Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Time sure flies... In the blink of an eye, 2009 is coming to a close and only a single day is left to herald in the new year... I wonder what lies ahead in the coming year of the Tiger? I hope it will be as smooth as this year though..... Looking back, I must say that 2009 had been a very good year for me.. Good grades, an enjoyable job, a memorable and wonderful Grad trip and a blooming romance... Hopefully, the new year ahead would be as wonderful as this year if not better!!

Without further ado, allow me to pen down my 2010 resolutions for the year:

1. To hit the target weight of 65kg (Yes, this has always been my target but I'm always falling short)

2. To either be converted to a permanent staff or find a better job

3. To catch up more with friends who I have been out of touch with quite a while

4. To banish all negative thoughts

5. To pass my IPPT

6. To go Taiwan


Just wanted to clear a backlog of posts that I had wanted to post but was too lazy to do so before the new year comes...

16.12.09 ~ 20.12.09 Hong Kong Trip with Shan Jing

Shan Jing, Chuan Wee and Myself

At Lan Kwai Fong

Chuan Wee and his gal


Temperature of 10 degree a the top! Lovely temperature!

Finally fulfilled the fantasy of being an emperor, but the empress is another issue altogether!!

"Cloud" Part 1
"Cloud" Part 2
Ocean Park


With MM Lee at Mdm Tussad's...I'll be damned... I didnt noe he was so tall
Astro boy wannabe

Hazard a guess to the meaning of this brand...

*Hint* Say it in Cantonese

Night View of HK
24.12.09 Xmas with deary


At Sentosa


Loving my Xmas Present!! A Braun Buffel Wallet!!
Met deary in the evening at her house to get her car. Headed down to Hotel Rendezvos for Nasi Padang. Its been quite some time since I have eaten there and I'm pleased to say that the standard is still there though sadly the price is still there as well.... After dinner, headed down to Mt Faber to see the night scenery.. But, the plan came with a glitch, I forgot to take into account the fact that Jewel Box there would be packed and so we decided to head to Sentosa in the end. Spent around 3 hours there enjoying each other's company before deary decided to give me my Xmas present. And to my surprise, it was a Braun Buffel wallet... I must say I was rather shocked that she bought that for me as it was so damn expensive... and compared to the present I gave her... She succeeded in making me feel like a cheap skate hahaha... but no matter... After that, headed down to Cathay to watch Avatar 3d and man it was fantastic! The CG was excellent! Definitely 4 out of 5 popcorns... Drove her home and waited it out till dawn break before heading back home...
Definitely looking forward to tml's celebration with the canoeists at Sentosa again!!

Posted by Clarence at 6:39 AM

Monday, December 14, 2009

28.12.09 Extreme Challenge

Team Name: 3 and a half guys
Team Members: Pei yu, Sarah, Kevin and Clarence

Met Kevin and Sarah early to hitch a ride from Sarah's Dad to the starting point at Pasir Ris. Was quite astounded by how fit all the teams were when we arrived and all thoughts of winning any of the 1st 3 positions instantly evaporated and we settled promptly on enjoying ourselves while making the best of the situation. Pei yu, Eric, Jason, Wan Ping, Hui San, Kamarul, Michelle and Iris arrived soon after....

It was quite a challenging course I must say, considering that I cant run for nuts... Well anyway the events were lined up as follows:

1. Around 8km run to the first check point on top of a steep hill

2. Collection of 2 tyres (bike tokens) and proceeded to cross several hurdles

3. Dragging of 2 tyres across a river whereby the moment u step in you sink almost knee deep into the river bed...

4. Cycling a dirt path(Whereby I flew off the bike and suffered several injuries) to the canoeing launching area

5. Canoe to another "island" check point whereby we had to rem 12 colour tags (which seriously i dun see any and i doubt many did)

6. When we reach the next check point, there was a 50m swim in the open sea while the rest of the team had to drag a string of 4 tyres across the sand for a distance(dependent on whether you got the colour codes). After that, leopard crawl for 3 cycles under team mates push up position.

