家好月圆

Over the weekends (when i was coughing badly & unwell to go out), i finished watching 溏心风暴Ⅱ之家好月圆. I thot it was a great show with some meaningful dialogues. Many scenes made me wept. In fact, i am so enthralled with the show that it left me thinking altho i am done with it :)

Here are 2 interesting 绕口令 that were featured in the show.

sa姨：堂就大过姑,姑就大过姨,
姨就大过表叔公,
表叔公大过表叔婆,
表叔婆大过表伯,表伯娘,表叔,表婶,表姑妈,表姑姐,表姑丈,表舅公,表舅婆,表姨婆,表舅父,表舅母,
表姨妈,表姨丈.

煲煲猪脚姜呀，激死朱元璋呀；
拎住猪脚姜呀，撞到朱元璋；
放低猪脚姜呀，叫声朱元璋；
叫叫下朱元璋呀，5见左煲猪脚姜；
拉住朱元璋，问拒拿翻煲猪脚姜。

My Climbathon Experience

They call it "skyrunning". For me, it's more of skywalking. Heheheh. It's upslope all the way to the summit...8.5km, 4101m asl...TOUGH!

A 21 y/o Spaniard, Kilian Jornet Burgada, won the 1st place in Men's Open having clocked 2:40:41. He beat Japan's Toru Miyahara who clocked 2:45:57. I seriously wonder how they do it?!

After the race, i told Steven i won't return to do another one. However after a day's rest, i can't say for sure...heheh. Hmmm, i must say i've trained (tho not darn hard) and tried my best. My cut-off point at 6.7km may be the farthest that i can go but each time i think of it, i wonder if i could push it a little more with harder training & less load on the ground? Well, i will only know next year if i do go back for another shot. Hee.

I'm relieved tat tis race is finally over. It was kinda pressurizing, mentally, during training. On the ground, i lost appetite to eat and the same breathless-at-altitude issue occurred, especially after 3200m. I gotta force a cube of chocolate into my mouth. When i was asked to turn back, i actually felt happy. It was like a big load was off my mind. I was smiling til the finish line and yes, i ran the 4km of tarmac even tho i was DNFed. Some took the 4WD back.

Ok, race aside, i enjoyed this trip very much. The group was soooo fun! Most of us were easy-going and there was a lot of laughter. Ronald, James and Raymond were real jokers. Steven's a fantastic organiser and very meticulous - when Joyce and i lost our laundry in the rain, he actually activated a staff to help us retrieve it from the bushes (so embarrassing).

Geez, i am so tired now altho i flew back a day later (thanks to Air Asia's change of flight time at the 11th hour). Gotta go take a rest. HKTW is next.

SBC

I reckon only the 1970s babies can remember this logo. Back then, the production budgets were smaller yet the shows seemed more varied and meaningful.

When i was a kid, I was a tele-tubby. I would watch TV til the colorful tortoise shell appeared, which meant it was 12 am = no more shows. Guessed i was luckier than most kids these days who have a curfew. U know what? I scored A2 for my Os cos i watched a LOT of TV. Since kindergarden, i speak Chinese. At home, Cantonese rules. It was thru reading the subtitles that i picked up my vocabulary. Ever heard that habits & values start young? It's so darn right :P

Anyway, my nostalgic trip only started today. Sis has been watching some HK drama online lately so i reckon i shld check it out too. After finishing an episode of "Gem of Life" in Cantonese (which one will never get on national tv), it sparked off an impromptu search for our old time homegrown dramas. After all, they have accompanied me thru' my after-school hours. There were no computers or PSPs back then hence watching TV or playing with my friends at the badminton court were my fav. pastimes.

The below shows are as far as i can re-collect. Some of the theme songs are still fresh in my head. I remember copying the lyrics either from my friends or memorizing bit by bit by faithfully waiting by the TV for the start of the show. Oh ya, that was how i scored quite well for my Chinese too :P

