Went for dinner with my mum and little sis to this Chinese restaurant, Let's Clap, at the Rail Mall in Bukit Timah. It looks like a simple seafood restaurant, with clean refreshing light colours, bright interior, and a relaxing atmosphere. Just read about it the day before in this free WineTalk magazine, although I forgot clean about it until we reached there. We ordered pretty simple sounding dishes; 3-egg spinach, black pepper venison, fried cod with Thai sauce and a claypot tofu. Man, even these simple dishes brought us some delightful surprises! The sauces for the dishes especially, I found very tasty yet never overpowering. And the cod, so crispy on the outside, even until it got cold, while so fluffy and sweet inside, and retaining the natural juices of the cod. My mum even ate the skin of the cod, something she never does normally. Even the tofu, which led to me and my mum discussing what type of tofu it was. Tasted like egg tofu, but with a level of silkiness we had never tasted before. I loved the spinach too, which was cooked just right to retain the refreshing crunch of the vegetable, while still soaking up the tasty sauces. We loved the tea too, light enough to clear the palette, and fragrant enough to be savoured. Delightful. We'll be back. =)

Went to Sungei Buloh NR this morning. Had wanted to go for a long time, what a craving haha!

Don't really know what Mr Squirrel was doing in this picture... =p

Cute cute Mr Squirrel! Someone was walking behind me and startled him... He was my buddy for the afternoon, really let me get so close to him, a really sweet squirrel.

Mr Mud Lobster's roomie, Mr Crabby suntanning on his penthouse rooftop... He's the only one who didn't owe Huimin any money, because all the other crabs would scatter into their holes as soon as she got anywhere near!!

A Sea Hibiscus.

Dried Sea Hibiscus, still so pretty.

The place is writhing with water monitors huge and small! This is my buddy for the morning, Mr KhaKha, because he left his tail on an ant nest while I was taking photos of him, and he was trying not to move in my presence, while shaking his tail to get rid of the ants! So funny!

Hiking is not for everyone. Some talk and sing so loudly all the birds and cicadas go silent. Some tread so heavily that all crabs and animals within a kilometer scramble into their earthquake shelters. And not everyone are accustomed to the heat and walking. For example this pair of feet. =p

Had my first swim in years today. Went in about noon time, slightly overcast so it was pretty comfy, and there's only 5 people in the pool with me, so it was really nice and relaxing. I stayed for 2 hours, and with the doctor's instructions in mind, I just did lap after lap after lap, alternating between breast stroke and freestyle, until the kids' swimming classes started to come in, and those China guys who swim as though they were like drowning and still proud of it started to flood into the pool. Should go earlier next time. Plus bring along some snacks. I'm starving.

Have been seeing this black, medium-sized moth at my lift lobby a few times in the past week. I hate moths. Is it a bad omen? I really really hope not.

There are 2 types of old men: One who grows old. The other who becomes old.

Visited the orthopaedic specialist this morning. Confirmed that I have a fracture of my L5. Gave me only 2 options: MRI + Surgery, or swimming. I choose swimming. And got a letter to excuse me from IPPT and a downgrade to Pes C something. Swimming won't help in recovery, only helps to build back muscles to lessen the load on the fractured bone. But surgery is so expensive, especially the MRI. Plus I'm only weeks into my job, not a time to leave my post for a long hospital break. Plus I'm scared. But I've lived with this for years already. Should be able to live with it for years to come, right?

Just 2 medicinal carbon pills from Guardian pharmacy and my week-old diarrhoea was quenched. Totally regretting it. Regretting that I haven't thought of buying the pills much much earlier!! Just like not remembering that Panadol could possibly alleviate some of my Hellish pains last Sunday when my back asked for an off day... My brain hasn't been working properly for a long while since...

Feeling much better again. Can walk pretty briskly now, although I still tend to sit and stand up rather gingerly, in case I trigger any sprain again. I also try not to bend my back in any case, which was what unleashed hell on Sunday in the first place! My quadriceps are now aching, from all the squats I've been doing these couple days, along with my arms, which I've been using to support myself. Turns out my little spinal crack is from my childhood, although my doctors still want to follow up on it. My Sunday Hell was probably due to a ligament / muscle sprain according to my doctors. Hopefully my back doesn't end up like the aluminium oxide tile in the picture, which was taken after an bullet impact simulation test for my FYP!

Went to Fish's concert at KL. Never regreted being there. Despite the crazy journey from the KL budget airport to the hotel, and from the hotel to the indoor stadium. I'll never ever complain about the layout and infrastructure of our public transport system again!

The brilliance of having an excellant audience! The spectacular sight of so so many lightsticks and blinking lights really draws the heart, mind and soul into the essense of purely enjoying the concert.


