Sore throat and cold

So the weekend was spent partly in Singapore. In short, I managed to obtain my Employment Pass. The bus arrived at Novena Square around 11:45pm; I got a taxi to drive me to Sheraton, and I went to bed around 1am. Woke up by 645am, had a quick bite and took a taxi down to the Ministry of Manpower, arriving at 748am. I found that there was already a queue for the queue-tickets! The queue-ticket machine were only operational from 8am onwards but clearly, there were people queuing to get the early numbers. I waited in line, got my ticket and promptly headed to Level 2, where my application will be processed and my Employment Pass, obtained. I was attended to some 15 minutes later, and they told me to collect the Employment Pass on the same day, at 1030am. I looked at my watch and it was 830am, so I had 2 hours to kill. Went to have a heavier breakfast, before taking a pretty long walk around Chinatown and Clarke Quay. So I walked for approximately 2 hours, which is good exercise.

I finally collected the Employment Pass at around 1030am, and took the MRT back to the hotel. Then, more breakfast, before we started our apartment-hunting and finalising. After visiting 2 apartments (but thanks to the wife who went apartment hunting the preceding weeks before, before finally zero-ing into 2) we decided to take the one located in East Coast. But a final hiccup, which we just discovered last night- apparently the landlords suddenly decided to sell the apartment off, so the deal is off! So, back to the drawing board, looking for other apartments within our price and location range. The property market has gone slightly berserk here, and apartments here are being rented like hot cakes and there's usually no opportunity to go back to the one you viewed from a week before, because in all likelihood, the apartment would already have been taken/rented by someone else.

I'm hoping the other one we decided against is still available. But I doubt that too. I really hope this is settled sooner rather than later.

Oh yeah, and I have a cold and a sore throat. I felt developed a sore throat mid-week, but it worsened when I boarded the bus, and my nose started blocking, probably due to the air-con. With the little rest I've had of late, maybe the defences are down. It wasn't helped by the journey back to KL- one of the passengers was literally sneezing his brains out throughout the journey (no joke!), and loudly too. Another one was coughing, a few others were sniffing. Mrs Rabbit got infected too. Sorry! So we're both nursing a cold and sore throat.

Plan to RPM today.

Off to Singapore again...

Off to Singapore this weekend again. It'll be a busy one. Medical report was ready on Monday and subsequently collected by mom-in-law this morning. Now, armed with the report, I will be heading to the MOM first thing tomorrow morning. Taking the 7pm bus tonight. After MOM, we'll be finalising our accommodation. Then the 630pm bus back to KL.

Its finally coming- its my final 1.5 weeks here in KL. Last day is this Wednesday and I want to run in KLCC at least once more before I go. Will try to make it sometime next week, in between my packing.

Have a good weekend.

Not running related!

Courtesy of The Sun
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Empire strikes back at 30


IT might be 30 years old but Star Wars is just as well-loved as ever.

To celebrate the anniversary of the sci-fi classic that has spawned a thousand copies, Empire magazine has released 30 different covers featuring all the favourite characters from the films.

From Jabba the Hut to the Ewoks, fans can choose which one they want to collect.

Below are some of the 30 front covers:-

updates

So I took the 9pm bus from KL to Singapore. Was sleeping most of the way because the seats were very comfy. During the trip, it dawned upon me that in my haste to get the bus, etc, I forgot to change Sg dollars. All I had in my wallet was RMs. The possibility of walking from the drop-off point (Copthorne Orchid in Bukit Timah) to Sheraton Towers crossed my mind- if the drive was 5 minutes, I could have walked. Another option was to get a taxi from Copthorne Orchid, arrive at Sheraton Towers, and either change money at the check-in counter or wake my wife and get some money off her. Then I calmed down and decided to go to the check-in counter at Copthorne Orchid itself and see if they changed money. Thankfully, they did.

I went to bed at 2:30am but I think I only fell asleep a lot later. When the alarm rang at 7:30am, I was still in la-la land. I skipped breakfast because I thought it was necessary for my blood test-in fact I had fasted since 8pm the night before (it turned out to be wrong, because fasting was necessary ONLY if you were checking your cholesterol level, SILLY ME, so I was ravenously hungry by the time I completed my medical).

Went to a clinic in Bencoolen Street. Waited some 20 minutes before I was called, and was attended to by a youthful looking doctor, although his looks may belie his actual age. He drew some blood from, prodded his stethoscope around my chest and back, did the reflex test, etc. He was a very, um, gentle soul, if I can describe him that way. Because his clinic did not have the chest x-ray facilities, he directed me to another clinic at Peace Centre on Sophia Road (which I spent 30 minutes walking very briskly looking for, asking the locals for directions). All this while, my stomach was growling. After the chest x-ray, I saw the SingTel building from where I stood and I thought (mistakenly) that I was near the Killiney Road Kopitiam (and thus could have my loooong awaited breakfast there). I walked towards the SingTel building, and as I got closer, I realised that I had mistaken it for the Westin Hotel!!! TNS! I then decided to take the MRT station there, which was City Hall, and head straight to Orchard, Tangs. I knew Tangs had a "market" at the basement which served some decent otak-otak, yau char kuey, Jap food, bak chang, pastries, dim sum and so forth. When I arrived, I devoured the otak-otak and nasi lemak.