雾锁南洋- the opening song is a classic til date
铁蝴蝶- whenever i mention this show which starred Xiang Yun & Michelle Chia (child star then), the rest goes "huh?" Did i really watch so much TV?
迷离夜- my all-time fav. I can only remember 蝶 (Sifone girl - Madeline Chu), 琴 (Zhu Houren)& 舞
奇缘1985- i like the one with Chen Bifeng - 银河星
小飞鱼- oh-so-romantic. Handsome Wang Yuqing & dainty Deng Miaohua whom i tot was the prettiest woman on earth then.
小DD- at that age, i wish i have that robot as my friend
蒲公英- i only rem the song but nothing abt the show apart from the plant
边缘少年- How to forget the classic opening song filled with defiant emotions by Jiang Hu?
青春1,2,3- the perky "doo-doo-doo-do-doo, 青春1,2,3" by Yan Liming
新兵小传- Poor Wang Wenyong died in the show while trying to save a recruit :(
窈窕淑女- the show that starred the 3 winners of Star Search - Zoe Tay, Aileen Tan & Liu Qi
三面夏娃- who shot Zoe Tay to stardom
调色板- in the show, Li Nanxing went ga-ga over Huang Yuling, a compere who was very popular in the 1980s(comparable to Quan Yifeng now)
亚答子- Abt Tekong. I rem the guy who sang the song.
吾家有子- One of the scenes had it that the old red SBS bus seat was recycled as a "sofa" for a newly wed cos they had no $ to renovate the house
飞跃巅峰- with out of the world yet memorable volleyball moves
红头巾- Fantastic cast! Don't think any of the current actresses can do a better replica. Hey! Pretty Michelle Chia was a child star in this show too!
舞榭歌台 1988- i took a lot of time to memorise the songs for this show.
天崖同命鸟- dramatic opening song which fitted the show to a T
五脚基- Childish me back then told my mom i wanted to stay in 五脚基 too. Rem 陋巷童谣?
亲心唤我心- Zeng Huifen & that veteran actress 王秀云 acted superbly. This show got me into tears pretty often.
咖啡乌- the catchy opening song. nice...
红绿灯1986 - i rem the song & one very sweet actress..her name ends with ming.
飞越银河- 陈秀环's signature "V" hand sign


Wow! It's nearly 3am now. I gotta hit the sack. Before i go, some wonderful folks took time & effort to compile some of the classic 80s' SBC drama songs, names. Kudos to whoever they are.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/VRGssoqfFow/
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/archive/index.php/t-1085528-p-2.html

Training Trips

I'm happy to have clocked 2 "Gunung"s for the past consecutive Sats as my trg to KK. However at the same time, i kinda guess i can't make it for the 3.5hrs cutoff time. Both are btw 6-6.8km and i oredi climbed til "cui", what's more for KK? :P Anyway, here are my training trip experiences.

Ophir - 3Oct with HH, Joyce, TCM, Cat & CY + Alan Law's gang
We started the trek at 10am+, slight delay due to the availability of guides. They allocated ours to other trekkers since we were late.

As the traditional Sagil route was closed for reno, we took the Tangkak trail which was new to me. I lost sight of the group within...like 10min? hehehhe. But it was ok. I know my fitness is not as good. It's gonna be the same during the race, so i'm not discouraged.

I soon found myself all alone, wondering where the other guide had gone to. U see...logically if u have 2 guides, 1 would lead the front pack while the other sweeps the slower ones. I was the last man hence "he" should follow me rite?? ARgh! But even when i passed Lay Yong & Liyun, there was no sight of the guide. I was entirely by myself til 10min before summit! Honestly, i freaked out a little at the stone slab. I was holding on (very tightly) to the rope, going, "i don't have a choice, i can only go up. I can't possibly wait for the 3 guys from another gp to arrive...they won't catch up so soon." With that, i struggled thru'. Phew.

My timing was 3 hours. HH, CY & TCM were the first few to hit summit at an impressive timing of 2 hours.

Time taken: i forgot but i know i reached foothill at 4.04pm.
I consumed 1 nature valley bar, 1 boost choc bar, half a bun for lunch & 1.2 liters of water (half plain, half isotonic). Good, at least i'm eating less now.

Belumut 6km/1010m asl with Joanne, Missy, Serene, TCM, Nicholas & gang from Schering Plough
It was my 2nd time with the SP folks. Last year, we were rejected at the entrance gate because it was closed for reno. This year, the guy at the entrance told us we have to obtain some forestry permit (duh!). After half an hour of haggling, the gate was opened for a price of SGD100 (kopi lui). Tsk tsk tsk. At least we din have to turn to Lambak, again.

The trek started at 12.24pm with blessed good weather. Earlier on, we have worried that the rain might affect our climb but thank God, it stopped completely when we neared the mountain.

Since we were participants i/o Joanne's aides this time round, I decided to treat this trek as my KK trg. The gradual ascent helped me a lot as compared to Ophir's staircase start. I was so happy to reach Tiger's Paw at 1.36pm (which i later found out i was only 6 min behind TCM & Nic).