The "Fish" carnival atmosphere outside the stadium is something of an eye-bursting experience for me...

Emo Wei~~ Cheer up bro!

Suffered this almost catastrophic failure of my hip/spinal cord on the morning after the concert. I was already carrying a back strain beforehand, and I already knew something wasn't quite right when I couldn't do even 1 situp while trying to train for IPPT last Thursday. But I didn't expect my back to give way, especially in KL, when I didn't do anything strenous at all, apart from all the walking. The trip back from KL was total hell. Especially going up and down the stairs. And the several bumps on my back by other people. Really felt like my spine's hammering straight into my hip, bone against bone. Luckily, all's much much much much better today after some good rest and sleeping.

Learnt so much more about myself from this trip to hell and back. I now know I have an old spinal injury when I was really young, and this had caused one of my bones around the L5 spinal region to be slightly displaced. This explains why I had always felt spinal pain when I do situps on hard surfaces, when I stand for long periods during army parades, and sometimes when I wake up in the mornings. This also made me susceptible to slipped discs and other back issues. But nobody has ever pointed this out, even during my NS checkup! Somemore the army sent me into Artillery! The x-ray has shown up a suspected stress fracture of a small bone around my L5 region! Just did some research on spondylolysis with my sister, who is studying occupational physiotherapy. Went through my x-rays too. Really seemed to have this little broken part. Will go down to company to get a specialist referral, I don't want it to get any worse! I still have many years of cycling to go!

*Thanks to all the guys who had shown their care and concern to me! Special thanks to Thomas and Huimin who went beyond the extra miles to help and care for me. Love you all!*

I was doing some labelling for some stuff that we were shipping over to Germany for a test. Then, when I was given a brand new roll of blank labels, and an empty meeting room, I went bonkers with the label printer hahaha!!


My name on my GT bike!


My name on my Giant!


Even my helmet is not spared! Blured's protective shell for an empty shell...

Oh dear, the longer my Cold Spray machine is down, the more "loansharks" will come knocking, calling, emailing, and they will not be happy... And I'm still only warming up my ass on my seat, one month into my job... How to get out so many products so quickly? Hell even the machine's giving us unprecedented issues that we're still puzzled over! Mampos mampos~~

Had a nice long afternoon of trail biking on Saturday. I haven't had the feeling of not wanting to go home for a long time until then. If not for the sun setting and the forest getting dark, I would had continued on. By then I had done 2 laps of Bukit Timah, and 5 laps of the shorter Scorpion Trail at Bukit Panjang! I really loved the stretch of trail in Scorpion which really resembles a bombsled course; a snakey left-right-left-right downhill between the trees with beautiful berms on the outside of each curve, totally fun! This is Downtown West's rollercoaster fun! I was so totally tired on my ride home, and I was having this totally bad headache when I reached home. Almost like a hangover from all the adrenaline rush. Until the next biking weekend then.

Just 'loaned' a Canon DSLR, it's my uncle's but he didn't want it anymore. Playing with it for a while, but too tired to read the manual... haha!! Trial-&-error-ing with the manual settings... Got a 'ghost-shot' of my bike tyres... =p


Big tyre small tyre~~

Went into the trails for the first time in a long long time this morning yay! Had to skip part of BT trail because of a bunch of kids doing hiking and mountain biking from the OBS camp nearby. And it drizzled a little halfway through my morning. So so muddy, so so tired, cramped for awhile on my way home. But it's so so shiok!! Seems that a whole week of anticipation has made me even stronger and yearn for more, I was spinning big ring on the trails for the first time ever! Shiok shiok shiok! Surely be back for more tomorrow morning! Forgot I'm no longer using a camera handphone, no pictures this time round... =)

My Giant's back online!

Took a few shots of my new SLX cranks and rear D in their best before I get them all dirty as soon as this weekend! Only after trying brand new stuffs again did I realise how much friction I've been living with with my worn BB, rear D and chain!

Finally couldn't stand it anymore and took the plunge to wheel my old but still so pretty Giant to the bikeshop to get it back into ridable shape (bikeshop uncle also commented on how pretty my Giant frame was! My Easton Magnesium stem too! So proud me!!!), required a new SLX crankset and rear D. This means I'll be able to ride my trails again next weekend yeah!! I couldn't take it watching the Mountain Bike World Cup every week online, and seeing all the beautiful photos of people riding in magazines, and about half-year off the trails is so torturing! At least I'm spending the money originally set aside for my diving course... 

