Sundown Marathon 2015

No BarRun this time round as I flew solo at this year's Sundown.

Timing wasn't fantastic and I thought I fared very badly this time round compared to last year's 62 mins. As it turned out I remembered wrongly. Last year's time was 64 mins, and so my 68 mins was worse off a lesser 3 mins 49 seconds.

Mai hiam buay pai lah.

The consolation was that ranking went up to 548th from 589th last year. Maybe the better runners all graduated to the 21km category liao. Haiz....

Prior to the race, we were treated to an awesome display of fireworks. It was just our good fortune that Sundown Marathon coincided with SG50 NDP rehearsal.


Well, now that Sundown 2015 is done and dusted, it is still not time to take a breather as I have the Asics City Relay just round the corner.

Pushing on!

- Voxeros

The Banana Show

Oh look at the poor boy. He is totally shaken up and distraught like a wounded bambi.

Sorry but my gut feel says that it is all an act.

With all the cameras on him, now even with foreign media attention, it's show time!

The way I see it, this boy has too much smarts to run circles around our local Mickey Mouse Media and then counter-clockwise. Remember how he trolled them all the last time with the molest allegations and again even with time-release entries when he was in custody?

Let's face it, our local Mickey Mouse Media are a bunch of not-very-the-smart people. An mere ounce of BananaBoy's wit will probably see the reporters' all die of brain hemorrhage.

If there were a parallel-universe of stupid people, BananaBoy would have been one of the X-Men.

In any case, please go home, have a good night's sleep, take two bananas and call me in the morning.

Video Credit: Youtube - Straits Times

- Voxeros

Standard Dropped

I am sure many of us have heard someone saying this at one point in time or another, or even said it ourselves.

This place or that store "standard dropped liao".

Standard Dropped is more often than not, referring to a certain food or food place where it no longer used to be as good. Or at the very least, since the last we remembered.

Few of the notable "standard dropped" places that I have heard of late:

• Power Nasi Lemak
• Punggol Nasi Lemak
• Fong Seng Nasi Lemak
  
  Note: Sorry ah. I eat nasi lemak by the truckload one. So naturally, this particular item shows up on my radar more frequently.
• Chatterbox Chicken Rice
• Kay Lee Char Siew
• Prego's

There are more that I have heard but at the time of writing this, these few were all that I was able to recall off-hand.

My question is this.

I only hear people say this standard drop. That standard drop.

Has anyone ever said a certain food or food place standard IMPROVED?

It seems that we are so focused on the negatives that we take good food for granted?

Good food don't fall from the sky. They are the result of hard work, passion and  dedication by the remaining people who pour their hearts out to make you that perfect hokkien mee, that awesome roti john, that divine char siew / siew yoke or even that sibeh steam chicken rice chilli sauce, or that bowl of kan hor jiak hei mee?

Allow me to say a big thank you to the folks who slave away day in, day out in front of the fire frying that wok-hei-ful char kway teow or stewing that sompah-best rendang or double boiling that 几够力  watercress pork rib soup.

These are the people who still believe that food should have a soul.

These are the people who need our encouragement.


Image Credit: http://www.friedchillies.com

- Voxeros

Death Of The Ramen Fad

(Random Ramen Picture)

I accompanied my dad to Central Mall to get his RedMi phone fixed. Apparently, Gabe managed to somehow destroy the USB charging port of the phone.

Sidetrack: My dad quipped how short the queue was at the XiaoMi service center as compared to HTC. Perhaps the latter is more problematic?

So anyway, the XiaoMi staff said to come back to collect the phone after 2 hours. Repair charges, by the way, was waived. Thank you XiaoMi!

Looking at the watch, it was close to lunch time and we decided to just grab something to eat while we wait out the 2 hours.

At Central Mall, it was only natural we gravitated towards the ramen place.

We regretted it.

If I were to describe the ramen in one word, I would pick "lifeless". Seriously, I don't know what I was eating for SGD 14.00. The noodles was so boring that my tongue attempted suicide by jumping into the path of my chompers.

So now you know why I refrained from mentioning the name of the establishment. No difficult to guess. Happy sleuthing!

Then it got me thinking about this ramen hype where we pay 12 to 18 bucks for a meal in a soup bowl where back in Japan, it is an insert-coin-make-selection-ticket-to-counter-pick-up-noodles street food.

In the era of pre-Somerset ramen, there usual places were Liang Court and Central Mall. Now with big names like Ippudo coming into the saturated fray, it is getting kinda boring liao.

I tried Ippudo in Hong Kong. One word. Meh. I cannot fathom what the fuss was all about. It is just another glorified Ajisen.

In any case, allow me to be the first to sound the death knell of ramen fad in Singapore.

May it rest in peace with the rest of the fads like donuts, bubble tea and Portuguese egg tart.

p.s. llaollao froyo will be in the death notebook albeit slightly down the page.

