.::z. 8/8.

I've moved this blog to my new website. It's still in draft mode guys, so, no complaints, OK :p


Click on the above link to take a look.

This is funny actually, I got stung by a bee while running at Macritchie today.

We ran in a big group, Yee Seng, Poh Yee, Shih Wee, Bang Lit, Jeannete and me. We ran the 8km route, made a U-turn at SICC and headed back to the carpark. It was already late and dark then, about 715pm, and I left the whole group behind cos I was trying to catch up with an angmoh guy who overtook me. Just as I was getting out of the jungle, out of nowhere, I felt a sudden sting behind my left arm. It was painful. Stiii-ng--ing man. I think I jumped. I felt like stopping cos it was throbbing and my arm felt heavyyyy. But I was almost reaching the endpoint and no way I'm going to let anybody catch up with me. Once back at the carpark's toilet I inspected the sting mark and it was obvious cos it had a little mark like as if i've been poked by a needle and a reddish halo around it. I didnt wanna go to the doc immediately cos I thought that it might go away, so I went to have dinner with them at Sakae Sushi @ Junction 8. Great company, Jeanette is Poh Yee's friend from CPD and it was the first time we met actually. And as usual, Poh Yee was the centre of attention cos she .. well she is a good "target". Made me forget a bit about the pain.

It was only while driving back home that I couldnt bear the throbbing. Saw a clinic that was still open at AMK so I turned in and went to see the doc to get it checked. He squeezed the sting out and showed it to me. Just a very small black needle-like thing, about 1/4 of an inch long. He then drew a diagram and explained "you see, there is a purple halo around the bite, it shows that the skin is dead cos the toxin has taken into effect, there will be an ulcer and the skin will fall off but there's nothing to worry about cos i'll be prescribing you antibiotics to contain it etc etc". And I got an MC. And Friday's a public holiday. Hee. Another first in my book... Stung by a bee.

We live in interesting times.

Somebody from the Finance Dept at work has been diagnosed with SARS. He got it from the MediaCorp staff who is his sis-in-law I think. He is now warded at TTSH and what worries me is that he went back to work last Saturday (my working day) and caught a high fever on Monday before being admitted on Tuesday. So there IS a possibility that the deadly virus is still lingering somewhere at the HDB Hub, waiting for its chance to hop on to the next unsuspecting fella and .. well, I dont need to go into details, I'm sure we ALL know what's going to happen then. Sure, MOH did come and scrub the entire floor clean, even to the point of purging out the aircon vents and shampooing the carpets, but those bastards are known to cling onto an infector who has a strong body resistance and who are not affected by it or show any symptoms, but they themselves can pass on the virus to somebody else whose body will crumble under their dominance. Who knows? I might already be an infector. It has certainly caused panic at work. On Friday 3 of my colleagues took MC cos of fever. It might be because of the weather, it has been raining the past week. It might be purely psychological. Adding on to the paranoia, ISD's management has decided to split the units up into 2 groups, X and Y. This is so that if one of us gets infected, the whole unit dont have to be quarantined, effectively shutting down that unit for good. The 2 groups are not supposed to talk to each other both on and off work. Ladies and Gentleman, get your masks out. We're at war.

Friday I met Mervin and Audrey for dinner then we went to Chinatown and met Kian Chai there. It was just a normal chat, walk, chat, take pictures, eat, chat kinda night. There was something not quite right about Merv and Audrey errr.. I dunno I think he's quite pissed about something. As usual, I will not be taking sides. Yesterday I went for bike lesson 8 and it really pissed me off that the instructor wasnt there when I did my plank very nicely for 4 times in a row and then he shows up and I fell off it. I swear if I do not pass this coming Tuesday, I'll do a wheelie and ride thru the plank with only one wheel, the other weel high up in the air. That'll show them that I can do it. Sofian and KC joined me at night and we went to watch Dreamcatcher. It was a typical Stephen King movie, some parts were really gore but I felt Morgan Freeman's character wasnt really well developed and the audience is left with 3 mini half-baked sub-plots. The memory warehouse was a cool concept though. And somebody in the audience was wearing a face mask. Tsk.

