Moscow, here we comes!

YES! We are heading to Moscow! Man Utd is in the final once again!

So wanted to put “Glory Glory Man Utd” as the title but shall reserve it till the time we win at Moscow! =)

It’s a good day isn’t it?

Today. Badday.

Today is not a good day. Bad day. Moody day.

Just finish my run again and was trying to discuss with my little voice during the run to sort out my problems. There was no conclusion nor solution at the end of the run but at least everything seem much clearer now, i just need to make the decision and take the dive.

Going to cheer myself up with a lollipop i gotten last week. It’s been a decade since i had one.

While i was going thru my folders of interesting stories collected over the years, i found something meaningful to share…

The Law of the Seed

Take a look at an apple tree.  There might be five hundred apples on the tree, but each apple has just ten seeds. That’s a lot of seeds!

We might ask, “Why would you need so many seeds to grow just a few more apple trees?” Nature has something to teach us here.

It’s telling us: “Not all seeds grow. In life, most seeds never grow. So if you really want to make something happen, you had better try more than once.”

This might mean:

You’ll attend twenty interviews to get one job.
You’ll interview forty people to find one good employee.
You’ll talk to fifty people to sell one house, one car, one vacuum cleaner, one insurance policy, or a business idea. And you might meet a hundred acquaintances just to find one special friend.

When we understand the “Law of the Seed”, we don’t get so disappointed. We stop feeling like victims. We learn how to deal with things that happen to us.

Laws of nature are not things to take personally. We just need to understand them — and work with them.

IN A NUTSHELL

Successful people fail more often. But they plant more seeds.

When Things Are Beyond your control, here’s something that you must NOT DO so as to avoid misery in your life:
You must not decide how you think the world SHOULD be.
You must not make rules for how everyone SHOULD behave.

Then, when the world doesn’t obey your rules, you get angry!
That’s what miserable people do!

On the other hand, let’s say you expect that:
Friends SHOULD return favours.
People SHOULD appreciate you.
Planes SHOULD arrive on time.
Everyone SHOULD be honest.
Your husband or best friend SHOULD remember your birthday.

These expectations may sound reasonable. But often, these things won’t happen!

So you end up frustrated and disappointed.

There’s a better strategy. Demand less and, instead, have preferences!

For things that are beyond your control, tell yourself:

“I WOULD PREFER “A”, BUT IF “B” HAPPENS, IT’S OK TOO!”

This is really a change in mindset. It is a shift in attitude, and it gives you more peace of mind …

You prefer that people are polite … but when they are rude, it doesn’t ruin your day.
You prefer sunshine … but if it rains, it is ok too!

To become happier, we either need to

a) Change the world, or
b) Change our thinking.

It is easier to change our Thinking!

It is not the problem that is the issue, but rather it is your attitude
attending to the problem that is the problem.

It’s not what happens to you that determine your happiness.

It’s how you think about what happens to you!

Tomorrow will be a better day i’m sure! Especially if Man Utd wins tonight.

im going for a run… in 3 mins

Yi Hao just hang up, and he told me he will be down in 3 mins.

So, got to make full use of this 3mins to do a quickie! Ten things that happened today

1. I overslept, missed the morning talk!

2. I fixed the e-submission problem and finally submitted the first case!

3. I got the free ticket to go for the National Achiever Congress tomorrow. Thanks to Yong Wei. =)

4. I had an expensive lunch – fish bee hoon at $5. New stall, my last try though.

5. Did some phone prospecting today, scary yet interesting experience. Managed to secure some appointments too! =)

6. Teabreak on Yong Wei

7. Went for my free mac treat with ms J

8. Talk at length on the phone with ms see

9. Rest enough, blog enough in the spare 3 mins

10. Gonna run now for i exceeded the 3 mins with the last two sentence!

tata~

I feel GOOD!

I feel GOOD! LOL!

I have been diligently doing my running every other day since last Sun! And i just finished my first individual run since like three months ago.

