so, what comes after 10??

after my 10TH GOLD MEDAL four years ago i made a comeback this year to clinch my 11th Gold medal at the Nationals.

it feels great to be represented alongside with international athletes like J and Y who were both Thailand and Indonesia's ex national players respectively.

it was especially a pleasant surprise to meet with J this time as we found out we were actually in the same weight category in the 2003 SEA Games and lost to the same opponent who was the eventual winner of that Games. 9 years later we met again in Singapore, this time representing the same martial art school.

it was a great night for ZEN school which went home with 5 major prizes and i was glad i contributed to it!

once again i proved i am the best of my time - in fact, best for a long long time.. i miss the feeling of winning, i miss being the Champion..

tick, tock, clock is ticking..

time is going by day by day.. it is getting nearer and nearer to the competition day. at the same time, as each day passes by it means my holidays are nearing the end too. the former is getting me all excited while the latter is making me super sian. training this week in ZEN school has been quite good. feel like i am back on form slowly but surely. decided to replay some of my competition videos just to remind myself of how i used to fight! by watching those videos, i must say i am quite impressed by myself. hohoho.

the cramps

when was the last time i laughed till i felt the cramps? i really cannot remember. but tonight, i had the feeling.. came home to three familiar faces at the airport waiting to bring me to the local prata shop. i miss late night suppers, i miss speaking in a familiar language that does not require explanation nor pretense. i miss laughing to my hearts content. i miss the feeling i do not get from living in HK..

a good deed

wow i actually 'saved' someone's life today.. like literally! a colleague at work broke into a fit and started foaming. some of the people around her were in clueless about what to do, one screamed "oh my god!" then ran away =_= ... i was the first to rush to her and applied all my first aid procedures.. thank god i still remember some stuff from BEFORE ..

maybe it is time for me to go back for recertification! anyways i am glad i did one thing that was meaningful today. :)

TRAUMA MAMA!

i knew the can of baygon i bought two years ago was going to come in handy one day!! shit finally came face to face with a massive cockroach today.. i was determined exterminate it even though it was THE SCARIEST thing ever!!

first thought: i need to relocate back to Singapore..
second thought: i need a man in the house.

sigh.

seriously not the kind of situation i want to deal with after coming back from work at midnight.

double sigh..

the royal wayang

a warm (literally) welcome to Prince William and Kate Middleton!!

frisbee

played frisbee for the first time today, all thanks to AN for organising it. actually i was a little taken aback when i realise that today's frisbee session was not just going to be a me and AN affair but also four others i have never met. (funnily why would i think frisbee would be a two person affair to begin with??) hmm..

it turned out to be better than expected. mainly because most of the people met for the first time too so it was not just me vs. them kind of feeling like the one i got from dodgeball..

guess it helps too, that three out of six people were Singaporeans haha.. frisbee was quite fun and requires a lot of stamina - so it is a timely event for me to train a little for my upcoming competition in Singapore hah! unfortunately for me i do not play too much of team sports so anything that requires me to coordinate with other players - not good. haha.

but hey - HK is all about trying something new isn't it? and i am glad i did it today :)

back to basics

old school training in the park/open space/concrete floors with SY in HK is quite funny at times. feels like two oldies kicking the targets with all their might and then patting each others' back saying "yes you are still doing great!" hahaha..

well it is back to basics - no fancy gym with full length mirrors and nice tkd mats - only ourselves, the strange stares from passer-bys and enough targets for us to get by. :) if i do win in this Nationals i will have to share half a medal with SY - for he is the one sending me text messages like "DONT SLACK LET'S KICK SOME TARGETS!"

win

there are two things i want to win in the month of September. both things will not make a difference 10 years from now. that is how frivolous they are..

but i want to win leh!!!

hmm ok if you include striking TOTO then make that three things i want to win. haha!

note to self

欲速则不达..
"慢慢来, 比较快"

wake up the idea

been making making mistakes one after another at work. i want to blame it on luck but i know in the end i need to blame it on myself. the lack of passion and focus is showing.. bit by bit..