It was Poh Yee's birthday on Tuesday! And what did she do to celebrate it? She went running with us, of course. It rained the whole day and I really didnt know it was her birthday until I went over to her cubicle to ask her whether she still wanna go running, when I noticed a birthday card and a gift on her table. I asked "Today your birthday ah?". She replied "Yah lah, bo sim ah you." Hahahah she reacted the same way when I only knew she was on medical leave for a week (lasik surgery) AFTER she got back to work. Bo sim! heh, which later I found out means "No heart" or "Heartless". Kelvin commented she look much better with her hair short, I couldnt agree more. Together with Sean we drove to Macritchie but it started to rain heavily again so we just went straight and dropped Kelvin off along Lornie Road. The woman really needed to run on her birthday, so we agreed to go to California Gym to pound on the threadmill.

So off we went to cali and since they were not members, I had to sign them in and they had to listen to this fat angmoh "fitness" consultant (Chris) talk to them about membership deals and staying fit and etc etc usual sales pitch. We ran the minimum requirement of 5km and left the gym (Chris was busy with another guy who was signing up so he didnt give them a hard time letting them go) and went to Swensens to give Poh Yee a treat. I found out she's from Ipoh, Perak and that she really is a very very innocent and pleasant girl. We shared a bowl of Earthquake (8 flavours of ice cream!) and some fries and wings.

Today I went for a repeat of Subject 8 which I took for the first time on Monday. I improved and cleared my Figure 8, but my narrow plank course still suck. I need more practice. I booked for another round of practice on Saturday afternoon, just enough time after that to take a shower and make my way to Fullerton Hotel for the Appreciation Dinner.

Lots of things happening on TV tonight:

1) CNN, BBC, CNBC etc - I see a huge statue of Saddam being pulled down by an American Tank. I see the Iraqi people smiling and cheering. I have mixed feelings. For one, I am glad that Saddam the tyrant is gone. But on the other hand, I am sad that these Iraqi people do not understand why the Americans are doing this. I just hope Iraq and what God has blessed the land with do not fall from one tyrant to another. I hope liberation means just that and not laced with hidden agendas. I hope the Americans do not expect to be rewarded with oil and wealth and certainly do not PROFIT from the oil that belong to the Iraqi people and channel it back to America or God-forbid, Israel. Amen

2) On a lighter note, its Smallville's season finale tonight! 3 twisters struck Smallville and blew Lana away and Clark came running at lightning speed just in time to see hear her shout "Claaaaaaaaaaaarkkk" before her whole car got carried away into oblivion. Stay tuned to the next season premiering April 28!

3) And on a lighter lighter note with sugar on top, Noel is dead. And its Felicity's fault. I forgot what season this is, I was a huge fan of Felicity back in Season 1, watched all 23 episodes religiously and discussing each plot twist with Kian Chai at school the very next day at school, completely ignoring whoever is lecturing in front. It was way funny and touching, but it got stupid as the season goes by and I got tired of watching. The show should retire to the big video fault in the sky and not wait till it got really REALLY stupid.

Oh, and Man U got creamed 3-1 by Real Madrid. Fab.

Chee Koon turned 29 on Saturday. The gang went out on Friday, minus Su Yian and Sofian who had to work till late. Over dinner at Millenia Spageddies we chatted away about our work and life. Get this, Chee Koon tendered his resignation that morning! Mervin quit his job the day before, and I know Daniel is definitely not happy at work. I am waiting for the confirmation letter to leave HDB. Isnt that wonderful? CK described his resignation as "the best birthday gift I can give myself." Now we're all out in the big open sea and there's no telling whats gonna happen. Sink or swim? Whatever it is, we've just made a big dive and I am confident that we''ll survive for the better. We had a quick dessert session at Baker's Inn, then parked our big asses at Fat Frog Cafe for some wonderful live music. It was free-for-all night, there were 4 singers and each of them had their own style. I hope we gave the birthday boy an enjoyable night.

I didnt talk to her on Saturday at work. Not even a hi, not even goodbye when we left office. I've decided. I've decided that she dont need me anymore. I've decided I will only be in her way if I continue to linger. She is happy now and she was only trying to make me happy. Yes, I've made my decision. The words on her birthday gift from me says "Friends for Eternity." Eternity, in this case, must end now.

