*bloop*

12 April 2006 @ 05:29 am

I couldn’t sleep so I went through some old pics and just reminisced (as I karaoked on my own). Thought it’d be nice to post some pics of poignent moments. With friends that have come and gone. Some have remained, some have left. Pain and pleasure all mixed up.

…
don’t you say why were the old days better
just because you’re scared of the unknown
take My hand and walk
Don’t live in the past
cause yesterday’s gone
wishing memories would last
you’re afraid to carry on
…. — Take My Hand and Walk - The Kry

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: Bananarama - I Heard A Rumor

24 March 2006 @ 03:16 am

dammit. D just cancelled on me for the ride on sat. But hey Ead and Dan are going riding. It’s ead’s first time and i get to laff. haha. No lah. I won’t laugh lah. I’ll take lotsa vids and plaster them.
I feel bad that I had to cancel on Ed (the boatman). Oh well this’ll be the first time I’m riding with the Punggol people. Let’s see if what they say is true. I’d like to see what this guy has to say about my riding. I’m not good but I know i’m learning. I swear I’m going to make the stupid wakejump this time.

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Humpback Oak - The Last Homegrown Lost Boy
—
23 March 2006 @ 12:41 pm
New 160GB drive means a rip up!

My dad got an old P4 2.4 from a friend and wanted a new case to go along with it so I get to take back the old p3 that I handed to him when I came back from .ca. The old P3 has seem some serious action since I got it way back in 2000 when I was back in sg for a long awaited holiday. Wow. It’s been that long and it’s funny how my P3 survived in the hands of my dad. Well ok he did destroy the parallel port ¹ but then I haven’t tested it yet so I wouldn’t know. Last night I got home a little early so I decided I’d take the parts from the HP P4 machine and stick it in the larger medium tower that the P3 was in. What I forgot was that the larger p3 ASUS cuv4x board couldn’t fit in the HP case. Bummer… or not! haha I decided that since I was going to just use the stupid thing as a storage server then I wouldn’t need to access all the cards much at all.

This is considering that I only need to set it up once so that it boots up automatically and that I have remote admin access to that machine. There really isn’t much I want to do with that machine anyways. Maybe some times I might need to use it for some spare processing but that’s it.

My tech inventory now holds :

Processors
1x Intel P4 2.4GHz
1x Intel P3 733MHz
1x Intel P2 500MHz
3x Intel P2 450MHz

RAM
1x 512MB DDR
5x 256MB DDR
2x 128MB DDR
4x 64MB DDR

HDD
1x 160GB Seagate Barrucuda 7200RPM
2x 80GB Maxtor Calypso 7200RPM
1x 40GB Samsung
1x 30GB Maxtor
1x 8GB IBM

The original P4 had the Samsung in it along with the DVD RW (2nd gen). Then I came back from Canada and stuck in my 2 80GB’s and handed my dad the 40GB. Now I’ve gotten a 160GB and everything’s a mess. Now this is what’s happened. The P4 has a the Samsung as a boot drive, the 160 and the 80, and of course the DVD RW. I realised I couldn’t stick in more memory because this stupid HP m/b comes only with 2 DDR slots. So I’m stuck with 768MB of RAM. I guess I can do more video rendering now what with the 160, i guess I’ll prolly use the 80 as a scratch disk. Either way. The P3 has the 10GB as a boot drive, and i’ve spanned the 80 and 30GB drives together on that one to use as storage and spare processing, the board has 3 slots so I gave it 768MB of RAM too. THe only thing is that I realised that the P4 board is way small and fits into the old Medium tower that the P3 was in, but not vice versa. So I stuck the P3 board in sideways. That is.. the card slots of the P3 now sit facing the bottom of the stand-up case. I only need a network card in there anyways.

Now I just have to tie up some loose ends. THe sound card isn’t being detected on this P4 Machine so I have to open it up and jiggle the card around a bit.

I went to the gym yesterday and I’ve decided that I’m going to change my workout. It’s time I did anyways, the full body workout gives a great kick but I must admit that it is getting a little boring overall. I spent the time at the gym yesterday trying to figure out how I should further refine my workout and I;m rather excited about the new workout. The first thing that I did was to figure out what are the exercises that I could do (including variations) for the various body parts. Next I had to decide how I wanted to implement the body part idea for each workout. I think I’ve decided to split the bod up into 3 major areas that over lap into each area.

Day 1: Lower bod (high), abs,and lower back (high), chest, upper back, shoulders (low)
Day 2: abs, core, lower back (low), chest, upper back, shoulders (high), biceps, triceps (low)
Day 3: Chest, shoulders, upper back , shoulders (low), biceps, triceps lower bod (high)

A possible variation would probably be the chest, maybe I might do inclined, declined and regular bench depending. I dont want to get too regimented but I think I want to try this alternating high-low combo. I’m going to try to keep my workouts to 2 hours max now, not including cardio that is.
¹ Or so he claims, so much so that he had to get a parallel port card

Current Mood: cheerful
—
12 March 2006 @ 07:16 pm
CCB!. I need new boss filters.

let’s continue looking at some rantings and ravings via 500 char sized sms’! All the blah blah blah and all that shite about what to do. if really wanted to do things HIS way then why bloody ask me to do the shit. I don’t see a point in being so anal and nasty to other people who are providing a service to us.

