-mic this coming June. Some of you may be curious over what “extraordinary project” I have partaken. I have picked up oil painting as a new hobby and it is extraordinary to me because I have always wanted to do that. My dream is to paint a nice oil painting in canvas for my mother because she has so much faith in my painting talent even way before I think I can paint.

March is not over as yet I know but I don’t foresee anything I do from now (written on March 23) till I depart for my Mount Kinabalu trip will make a difference. My scorecard has quite a number of red indicators. Time to call for action.

Life :: Traveling Budget Utilised :: Half-yearly :: S$2,000 :: S$3,000 :: n/a :: n/a
Life :: No. of Extraordinary Projects :: Quarterly :: 1 :: 2 :: 1 ::5
Health :: Exercise Hours :: Monthly :: 8 :: 10 :: 4+ :: 10
Health :: No. of Home Cooked Meals :: Monthly :: 15 :: 20 :: 11 :: 0
Money :: Return of Total Savings :: Quarterly :: 3% p.a. :: 5% p.a. :: Missed :: 0
Hobby :: No. of Public Performance :: Quarterly :: 1 :: 2 :: 0 :: 0
Hobby :: No. of Books Published :: Yearly :: 1 :: 2 :: n/a :: n/a
Habit :: No. of Hangover :: Monthly :: 2 :: 0 :: 0 :: 10
Habit :: No. of Gaming Hours :: Monthly:: 40 :: 30 :: 16 :: 10

Time is a peculiar thing. It is like a storeroom or a common bedroom. Regardless how much space we have, we always manage to fill it up in no time. Like my 120GB disk space that has grown to 360GB and now more than 600GB over a couple of years. But yet, my disks are now close to full packed with the pictures I have taken, videos I am working on, songs I have recorded, games I have installed, and etc. And like my disk space, my time is so filled up with actions that one day, my buddy RC joked that I am busier than him – who is working and I am not.

And because of all these activities that occupied all my free time, my preparation to my next week’s expedition to Mount Kinabalu was closed to non-existence. I have lots of stuffs to buy and if that is not enough, my Canon camera has (once again) broken down on me in the second most untimely fashion. The most untimely fashion would have been having it to break down on me after I proudly plant the little Singapore flag on top of the mountain of course.

Two nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I needed to renew my road tax before my trip. Guess what? I have not even renewed my car insurance (it is a prerequisite here)! I searched through my pile of junk mails and could not find the renewal notice. Called up the car insurance company and they referred me back to the agent I got the insurance from. I did not know that it was through an agency (I bought the car with the insurance as a package). No wonder I missed their mail. Called up my insurance agent and she gave me a quotation. If I had more time, I would have shopped around for new car insurance like I always do. So I asked for a discount and she said she would email to the car insurance company for one. Sweet. I did not know that it was as simple as that.

To cut the long story short, I got a 10% discount on premium and in return, I nearly missed all the operating hours of outlets that renew road tax (the agency is from Potong Pasir and where on earth is Pontong Pasir?!). I ended up renewing my road tax at a vehicle inspection center at Ayer Rajah. I knew that all those days of lunching with Mark at his out-of-nowhere client place that reads “Ayer Rajah” will pay off one day. I knew the way to the inspection center at the back of my head.

Back to the preparation to Mount Kinabalu, since our mountaineering buddy Tong Kiat is not going to get himself a camera, I have to find one to replace my Canon camera. Since an easy-to-use budget camera has been in Cynthia’s wish list for as long as … we are together? … it is a high time to get one. The catch is that I have less than an hour to research for one. To be fair, I have been looking out for a camera for Cynthia. Weeks ago, my buddy Mark and his buddy F have bought a Canon PowerShot G7 and a Nikon D80 respectively. How envious I was (too expensive for the poor me)! On the next day, my buddy Kwang Fei – after accompanying us for that camera shopping trip – has bought a Canon PowerShot G7 as well. A few days later, another friend of mine from my ex-company has gotten himself a DSLR. What has the world become? Everyone needs a camera these days?

Since I vow not to buy another Canon product (and I do keep my words!), since my buddy AT has been telling me how good Fijifilm is, I made a decision after placing a call to AT. Okay, I wa sold. He pointed me to one of the shops in AMK Hub that runs a promotion on Fijifilm cameras. From S$499, I got it down to S$490. I took the offer to Sim Lim (that initially quoted me the same with no free gifts) and they matched it for S$485 and then S$480. Had the negotiation process been shorten by a mere 15 minutes, SingPost at Orchard would still be open and I would not have to drive to Ayer Rajah to renew my road tax. Sigh.

Getting gears for Mount Kinabalu can be really scary. There I was inside this pretty nice shop selling items for outdoor activities and the only thing I can afford inside is a freeze dried package of food (serves two) selling at S$18. The jacket is like S$800. The cheapest pair of pants is like S$98. A pair of scandals that they have casually packed inside the brown paper boxes chucked at the back of the shop is selling at S$185 a pair. S$185 for a pair of scandals?! Even a hat is like S$100 each. I am telling you, outdoor activities are not cheap hobbies. They are for the riches.

Tong Kiat, Cynthia and I walked from shops to shops and in the end gotten something cheap and basic. We still have stuffs we need to buy but we were too tired to continue. I do hope that when the time comes, we will be able to summon the stamina we need and conquer that mountain. The best set of people who has the highest chance to reach the top of the mountain are the Singapore shoppers who can spend the whole day Saturday and Sunday “trekking” Orchard. I am not kidding you.