Met Mervin for dinner then we stood outside a pub at Clarke Quay watching the Liverpool vs Man U match. Hyppia was sent off in the first 5 mins and with only 10 men playing at Old Trafford, the whole team crumbled and suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat. Humiliating. Nothing can save this season now. When you're down, you're down. Success is collective. Failure is individual. Somebody has got to go. We picked Sofian up after he closed shop at midnight and had supper at Frankel. We were making plans for August, 8th is my birthday, 9th is his and 11th is Daniel's. Its gonna be either KL, Pahang, Tioman or just Sentosa for the big August celebration, depending on whether all of us can get time-off from work then. I am hoping for Tioman.

I spent almost the entire Sunday at Amrita spa. Slept beside the pool for a good hour, finished a few chapters reading "On the Road." Mervin was having tea with Sook Ping so out of boredom and general crappiness I did something I shouldnt have after I left the spa. I guess it was fate. I certainly wasnt looking for it. It just happened. Its funny how one thing lead to another. I dont know what it meant and what it will mean to me. Its best forgotten.

For those runners out there who frequent Macritchie and who always run the normal 5.4km route, my advise to all of you is, if you havent discovered it, GO THE OTHER WAY.

Poh Yee, Sean and me went on Thursday and she insisted we take the other longer route, it start off at the toilet area but instead of going towards Lornie Road, you turn the other way round and start running towards the pump station heading in the direction of SICC and Bt Timah. It was already drizzling a bit and there were thunder even before we started but if you need to jog, u need to jog, know what I mean? It really is a wonderful feeling to run on a newly-discovered trail, with every step and every turn you're always wondering where the road will lead you to and where you might end up at. The only problem that day was, halfway thru (I think at the 3km mark?) it started to rain. No, it poured. Heavily. And there was no way of turning back or finding a shelter anywhere near so we just continued to run. It was so heavy, I couldnt even keep my head up. I was drenched soaked to the bones. I was practically running on water. I was smiling all the way. :)) Well not all the way. It started to become unbeareable and my shorts were making that irritating sweesh squeeesh rubbing against my groin sound and so we decided to turn and run back to the starting point. I think I ran almost 6km. Looking forward to completing the route next week.

Went to Sean's house to catch American Idol cos I didnt have time to drive back by 8. A cosy bedroom, lots of photos pasted on the walls everywhere and photo albums lined up on the cabinet and around the bed. American Idiots, thats what the show should be called, 15million voted and who are in the bottom 3? Trenyce, Carmen and Kim Locke. Goodness. Joshua wasnt in the bottom 3, even though he was dreadful, cos obviously the millions who voted thought that what with the war going on, voting off a Marine would be unthinkable. Idiots.

Somebody saaaaaave meeeeeee...

I'm watching Smallville on TV now. I think Lana has developed her own superpower, she just saw a "vision" that Chloe is in big trouble, ala Phoebe in Charmed. The show's getting ridiculous, Lex shows up at Clark's house and his mom invite him in. Lex and Clark were friends before they became enemies! But of course!

Nothing worthy to write happened past 3 nights. On Monday I went running with Vincent and Sean at Macritchie, then I had dinner with Audrey and Mervin at Chai Chee. Audrey's cool. There's something about her bo-chap face and her "what the fuck" tone when she speaks that make me interested to know more about her. Together with Mervin, they're a deadly duo. And that's why I met them again for dinner on Tuesday, right after my bike lesson subject 7, which I failed by the way, but it didnt bother me as much as the other times I failed cos the whole class of 5 first-timers failed. Merv and Audrey handed their resignation letter from DBS together, and the whole office went into a mad frenzy. Thursday being their last day, I wonder what they will do next. Anything can and will happen with these two. Especially Mervin. I have a feeling he'll fly away to the states and wont come back in 6 months, like what he did last year. I cant read his mind this time. I suspect there's a lot going on up there.

There was a departmental gathering today at work. When I came in the auditorium, I saw them sitting together. Yes, them. Teffy and me took up the row behind them and voila, he shifted one row in front and Saul took his seat. But halfway thru he came back to sit beside her again. I cant figure that out. I cant figure her out. I have not spoken to her in 2 days. Not even a word thru Novell. I feel like a fool and I will not be the one to keep hoping. What does it matter anyway? After work I went for subject 7 again and passed it. There were 10 of us, 3 second or third timers, the rest took the subject for the first time. And as expected, all the first-timers failed too. Next lesson subject 8 is scheduled next Monday.