Hmm, too bad i got lost later on. Mistook the campsite for Botak & turned left :( And quite coincidentally, the left trail has a marking but the river route that followed had no clear trails or markings. I walked up and down thrice to check for markings. Even went up the right side but still no markings. It was 3pm turnaround time. Alone with no headlamp and shoes getting "hungry", i reckon it's safer for me to turn back since i'm suxx at descending. Bumped into Eric, Kok Yong & Haryati's son. Decided to give summit push another shot. It was then we saw TCM & Nic who were making their way down. They brought us to the (real) Botak...a good half an hour to summit.

By that time, it was 3.25pm. Consensus had it that we turn back cos most of us don't have headlamps and Jo had already set the turnaround time at 3pm. We were already half an hour behind.

Hee, descending in a group always beats solo. Chitchatting takes my mind off the scary downclimb. We met up with Joanne and some others at Tiger's Paw and went down together. They tot i summitted :P Well, i know i could have but looking at the bigger pic, i am ok without it.

Time taken: 5.5hrs (foothill@6pm). Ate lesser this time round - 1 pc NV bar, 1 choc wafer, half a pac of gummy worms & 1 liter of water.

In life,

you win some, you lose some.

I must remember what i've tot today, at least til KK Climbathon's over. See, this is a byproduct when one trains alone, esp stairsclimb...ur tots go everywhere. hehehhehe.

Having missed yesterday's trg with the gang, i made it up today. Had to drag myself a little to Block 90 but once i started, i was ok (except for the taste of peanut waffle i ate during my 2nd round...eeks).

I think it was the 4th or 5th round that this tot hit me. It started when PS commented that Jo & i were brave to sign up for KKC. Well, it sure wasn't guts but more of pure fun. Yes, after a few climbs at BT, i soon realise it's not gonna be that "fun". Yet again, it won't hurt to try, right? *wink*

In life, we can't win everything. Even if i get cut off, what's the worst scenario? I turn back, perhaps get sad for a while and then prepares for the next challenge!

I hope i'm gonna be ok :P

Unlock the Second Prison

I just finished the orange in the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run food & beverage pack. The run was superb! To me, definitely the best i've had in Singapore so far! Right from the start, it got me singing its praises...from the collection of race pack, transport to start point, pre-race atmosphere, flagoff, road blocks, distance markers, volunteers along the route & end point, collection of goodie bags, carnival highlights to the shuttle service back...Kudos! The process was smooth & hassle-free...everything was uh-so pleasant!

At 6am, we reached early at the Expo, to board the shuttle service to the start point at Changi Village. It was a 10-15min ride. With lots of time before the 7.30am flagoff, we took many pictures & some videos (1 of which was Karen & Jo doing the warm-up aerobics). We decided that today's run shall be a tourist experience! Heheheh.

Amidst the drizzle, Mr Teo Chee Hean (GOH) flagged us off (punctually). As we ran past, Jo tried to grab a shot of him. He was all smiles! The rain stopped by the time we hit 2km.

Along the route, we bumped into heaps of friends - Dom, Carmen, Patrick, Jasmine Wong, Kelly (Ripley), Brokie. Had lots of fun taking pictures, jumping up and down, posing with volunteers etc. Some runners seemed entertained by our jostle while some appeared slightly irritated.

Dominic, Karen & me

Jump Shots Series 1 - with Jasmine Wong
Jump Shots Series 1 - with Carmen & Patrick

Jump Shots Series 1 - Brokie & Ripley (sgrunners)

poor girl...

Jump Shots Series 2 - with Carmen

Before long, we passed the 8km and ran into the prison compound. Upon entry, one could sight the finish banner as well as the happenings at the carnival. This very much motivated us and we picked up our pace. We made a dash as i shouted the possibility to clock a sub 1:20. It was slightly a second behind as we crossed the end (but based on chip time, we made it *smile*).

Jump Shots Series 3 Cos the shuttle service back to expo only starts at 9.45am, we were "forced" to hang around the carnival, which was actually a good experience. Apart from the numerous goodies (milo, ice cream, freebies eg. car decals, notepads etc), we visited a mock-up prison cell & watched some video clips. It gave us a better understanding abt ex-inmates.
The well-organised run aside, i really hope this event brought about awareness of giving ex-con a 2nd chance in society. It's not easy but life never was. Just when i thot we were done with the jumping...

Pixar "Up"

Caught this movie with Serene yesterday. I had no idea the beginning would be so sad. Sent beads of tears down my cheeks :( Nonetheless, it's a terrific show with a meaningful storyline about love and adventure! Oh yes, i love the soundtrack as well. Reminds me a little of "Life is beautiful".

Here's a piano & clarinet duet version (yes! clarinet, "my" instrument)