Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Grumpy Queen

Sometimes, even a gentle vegetarian bronchosaurus will retaliate.

When you insinuate the untrue.
If someone were to hear me, I wouldn't be repeating myself.

Whether I'm important or not, I know. Tell me not. Show me.
One thing's for sure. With or without me, the show will run.

Sure, the little things are important, then someone tell me why isn't anyone paying any attention. Well if that's the case, then little things must be not important.

And if little things are not important, then let's forget about doing it in the first place.

Stop throwing it at me, telling me about all things pretty.
I know what will be, will be. History will repeat.

Don't tell me what I can do, tell me what you are going to do.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 5:04 PM with 2 comments

Monday, August 29, 2005

NB Real Run

I have not woken so early in a long time. I waited such a long time for the freaking bus 93, what's new? I witness the sky turn from dark blue to purple to light.

Sentosa was crowded. It was expected. My strategy was to walk the first 2k. But I realised you had to follow the crowd when you're in the crowd. I instantly regretted not doing a proper warm up instantly. What warm up did we do? It was next to none because stretching is not warm up. It neither increases your heartbeat nor your blood circulation. I felt the thread and needles (stitches) coming. Then my breakfast wanted to find its way out.

The sandy paths were the killers. You think you had safely passed it, only to be back again. It was really a x-terrain run summing a total of 10k.

Analysis for the average fit people, if you ran earlier on through all the up-slopes and down-slopes, you probably have lesser energy left for the beach. Well, if you walked a little more, you might have a little more energy left for the beach. The timing, to me, it seems to make little difference whether you walked or ran. Either you're super fit or you need a strategy.
Strategy for the average fit: walk (brisk walk la) more on the roads but be able to endure running on the beach. Because, running involves lesser contact time on the sand. This translates to sinking less deep into the sand. It's easy to say but running on those sandy beaches is not chicken feed! OK, of course the best strategy is to attain fitness so good you can race your way through :P

The t-shirt was a disappointment, though the design is quite nice (luckily its not the orange one). It's always like that! I really don't think that the run was majority for men and made up of men. Giving out men's sized t-shirts, there was not enough S sizes, nor M sizes. I ended up with an L size. The "kids" from the junior cat, finished their race first and many took the smaller sizes I'm sure. Then there were the smaller sized males who also required S sizes. And naturally, the people who finished later were left with the big t-shirts. It was quite a disappointment to have a perfectly good tee wasted. L sized is definitely too big to fit anyone in my household.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 12:43 PM with 0 comments

Isn't it AMAZING?

My Jolly Shandy is more than a year old now. And today as I woke up and stepped out of my room, he has that unfazed energy of a year ago, greeting you enthusiastically and prancing all over you. I really cannot imagine anyone else I know who would possess all that energy. All his cute antics alone, more than make up for the shit he creates around the house. Each time you see him (looking like a little lamb, that's what he looks like now), you forget all the things he does to make you mad. That's my mini maltie for you.

Sometimes, I think, you get to know a guy, you date, you get married...its hard to convince myself that he will bear the same enthusiasm as he did when he met you. After a while, you don't melt when you see him anymore. Maybe its human, maybe its just me or maybe its the world that we live in.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 11:56 AM with 0 comments

Friday, August 26, 2005

I miss being single

Haa? No la, of course its not me.

The whole world is getting married, about to get married, almost married or not married but behave like married. Frankly, the novelty has worn off on me, unless its that of a good friend, true friend or real friend. Why? People you hardly talk to once in the last 2 years suddenly remember you.

Anyway, was talking to a friend (soon bride-to-be) who was facing what I call, pre-martial anxiety and pre-bride syndrome. Suddenly she told me she missed being single. I can understand the stress, I can empathise because I was nearly there. But I cannot help her. Its a journey everyone has to walk through if you want to get married.

I know why. You are forced to grow up. Its a different world out there, more responsibilities to carry on your shoulder. It is very much like the difference between courtship, dating and really being in a relationship. You feel as if you cannot breathe because you have to make major decisions about your life. As you source for your lovenest, you feel the financial burden trickling in. For the first time in your life, you think you need a credit-transfer facility.

You think about MILs and FILs. You imagine part of your life dedicated to frequent family gatherings. You imagine gossipy MILs and bitchy relatives, aka your san gu liu po. You basically think about PIL problems even before they appear. Then you think about cooking and lots of housework. You imagine what your other half will be like 20 years down the road. You think you're ready to settle but you reluctantly see your freedom escape from within your palms.