Maybe I should quit. This isn’t worth it at all. Or is it?

WTF. He’s even dictating when I should or should not check my emails. WTF. I have a bloody reservist shit to deal with the next day. CB!

>>10 Mar 2006
boss (10/3 14:47): I’ve sent emails to all BMW committee members. Check them TODAY! I want answers..thanks.
boss (10/3 17:34): The doctor’s slides are great but have some repitition which we need him to re-check. We’ve re-designed and plonked into master. J, D needs your Mom’s name. Will email A the master slides for him to get doctor to proof read his slides.
me (10/3 17:43): ok. I already informed A of the length
boss (10/3 18:45): Wait..i’ve looked through it..the contents are good for us..don’t cut it but tell A to inform the doctor to not take longer than required in the program and ’speak energetically faster with impact’. That’s why I need the program highlights in order to plan each speakers timing. Sequence should be as the master slides. You just need to work out the timings.
me (10/3 18:47): Roger
boss (10/3 18:52): Can you ask AL to ask M if we happen to stretch longer that day because of time taken to close cases, can we negotiate to not be charged extra? Give AL a list of our enquiries to YWCA so she can handle them at 1 call. The CD player and this. Also, for her to remind May about their tech to hook up audio cable from presenter lap top to mixer board. So we have 3 channels. 1 for lap top audio, 1 for wireless mike, 1 for CD player.
me (10/3 18:55): I won’t b able to check email till sat night? Will b back late tonight and got mob tomorrow.
boss (10/3 19:11): Somehow you have to check tonight. Also before I forget, road show rules stipulate that all contracted advisers are to wear lanyards with Authorisation Cards or Business Cards at the event. Have to inform them on Monday.
boss (10/3 19:14): Name tags must also be prepared for CC, BL and D as staff for the event.
me (10/3 19:14): speaking of monday my mum is going to the hosp. I can’t attend the meeting
boss (10/3 19:57): What time will u be done with yr mom?
me (10/3 19:59):
boss (10/3 20:04): Just tell me what time and i’ll postpone our mtg to suit you. No time already!
me (10/3 20:06): I dunt know. Her appt is usually at 9 and she can wait till 3
boss (10/3 20:07): Then how, J? Suggest something then..this is work, we have to sort things out..
me (10/3 20:09): I’ll be there at 9
boss (10/3 20:12): Dear All! This coming Monday morning meeting is off. We will instead have the final brief for BMW extensively on Tues morning 9am-12.30pm. All to attend except Eile who’s out of town. Thanks.
boss (10/3 20:16): Dear All! This coming Monday morning meeting is off. We will instead have the final brief for BMW extensively on Tues morning 9am-12.30pm. All to attend except Eile who’s out of town. Thanks.
me (10/3 20:20): Roger dat. U didn’t have to do that I was making arrangements. Thanks
boss (10/3 20:21): Done..just prepare everything that needs to be prepared for brief on Tuesday.
boss (10/3 23:48): C,(c.c. J & AL) sorry to bug you so late but take note that we’ll need about 2 rolls of duck tape with scissors to tape down the connecting cables from projector to my lap top (in tablet mode) placed on the rostrum on the stage and from the lap top to the sound mixer for the commercials to be played. J, i’m just afraid my lap top speed may slow down the commercials so you need to check both ads on my lap top. Thanks.

Here he reserves time for himself. So how am I expected to sell? fucker.
This continued the next day

>> 11 Mar 2005
boss (11/3 16:54): Dear All! Pls take note the Organization activities for the next 2 weeks into your own schedules. Mon 13 March- No Agency Mtg. Tues 14 March 9am-12.30pm BMW training & mtg. Sat 18 March 9am-6pm (Prep for and event time for BMW) Mon 20 March 9am-12pm (tentatively in trng room)guest speaker formerly from Manulife will be present & PFR refresher training. Tues 21 March 9am-2pm, NLP training. Thanks.

I started receiving the first messages at 0845 in the morning and they didn’t stop. He sends such long messages that the system can’t take it and sends me gibberish. When I tell him that I’m receiving gibberish he sends me the whole fucking schbang AGAIN.