Clark should forget about Lana Lang and give Chloe a chance. Yes Lana is beautiful but Chloe loves him! Wake up Clark! He should use his super vision for once and see who has the more beautiful heart. I wish I can do that. And THEN I'll know.

Allow me, if you will, to complete my KL chronicle. I hate leaving my stories hanging in the air, so here goes...

Saturday

I met Chee Koon and Su Yian at Sungei Wang Plaza at 1pm, at first it felt kinda awkward, he was holding her hand for almost the entire time. But soon it was ok, I felt comfortable going out with these 2 lovebirds and they were certainly nice to be around with. We got out of the main city and drove out to Putrajaya cos they have not been there before. "When I see this place, I see sombody's vision" Su Yian said. And what a vision it was, although Mahathir (or Badawi for that matter) will have a hard time changing the mindset of the Malays to be able to sustain this vision. We had lunch at the foodcourt, well they had lunch, my stomach was still aching from the frequent visits to the toilet, I think I left my mark at almost every single shopping centre and foodcourts in KL this trip.

We went to the museum next, I brought them there cos they said they are "not shopping centre" people and they seem to be the type to appreciate arts and history. I've been there 4 times already the past 2 years. There wasnt much change to the exhibits, there was one new wing opened showcasing the many races of Malaysia. One interesting point to note is that at one section of that exhibit, the races of Bugis, Javanese, Boyanese etc are considered to be sub-races of Malay. Odd, I thought that Malays are a race on its own, as are the others.

While having tea at Bangsar, I called up Rhymie and he didnt pick up the phone nor reply to my SMSs. He might have gone out on his own or something. It was already 6pm and I was having a lovely time with the couple. Su Yian is articulate and intelligent, its obvious to see that she has been brought up in an environment where the family is well-to-do and she was given every opportunity to develop her interests. One thing for sure, she has definitely mellowed down Chee Koon a lot. I dont think I'll ever catch him spewing vulgarities again. When Su Yian went away for a while, Chee Koon leaned over to me and said "I am so lucky to have a girlfriend like her." Yes sir, you're lucky.

We left Bangsar and made a quick stopover at MidValley Megamall cos they have to buy stuff for tomorrow's breakfast, anyway Rhymie called and said he just woke up and he's damn hungry and waiting for me to get back and pick him up. I think he wasnt sleeping. I think he was doing other activities. But I digress :) I dropped them off at DutaVista where they're staying and drove back to the hotel, Rhymie was waiting at the lobby with a hungry and impatient face so I sped to Bt Bintang's Kenny Rogers. So much for boycotting American products. He wolfed down a plate of Pasta and a quarter chicken. Its the wood that makes it good!

And not being satisfied ("I havent eaten anything the whole day!") we managed to find our way to Sri Hartamas where he ate sirloin steak and I had waffles. Its a cool hangout place, a smaller version of Bangsar with pubs and clubs and lots of eating places. Way better than any of the supper hangouts in Singapore.

Sunday

Feeling very guilty from all the food yesterday, I woke up at 830 and went to the hotel's gym. After breakfast at the hotel, we still had about 3 hours to burn before starting the drive back home, so we went to KLCC where Rhymie spent a few hundred bucks buying BUM stuff and I bought a pair of black corduroy pants. I have to forget about the blue and white striped jacket from Topman. I'll be back. I know I will.

After a 4hrs drive we cleared the Tuas Checkpoing in a minute (100% checking my arse, I should have filled my entire boot with DVDs). I sent Rhymie home and went to Sentosa for Chin's wedding dinner. Changed to something nice at the Resort's toilet and was glad to see Mirzah at the entrance of the ballroom. 1 Muslim table, him, me, Sulestri, Chin's neigbours and a guy we dont know from where. Teffy and Fariz didnt show up. So the 6 of us tried to eat food meant for 10 person and man... there was chicken, prawns, beef, fish... and LOTS of it. What a waste.