weekend!!!

Argh the weekend is over!!! Not that it was a fantastic weekend in that the usual excitement was lacking. Nonetheless its over and I have a FULL week ahead! Oh man I understand why PC said I will look forward to public holidays once I start working. You're clairvoyant PC! Or maybe you just have the common sense I lack lol.
In any case my weekend wasn't all that great although I had lotsa time this weekend. I was totally free! Personal relationships got in the way of things though and that put me in a bad mood for most of the weekend. Not wanting to waste my weekend, I slept at 4 plus in the morning on saturday (usually the time I get UP on weekdays) and ending up feeling totally hungover the next day which kinda meant that the day was wasted. Towards the end of today I ended up with diarrhoea (super sudden) and I am still wondering what caused it.... hmmm... what?

So all in all not such a hot weekend (although the weather was super hot) as you can see. Never mind I will find ways to get myself perky again. Although the early mornings are getting on my nerves. I think we should all go to work at 10 am! Anyone agree with me? Well in any case its about time for me to say nighty night. I've got a runny nose (been runny for super long do I have and allergy like Alez?) and a churning stomach. So tata for now and you just keep on coming back to read ok! Good night sleep tight and DON'T let the bedbugs bite (know whose favourtie phrase is this?)

saturday boredom

So yesterday was the wet t shirt contest showdown in Singapore. I think it's the first EVER in Singapore. I did want to go down there. Now before you mistake me for some perv, there is a valid reason :p. As most of us cosmopolitans know, a wet t shirt contest can be pretty wild so to imagine that in conjunction with rather conservative Singapore is well... tough. I didn't go in the end though some waylaid plans meant that I didn't feel quite in the mood.

You know moods can be pretty dangerous in particular two moods. Anger and Sadness. Now anger at least anger that can lead to violence I have more or less curbed. Sometimes I feel it robs me of a little masculinity but I have a good reason to curb violent anger. Anger that leads to harsh words I have not gotten rid of but I am working on it. Now sadness on the other hand I haven't quite gotten it down. We all allow things to get us down. Some of these things may seem trivial to others or even ourselves (in retrospect duh) but nonetheless it makes us feel low. The problem with these two feelings is that it often spills over to others in our life most often loved ones. Take for example, today I was supposed to go out to where I had not decided but I have three different plans. In the end? I stayed home? Why? Two reasons I guess the first is my mood wasn't so good a spillover from yesterday and the second is I told J I would stay at home today. Was it honor that made me stay at home? The inability after years of practice to go back on my word? Or was I trying to elicit a modicum of feeling or maybe pity from J? Bit stupid actually since J prob had great fun today and yesterday.
In any case friends no worries. As you all know I have a bubbly personality its one (hopefully not the only one) redeeming trait that I have so I have no doubt I will bounce back from my melancholy soon. Let me just keep my fingers crossed that it'll happen before the weekend flies by. OK now to watch a movie!

Financial Turmoil?

Ahhh so the World's talking about the financial crisis. There is obviously going to be an economic slowdown affecting most countries (gawsh I sound like a weather forecaster...rain over most areas.. LOL). I agree with Maia though. If you money doesn't mean the world to you (and you are somewhere in the middle income group and uo this financial crisis probably won't affect you all that much. Yes we are all gonna tighten up our belts a little bit (sayonara cherry garden, Oscar's and Renos?)
but we can still lead our happy lives.

Maia got me thinking a little this morning. Where does all my money go? I guess like her I don't think too much on spending with loved ones and I love to travel as well. So yup most of my expenditure falls under three great categories. 1)Transport. I should take public transport a little more often but the crowd can be pretty scary at times. 2) FOOD! Yup I love food and its not just the taste and smell of it that matters to me, the ambience is important too and soo... you gotta pay a price for that eh? 3) Leisure and this includes travel of course! Last minute flights to Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia. . . Movies, bowling and the like in the comfort of Singapore. So all in all it adds up to quite a bit I guess. Maybe its time to look into my finances again.

Talking about last minute trips, I had a chalet planned for today! Its a long weekend after all. I was kinda busy, have several commitments over the weekend but I guess I needed a little time to get away and chill. Working for 9 or more hours a day after months of rest can take a toll on you. In the end....... it was canceled! Oh man that was disappointing I was looking forward to late night movies ... oh well. So the question for this early morning hour is... what shall I do tomorrow?

Work Week!

Ahh good morning Singapore!

I am back in good ol Singapore and eeks I am actually working! Hmm then again I am typing this in the comfort of my office cubicle. Well technically its my break time! TECHNICALLY :>

Working can be a chore (ok I haven't been working long at all so I don't profess that to be any kind of expert)Now thus far the chore for me hasn't been the work. Sure that can be kind of stressful after all I did OT without pay the very first day of work. Nah the chore is the waking up. My best friends know that I ain't no morning person but now I wake up before the sun rises every week day! Ahh no birds chirping on trees of the fresh smell of dew its too early! lol. Lets see how this path develops shall we? Like most of my posts, I don't dwell on the bad things, the good thing is the colleagues here are pretty cool (except when they shove mountains of work over here :p) so thats really nice especially since I like to socialise.

Ok thats all for now its back to work!