And today: >> 12 Mar 2006
boss (8:47): J, I need to see you for a working meeting tomorrow in the afternoon, anytime for Tues briefing. Inform me when.
boss (8:57): Here’s the agenda that must be planned and settled BY tomorrow. 1. Door Gift List for insertion into bags. 2. Pre-Show Program - Loading of Road Show Props & stationary & forms (what forms? Do we have enough? Letterheads. Spare ink cartridges?)- Cars (what goes into whose cars?)- IT equipment (lap tops for program and printer) 3. Individual Adviser Must-Do List- Lanyards & Name Cards and/or Authorization Cards - Staff Name Tags (Colin Chuan & Brian’s including names of DermaCare staff) - all suited. 4. Programme Highlights for each guest at table. 5. Programme Highlights for each adviser & staff- From set up time, programme briefing etc 6. Work Group Plan (disseminate labor work plan-what is to be set up by who?) 7. Ensure DQÇC(Å1fÖ£¥ìM\Xi4
2ThM”n and they must follow the plan for set-up and registration must know the ushering process. 8. Ushering Process (since there is no@\SigmaChøFfÖÇè’
“9ø_\XiC&øint name tags for especially DermaCare’s guests)
boss (9:56): Pls coordinate with julian today on the time to meet me tomorrow for final brief b4 tues. Timing to yr convenience. I’m ok whole day. Cc. Julian.
me (11:43): ur msg was 2 long & got garbled.This is wat I rec’d: 8. Ushering Process (since there is no@\SigmaChøFfÖÇè’ “9ø_\XiC&øint name tags for especially DermaCare’s guests)
boss (11:44): Here’s the agenda that must be planned and settled BY tomorrow. 1. Door Gift List for insertion into bags. 2. Pre-Show Program - Loading of Road Show Props & stationary & forms (what forms? Do we have enough? Letterheads. Spare ink cartridges?)- Cars (what goes into whose cars?)- IT equipment (lap tops for program and printer)
boss (11:46): 3. Individual Adviser Must-Do List- Lanyards & Name Cards and/or Authorization Cards - Staff Name Tags (Colin Chuan & Brian’s including names of DermaCare staff) - all suited. 4. Programme Highlights for each guest at table.
boss (11:47): 5. Programme Highlights for each adviser & staff- From set up time, programme briefing etc 6. Work Group Plan (disseminate labor work plan-what is to be set up by who?) 7. Ensure DermaCare knows the plan and they must follow the plan for set-up and registration must know the ushering process. 8. Ushering Process (since there is no time to design and print name tags for especially DermaCare’s guests)
me (11:49): Roger dat. Thanks
boss (11:49): One more thing..-Sitting arrangements for our guests to our advisers.
me (11:53): May we meet outside of the office please?
boss (11:55): If u wan to, bring yr laptop along & minute the meeting. Coffee bean. Coordinate with the rest & let me know the time.
me (11:56): I meant outside the office bldg
boss (11:57): why?
me (12:03): Will be @ fx b/w 1500 & 1600. Colin b there pls.
boss (12:05): Are u saying meeting will be from 1500 - 1600? Or will u be there between 1500 - 1600? 1 hr is not enough .
me (12:07): i’ll be there between 15-1600hrs.
boss (12:09): I think u should be fair & tell them wat time specifically. If u can only make it @ 1600, then meet then. If not,they will be waiting for an hour.
Current Mood: cynical
—
10 March 2006 @ 12:28 pm
random ramblings
tuesday’s gym session was short. I was tired and I felt the strain at my deltoids where I pulled something the last time. I’m going to take a week’s break from gym and maybe do a little cardio instead.

seated calf extension 380lbs 3×10
ab ball crunch 3×15
dumbell press 20kg 3×8
lat pull down 110lbs 3×8
side bends 18kh 3×8
upright pec flys 63kg 3×8

I lost the 84K case to an independant financial planning group. The only supposed consolation is that they too were formerly from Pru. It sucks that I chased this guy for the last 9 months diligently and patiently waiting for him. Still he gave me the API that he required so it’s not so bad.

I’m sitting outside at CoffeeBean at Suntec instead of being IN the seminar. My consolation is that I’ve heard this speaker before. Fuck. Chief Agency Officer is here smoking too and I think he spotted me. Damn C for making me so well known to him! At my stage of the game I shouldn’t be recognisable to the corporate staff much less to the CAO and CEO. I’ve never been one to crave this much attention. Maybe CAO will think that I’m supposed to be here for the afternoon session (which is my proper time slot)… yeh I wish.

My submissions this month so far total $7373 and I have another $3543 awaiting signatures and submission. Bringing my total up to $10,916. Of which $10,776 is API. Effectively I’ve just given myself a pay raise of $449.

Argh. CAO spotted me! Came over to have coffee and fags no less. “I didn’t see u here,” says he. So after yammering with him about the old days of selling, marlin & sailfish fishing and the good ol’ days of the SAF. So now I’m back upstairs at The Rock Auditorium. I’m cranky and I don’t even know why.

I wonder if it because I’ve declared a haitus from the gym and because I can’t go swim/suntan coz I’m still peeling from that wakeboarding session with dufusgufus and D. Days after that I went suntanning again. Not because I was itching for a serious burn but because I plastered SPF 50 during wakeboarding and I thought another session would be nice. Oh well. I’m peeling a little, even my hands.

