Sustainable Regime

I was feeling I need to do more exercise after getting my medical report. So this morning I cycled twice. After that I feel dead tired for the rest of today. I don't know if I can keep up with my desire to improve my medical result. Right now it is still fresh. I wonder how long it will be before I go back to my bad habits of eating too much and exercising too little.

Bad Cholesterol Higher

I went for my annual checkup a couple of weeks ago and got my report yesterday. My bad cholesterol is at a higher level than last year's results. My "good" cholesterol or HDL is low. I must cut down on red meat or meat in general. It is tough as I do not like fish or seafood. Annual checkup always tell me things that I already know or make me depressed. I have to watch my diet, exercise more, less salt, etc, etc. All the fun of living is kind of take away.
I am exercising more and this is a good start. I will live a long and healthy life. And this is not denial or blind optimism. I am taking concrete steps by cycling more often.

Madness in JCs

It is madness in JCs or junior colleges today. The school posting results are out and appeal application is open for students to appeal to go to the school of their choice. There are plenty of parents and students in all the JCs to queue up to apply for an chance to gain entry. The appeal process will take a week, 7 days of nerve wracking wait. This is stress to the nth degree. Maybe this is a Singapore disease. In Canada, there is no choice for public school. You just go to the designated school in the catchment area of the school. If you are not happy with the school, the other choice is Private School and it is very expensive. Public schools are "free". We do not pay school fees and school bus will come to pick up the kids. The property tax is used to fund the school, textbooks and school bus.
Singapore, there are "branded" school, reputable schools, neighbourhood school or downtrodden junk school where no one want to go.

We will have angst until next Friday. Wish us luck!

Talent is Overrated

Author Geoff Colvin is Senior Editor of Fortune. This book has reach the bestseller list in New York Times. The book explore talent. Talent implies natural ability or capability. The analysis of the smart and successful famous people like Bill Gates, Jeffery Immelt(CEO of GE), Tiger Wood, etc and found that all them put in a lot of work in a special way called deliberate practice. It is hard work of repetition and feedback. Over time and only over lot of time in practice before one can become a master. It usually takes at least 10 years of practice and mostly about 20 years of practice before great performance occurs. Starting young gives you a head start. As I review this book, I realise it is like world class Olympic athletes. The kids are screen and then put on a daily regimes of training for many years before they compete in the games. This is like sitting for exams except it is many years for a few minutes of performance and only one winner.
The key conclusion from the book is anyone can be trained for outstanding performance. It is a lot of hard work and practice. The price for success is indeed high.

What a Surprise!

I usually get regulars coming to visit. I was a little surprised by the nice messages visitors left for me. I check on my "hits" and it went through the roof. I know my friend and fellow blogger must have done something. And indeed, he did. All he does is so simple and my blog becomes hot. He is a popular Story Teller

My Family

Annual Affair! My sisters and their families were over for dinner. My wife prepared lots of food. She personally cooked braised mushrooms, lo han chai and chicken soup. I deboned teochew braised duck, chop the roast pork belly and cut up the cha siew(bbq pork). Everyone loved the her homecooked food. I enjoy watch the food get consumed and it is a very good feeling after all the time I have spent preparing.
It is the end of the New Year holiday. I am tired but satisfied.

First Day of Ox Year

The day come and is now coming to an end. We bring out kids to visit their Grandpa and Grandma. All the relatives were there. It is a good time to catch up and talk of nature, water and the rising sea level. It is a little worrying and good thing is it is on our National Agenda.
In the afternoon, I have a long nap. The preparation for the new year must have exhausted me. It was good to let my body rest and recover. In fact, I do not have a choice. I just fall asleep on the sofa. Refreshed, me and my boys went cycling together. My youngest sister-in-law come and wish us good luck and we host them for dinner. It is a nice and eventful day.

A Detached Perspective

I watched the TCS actors and actresses singing the New Year songs. It must be hard to be in the performing arts. Some sang well and other not so. The main theme of Chinese New Year is Wealth and sub themes supporting the main theme are Health, Prosperity, Good Luck, Career Success and Growth, and Happiness. As I watched the song and dance, I find that I am rather detached from the celebrations. Maybe it is the sombre mood of the economy, or the work stress. I did not find the variety show entertaining. Maybe I am a movie bluff. Action movies and musicals are my favorites. I need a storyline.
The great thing about this crisis is the Government of the world are doing their utmost to contain this monster and prevent an economic crisis. With concerted efforts, I am sure the depression will not occur and economy will turnaround in a much shorter time.
May the new year be Oxpicious for everyone.

All Quiet

The streets are all quiet. The neighbourhood playground is quiet. The foodcourt is bright and is still open. On closer inspection, only the drink counter and the Indian food stall are open. 7-eleven is open and several foreign workers are there to make their purchases. It is an unusual Sunday evening. All quiet and deserted. It is as if there is a curfew.
This is power the New Year's Eve. 99.99% of all hawkers and food stalls are closed. All malls and shops are closed. Everyone is home having dinner with their families.
We had steamboat with home grown vegetables right from our own garden, fresh prawns, fish balls, meat balls, cuttlefish, sukiyaki beef and tofu. It is really good to spend time with family.

