4/24/09

Its yesterday once more....

I went to meet the best financial planner in the world today. I hurrayed the moment i got into the bus; for a good 12min or so i was spared from the sizzling ambient heat of the summer( hmmm i thought there's no seasons in singapore ). At that juncture i suddenly realised that the world's getting so much hotter these days. I never recount days of complaining about the searing temperature nor feel sick about sweating my guts out; Well i did grumbled back then, but certainly its not as bad as now... After settling some financial planning updates and reviewing more policies from the best financial planner, i headed home in the same fashion

Something is different this time round ; seeing the familiar stretch from Causeway point to my parents' place going by.. all these seem to hit a raw nerve in me. I havent been moving around the woodlands estate as much as i used to when i was on my skates in late 06

Those days were simply marvelous. I was so crazy into freestyle slalom that i initiated meet ups with fellow freestyle skaters( many of them are now doing it competitively ), filling every corner of our neighbourhood with laughter, exchanging pointers and stories that one would tell in a campfire. I played slalom so frequently i realised that i was getting better and better. To add on to that, people were eagerly learning tricks from me... Well it feels very good to be so involved into the sport...

... Until now. I hold a full time job, having an estate legally under my name ( erm, its actually a long term borrowing from HDB to be frank ) and happily married to a gal i so fondly love since the days in 1999. Life now is really a challenge, having to fight with the dusts at home, doing laundry,cleaning up the toilet, trying to cook dinner ( i think i'm getting into the hang of preparing meals for myself )and clearing up the dishes in the kitchen sink. Everytime i finished a particular household chore,I would kowtowed to my mum from the bottom of my heart, having to endure what i am going through now, six fold( my dad, my 3 brothers, my sister and me).

It is no longer easy to say that i am balancing it well. Maybe i havent been able to do it at all.. I had minor taskings awaiting for me to accomplish, many of them are house related....

In the midst of procrastination this evening, i rushed out for a quick slalom session after preparing fish and chips for my wife ( its Friday so no meat related food for meals!). I must say that i could no longer train( i would like to think of it as training, as you would know why soon )as hard as i did last time. Today's slalom session was barely an hour and a quarter maybe. As i tried to maneuver around the cones, those nostalgic moments at Blk 711 hardcourt from 6pm to 10pm overwhelmed me...There were times after my ATC trainee days when i headed there with my skates to look for some personal space of my own. Not only did i gain solitude, i managed to keep in mind the moves i want to learn so as to build up my trick ability profile. More tricks means more fun, and more tricks will last you longer into the sport...

Today was a very cold start... It made me realise that the past few months of slalom sessions were random and aimless; I was there for the sake of being there. No doubt that i was slaloming with pros from the team, i could no longer connect to the transitions and had difficulty performing stunts i once thought was bread and butter.

I left the court feeling this sense of austerity. As i wheezed through the veins of the neighborhood, penetrating void decks and doing tight corners around concrete bends, this particular song from The Carpenters filled my head.

Its Yesterday Once More

4/14/09

A tiring stretch

Past few days of my work life was tiring. It was almost a 6-day stretch of waking up early( and clocking around 6 hours of sleep everyday ). I used to be able to take such kind of life but of late i guessed i hadnt been working out my body. I am a staunch believer of a balanced work-and-play person. If i realised i hadnt been skating/running/climbing for sometime, my mind would automatically switch into a lethargic mode.

In the midst of all these tiring days, i made some small achievements. Got 2 bedside tables from ikea and had some advancement in preparing dinner( KUDOS to my wife who was patient enough to tolerate my ignorance in preparing meals ). Simple achievements of an easily contented person.

This morning i put on my asics kayano 15 and went running. Wasnt glad to see a lapse of one min( didnt run for a week i think ) as compared to my best timings clocked from a 4 round jog in my neighbourhood. I wanted so much to crouch onto the floor upon reaching my finishing point but my ego kept me standing. My whole body was punishing me hard today- A result of not keeping up to my runnig schedule..

But who cares, wearing the new shoe certainly adds to the kicks!

Shall be running again on friday morning. This time i must at least maintain today's timing; most importantly i must be able to maintain this timing with ease as compared to today.

Will be heading down to wan's wedding ceremony this sat noon . That means i had to change my sat noon duties into a morning one; End result - Have to report for work on friday noon, coming back at 1150pm or so, sleep for 6hours and then head out to work on sat.

Another tiring stretch to come!!!!!

4/1/09

sick at home

I was able to write the previous blog entry because i was sick stricken at home, down with throat infection. It left me shivering with cold under the effects of high fever 2 nights back. Thank goodness my temperature subsided and i head down to attend army seminar yesterday.

I planned for a run this morning, thinking that i could have recovered 90% from my ailment 3 days back. Last night i felt this coughy sensation down my throat; It was then i realized that my throat problems have evolved from a sore one to a coughy one. I started lying on the bed before 1130pm, and i last remembered the hand phone clock showing 1215am. I was tossing around the bed, clearing my throat from the irritations within for almost 1/2 an hour before i finally turned in.....

This morning 's feel was anything but fantastic. I wasn't tired but somewhat the cough made me want to sink deeper into slumber.... I no longer felt that i was on form to run( damn i had postpone my running plans for almost 5 days or maybe longer...)

One and a half weeks ago, grizzly bear asked if i wanted to get new running shoes( he must have seen my worn-and-torn asics GT shoe during the christmas makan last year )... He boasted about asics new kayano 15 shoe . Told me that he could get it at a hefty discount.

I've tried that shoe, and now awaiting it to arrive. Cant wait to put it on so that i can have proper training for my IPPT and stand chart marathon 2009!!!!