It’s good to run with someone, it won’t be that bored, but i also feel that i need to do my personal training at times to push for a better timing! =)

I took out my antique MP3 player which i hadn’t touch for the past three months with me for the run. The songs in it was put in like last december period and listening to them just bring back instant memories of that time period. Those ORD days, the slack days, the nothing to do and late night days, those people then. It just seems like those days were so far away.

I was just sharing with someone few days back that i’m a “five senses” person. As in, sometimes i listen to certain song, smell certain fragrance, went to certain place will just remind me of somebody whom i relate to that object, smell, song, place or whatever. Have you all ever experience this? Anyway, the song just now did reminded me of a box though. LOL.

The upcoming week, will add in the morning swim together with the evening runs. Then Kian Peng will be a healthy and fit boy once again. =)

I FEEL GOOD!

 

the friday

This post had been sitting in my draft box for plenty of days.

Not for my procrastination or my laziness, just purely no inspiration to write. Didn’t really want my blog to be that’s monotonous.

Ever visited blogs that blogger just key in a whole chunk of activities done during the day… Goes something like this:

“today wake up at 6am, very tired. had you tiao for breakfast, then went to work. the queenstown bus stop is very crowded when taking bus. reach office just nice at 9am. do abit of calling then 12le and then went for lunch with the colleagues. had chicken rice for lunch.. blah blah blah..”

Seen something like this before? I think that’s monotonous. Blogging to me is more of like “engraving” your life experiences out somewhere in this digital space for your own future memories achieves plus a platform to share with friends on what’s been happening in your life. So, won’t it be more meaningful to put in some effort to write and not just for the sake of doing so? Okay, some people are going to come up to my face and tell me it’s other people life and they are free to choose what they like, oh well, this is my world too, and i’m entitled to write what i like too. =)

Backtrack to last weekend.

1. Kayden – My nephew

Met up with Ser Ai after like nearly half a century. Lol. Okay, abit too exagerating. Anyway, she brought along her second son – Kayden, whose like few hairs old? It’s always fun to play with babies right? Especially if they are not yours! haha. Kayden is very lively and cute and just seeing him smile does really brighten up my morning.

Smiley Kayden – taken from cousin site. (shi ai: good thing must share ya! =) )

Kieron and Kayden

Notice that all good things starts with K? Lol

2. Enrolment Ceremony Training

Went to Fuchun Sec after lunch to take a look at the training. Terribly, everyone is late! Latest being the boys from my company. What a disappointment. Nvm, give chance since it’s my first training with them.

Then among everyone, was this boy not in the correct attire. So i went over and asked him nicely why is he not in the correct attire and here’s how our conversation goes…

K: Why are you not in your uniform?
Boy: I dunnoe what
K: What do you mean by you dunnoe?
Boy: I dunnoe means i dunnoe lah!
Inside my head: #$%^&*(!
*Calm down* K: Why? Are you not interested?
Boy: (swing hand action) i never say hor, i dunnoe doesn’t mean i not interested what!
K: Okay, thank you for your time then, i don’t need you here anymore… (and off he goes)

Goodness! how can the boy’s attitude be so bad? I mean i didn’t send him home for his wrong attire, i just want to know why! But it’s when his AP started coming out that’s when i decided i’m not going to tolerate any AP in this training.

The next day he came and asked for a second chance, and while i had shared with everyone that i do not want to see him in the contingent again, i decided otherwise. This incident might not be able to change him, but hopefully it leaves a mark deep enough that one day when he look back he will know his problem.

3. WDL Speech Day

Halfway thru the training, was “mobilised” by Panyong to attend the school speech day as 66th representative. I reached just in time to meet up with Michael who’s one of the VIP to give out the award. Going in with him, i was accorded the same VIP treatment, haha. Cut things short, i was very impressed with the school progress over the years despite the dip when we were leaving the school.