Coming, coming, coming...

No, I am not having an orgasm. It is Chinese New Year coming. Tonight is the night. The night where our wet market is open all night long. It will be last opportunity to get new year's goodies at "teow lao" price or "suicide price" in Hokkien. However, grocery items such as vegetables and fruits will be at premium price. Even more premium is roast chicken, roast duck, roast pork, braised duck, nian gow which is sold at twice the usual price in the market. This is the time where the hawker makes 40% to 50% of their annual earnings. Most hawkers will have at least one week break. Who would not? It is a well deserved rest as they work every day the rest of the year, rain or shine, holiday or not they just work and work. It is the only time where the malls are closed for two days. Commence in Singapore virtually shutdown next week.
With all the festivities and preparations, I should be busy. Instead, I am worrying about work. I will have to work on Day 2 as my boss want to speak to me. I will not get to enjoy the new year like usual. My mind and thoughts are occupied by work.
Let's me enjoy the next 3 days to "work" on my CNY preparations. I love Chinese New Year. It is a new beginning and hope. It is time to celebrate and wish everyone good wishes. It is heartening the government of Singapore is doing everything to save jobs and investing in education and training. We should be able to survive in this global crisis as a country and thrive once the economy turns around.
GONG XI FA CAI to all my readers. May the Year of Ox bring Peace, Health and Wealth to all of you.

Wild Foods

Octo has a good show on exotic food. Snakes, centripedes, tarantula, scorpions, all the poisonous and yukky insects and animals. Must be live and poisonous. Usually, the insects are deep fried. People eat them for health benefits or as delicacy. Taiwan is famous for red head centripedes, Cambodia turn tarantula into a delicacy and Vietnameses love scorpions. Looking at the people eating is quite disgusting but they seems to enjoy the food.

Anchorvale Sport and Community Club

Anchorvale has a nice swimming pool with slides. There are three gardens under contruction and look ready in a couple of months. There will be a foot bridge with an island in the middle built across the river to connect the Sport Club to the garden. It will be a popular place to pastime in future.

No Rain

I am wondering why the rain stops coming. It is quite unusual for this time of the year. All the grass are brown and dry. I am glad we have water from Johore River and recycled Newater. Our garden plants need more water than usual. The sky is also clear and visibility is very high. I can see all the commercial aircrafts cruising at immense height. Weather is nice and cool.
What is happening? I do not remember such winds and cool temperature.

The Joy of Blogging

When I am not feeling good, when I am down, when I am stressed, when everything that can go right go wrong, it is blogging time. My fellow blogger, Boh Tong and friend encourages and console me. I felt so much better now. This is the wonder of blog. Not only it is an outlet, it also allow stress and sorrows be shared, friends to stay in touch and be updated. Joy will be doubled just like my son's "O" level results.
Yes, blogs and blogging, the joy of blogging indeed.

Goddess of Mercy

Not feeling too good this morning. Sigh! So I go to Queens Street Temple to pray. After praying, I still did not feel very good. The "cheems" or the prayer lots I got for my kids and myself were good. Somehow my gloom did not dispel much. Work is stressing me out. Now as the news get reported in the TV, bad news on many front are overwhelming my senses. I am feeling numb...

Is News Reporting Reflective?

It is gratifying to read that prices are not going up for this Chinese New Year. Be it barbershop or market produce, prices are supposed to be the same. I am not sure if this is accurate as I found prices for fish is higher today in NTUC. There is a long queue at Bee Kim Hiang, so I was curious to see if the price was same as before and I am very disappointed that prices has gone up. Maybe price stability does not includes the compulsory treat of sweetmeat. Now I wonder if I am forming opinion that may not be accurate when I read the papers.

A Father's Pride

"O" level results were out this week. B1 had 3 A1s and 5 A2s. He was hoping for better results as he "worked" for it. Frankly, B1 only spend probably 6 weeks studying for his exams. I wished he had spent more time. However, I am very proud of my son. He is a straight As student. This is actually amazing result. He outperform my "O" level by a mile. I hope he get into the JC of his choice.
I am bursting with pride!

A Food Paradise

Sorry for not blogging the last few days. I was caught up with work and family. Yesterday, I arrived in Penang. After my meeting, we had lunch in a coffee shop Tee Kee. Tee Kee serves roast duck, braised tofu and eggs, boiled romaine letture and chye beh(preserved vegetable). Taste is home-cook (well sort of, actually much better) and Teochew style. I had my favourite carbo (carbohydrate) Teochew porridge. The meal is very delicious, a Michelin 3-star. The cost is even more amazing. RM24 for 4 persons i.e. slightly over $10 Singapore dollars.
In the evening, my host brought my colleague and me to a hawker center where local go instead of Gurney Drive, the famous hawker center. Gurney Drive hawker center is like Newton Circus in Singapore. Food is expensive and poor value. Where the locals eat, excellent strong tea for RM1.20, out of this world taste haemee soup for RM2.50, charcoal grilled satay, very tender and wood flavoured from the grill for mere RM0.60 each and mouth-watering Penang char kuay teow for RM3.30.
Man! Penang is heavenly, a food paradise!