Image Credit: http://thetastingbuds.com

- Voxeros

Snorting Corn Starch

• CNN (29 Jun 2015) - Almost 500 Injured In Explosion At Taiwan Water Park

It was a horrific accident and my heart goes out to everyone who got hurt.

I can only imagine the horror at the scene of the accident. Chaos, pain, panic, fear, despair all mixed in the morbid fragrance of sio bak in the air.

I remember being at a fire scene many years ago. One cannot imagine how is it something as awesome as the fragrance of siew yoke be associated to something as tragically horrifying as a burn victim.

That sensory overload was something that I had a hard time dealing with.

Anyway, enough of that. I wish for the speedy recovery of the survivors. May they get well soonest.

Coming back to this colour run thingie, I felt that it was something really dumb to begin with.

Sure, the supposedly underlying message, methinks, is that at the end of the run after all that colour blasting, we are identically multi-coloured. We are all coloured the same. No one is a different colour from the next person i.e. let's all kick racism's ass. Yay!

Let's pause and think things over for a while, shall we?

First of all, you are doing a 5K run. Sure, it is not really that long a distance, but it is enough to get a person breathing heavily from all that cardio exertion. Now, spray a shitload of corn starch powder in the air for everyone to breathe them in heavily.

Can anyone not see something wrong with this?

Sure, the corn starch particles are not small enough (PM 2.5) to enter your bloodstream but these larger particles (PM 10.0?) going into your body where it is not supposed to cannot be healthy at all, right?

Yes, eventually, they will be expelled from your body via phlegm, mucus, coughing and even choking. This is how the body deals with foreign particles in your air tract.

Wouldn't it be easier to not put them into your body in the first place?

This is the exact reason why I don't bother with these color runs.

It is stupid.


Image Credit: http://news.asiaone.com

- Voxeros

The Scoop On Scoot

•  Five Stars And A Moon (23 Jun 2015) - Scoot Cabin Crew Turns Spokeswoman

TL;DR - Too long; didn't read.

I only saw Felicia Camel Toe.

Sorry.

Really sorry.

Really.


p.s. Ok. Fine. I did read a little bit and all I can say is that the only thing LCC is equal to that of FSC and that is flight safety*. Everything else is you get what you paid for. Fly FSC if you can't deal with all the badminton pattern that comes with a budget airline.

p.p.s. * I can't say the same for Indonesian budget airlines though. 

Image Credit: http://www.fivestarsandamoon.com

- Voxeros

The Test Of Love II

• Channel NewsAsia (18 May 2015) - TRS Editor Back In Singapore, Next Hearing In July

In my earlier blog entry, I speculated if Yang, who was given permission by the courts to leave Singapore on compassionate grounds, would skip bail and leave his girlfriend/fiancée in the ditch.

• JayWalk Online (04 May 2015) - The Test Of Love

As it turned out, the guy was man enough to return within the stipulated time and appeared before the State Courts.

Kudos.

Now, let's see how they face up to the charges laid upon them. For all the hatred they have incited, for all the flames of bigotry that they have fanned, let's see them account for all of them.

If kena prison sentence, can have wedding inside prison one or not ah? Or must wait until come out first then can ROM?
 

Image Credit: http://www.channelnewsasia.com

- Voxeros

MYP Award Ceremony 2015 - Part 2

Dear SuperFriends,

The 12th Maximize Your Potential (MYP) award ceremony was held on 25th April, 9 am @ Geylang Methodist School Primary, GMSP.

The MYP is a key program under the Run For Funds (RFF) movement.

Present were 20 MYP award recipients (4 Pri 4, 10 Pri 5, 6 Pri 6; 9 of them are prefects!), their parents/guardians, 10 supporters of Run For Funds, GMSP principal and teachers.

To date, 92 students have received the MYP award……. we will reach the milestone century mark within the next 2 years!

Pictures taken at the 2015 MYP award ceremony are posted here: https://www.facebook.com/RunForFunds

Teacher-in-charge of MYP Miss Theresa Tong welcomed everyone.

She congratulated parents and students, adding that it was proud day for all of them.

The recipients were selected for MYP based on their academic performance and good behaviour.
                                                                                                                                                
Here’s an overview of this year’s event:

1. Part 1: Life Lessons

Adrian spoke about the importance of choosing friends wisely.

Friends play a critical role in supporting us and guiding us along a right(eous) path.

He reminded the students that choosing “wrong” friends who have wayward behaviour and dubious characters, could influence them negatively.

He gave examples of how his good friends have influenced him for the better and chastised him when he was wrong.

He encouraged the students to surround themselves with good friends and be a "good friend" to others.


2. Part 2: Mini-Workshop (New)

RFF supporters Christa and Lawrence shared practical exam preparation tips.

These included (1) knowing their own study styles (2) working on their weaknesses (3) proper planning

The students listened attentively to these pearls of wisdom.

Some parents/guardians shared afterwards that the min-workshop was enlightening and would help them guide their children/wards better.

We will do more of these in the future.