It’s been a while since I blathered ( on )

I need some bits of me to get bigger. just a little. My chest for one. And the biceps too, I’m losing that cut that divides the deltiods, triceps and biceps. That means I’m making progress in that area but argh…. it’s that age-old wanna-be-bigger-but-want-definition complaint. I guess until I hear from Visa about that possible TV commercial and from Cobalt about that photoshoot I have to stay lean. I want more shoots!

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

Current Mood: Bored

09 March 2006 @ 05:46 pm

he has a penchant for sending bloody long text messages. and using the fucking ! sign. and for being super naggy. wtf. he broke my virtual ear plugs and destroyed my “theBoss” sound filters.

dBoss (11:55): Pls arrange with YWCA for CD player to be hooked up to sound board for fanfares when speakers are announced to go up besides the piped music. Negotiate for it to come for free. Thanks.
me: I dont think they have a proper soundboard.
dBoss (12:16): Of course they do. They have full range speakers.
(it’s the fucking ywca they have shit conference facilities. THe room is shit and the equipment is shit. I’m already working with what I got and am almost at my wits end dealing with this stupid project.)
–
dBoss (12:17): Guys! For any ILP products, you’re supposed to provide the fund information booklet BEFORE the client signs on the proposal form. Ensure, pls! Thanks.
like DUH.
–
dBoss (15:06): How come the rest of you are not in OCS today. I’m not joking when I told you all to attend ALL training in your curriculum!
wtf. even he gets to decide what courses i have to take.
–
dBoss (17:17): Guys! Tomorrow’s seminar is bloody good! Open up your ears, write notes, pay attention and apply them straight away! A lot to learn and very exciting! Nobody gets off half-way!
i honestly don’t need a running commentary of the course that you’re in. i’ll find out about it tomorrow. why does he always have to give us running commentaries?? WTF??

Current Mood: irritated

29 January 2006 @ 05:11 pm
Lonely People
I’m taking a breather at a muslim (obviously) coffee shop across the road from Great World city. And it’s still somewhat strange to see the streets practically empty while knowing that in 75% of the households in Singapore, there is a buzz of activity as chinese families move around making (polite/political) conversations. But there are the lonely people out there…

The foreigners and those without family or friends. to visit. Sitting in this coffeeshop, is a man decently dressed, carries himself well, with thinning hair. He wears pretty funky looking spectacles with rather outdated circular, thick lenses. He’s tall and skinny, and has got that today-is-a-holiday-so-I-shan’t-need-to-shave stubble. He’s eating a plate of Nasi Padang rather primly and he now and then pulls a tissue out of his shirt pocket and dabs his mouth. Now and then he stops and clasps his hands together as he looks into some distant vision and chews. Nothing extraordinary about this man except a deep look of loneliness, both resolute and desolate at the sane time. He doesn’t need my pity nor anyone elses but I still wonder “what’s up?” as he takes in his surroundings and watches the people come and go into this coffee shop; there’re the young couples, parents both young and old and their offspring. He chews slowly like someone who relishes his food, someone who’s watching the world pass by. What’s up, indeed.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]

Current Mood: sleepy
——

24 January 2006 @ 02:47 am
of past pain and self destruction
An extreme few number of people know of my past paths of self destruction and desolate pain. I speak nothing of it these days, preferring to use those past emotions as tools towards self awareness instead of reasons to strike out. I’ve struck out too much as it is in the past. Vengence is a powerful emotion, but like phosphorous in hot water, it burns bright, hot and short. Lonliness is more like a slow burn, meticulous and tedious at the same time, like a cancer that eats you away from the inside. Faithlessness is a desolation greater than the sea of tranquility, the vastness of Space. All that led to one thing in the past — Angst. That then led to Anger, and eventually imploded to Wrath. Indeed one of the original 7 sins and one Sin I am most guilty of in the past. Wrath leads to Hate. I hated Life, I hated Them, I hated me. I Hated. But Hate got me nowhere. At some point I learned to begin to stop hating. I won’t go back. I won’t go back to that desolation, that pain, nor to the paths of intended self destruction. I will not hate.

“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose sitting in that chair, watching mind numbing spirit crushing gameshows, wondering who the fuck yer are on a sunday morning…. Choose Life.”

Current Mood: contemplative

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]
——
24 January 2006 @ 01:43 am
My Baby’s Back!
9 years after it left my hands I’ve finally gotten it back. This was the guit that I had when i was in school. It’s been on a very very long journey. Nag borrowed it from me way back in 97, and it’s been to Birmingham, London, France. It’s been stored behind doors, in closets, and cupboards and even hung up on the wall as decor for a gay couple that Nag rented a room from! It’s been played by my old friend Leon, and forgotten by Nag that he left it with Leon. Leon really took care of it… wiped it down, cleaned it, played it, restrung it. It’s been fantastic and it’s great just having it back again. This was the guitar that I lugged around in JC. Instead of my files and books, I lugged my guitar bag and this baby was in it! Wheeeee!