Back to the hotel, I devoured the breakfast the I had mistakenly skipped although by then it was already cold. No matter. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages. Then, I fell asleep for 2 hours on the couch.

Zzzzz....I heard knocking on the door. Woke up and realised that it was already 220pm! Wife got back from her half day work. I knew that we bought the 3pm bus so I got ready in a matter of 15 minutes, we checked out and took a taxi to the Copthorne Orchid.

Took the 3pm bus back with the wife. The journey itself was rather uneventful as I slept most of the way.

Saturday was the farewell lunch. Good stuff at a restaurant called "Mama's Kitchen" at TTDI. later that night, watched the FA Cup final. It was a very cautious 1st half with both sides trying to avoid making mistakes due to the importance of the occasion. The 2nd half was much more open, but I felt that Man U played slightly better. It was still scoreless at full time and as the game went into extra time, I felt that Man U had the upper as the Chelsea players tired significantly. Still, if you don't grab your opportunities then you'll be punished for it, as was the case when Drogba scored off a beautiful measured pass from Lampard. It was a great one-two between the 2. The goal sickened me but at least Man U won the EPL this season, so the disappointment wasn't as severe. I was more disappointed when Man U were knocked out (comprehensively) by Milan in the Champions League. Went to bed only at 3am.

Alarm was set for 545am and you can imagine the state I was in when I woke up on Sunday for the 15k race. Still, my plan was to run a relaxed pace. The usual suspects were there- Ron, Ryan, KNN (nice to see you, its been a while), Kelvin Ng, Kevin Chow, Zul, Rohaizad, Li Sar, DK, Lai, Rachel, Loong, Chen, Ccube, Adam, John Tan, Richard, Naresh, Guna, Isiah and so forth. Notwithstanding the planned pace, the double hill route really knocked the stuffing out of me, but overall I was happy with my pacing although I did slow down after 10k, and got a 2nd wind again in the final 3ks. Time- 1:12.52, 90th position.

Legs are a tad sore today so I'll be RPM-ing.


After that

TNS!

Luckily I did this- I called the MoM just to be absolutely sure I can do my medical here in Malaysia. This time (as opposed to the person previously attending to me mentioning that I can do my medical in Malaysia, period), I was told that yes, I can do my medical in Malaysia, but there are no assurances that the medical report will be accepted (and thus, my Employment Pass processed and obtained). Argh! In a frantic few hours yesterday, I explored a couple of possibilities, between requesting a good friend to drive me down to Singapore (not a good option because it will actually cost more than getting a bus ticket), and taking the bus. In the end I opted for the bus. First Coach was completely booked up so I had to opt for the more expensive Nice bus at RM160.00. I'll be heading to Singapore tonight, taking the 9pm bus (the only other available time was 5pm, which was a no-go for me). Then, tomorrow morning, I'll meet with a registered medical practitioner in Singapore, do my medical and take the 3pm bus back. Wife will extend her stay in Singapore- this means I'll have a place to sleep-over for the night (or rather, early morning when I reach there). Meanwhile I'm going through a list of clinics within the vicinity of the Orchard area, as the wife's hotel is there and so that it is within walking distance for me. Also, I need to make an appointment to see the Dr and compare the difference in prices, if any.

Spoke to BoSe yesterday and he was very helpful-thanks man. See you real soon. Ronnie talked about having a PM "branch" down south as we are there!

It'll be a tad tiring this next couple of days. I've been rather tired this whole week anyway. I'll be running the 15k this Sunday without much rest. In addition to travelling today and tomorrow, Saturday I'll have a few things to do- attend an art exhibition at a friend's place; farewell lunch with a group of friends; and watch the FA Cup final with another friend.

Didn't have much time yesterday either although I did manage to squeeze in a 45 minute RPM workout. Only available time today will be in the afternoon, lunch time for RPM, so I will squeeze in that workout today. I've hardly run this whole week.

See you this Sunday for the 15k, although I'll be quite tired.

Final month

Latest photo of Jessica Alba, in GQ. She can't do anything wrong, at the moment! NOTE- this was taken off one of the gossip websites, so the caption "SNIFF" wasn't written by me, but the author of that site.