单纯

today a taxi driver said to me.. "you Singaporeans sometimes can be a little bit too 单纯 (naive).." haha, even a taxi driver could tell. i guess he was right. he was also telling me not believe too much of what others say to me and never to bare my soul to others at work.

wise words indeed.

i sometimes wonder if these people were sent to me by God?? they always appear in the least expected places and times and leave me with golden words of wisdom..

my many 杂念s

你我皆凡人 . 生在人世间
终日奔波苦 . 一刻不得闲
既然不是仙 . 难免有杂念
道义放两旁 . 利字摆中间

100%

after completing 50% of my relocation 'bond'.. here comes, 100%.. - i have 'done my time' here in HK by serving my 2 year 'obligation.

to stay, or not to stay.. is the question.

simple things that make me happy #10

the perfect couch in the right colour, right size and right price!

version 3.0

was quite pleasantly surprised by the little collaboration between HK and Singapore in hooking up the video conference to sing that birthday song :)what really surprises me that night was the cake these Singaporean friends i made in HK got me.. it makes me feel not that bad afterall you know!very simple celebration - not one would have expected to celebrate her big 3-0.. but, still very happy. am now contemplating a huge celebration end of the year? hmm...

think, think, talk

i have a book. it is called the Things-I-Want-To-Say-But-Cannot-Say book.. trust me, it is going to be a best seller. the second series to that book is the Things-I-Should-Not-Say-But-Say-Already book.. trust me again, it will be a lot thicker than the first book.

sigh.

内伤

really felt the impact today.. sometimes i really have to 照照镜子 before pointing the finger at someone else. what SP said to me today over dinner was.. OUCH, but TRUE. instead of worrying about others 我还是担心自己多一点!

शादी (hindi for wedding according to google)

qn: how many 大学生s does it take to wear a saree?
ans: apparently more than 3..

so D, S and i were in the hotel room having a full dress rehearsal before flying to the wedding. it took us 45 minutes and failed in wearing the saree properly!! thank god the bride's aunty came to the rescue. she dressed us up in a saree like a boss - all in less than 5 mins!everytime i see him i want to hug him!爱人结婚liao.. 可是新娘不是我! haha..well, i witnessed the entire courtship process and i am super happy for the both of them for tying the knot and inviting us to this awesome wedding event that will remain in my memory for a long, long time.very special event and i have definitely not attended anything like this before. at the end of it we were invited to a casual sit-down dinner where we were served 10 different kinds of curry and masalas - i do not know what i am eating but they all just tasted DAMN GOOD.

stuck..

for not one but 10 hours. and of all places - New Delhi airport!
still cannot believe we missed our flights..and who's fault is that? - completely OURS.

new and old delhi

our first meal of the day was UNBELIEVABLY good!! KWALITY 就是 QUALITY!the Indians want a picture with us wherever we go..so we sent our vendor-facing ms ooi to be our photo mascot. anyway she is the fairest of us all.. so i guess that is the look the Indians are going after too!love the smile on the faces of these ladies when they found out that i was sneaking behind their back trying to get a photo of them.most of the meals we had in India was vegetarian. there was no cravings for meat at all, maybe because the carbs were satisfying enough! i finally figured out South Indian food vs North Indian food too haha.. like, finally.

power of love

apparently Taj Mahal was built by this Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal who had 14 sons and daughters with him! seriously he must have LOVED her alot for the following reasons:

1) Taj Mahal took more than 20 years to build
2) he probably have sex with her only one or two times a year for at least 14 years as the rest of the time she is busy being pregnant
3) she must be fat because there is NO TIME for her to recover

then again in India they like their women chubby. going by this standard, i should be quite popular in India.. heh..

simple things that make me happy #9

frivolous but super funny story from my friend..
我们都笑得好开心, 一定要好好记住这一刻.

买东西, 吃东西, 买东西, 吃东西!!

total damage: 2700 SGD.

made of water

emotions flying high this afternoon...

i broke down - not good.
we got everything off our chest - good.

qix - 你是水做的女人!!

be strong. live strong.

dragonboat festival 2012

this is the second time i took part in the dragonboat race. we have a much more serious team this year and although with less practices we managed to advance to the finals.. we have a much smarter outfit too complete with a BB visor!dragonboat is the first team sport i have done competitively in my entire life - my super short dodgeball stint aside :) would love to do this again and again as long as i am still in HK..

在 Jia 吃饭

LL is back in HK again!

不老的传说

Singapore TKD's 不老的传说 was in HK this week, am really surprised he actually asked to have dinner together. of course it is more of 恭敬不如从命.. glad he enjoyed the awesome Teo Chew tze char i brought him and his family to.

bak zhang party

someone helped to bring back some air-flown kimchoo bak zhang so we can have a bak zhang party. it was a true blue Singaporean makan party this weekend with curry chicken, fried beehoon, curry puffs, rojak and of course the bak zhangs..we shared funny jokes and Youtube clips of The Noose, Dick Lee and Hossan Leong show.. it was a night full of fun and laughter.and it was today i learnt what "DELAY NO MORE" really means!!!