I had a pretty good day today… well it was shitty at first but I met up with and old Scout of mine and we yapped and yapped in the evening. He just might be my first recruit. Then I went to meet Nag and we yapped for 3.5 hours. It was excellent just catching up with and old friend. Wow. It’s been 13 years since we were classmates. I heard the story of his grandpa and stuff back in Sri Lanka. That was excellent and a real inspiration.

Current Mood: satisfied

I’ve been thinking and thinking, mulling things over in my head since I left the house. Why do we as human beings choose to judge people and be judgemental? Do we have a right? On what basis do we have a right to say, “that is a satanic act, or “that is a symbol of the devil.” What benchmark do we use? Does the Bible not say, “Do not judge.”? Does it not also say, that we have to keep our own houses in order first? And that we have to “take that plank out of” our own eyes before we point out that “speck of dust” in our brothers? Life is already a struggle when we consider our own houses, that being not just, literally, our own homes, our own families but as well, ourselves. On a most fundamental of levels, it the chaos within ourselves that we must first sort out, then and only then should we begin to bring to order the hearts of others. Surely we must believe that we can multi task enough to help others but can we truly say that I am (near) perfect so I can judge you? Are we all not waiting for Judgement day to arrive? What has happened to Humilty, not just false humility for the sake of garnering comments such as “wow, that man is so humble,” but true Humility where we do not, in any small way believe, that we are entitled in that way referred to.

“oh gawd. jooles is being excessively noble again.” Yes indeed. Comments as such, I have already deemed as inevitable, and therefore, as far as possible, I shall not judge, nor even attempt to.1 I am not perfect, not even close to near-perfect. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say I was -100. I remember Lama said to me once, about 10 years ago, (when I asked him if I was “sway.”) “Let’s put it this way, if I have one in ten chance of winning 4D, you have minus 100.” That said, I do honestly believe that my greatest failing is my ego, which then leads to my being arrogant.

But returning to the argument at hand; let me bring in my first guest Logician — the venerable Mr. Spock of the Federation Starship Enterprise.

a) (The Bible says that) worshipping idols is wrong.
b) (The Church interprets this as:) having any figurine or symbol of a figurine is wrong.
c) (The Church also interprets,) “wrong,” as ungodly, un-christ-like, and therefore Evil.
d) Evil stems from the Devil aka Lucifer, aka The Fallen Angel aka Satan.
e) any act of Satan is Satanic.
———–
Now we bring in another venerable (half) Vulcan - Lt Commander Tuvok of the Federation Starship Voyager.
therefore:
a) any evil act is Satanic
b) worshipping idols is Satanic
c) having any figurines or symbols of any sort (especially those depicting religious characters) is idol worshipping
d) which then implies that religions that practice having an alter where candles and offerings are made are Satanic. These would therefore include, the Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Anglicans, Catholics, the Jewish and hey, a lot more.

Oh dear, what have our Vulcan guests gone and done? They’ve opened a veritable Pandora’s box, haven’t they? But wait, aren’t the religions mentioned above older than Christianity? Ah. Ok so hmm, what shall we do? I know. Let’s help spread the Word. Force the people to denouce their Faiths. Condemn them all for being evil, oops, I meant Evil. No, that’s not right — Satanic.

Hooray for the Crusades, afterall we could do with a little more rape and pillage, all in the name of God. Hooray too, for ethnic cleansing — Let’s all make Adolf Hitler a saint. Saint Hitler or Saint Adolf… it just rolls of the tongue and they do have a nice ring to it doesn’t it? What we need is another Bosnia/Croatia, perhaps a Concentration camp or 2 would be a nice dollop of cream on the cake. Indeed, it’d be nice to have a Saint Saddam… now there’s a saintly name that rolls off the tongue. (And a living Saint at that).

Learn to Judge ourselves, pull that plank out of our own eyes. I’m so going to find that quote and print it on a tshirt and wear it church. It’s going to have the “don’t judge” quote on the front and the “plank” quote on the back. Both complete with the Books, Chapters and Verses. The shirt shall be sleeveless, so that I can show off my tatoo2.

1: True enough, I bitch and whine — perhaps even excessively, but I blog, I write not for the sake of others. And this is truly a justification of the existance of this blog. I do not wish for a listful of comments that go, “wah so deep.”
2: It does say that having a mark on the body is a sign of the Devil. A tattoo a mark and hence I am spawn of the Devil.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.hexlet.com/]
Mood:Contemplative

No prizes to guess what I did on Saturday!
Started off the ride with a little warm up to feel up the board and the water. The water was awesome (well relatively considering that we were riding in a large long-kang!) But still. The tide was high and the water was heading inland and not the other way. Went out toe-side to practise what I learnt the last time. Cutting out and coming back in… the trick for me was to get it done smoothly. By the end of the morning, I realised that I was going out far to fast, way to far and coming back in abruptly. Too many variables for me to think about out, so when I cut out the distance from the wake, and heeded Ed’s advice on cutting out, easing out and coming back all in gradual steps I managed to get the hang of it more. I still need to work on standing upright when I hit the wake to perfect my jump, right now I’m still hitting the wake with bent knees and a skooch-ed down… way to far down. I suppose this was coz I was trying to remember to keep my knees supple and bent while riding out. The last time I went out, the problem with R was that he was standing upright most of the time and tended to lean back, this time he remembered to keep it supple a little more.