Yesterday at the Olympics

What an interesting day it has been in the Olympics overall. The table tennis matches are starting to heat up as more men and women are getting disqualified and the winners are beginning to emerge. A disappointing day overall in basketball where many teams were trounced completely including Angola by Spain and very surprisingly Lithuania who lose by an embarrassing 31 points to Australia ending their undefeated 4-0 run. Understandably, the Lithuanians have a lot less to play for since they already qualify for the next stage whereas Austrlia's win secures them the fourth and final place in the quarter finals within their group. Bogut performed superbly during the entire game and three pointers seem to reach their targets from everywhere on the court by any member of the Australian team. I have a sneaky suspicion that this loss was cleverly engineered by the Lithuanian coach though. Not needing the match to qualify and allowing the Australian team to destroy the power Lithuanian team means two things. First, Australia will play undefeated U.S.A with great confidence. Second, this pits the U.S.A against their strongest rival thus far at these games, Australia. This means that both these teams will have a hard fought match. Assuming that America does win as expected, their players will be somewhat spent when they do meet Lithuania, increasing Lithuania's chances for gold by a small percentage. Hey its the Olympics, every LITTLE bit counts.

The real action to me though took place in the athletics section courtesy of the two great athletes shown below, Irving Saladino from Panama and of course Yelena Isinbayeva from Russia.




Irving Saladino is no doubt the hero of Panama and his face will be splashed across Panaman newspapers as this man created history by securing for Panama its first ever Olympic gold medal. It is true that this young man is the 2007 World Champion but his jump of 8.34m ahead of South Africa's Khotso Mokoena who managed a decent jump of 8.24m securing him the silver medal was no mean feat either.

However, the truly heroine yesterday, was formar Russian Lieutenant, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia. This outstanding 26 year old Russian and the darling of the Pole Vault was expected to win the gold medal. And why shouldn't she? She is the only pole vaulter to have cleared more the 5.00m and holds the world record going into the competition. And win it she did. Early into the competition, Yelena secured her gold medal in only her second jump, easily clearing the 4.85m hurdle. Now this is where it really gets interesting. Not satisfied with that, she placed the bar at 4.95m to break the Olympic Record. After managing to break that on her third and final attempt she truly got the crowd going. The audience screamed louder at each of her attempts to break the world record at an unprecedented 5.05m. After two unsuccessful attempts, Yelena proceeded to wrap herself under a quilt. After two minutes, she emerged with new resolve in her eyes and before she jumped, I told myseld (as did many others in the crowd I believe) she is DEFINITELY going to clear it. I don't know why but I was just so confident of it. She did. And the 91,000 strong crowd of mixed nationalities burst into raucous applause. This young Russian is truly in a league of her own in the pole vault. Winning at 5.05m well ahead of the next best at a decent 4.80m she truly showed the world what mental and physical toughness can achieve. For her drive and spirit I salute her like so many others. Congratulations Yelena!

The Olympic Dream

The Olympics are finally over. Well for one man and perhaps one nation anyway. In a Herculean effort, an unassuming Baltimore boy has set two records that looks rock solid for many years to come. At such a young age, not only did he achieve his seemingly impossible dream of eight gold medals at one Olympics, he also holds the record for the most number of gold medals ever won and he did it by surpassing seven world records, just one shy of besting Mark Spitz's seven world record breaking attempts. The Olympics have always drawn a huge crowd and I am one such ardent fan. I have been meaning to blog about the many scenes I have viewed at the Olympics over the days but I was simply too immersed in the action. It has been full of action for sure. From a dazzling display during the opening ceremony to audacious goals being set to upsets, this is one Olympic games, many will remember. Back to the hero of this Olympic Games. To me, what makes this sportsman a true Olympic hero is not in the records that he has set, but how he did it. All Olympic athletes train hard, that is a given. This athlete not just trained hard, he never ever lost sight of his goal all through his 17 swims and he stuck close to his roots always finishing with a kiss and hug with his family and handing over his bouquet to them. His winning smile, his attitude, his humility and the way he has us all hanging by our seats whether he cruises to victory 1.89 secs ahead of his competitor of barely winning it by 0.1 seconds, this man stands among greats like Carl Lewis, for they embody the spirit of the Olympic games, the sportsmanship, the effort, the dedication. This man. The man of the Beijing Olympic Games. Michael Phelps.

The Games are also over effectively for a small island nation with a competitive (some say kiasu) attitude. The sunny country of Singapore has finally won its second Olympic medal in a draught spanning 48 years. After coming within inches of a medal at the Athens Olympics, Singapore darling Li JiaWei joined forces with Feng Tian Wei and comrade Wang Yuegu winning in an exciting match against South Korea. The finals saw China cruising to victory largely due to the efforts of Zhang Yi Ning, another athlete I commend for her determination under fire and her sportsmanship. The story of the day however, belongs to Jia Wei and her comrades for ending a small nation's medal hopes after a long 48 years. The background story is of course that all six of the contenders in the gold medal match were born in the same country and most were trained in similar fashions. The similar style of playing was obvious. While the birthplace of Singapore's players may come under fire, no one can deny that these three women did their best and Singaporeans should feel proud to see their flag flying high.

The Olympic Dream