10 years later..

the last time i was in HK together with Soo was at the 2002 Asian Cities Gold cup i think! that was like 10 years ago if i am not wrong.. she definitely still looks the same.. while i put on some weight haha..

get your copy of the Straits Times today!!

futuristic family reunion

so one day LH told me her colleague's friend John Clang is a famous photographer looking for Singaporeans living overseas to be part of his art project. when John said they will use skype in his project i told him i do not have skype nor have i used it before. he told me that is fine, just make sure i have a 2m by 2m empty wall in my HK apartment. i told him there is no 2m by 2m empty wall in my tiny apartment!... well, he came anyway. haha. his work was featured in NY TIMES last week and will be featured in the upcoming Sunday Straits Times (apparently my family portrait will be published!) and ultimately be in exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum end of the year.. cannot wait!

.. see more of the work of >> JOHN CLANG

simple things that make me happy #8

OCD: same cafe, same time, same booth, same food everyday..

storming

so the big announcement was finally made today! let me give you a time line of 'events':

12pm: i was relieved..
1pm: i was proud and happy..
2pm: i was misunderstood..
5pm: i was clueless..
8pm: i was upset..

sigh.

habitat for humanity

went for a Habitat for Humanity homebuilding event at GZ China! it is the first time BB ever organised a 3D2N all expenses paid philantropy trip and our mission was to build 110 brick houses for the people in Shui Wei village.since we were 'unskilled' workers, all we did was hard labour..some of the existing houses are held together by canvas sheets.. hope the door diety does a good job protecting this household..lunch was cooked by the local villagers and man.. they know how to do potatoes!!!the main sponsor of the event was Jet Li's ONE Foundation and he was there working the site with us too!
then came Karen Mok who is ooohhh sooo pretty!! unfortunately.. due to safety reasons we were not allowed to take pictures with them (only group photo allowed)we could bring home the hard hats as a souvenir thanks to the kind sponsors of the event!

blood is thicker than water

it has been 1.5 years since cousin PL first arrived in HK and we met up for the very first time tonight. despite the initial worries of whether will it be an awkward meeting, i asked her out for dinner anyways.

dinner went on really well.. i cannot remember when was the last time we ever chatted like this, was it 8 years? or was it 10?.. or was it longer?? no idea. we rang up cousin JH during dinner, she was so moved by the surprise call. it has been a long long time since we all hung out.. will we ever get the chance again??

.. and they say blood is thicker than water, time and events can drive us apart but kinship brings us together again.

always fullcup, never half..

it is funny how everywhere i go with DY and CY people seems to think that i am their artiste manager??! some asked if they could go through me to book their show schedule, others asked where will i be bringing them to perform next.. so today finally i thought, WHY NOT?? haha then went on to help them "sell" their EP and collect money from the sales. heh.

tonight they sang to a full house audience with fantastic stereo system and guitarist. not a single person was chatting with their friends, everyone was listening to their songs..the audiences were happy, the girls were happy, i was happy. :)

went for a fantabulous teochew supper in Mongkok after an awesome show in HK tonight.. the mood was high. this is what we call a 庆功宴!!

"for the passion of music"

tonight DY and CY met with their guitarist B, at his diamond hill studio for a rehearsal before the real thing. it was a huge studio by any standards, let alone hong kong standards.turns out that B is actually the owner of this studio. he does a lot of production work and musical events as his business. i asked DY why would B help them with the performance for free tomorrow night since he is running a business??

her reply was simple: "for the passion of music"once again, i was monitizing things..
sometimes, life can be very simple.

bad names

and..........why??

再见单人床

alice..

我爱你..

但是,

我不能爱你.

backstage live hk

the feeling of discovering something new from time to time is simply awesome. i have never stepped into a live bar in HK central that is not filled with ang mohs (or gwailos as they call it in HK).. backstage live rocks tonight because of DY and CY..!!backstage.. keeping canto pop and mando pop alive..

the pawn

sometimes i feel like i am nothing but a pawn in this corporate world.. pawns have to work hard, and were still very poor. there are more of them than any other pieces on the chessboard.. and often they are sacrificed to save the more valuable pieces!! but if you think about it, who really is not one in this big picture of things? sometimes you only find value in yourself after being used..

you ask me if i would rather be the queen.. i will probably say no. while the queen is the most powerful piece of the game it is also often put in the most precarious position.

one thing for sure, in any given chess game, there can only be ONE queen on the same side. if you have more than one of these ladies, they then have to be on OPPOSITE terms.. :)

you do not know what GAO is until you tried this

another highlight of this trip - believe it or not, was the homemade 'GAO GAO' bird's nest soup!! walau eh! i have never had to CHEW and becareful not to be chocked by bird's nest before in my life. seriously, the amount of bird's nest the mum put in that one small pot is unbelievable..you really do not know what GAO is until you tried this..