By the time I hit the second set, I was starting to feel a little ache in my lower back and I had to tell myself that I had to fight the pain and get the silly jump right. I did take a break midway and went back heel-side to surf the wake a little. I kept having to remind myself that I had to feel the ride instead of making things too technical. All in all it was a good ride.

R and J were riders before but hadn’t done so as much recently. Anyways J was pretty good… very easy rider kinda style. S was the virgin rider and was a little apprehensive about getting up on the board, but by the end of the day he was up and riding a little! It was an excellent day! I had a blast.

Started out riding easy… getting a feel of things, but I was soon raring to head out toeside to get a feel of edging out and coming in.

Heading on out and heading back in… the problem was that I kept chickening out intially! bleh!

My posture was really bad. Had to keep being reminded!

Practising my jumps was tough, I have to admit. I was pretty quick in picking up the fundamentals of riding, like getting up on the board and edging out and stuff but once you take that and combine it with other stuff like jumping and jumping right, it gets complicated and very tiring. Still, no pain no gain… literally! After a couple of tumbles in the form of face-plants, 1 cartwheels and several handle slips (that’s when I lose hold of the handle and gradually slip into the water in slow-mo), my posture improved somewhat but I wasn’t bending my knees enough. Sigh. I like Pain.

This is one of them times I decided to take a wee break to just chill a little to feel the ride. I was crashing too much and I was being too technical, thinking about stuff. So i declared a time out for myself.

And then it was back to practising the jumps, over and over and over and… over again! I love it!

Dec. 5th, 2005 | 02:03 am
mood: cheerful
music: Guns N’ Roses - You’re Crazy

Giant/Super Set: bench press, calf raises
bench kg: 40-45-50-55-60-65-40
calf raises lbs: 210-220-230-240-250-260-210
reps: 15-12-10-8-6-4-8
(diminished) superset combo: leg press/leg extension
lbs: 220/50
reps: 8×5sets
diminished Superset: inclined bench, cable flys
kgs: 15 and 18
reps: 8×5
superset: hanging leg raise/exercise ball crunches/(cable) side bends
reps: 20×5 sets each, 18kg (side bends)
giant set: weighted dips
kg: 5-7.5-10-12.5-15-17.5-20-5
reps: 15-12-10-8-6-6-6-12
double superset combo: lat pull-down,standing cable tricep extensions, reverse flyes, lying barbell tricep extension
lbs/kgs: 90lbs, 60lbs, 38kg, 15kg
reps: 8×5 sets
double superset combo: lateral raises, dumbell bicep curls, front raises, overhand dumbell bicep curls, dumbell shoulder press, z- barbell curls
kgs: 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 10, 15
reps: 8, 8, 8, 8, 10, 8
—
Today was the first time I tried combining giant and super sets. Well sorta. I kinda melded the non stop exercise changes of supersets with the increment in weights required in giant sets the other day and realised what a killer it was. So today I just did sort of diminished supersets where I used regular weights but non stop exercises changes. It’s pretty good I think. I also tried melding supersets for 2 different body parts together, so instead of light weights, 3 exercises non stop, I used medium weights and alternated between the 2 body parts — for example, one shoulder, one bicep, one shoulder, one bicep and so on, as long as I do at least 3 exercises on each body part.

After my workout today, as usual, I went to the showers. As I walked in, the silly woman at the counter there screams at me and asks what I’m doing in there. WTF? I’m in the showers to take a bloody shower! Geez. She proceeds to ask me what right have I to shower there. I’m a member of the gym, I says. She says members can’t shower or swim there. I’m thinking “WTF?!” I ask since when? I’ve been coming here and showering here for over a year now. She says she doesn’t recognise me. HUH?? I gym every 3 days, woman! I’m there at least twice a week! For the last year and more! I tell her she could go and verify with the gym staff if she doesn’t believe me. I’m like wassup widdat?? BLEH! Even the security staff recognise me, the gym staff as well as the external swim and fitness instructors! She says she doesn’t recognise me and that I should tell her if I’m using the loo. WHAT? I says I know for a fact that I only need to inform her if I’m going swimming and I know that as a rule. Bloody hell! grrr! She’s really daft. She’s about 50+ so she’s NOT that old enough to be that forgetful! I’m incensed. The school takes her own sweet time to get me my parking label even if I paid for it (it’s been 3 months and I’m still waiting for it), they bloody make life difficult for me as a volunteer and as a paying member of the gym by making me sign in every time, they have an old pervert of a woman who walks in when men and boys are changing and showering, to spray the floor with soap and water, and they say I can’t use the pool as a gym member till after 7pm when the shower room closes at 2030 hrs! I’ve a good mind to walk into the administrative office to bitch at someone. It’s ridiculous.