Think about it, you don't have to play guessing games no more.. You know someone loves you enough to want to spend the rest of his life with you. You don't have to wait for the one and only prince charming to drop from the sky. You probably wouldn't be asking questions like what if the next one is better. You don't have to go through all of these again. And best of all, you can whine, be a damsel in distress and you know your hero will save the day. Well, not always, but sometimes.

Maybe, its not too bad afterall.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 4:37 PM with 1 comments

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Little JS, the thief

He stole a chicken wing bone from the dustbin. Grr...He has his own food that he refuses to eat, then come hounding us when we're eating. His food is his last resort when he realises that we're not going to be any kinder to him than to give him deep fried chicken wings!

Poor thing, its not that I dont want to feed him. But how can he eat deep fried chicken wing right?! His fur will all drop. Then he will start getting itchy all over. So poor thing, can see cannot eat.

His diet now, is restricted to just mutton.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 1:36 PM with 1 comments

The future of IT...is 5 letters

is B-L-E-A-K.

I just read an article in Digital Life today, talking of the success of a managing director, who became managing director at 36. Today, 10 years later, we talk of his success and his contributions. How he has transformed the company from what it was 10 years ago to the reknowned company it is today. The story has it that he dumped his prestigious job at Eye-Bee-Am then. He was into marketing then, before moving into business systems.

See! Another non-IT person doing IT management. Even my ex-ex boss who was from IT was hardly a systems person. I cannot imagine one who was never into systems. OK, I guess its the management that is more important.

Truth be told, I think, the so called IT professionals in the market today clean up lots of sh!t and do not get the due respect they deserve. Take for example, the life of a programmer is tantamount to, a dogs life. Perhaps a donkey. Slave to technology, slogging long hours behind the monitor screen with a slave driver breathing down your neck.

Years later (today), there are many cheaper resources taking over the place of the programmer. Producing sub-quality work. We, take over the cleaning up their a$$e$ because the ultimate responsibilty lies on us.

I feel, squeezed.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 12:54 PM with 0 comments

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Interview 9a

Bahh....the woman didn't like my hair, so says the agc.
See? WOMAN. It's always the WOE-MAN.
I turned up at the place with exactly the same hairdo...
Do you need 3 interviews to tell me that?

Maybe I should just be a trainer. Then I don't have to give a damn to corporate dressing!

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 7:01 PM with 0 comments

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Interview 9

Its my 3rd round now with the HR dept. They still said its like a formality round after having gone thru my boss-to-be and his boss.

Geez, it felt like another interview, asking me the same ole questions. The lady was so fierce some more. Cannot smile. Very different from just minutes ago when I called her to inform I had reached already le...

Or maybe she was trying not to show that I got chance. Anyway, I rejected interview 6's offer today. Sian..interview 8 don't know what's the outcome, I went to reject interview 6. Anyway, I think about the location I also sian half.

What's wrong with me? Got money don't want to earn is it?

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 1:58 AM with 0 comments

JS & Fitball

We shaved JS botak about a month ago. He now looks like a...mini version of an albino golden retriever. Nonetheless, its still so ever cute. And very naughty. And very timid. Scared still want to kpo.

The curious boy was sniffing at my fitball when I was inflating it. Then it grew bigger, and bigger. He soon found himself hiding in one corner. I chased him with the fitball by rolling it at him. Poor thing...he was so scared he was busy running away and didn't see where he was going and bumped against the leg of the chair.

I'm such a terror :P

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 1:54 AM with 0 comments

SHIR

Its so interesting to be able to form something meaninful out of your name.

Sports Health Integrated Resolution! Too bad, it ain't my name :P Its Shir's first try at a fitness convention, and for having 20 years of experience to back her, its certainly quite successful! But of course, there were many things that could have been better. I also opened my eyes to many things and it was very insightful. There certainly exists all sorts of people in the world.

I have been kept busy over the weekend. Doing so many admin stuffs. Even have to be coolie, carry the silly 20kg olympic bar. So heavy! Those atheletes actually train by loading more weights on these olympic bars! Siao one.