3. Part 3: Target Setting

Adrian encouraged the students to aim high.

If they excel in studies and have good CCA/behaviour, scholarships at local and foreign universities (e.g. Stanford, Cambridge) await.

He shared that the 2014 Pri 6’s did very well for their PSLE and all the RFF uncles and aunties are very proud of them.

1 qualified for Victoria Secondary School, 4 qualified for Chung Cheng High School (Main) and 2 went to Geylang Methodist Secondary.

(For those of you who are familiar, to qualify for Victoria and Chung Cheng, students need to score >240, a very good score).

He also shared success stories of past MYP recipients to inspire the students.

The awards were then presented to the students by RFF supporters Lawrence, Christa, Henry and Jason (the man anchoring RFF's web presence).

Event ended with GMSP principal Mrs Rina Liang congratulating the award winners and urging them to keep up their good work.

Rina also thanked RFF supporters for inspiring the students via MYP.

This was followed by a tea reception + group photo taking.


Accounts Update

RFF account as of 29th May 2014 = S$28,576.19

RFF account as of 4th May 2015 = S$28,666.23

We didn’t raise funds in the past year as funds are adequate.

We did, however, receive a $100 contribution from a friend of a Superfriend :-)

The amount you see above is after $2 monthly deductions from the bank for account maintenance and addition of interest.

We contributed $21,000 to MYP in 2013 and these funds are depleted after this year’s award ceremony.

The plan is to inject the $21,000 later this year to fund MYP for another 3 years (2016-2018).

So in 2016/17, we will raise funds for MYP for  years 2019-2021.

Some of you have approached me to contribute to MYP/RFF.

Can I suggest you channel your generosity this year to Nepal relief missions?

They need our help to rebuild their lives.


Special Thanks

Special thanks go out to the following people:

Theresa Tong – Your labour of love and persistence over the past 12 years has impacted 92 young lives and their families. On behalf of the students, their families and MYP supporters, we salute you !

Sulistiati Idrus  - Welcome to the MYP family. Thanks for caring for the students in GMSP and looking after their welfare.

Rina Liang and the staff of GMSP – Thank you for believing in MYP and allocating time and resources to support it. The students at GMSP are blessed to have teachers who are committed to making a difference in their lives.

RFF supporters – As always, thanks for your support, prayers and contributions all these years.

If you have any queries about RFF, please email or call me.

Blessings,

Adrian

---

- Voxeros

The Test Of Love

• ChannelNewsAsia (04 May 2015) - The Real Singapore Editor Allowed To Leave Singapore For Australia

These two of the three editors (the third Malaysian one is still at large outside Singapore) of TheRealSingapore rubbish website were charged for sedition for all the bigoted rubbish that they put on their website.

As far as I know, they are out on bail but their passports have been impounded.

Today's latest update was that Yang was given permission to go to Australia to visit his critically ailing father.

The public prosecution was right to deem him as a flight risk i.e. he may jump bail and never come back. However, not letting him go see his father's final moments would be really bad PR all around the world for after all, the crime was not a serious one like murder or drug offenses.

It was simply shit stirring.

So after some deliberation by the court, he was given back his passport to travel on condition of a higher bail and a return-by 17 May 2015 deadline.

The girlfriend? I am afraid, girlfriend means not immediate family and so will not be accorded the same courtesy.

She is staying put.

Do you see where I am headed with this?

This may just be a test of their love. Will Yang ditch the girlfriend to rot in jail while he gets away scot-free?

OK. OK. I am just being dramatic here. She is not in custody. She is on bail remember?

Question here is will Yang return on/before 17 May 2015? Or will the lass be abandoned to face the music alone?

On one hand, I hope not, for her sake and it would be really sad to see yet another coward that the world will have to deal with.

On the other hand, I hope he skips bail. That way, I will have fodder for my next I-Told-You-So, You-Heard-It-Here-First blog entry.

Only one way to find out.

In 12 days.

Stay tuned.

Image Credit: https://pbs.twimg.com/

- Voxeros

National Museum Of Singapore - Revisited

A couple of weeks ago, I mooted the idea to the family to go check out the memoriam exhibition of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew only to be met with less-than-lukewarm response.

Fine.

So on the first morning of the Labour Day long weekend, I head out, on my own, to the National Museum Of Singapore, after a morning run and a shower.

It was a tiny exhibition and over in a matter minutes, still well worth the trip anyway as we bid our second farewell to a great statesman.

I stood at the cross created by the edges of the four marble slabs in the foyer of the National Museum, which I believed is smack middle.

Then I looked up with the camera and it appears that the spot perfectly aligns with the center of the dome.

I think.

I love the National Museum. I love the stories she tells of our land. Venagdasalam had his two-shooted coconut tree, I have my National Museum where I head to seek solace and quiet reflection.

• AsiaOne Singapore (30 Apr 2015) - 20-Year-Old Coconut Trees Cut Down After Brief Reprieve

- Voxeros