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speed demon-ing
Nov. 26th, 2005 | 02:48 pm
mood: nonchanlant

While speeding home last night, I realised what a hell driver I had become. It’s been a while since I drove like this, it’s taken me some time but I’ve learnt to realise that it’s not the best thing to be a speed demon — not that I’m a serious rex-type-evo-type speed demon — it’s just that optimal cruising speed in Singapore tends to be approximately 2000rpms in overdrive. It’s fuel efficient; especially with the windows wound down. So for the last month or two, I’ve managed to knock down my comsumption from an already excellent 7.5L/100km to 6.9L/100km.1 Still it felt good, knowing that I can still do it well, enough to get me out of tight situations. It occurs to me that “everybody wants a piece of the Action, but nobody can deal with it.” Generic isn’t it? Brilliant. Now that I have it written down, it’s out of my head and I won’t have this niggling thing hiding in the recesses of my already psychotic mind. Bleh.

1: That’s something like 13.33km per litre to 14.45km per litre which means to say that I can get an additional 56km per tank of gas, increasing from 667km to 723km. At today’s gas prices of $1.62/L that’s like saving $6.20 plus per tank. Considering I travel approx 3800km per month instead of spending $462 on gas, I spend $426! I save $36, enough for another 22L or 321km.

I stubbed my shin
Nov. 10th, 2005 | 10:16 pm
mood: happy

yup I stubbed my shin. Just as I walked out of the silly chalet. I was putting on my sunglasses and I walked right into one of them low benches. Vain me. *ow*

The sessions with the kids were pretty good. I stuck in the Inner Journey CD and played it at the beach. I got the boys to sit in a horseshoe and I got them to close their eyes, take deep breaths and listen to their breathing and their pulsing hearts… whee! They responded! Ramli and Fendi came down too. I wanted to get some feedback from Ramli. He said the CD was playing too softly but it looked like the kids responded.

Did the Image Workshop with the kids in the morning. I shocked them when I walked in wearing the school uniform! The shirt was 2 sizes 2 big, the pants were sized 34! I think I made an impact. I saw some of the evaluation forms and they liked it. Wheee! I had to stay over at the chalet though… they brought my sessions forward. I think I’m going to take a nap before heading back.

I got asked for another casting shoot today. And I bloody paid for an hour’s parking. Crap. It only took 15mins. Sigh. Now I’m sweating my arse off at the coffeeshop round the corner. They want a midsection shot. Hmm I think I know which part I need to insure now…haha!

Thanks to [snip] for the first shoot!
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—
Harry Pot[s]ter
Nov. 13th, 2005 | 01:16 am
mood: Sleepy
music: Nothing Compares to You - Sinead O’Conner

We just finished watching Harry Potter… and the Goblet of Fire. On digitally remastered IMAX. On the Omnimax screen. Free. (and i meant just… a preview before the preview…is that sweet or what?)

It’s worth watching…well sorta. Effects are pretty good. Storyline was rather anti-climatic to a certain degree. But I’m told it’s accurate to the story in the book. Hmm.

Went wakeboarding today in the morning. Someone cancelled on E last night and he text-ed me to see if I could find 4 riders to fill up the slot. I found 1 other and so E offered me $50 per person for 2 sets each. I say it was enough! Focused on perfecting my jump process today on the toeside. My back now hurts slightly. After coffee with my colleague, I went to Sentosa with some of the Scouts. I was in Sentosa by about 2, changed back into my wet beach shorts and hung out with them till about 1630. Then dinner with G and then the movie.

It’s been a really really long week. Meeting on Monday with the boss, then the gym, then headed to Changi Village for the offsite scout camp. Held a sort of meditation/hypnosis thing at the beach. The kids loved it. Then plans for the camp changed. I had another session on image and how to carry oneself (read NLP) on Wed, but it had to be brought forward to Tuesday. So I stayed overnight.

Bleh. My back is killing me.

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—
Back Pain and Neck Aches.
Nov. 15th, 2005 | 12:40 pm
mood: calm
music: Higher Love - Depeche Mode

I think I did more than just over work my back and neck muscles. The ache in my lower back progressed to serious pain on Sunday and Monday. The neck too. I think what happened was that I got myself somewhat hurt when I did that last cartwheel while wake boarding. Come to think of it, I think it was a combination of several things that led to my injuries, it’s interesting really how one thing can lead to another.

I went for the camp with already a lack of sleep on Monday night, to top it off I went to the gym that Monday before I went to the camp too. Obviously, as with all Scout camps, I never get enough sleep. I’m either clowning with the kids or running around like a headless chicken making things work. So anyways, after my session on Tuesday with the kids, I had to run off to town to get some casting shots done. I was called up for another casting shot involving the midsection area again. Apparently this is for some beer ad… believe it or not. I think I got sabo-ed. I was asked to go down in smart casuals and I went down in pants and polo’s, only to find out that the other guys were coming down in jeans and t shirts! Fark. It’s already been a week and I haven’t heard a peep from them. The agent tells me that the client hasn’t decided… bleh!