Academic wise, the school probably had much room for improvement however i see that the students are more cohesive and more enthusiastic to be involved. The school now also pay much attention to the character development of the students. Towards the end, when they played the school song, for one i felt so strongly and proud to be a Woodlander! lol. *Im blushing as im typing this!*

May the school continue to excel! =)

4. My first deal

Rushed down all the way to Tiong Bahru to meet Mr P after the speech day and reached at 8pm. We sat down to run thru what i had prepared for him and half the time his attention was diverted and he started to go into other topic! Haha, and it took him so long to decide that my laptop batt died halfway while signing the deal!

Unbelievably, Tiong Bahru Mac has not power point outlet for laptop user! Hello?! No powerpoint? Haha. So off we went in search of powerpoint outlet to charge the laptop. We found one along the MRT walkway and being desperate, i decided to carry out my impossible mission – to charge my laptop along the MRT walkway with so many people walking up and down! LOL

Discreetly, i setup everything in my laptop bag and placed my laptop bag just below the powerpoint. When no one was looking (or maybe i wasn’t looking if anyone was looking, ??, lol) i quickly plug in the socket and then pretend to stand there as if i’m waiting for someone. After 10mins of charging, we proceeded to the coffee shop outside the MRT to continue. I guess the laptop battery is almost dying and we lasted for 5mins before it goes back to sleep again!! ^&*@#$%!

The final attempt was to try out the Mac at Bukit Merah and we finally found a powerpoint outlet there!! So happy, so excited, we went on to sign the remaining forms and at 1145pm, i closed my first deal! After that was so shagged out and i only managed to reach home at 1am. But, everything was worth the effort.

And, that’s how i ended my last adventurous friday. =)

Just did it!

A moment to blog. My moment!

Got to do this before my eyelids give way, that is i closed my very first deal! =)

Cheers for me!

Today’s been a good, exciting, long and fun day.

Brief outline

1. Krayden – my nephew
2. Enrolment Ceremony training – nearly kill a boy
3. WDL speech day – sense of belonging, unbelievable
4. My first deal – Mr P, if you are reading this, better don’t play me out. lol

Shall blog the details tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Procrastination at its peak!

After a busy week at work, procrastination really hit its peak and that explain why i only blog now.

Some of the exciting things that happened in the week that’s worth a mention…

Passing of my final general insurance paper
Finally i passed my last general insurance paper and now i’m licensed to sell general insurance. I.e. Travel ins, car ins, house ins, etc etc! Had really thought i am going to flunk the paper, but i guess as always God is a kind God and always answer to my prayer request!

So the next time you are planning for a hols, planning to get a new car, or a new home, do let me know if i can be of service to protect your assets!

Treat by Big Big Boss
Charlie, one of the super old bird in the agency top the production league this month and being someone whom had been lying low for many years, that made the big big boss very happy and he decided to give us a treat at one ninety, Four Season hotel. It’s a very grande and fine place for dining. Food was fantastic, and i had my first try at fois gras. I’m not very good at describing but then it definitely taste much better than any chicken liver out there, but the price is still quite atrocious despite the fact it’s just liver! lol. Maybe i’m more cheapo.

Quickie at Mac!
And while i was meeting Bel at the Mac, we met this couple from Victoria JC who was hanky-pankying outrightly! So rubbed on by their daring-ness, i also increase my daring-ness and just look at them without bothering the fact that they were staring at me ocassionally with the “See what see” look. LOL. Was thinking if you want to do it there, then why scare others see right?

Some random pics

Army days..

The Lims

 

Nikki Webster: Under the Southern Skies

There’s a peace in our hearts and a hope in our hands,
We’re the family of children; we come from many different lands.
Our time is just beginning; our race is yet to run,
But if you will take us with you, then we have already won.

CHORUS:
Under the southern skies,
Together in this land,
Every voice in celebration,
A family hand in hand!
Under the southern skies,
As one we rise,
And turn our eyes to see
All the wonder of the future
In a world of harmony.

There’s a great spirit rising from the desert to the sea.
As it sweeps across this southern land it calls to you and me:
We’re the dreamers and the dreaming; we’re the face of things yet to come.
Every child can be a hero if our world can live as one.

a race to remember

While i was so excited about the BB Adventure Quest before the event and shared my hope of completing it this year, things didn’t really work out that way. Indeed, it turned out to be more eventful than expected!