7. Canoe back to land and supposed to cycle to next check point. But, Sarah's bike suffered from a punctured tyre and the officials were rather adamant on us not being able to change the bike and having to carry on with the bike for the whole race... Well, considering that we overtook quite a number of teams during the canoeing leg, it was rather disheartening to have to slowly walk the rest of the leg

8. Reached the next check point after a super duper long walk, and we were tasked to pull a lorry and to leopard crawl up a slope, move 3 logs and move a plank we were standing on to another destination.

9. Cycled( or in our case, walk) to the Bik return point which was rather far. Got lost along the way and ran into a helpful ODAC official who kindly volunteered his bike in exchange for our ruined bike.

10. After returning the bikes, headed down to MJ for rock wall climbing( which i think I'm falling in love with although its only my 2nd attempt up a wall).

11. After that, it was to the ending point... whereby my leg cramped up again... haz... the exact same replicia of the situation during the Nike run.... Oh well...

As expected, came in as almost the last team due to the ruin bike... but it was fun... Kinda like the whole exp other than the running part of course... Maybe will take part in next year's extreme challenge again... Well, will see about it...



29.12.09 Victor Victoria

Met Eric, Jason and Vincent at city hall before heading to the floating platform to collect our Stan Chart Marathon race pack.. Was rather disappointed by the goodies this year as there was only a singlet in the race pack and an energy bar... I was expecting at least a sports bag... Oh well... Rushed down to MS to meet deary for Cafe Cartel for dinner before heading to the Esplanade to catch the play Victor Victoria. This is my 2nd time watching a play, but the first sitting in the first few rows... The experience is really different and I would say a real eye opener!! I would definitely love to go for another play and maybe next time round a concert... Haven exactly been to a concert before but I would love to see how would it play out... Haha but really surprised that deary invited me to watch a play.. ( Ha i guess its because she doesnt want the FREE tickets to go to waste!!)...



04.12.09 Canoe Grad Party


A fabulous night of fun and yes, we grads are very thankful to you guys who made this happened and who invested so much time and effort to ensure that everyone had a good time.. Good job guys!! Simply loving it... Good food, good company and best of all good times!!







Once a family.. Always a family....
No matter where you go, one only need look back to find that firm unwavering base of support..
Thank you guys for all the support that you have given me knowingly or unknowingly...It's a pleasure to have known all of you!

06.12.09 Standard Chartered Marathon

Up till today, I guess I will never ever figure out what in the world possessed me to sign up for the full marathon distance of 42.195km... Reflecting back on it... I guess I was mad... A non-runner who absolutely has a fervent dislike of running... I guess maybe its due to the want to have bragging rights to say that I have finally run a full marathon or basically that I wanted to test my limits? Well, I guess I will never know... Stayed over at Jason's house the night before so that we could share a cab down with him, Alvin Ang and his friend down to the baggage point where we met up with Vincent, Eric, Jun Sheng and Pei yu. After checking in all the baggage, we headed to the starting point to begin our run... Since the beginning of the race, I was kinda in the know that I definitely would fall behind all of them, so I put in extra effort to catch up with them... But it didnt work out in the end... Lost them at the 3km mark and so had to run slowly...

Ran into Brad and Crystal who told me that Pei yu and gang were just up ahead, so I sped up.. But sadly, in the end didnt see them at all as they were too far ahead.. But that was really demoralising lah... Anyway, managed to complete the full marathon in 6hrs47mins which was like 4 mins behind Peiyu and Sarah's timing considering that I walked quite a distance and didnt train, I think it was quite an accomplishment for me...































If some asked what did I gain in the end, I probably would answer satisfaction and pride minus the pain of the abrasions... I wonder if I will take part in another full marathon again... Well, definitely not the sun down 84 km marathon, I think I definitely will peng san if I take part in that event.... oh well, we shall see again...

Posted by Clarence at 6:28 AM