On Wednesday morning, I decided that I was getting too tubby and told YD that I’d go with him to bring the kiddies for a jog. They were [snip], I’m a [snip] and I made the bloody 800m run, and the 3 sprints up the teeny hill. They didn’t even try, didn’t even attempt to try. That’s what really sucked, not that they couldn’t physically do it but they found all sorts of excuses not to even bloody try. They got an earful from me and I decided they wouldn’t have the benefit of my instruction for the day. I went to sleep at 11am and promptly woke up at 1600! HAH! Stayed in camp till they broke camp on Thursday and I was really dead tired. Went for lunch and then headed back home for some much needed sleep. Friday was spent as best man for A’s wedding so I didn’t get much sleep there. I was actually planning to go for the morning thing, then maybe catch some z’s at the hotel or walk over to the guild hse there and tan/sleep but that didn’t work as well. We had to run around like headless chickens and up till 1730 we were burning songs for the dinner. A good thing happened at the dinner though, I winged the best man speech and was rewarded with some tears. Then I was asked if I could do a show (upon approval) on radio. Haha. *cross my fingers*

Effectively I did ZERO work. That sucks. I need to see more people and I need more referrals from my clients. I’ve always been promised some names from my clients and I always say I’ll go back to them, but then they never come back to me with names. Sigh. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Am I doing such a lousy job that people can’t be bothered to help me out and give me names? I don’t understand why some people can’t understand that if I don’t have any names, I don’t have business and if I don’t have business I can’t help the people that have placed their trust in me as my clients in the first place. It’s a catch-22. Sigh. It’s human nature I guess.

So there… it all started with the silly sprinting up the hill, which buggered my really weak hamstrings, the lack of sleep, which threw my back out and caused me to cartwheel while riding. Cause and Effect! I haven’t gone to the gym in a week. I want to go. I wonder if I can go and not hurt my back? Then the weak back caused the cartwheel and so on.

Gotta run for an appointment. Then maybe go pay my road tax! Bleh.

Oct. 19th, 2005 | 04:27 pm
mood: irritated
music: You’re Crazy - Guns N Roses

I’m feeling rather irritated today for some reason. Probably a little dejected. I met one of my first clients last night who I seriously regret selling to. I have no heart to sell her any more or for her to be my client. She’s absolutlely neurotic. She tells me to meet at 1820 and at at 1823 she goes berserk saying that she doesn’t even tolerate it when her boyfriend is late. “Fuck you,” I think. But I keep my cool and tell her “fine. this will only take 5 mins if you care to listen.” So there we were standing in front of the MRT station, and I just run through her policy and the fact that she could lose money. Before I end I say, “you know what? you tell me u waited for me because you’re my friend. That’s not fair, and I have to tell you that. All these years I’ve stood by you listening to you, (bailing you out of your shit, from all your sleazy ex’s, their jealous girlfriends who you won the former from, my so called friends you slept with, your shitty family, from your father to your slutty sisters). I’ve not cast a stone, I’ve not said a thing but to be there for you and now you do this. I can tell you this much, this product you bought is my pet product. I sell it and I sell it well, I train people how to sell it. So you want advice with regards to this product you ask me, but I think it’s best you find another agent, someone else who you can go berserk on.”
“OK. Fine. So?”
“So? so what do you want to do?”
“Just leave it lah.”
“Ok. but I’m telling you, you will lose money eventually.”
“OK why don’t we find somewhere to sit, since I’m here.”

I closed her for an increase in regular premiums and an extra investment element. She ordered 2 fucking glasses of wine and I’m sure she did it out of spite. $60 is what I paid for a change in policy details that’ll garner me $26.75 for the next year. Bitch.

Fuckup2: I can’t collect my iPod. C owes me money and he’s only paid me a fraction. My account has only a total of $54.00 and it’ll take another 2 days to transfer from the other one.

fuckup3: c and d are taking forever to hand me the replacement iPaq. I gave mine to C coz he was impatient for his own free iPaq. He said he give it to me in a week. That was a month ago. This week, I have to set aside time to pick it up or meet them in the middle to get it. This is after I go all the way to their place to fix their pc, take it home and back to them. This is after I fix all the machines and administer the network in the office. I live way out NW, they live at Bayshore. They can’t fucking come to my place? What the fuck is up with that? I’m not doing anymore favours for anyone and going out of my way for ungrateful people like that. Selfish, inconsiderate and penny pinching. Even tomorrow D says she has to drop it in my office. I am never making the effort to drive to East Coast to meet them.

C just tried to call. Twice. I’m not taking it.

Fuckup3: my appointments got postponed today. And I’m not in the mood to make phone calls anymore. I was supposed to go get a little sun before I head out to somewhere quiet to make calls. That didn’t happen. then Nano didn’t happen and tht stupid text conversation with D over my iPaq.

Fuck’em Volunteerism is dead.

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