I've already tendered my resignation on 30 April, giving my employers a month's notice. My last day will be in exactly 2 weeks' time, 30 May. This is probably the best organization I've worked for- I liked the work; the bosses and staff were generally cooperative and helpful. But, the offer from Singapore was too good to reject, and I know don't want to contemplate the "what-ifs" in a few years time. Plus, I'm already 33 years old this year and as the years pass, opportunities will become more limited. So I've decided to take this leap of faith, go down south and try to make this work.

Obviously I'm quite apprehensive about the move- first and foremost I have a very comfortable life here, and it appears that I've finally found a job and organization that I enjoy. I live in a nice apartment, the working hours aren't too demanding, I'm respected in the firm, I meet many people in my line of work, I don't worry much about dinners because I can drop by my folks or in-laws place, laundry is not a worry; there's my in-law's maid that drops by three times a week to clean the apartment. Oh, and zero rental. There'll be none of that when we move to Singapore. We'll have to settle everything on our own, and admittedly, its been a pampered lifestyle here in KL. Although it'll be stressful initially, we'll certainly pull through- after all, both of us did live on our own when we were studying abroad, and we had plenty of things to sort out then. It's just that we've become pampered again after graduation, and coming back to live in familiar surroundings.

I still have a few things to sort out- I start on 4th June, but I need to do my medical and submit it to the Ministry of Manpower to obtain my Employment Pass; I've been accepted to undergo training as an RPM instructor due to take place on 2nd and 3rd June here in KL. Phew! Everything just comes at once. I'll travel down to Singapore after completing the training, and start work the very next day. Plus, packing my stuff- clothes, toiletries and so forth. It will be a relatively frantic final few weeks of May.

On the running/workout front, go to http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com/ to follow the log of my daily workouts. My name's live2run. In the last 2 days I've been rather tired and as such, I've not been able to workout as much as I would like.

Chat again.

Milan 3 Man U 0

Its so painful to write this. As you are well aware, I am a Man U fan. I've been a Man U fan for years, since 1983 when they won their FA Cup against Brighton in the replay. But I truly started following them again in 1992 when they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1992, when they beat Barcelona in the final.

Man U managed reach as far as the semi-finals of this year's European Cup. They had already played AC Milan in the 1st leg, narrowly winning 3-2 with Wayne Rooney scoring at the death to seal victory and take a precious one goal lead to the San Siro. All they needed to do was to avoid defeat there, which is a rather negative way to look at it if you ask me, but the fact remains that they could draw and still go through to the final. With that in mind, I was quite optimistic about Man U's chances, although I was aware of Milan's home advantage and their firepower- they are one of the rare Italian sides who are very entertaining to watch, because their attacking play can be quite breathtaking at times.

So I woke up early this morning to catch the game. This is the first time all year that I decided to wake up this early to watch the game, and I was bitterly disappointed.

What followed was probably Man U's worse display in Europe in recent history. They played like they were protecting their 3-2 lead, afraid to venture forward, and overly cautious and cagey with their game. Despite having Vidic in defence (who returned after a dislocated shoulder), they were nervy in defence and they paid the price for their approach- within the 11th minute, Kaka struck with the first goal. Some 15 minutes later, a defensive mix-up between Heinze and Vidic allowed Seedorf to pounce and score.

They played with a 4-5-1 formation, and I think I understood why. The rationale was probably to keep things tight at the back in the 1st half an hour, and then when the need arose, the formation would be switched to a more fluid 4-4-2 attacking formation. But all that obviously failed to materialise.

I wasn't necessarily disappointed with their defeat- I was more disappointed with the manner of their defeat. If they had lost with guns blazing, trying the best they could, I would be less disappointed. Instead, they barely troubled the weakest link in Milan's team- their goalkeeper, Dida- no shots truly troubled the Brazilian.

I don't know if Man U will stand a better chance to win the tournament, but then, who knows? I would like to see Fergie strengthen the squad in the summer, in ALL departments.

Ok enough of my ranting. This is supposed to be a blog about running.

Singapore

Back from Singapore during the weekend. Didn't do much apart from walking at the usual spots, i.e. Orchard Road. Also hung out at a place called "Oosh". Apparently its been described as "...Singapore’s largest alfresco bar and restaurant and sits on 110,000 square-foot land. The establishment houses several restaurants and bars, including a specialty Japanese restaurant, garden dining area serving quality European and Asian fares and a fine wine and cigar lounge – a concept that is both unique and exhilarating..." Saw the famous Bobby Chinn there. If you watch Discovery Travel and Living, you will know who he is. Similar to the Anthony Bourdain food/travel host. His show is called "World Cafe Asia", if I recall. Photo below:-

Watch Man U beat Everton 4-2 after being 2 goals down. They hauled themselves from the brink of death- when that 2nd spectacular goal by Everton flew in I thought Man U were dead and buried. But they fought back and managed to score 4 goals- 3 goals were courtesy of defensive errors by Everton, and the final goal just capped off the comeback. I felt every reason to be optimistic for Thursday's semi-final match against Milan. How wrong I was.