The presenters flew over from US, HK & Australia. They were really nice people. :) Michael's flight delayed and he only arrived in Singapore at 6am! Gosh, it took him a total of 12 hours for him to reach Singapore from HK. He may be from HK but he's really a mixed German Chinese and as you can guess, very good looking :P Tom is a fatherly old man, very helpful and doesn't have the air of a "professor" or "dr". At 62, he's certainly very very healthy and strong. Roger is the other author, he looks after Tom very well. Ok, that's all about the people who are from NSCA. There were also other presenters like Bradly from AOK. Oh, I managed to get the authors to autograph my CPT text. Its just so exciting and cOOl!

I bought a copper coloured fitball, so pretty! I've been yearning for one for ages now. Know what? I'm so terribly tempted by the mediball certification course now. *drooling* But for a 2 full day course, it costs $470 for early birds le. Hmm....let's wait and see. Wanna take with me?

I attended many of those lectures and workshops in between my shuttling around. They were very interesting and I picked up many tips from the experts. Plyometric...it really didn't occur to me before such simple movements were actually PLYOMETRIC in nature! Resistance Training with minimal equipment was most interesting. And the circuit training was a killer. Lower back exercises on the fitball was also very fun. I love the fitball. I love stability exercises! It gives you the kick!

There was this gal, so stuck up, attending the workshop with utmost disrespect to the presenter, who happens to be Shir. I noticed, among all the sessions, she seems to treat the overseas presenters with more reverence than Shir. Well, I guess its a mindset, Shir is considered petite. She's a Chinese local Singaporean and female. It was only after trying out some of the exercises that, she realised Shir is not luan gai one! Haha!

There was this coach..a participant..aii..try so hard to get a free lunch. C'mon, its just some packet lunch from the KPT nearby and not any delicacy...totally disappointed. She was also pretty rude in the lecture as well...attempting to answer questions for the presenter and putting her leg right on top of the chair. Her dotter was running all over the place and making so much noise!

fit fit fit. There must be a virus going on. Everyone is bearing an email with a fit word in it. Maybe I should create one called...jose-fit?

Overall, its very tiring..but very fruitful and very good exposure, experience gained! The next one will be even better! That's for sure!

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 1:21 AM with 1 comments

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Niao-kia 6021

My new phone, Niao-Kia 6021, 1 week later -

I don't like Niaokia....whats so good about it that everyone is raving about its user friendliness?!

I have my hands on my first Nokia. And by that, I am more than qualified to judge whether its user friendly or not (since I have never used it before and I've used an array of other phones from various brands fron Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Panasonic)

The menu is dumb. You need a minimum of 2 clicks for most functions and shortcuts. The colour is not the best (ok, I know I shouldn't be complaining for a cheap phone).

But conclusion is, niao-kia very good meh?

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 3:55 PM with 1 comments

Interview 8

Was very positive. I like this one. The interviewer was a honkie. The location is based at Suntec. (Excellent location, didn't I just say that location is very important now?). The experience was in fact better than what I though it would be. The agent made it sound really bad until I sian half.

The agent called to arrange for a 2nd round today. I hope all goes well and I can get an answer before interview 6 calls me back to confirm anything.

I think I should give IT one last chance.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 3:43 PM with 0 comments

Interview 7

Wah lau..I think I must have stepped into an interview for factory worker.

6 day weeks, 7 days annual leave, 11 hour shifts with shifts starting at 7am for the morning shifts.

They are not interested in your qualifications but rather, how well you can sell. Oh well...not a very wise choice.

As you might have guessed, this is not for an IT position.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 3:41 PM with 1 comments

Boxercise

I went for boxercise with a friend. It's been a long time since I've visited Cali and an even longer time since I met her. Boxercise yesterday was very tiring and as always, very shiok!

The sequencing is now different. I expected myself to not finish it all cos boxercise is really very tiring! Its 50 minutes of non-stop exercise working your entire body and keeping your heart rates up very high.

After the session, I did some weights on the gym machine. And after my new-found motivation from Shirley...I decided not to "play cheat" and push the weights I really ought to be pushing. Gambatte! Yeah, it certainly feels good.

No wonder they say, exercise releases happy hormones.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 3:08 PM with 0 comments

Monday, August 15, 2005

Interview 6

Is so far away at CBP~! Bleah. I was late. I reached there, the HR assistant told me that the interviewer was also a bit late. Bleaah...

I got an offer from this one. Bleah..so cheap. I called the agc to negotiate, the lady PMS and not very helpful. Giving me more than a earful....Aii..you are the agc what, what you expect?

Anyway, I'm thinking twice cos..its at CBP. CBP is 2 bus-stops away from my old place. Distance...is very important now...