Team 913 – Yong Wen, Me, Xiang Yi and CheeHong

We started our pre-race preparation by having our very first group meeting (since formation) in the early morning at 1am for some tasks organisation before we head off to bed and woke up later at 4am to set off to the start point.

The race was splitted into 2 legs. Failing to finish leg 1 in the specified timing will disqualified us for leg 2. All of us having not really trained for the event was just expecting to complete it. Surprisingly we did pretty well for leg 1 and by the time we finish leg 1, we were 6th in position.

Then, we gotten more excited and decided to cheong for top 3 because all of us have not been receiving awards and medals for quite some time in our life. Lol. The problem started with leg 2 when we started having some minor cramps here and there. During the cycling segment, i too had my cramps but they were still endurable as we push on. Till we had to carry our bike across an overhead bridge and there’s when my body go haywire.

The moment i reached the bottom of the bridge, i started experiencing multiple cramps on my lower limbs, and yes, you have not read wrongly. I said multiple cramps. I had muscles cramps on both legs, calves and thighs, front and back. The best way to fix a cramp is to do some stretching on the muscle to loose it, however due to the multiple cramps i couldn’t do any stretching at all because stretching anyone part of the muscle would actually trigger the other part of the muscle to be more “crampy”! So all i could do was to lie down on the grass patch and endure the pain.

I ever seen an athlete who had multiple cramps after completing his half marathon which leads to a fit later. And i never thought it could happened to me and the pain was really terrible. In fact, terrible IS an understatement.

We thought it’s just some ”routine” cramps and i’ll be fine after a while so we could continue with the race, however it just worsen as we waited. I had endured the cramps for more than an hour before i gave up fighting the pain and decided to call for help. The organiser sent an ambulance down and i had my first ever real-life stretcher lift and ambulance ride experience. I was so worried that they will be sending me to the hospital yet i hope they do because i was so much in fear then.

During that hour of horrible ordeal, i really was in so much pain that i actually hope someone could just use the bicycle helmet to knock me out. But on the positive side, i learnt much important lessons of this experience too.

Firstly, I rediscover the importance of teamwork, i may be stronger than some in terms of fitness due to prior training i had in the army but when my body break down, i could really do nothing and it was my teammates who were so patient with me, kept encouraging me, massaging my dirty, muddy and sweat leg with the muscle rub cream, and even had to remove my shoes, touch my dirty socks to help me stretch my feet to relieve my pain.

No matter how strong we think we could be, there’s always a times that we need a helping hand from the others too and i must say these teammates and friends of mine are the truest bunch of friends and best teammates i could have asked for. I really like to dedicate this post to them for being there for me, and despite us not completing the race due to my fallout, they shown more concern to my “injury” than completing the race then. Thanks so much guys!

Secondly, the importance of preparation before such an strenous activity. The medical staffs attended to me attributed the cause to..

a. Extreme fatigue/ lack of rest prior to activity
b. Insufficient body conditioning (especially when this is a multi-disciplinary race, more needs to be done)
c. Insufficient salt intake to replace the loss of body salt through sweating
d. Insufficient water replacement (Not an issue here, cause i have been drinking much)

Added to the constipation problem recently, i figured that having a healthy lifestyle not just means exercising regularly, but also to have proper dietary plan.

That is so much for the AQ this year, i’m sure i’ll be back with better conditioning to challenge for it next year again. And hopefully with the same team!

8 more hours to Adventure Quest…

As it gets nearer, i’m feeling more excited than ever. The feeling this time round is so different from the first time i took part.

Maybe it just reminds me of those outfield training days in OCS. Going out to the field early in the morning, completed the objectives and return with a victorious feeling (of coming back to civilise world!). Once in a while such activity can be quite fun.

It’s going to be an energy burning day with the running, kayaking, cycling, rock climbing etc. But before that, the aim now is to complete it!