Stress ECG

Health Screening Day! I was up bright and early to TTSH aka Tan Tock Seng Hospital. TTSH has set up a new department for health screening and it is a profit oriented department. The service is personable and courteous. The staff will check if you are looking for something and help you out immediately. The treatment is like guests in a hotel. It is quite different from the regular wards where getting ignored is typical and there are more "NOs" and "Don't" and "Not Allowed" rather than how may I help you attitude in the Health Screening Dept.
I opt for an ECG stress test for my additional option. To do this test I was wired up to an ECG machine and Blood Pressure Monitor. Then I have to walk on the treadmill at the brisk pace and the pace increase very 3 mins. Not only the pace increase, the incline also increase so that the effort required increase at an exponential rate. I managed to stay on the treadmill for 10 mins. I could have continue for another 30 secs but do not want to be a fallen hero. That is if I work myself to exhaustion, I may fall down the treadmill. It will be unpleasant indeed. The good news is my heart is strong and healthy. My ST segment was stable under stress. Therefore I will keep riding my bike.

Discovery at the Library

Our National Library is progressive and up-to-date. There are ebooks accessible via the internet. I go to Bishan Library regularly while waiting for my youngest attending his gym class. Today, I discover that there are audiobooks as well. I am pleasantly surprised. Audio books allows multi-tasking. Can drive and read or surf and read, hm! More efficient and better use of my time!

Is the Mass Media making things worse?

News means exceptions. Can the current news spread fears and therefore make bad economic situation worse? People are spending less when all the bad news impact the psyche and Asian usually are prudent and conservative will become more so. Hence the economic will contract further. What is real? Can higher spirit level or God change the economic situation of the globe? In Japan, the annual visitors to the temples to offer their prayers for the new year increased this year. Does praying help? Will God answer our prayers for a improving and growing economy?

Economy Turning Around?

Oil price and other commodity prices are stablizing and even going up. This is a clear sign the economic crisis is flattening out. Is it the bottom? Maybe. With all the governments working in concert, I believe economic activities will start to grow again.
We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. By 2nd half of 2009, life will become brighter again.

Working Late

It is past 11pm and my office manager and I are still working. This is the fun of working in a global organization with offices in different time zone. I am happy my office manager is responding to my coaching well and she is working towards improving her competency.

Warmer and the Good News is...

Singapore is getting warmer. This decade is 0.5 celcius higher than previous 50 years. The increase in temperature is increasing at a faster rate. Is it global warming or is it not? There is no clear evidence. The good news is the tide level has not change. That is the water level at high tide has not change. I live near the river where at high tide, the road is about 3 feet higher than the water level. If the water level rises, it will be a real problem for me to get home.

Pay Cuts

It is on the news that NWC or National Wage Council may recommend wage cuts to save jobs. It is a series of unfortunate incidents. First inflation from 2007 through to first half of 2008. Then in September 2008, financial crisis cause by toxic debts cumulating collapse of investment bank, Lehman Brothers. The financial crisis has now spread to the "real" economy and economies are shrinking, jobs losses or threats of job losses are mounting. Hence, NWC is seriously considering wage cuts as a way to save jobs.
Taxi drivers business has dropped by 20% in pre-CNY period. This is very unusual and barbers are not increasing their price. These are signs of times. It is the worst of times. Best of times may be coming soon...

Weak, Weaker, weaker, wea...

Business is down. Terribly down. First time in years, 7 years to be exact that I see this kind of result. It is a nightmare with all the evil globins biting you all night long. How long more will I be stuck in dreamland? I can wait to wake up.

Eat, Pray, Love

Elizabeth Gilbert has a sense of humor. This book is about her travel around the world after a messy divorce. Liss as she is called by her guru must be making more money than her ex-husband. He demanded the house, the leased apartment and all the furniture they owned. In addition, he also want the money from the books she wrote, the royalties from any movie rights which is basically her future earnings.
Sounds like she done the right thing by divorcing a good-for-nothing man who intent to live off a woman's future earnings. I cannot believe a man would feel he is entitled to money just because he is married to a woman for a few years.
Good riddance! Like a fairy tale, Liss goes through a rocky road and hardship and finally she achieved peace and love. She is now married to another man.

Poor Story Teller

I was pouring out my grievances of my nasty SOB neighbour to another neighbour. I could not remember or repeat the story intact. Jumping all over the whole scenario. I am really bad at repeating words or relaying a story. This is why until now I did not write any story.

Petty Neighbour

What do you do with a unfriendly and petty neighbour? I love my home. We enjoy living here. Then a neighbour that sucks can spoil everything.