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 3:37 PM with 0 comments

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Exercise Mad

It's been such a long time since I've last exercised. Probably 2 months.

Training with Shirley is of course benchmarked at the "advanced" level. Her friend says I'm sha gua to train with her. Well of course. But along with it comes the motivation and opportunity to learn more than the training gives. Then I was aching crazy from Thursday. It hurts like crazy when more than 1 major muscle groups are recovering from muscle soreness.

Wed - Gym * lat pain, quad a bit, glut a bit, abs a bit
Thu - Swim 30 laps non-stop * abductor pain
Fri - Gym again, then I went to run about 5k at Bishan Park! * pec pain
* everywhere pain *

Sat - Abseiling!
Sun - Abseiling again!

Then again, not pain not shiok! When you know you're sore from training....you psychologically feel fitter and stronger!

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 2:57 PM with 0 comments

Thursday, August 11, 2005

ClubFITT @ Bishan

I visited ClubFITT @ Bishan today with Shirley. It costs $2.50/entry. You can rent lockers for $0.40. BYO towels and toiletries if you wanna shower.

Was there at almost 630pm. The place was starting to fill up and as you can guess, with mostly (non-hunk) guys. There were the usual body builder body wannabe, the slightly plump trying desperately to lose some weight and the less than shapely in an attempt to tone up their chests, biceps, etc.

I don't like the place. It's a place I will not go alone. It was small (I've been to smaller ones though) and crowded (cos it was peak hour) and most of all, flooded with guys, men, boys who stare at you as you enter, as though you were some alien invading their territory. I don't blame them, the gym, especially weights were never thought of as a place for the ladies.

Encounter 1: Dumbell Row
There were only either 2.5kg ones or 5kg ones. The 2.5kg was too light and the 5kg, a little too heavy for me. If its too light for me, it obviously is for her. Anyway, she was trying to look for a heavier weight when a gentlemen kindly offered to tell Shirley that the lighter weights are over that side (signalling to the other end of the rack).

Encounter 2: Lat Pull-Down
A little boy no older than 14 asked if he could use the machine. He looked a little chubby (read: obese) and came with his dad. He proceeded to do a lat pull-down with the lightest plate and the horizontal bar BEHIND his neck. OMG! It looked like the most unnatural position to be in. He was hunched over the knee support and his "paunch" was squeezed against the knee support. It certainly looks very very uncomfortable to me.

Encounter 3: Rack Machine
Shirley asked me to look over. There was an Indian man, quite well built (but not nice to see) at the rack machine. He was doing his barbell squats. She told me he was bouncing on his upward stride and that is very very bad for the vertebrae...I turned and looked. It sure is! He was bouncing up and down and up and down! His poor back!

Overall:
I see a lot of bad exercises being done and the trainer on duty was doing nothing about it. This has to be the single gym session that I see so many bad exercises. Sometimes, I sit and wonder and think whether it was difficult for the trainer to "correct" the bad exercises or he was just being lazy.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 1:48 AM with 0 comments

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Meaning of my Birth Date








Your Birthdate: May 2

Your birth on the 2nd day of the month adds a degree of emotion, sensitivity, and intuition to your life.

The 2 is a very social number allowing you to make friends easily and quickly.

Yet you are apt to have a rather nervous air in the company of a large group.



You have a warmhearted nature and emotional understanding that constantly seeks affection.

You are more prone than most to become depressed and moody, as emotions can turn inward and cause anxiety and mental turmoil.

It can be hard for you to bounce back to reality when depression sets in.



What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 12:55 PM with 0 comments

ICE: In Case of Emergency

Paramedics will turn to a victim's cell phone for clues to that person's identity. You can make their job much easier with a simple idea that they are trying to get everyone to adopt: ICE.

ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. If you add an entry in the contacts list in your cell phone under ICE, with the name and phone number of the person that the emergency services should call on your behalf, you can save them a lot of time and have your loved ones contacted quickly. It only takes a few moments of your time to do.

Paramedics know what ICE means and they look for it immediately. ICE your cell phone now!

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 12:47 PM with 0 comments

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Interview 5

Totally wasted my time. I travelled all the way there today, took a cab (luckily its nearby) just to take a technical test of 40 minutes with no interview.

It was a generic test consisting of 6 sections: C, RDBMS, UNIX, JAVA, VB & Mental Aptitude which is actually a section testing your logic and discrete mathematics.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 5:37 PM with 0 comments