This will be just an interim move though, I'm eyeing the red Eclipse hardtail hanging off the ceiling of CycleMax! Ferrari red with huge frame tubes and shapely curves, just like how I like women to be! And it's not crazy expensive at all! Drool... Apparently the uncle got it from my favourite Uncle Ah Chai, so I'll probably go down to BikeLabz to have him to build it up for me, when I have the dough that is hahaha! I'll then save up some more dough to see if it's worth revitalising my Giant with some choice parts upgrades, if not then it will probably be left as it is or stripped apart and put down into cold storage...

CycleMax in Bukit Batok Central is also good! Although it looks totally unassuming, no nice cabinet of bike fetish jewellery, the walls and floor are just plain cement! But the uncle does bring in wonderful stuffs, and the uncle does know and love bikes too! And he's a friend of Ah Chai too! That makes him my friend too heh! Good to have a nice friendly bikeshop so near my place for my little bike needs =)

My mum's already questioning why I'm having 2 bikes, if she knows I'm planning for a third one, she'll probably go into more interrogation-mode! But my third one's my motivation and entry ticket into XC racing again, so it's more than just another bike for me... And at least I have lesser bikes than my sisters have shoes and bags... =p

My Giant's now awaiting revival at CycleMax, should be done by tomorrow. Excited!!!

Down with a virus infection since yesterday. Didn't feel quite right when I got up for work yesterday, measured my temperature but was clear of fever, so I made it for work. Until an hour or so, when I started feeling totally weird with bad backaches and headache, and my temperature kept rising. Held on until lunchtime before going to the doctor near work. Was so dizzy that I didn't really care or register any that anybody said to me. Went home, had 2-3 mouthfuls of my lunch before taking my medicine and then stayed on the bed for the next few hours. Kept cursing because my backache kept me from sleeping properly. My temperature kept rising even after 2 rounds of medicine, almost hitting 39 at a point, so I went to the clinic near my place again. Luckily, after taking the new medication, my temperature finally went down by this morning, together with the backache, leaving only a little bit of dizziness at the time of typing. Need to start scheduling work for next week, headaches headaches... 

Photo from Mountain Bike Mag

I'm having to go through stacks of scientific journals again, this time at work... and also go through the ASTM test standards and test equipment... still feeling pretty much the lowest lifeform "aka BMT recruit" in the offices that I work in, especially since I'm still pipping hot fresh grad and not up to the same levels as my 1st-class and 2nd-upper honours colleagues... Might really need to re-consider my future some time down the road when times get better or if life gets worser... not really feeling confident at all at the moment haiz... like a hardtail mountain bike traversing a trail meant for army tanks... phew phew phew ouch ouch ouch crash bang ouch...~~

Went to Marina Barrage with the FD guys, my first time there... 

Played with the shutter speed... got this 'aurora effect' from a shot of a water fountain... =p

Arts Festival performace, with the backdrop of 3 'Marina IR robots' and a giant praying mantis! 

CYB in action...

Aw in action... don't know how he managed to squeeze in between the railing and the wall...

Wailoon in deep thoughts...

Mas in action...

Almost like walking through a giant water canal...

Went for drinks with my Cold Spray research team at the old Bukit Timah firestation. Great great place. Surely I'll be back soon, love the place, service, atmosphere, and big big mugs of Hoegarden! And it's just a few bus stops away from home! Away from the seriousness of work, the guys were a great bunch to hang with. Even Prof Philip from UniSIM, who is so totally cool for a guy as old as my own parents! He's in a totally different league from the profs currently in MSE (by the way Prof Philip was formerly a prof from MSE until 2003), in terms of personality and knowledge on thermal sprays. How nice if he were to be around when I was doing my IA and FYP... haiz... Will miss my mentor Siaoming when he leaves on Tuesday too... I love Prof Philip's zhnged-upped Subaru Legacy too!! Man it's the first time I felt the effortlessness to get up to crazy speeds of the 2.5L turbo and 4WD!!! And he drives in Manual mode with the steering wheel paddle-shift too! So cool! I want a Subaru too!!!

My first real experience of the true value of the 'TGIF'... best! =P

I hate waking up at 5.30-6.30am every morning, depending on where I report for work. Compared to the school exam period when I seem to be operating closer to a European timezone, it's like jetlag every morning when I wake up for work. Feel totally bad whenever I have heavy eyelids during the tedious theory training sessions with my mentor in the mornings.

Next week will be my crunch week, where I can foresee my ego, self-confidence, and spirit undergoing the toughest test yet since the interview with my big boss. Next Tuesday, my mentor will be leaving for Australia for his Phd, leaving me to fight the war after just 7 days of super intensive training, on just my 7th day at work. I'm already expecting myself to be totally lost for awhile, and expecting some scolding and nagging and comparisons. I need to win over all the contacts of my mentor, retain them, and then try to build on them as time goes. I'm seriously lacking confidence and competence in C programming and Maths, and they're among my biggest worries among other worries. Life's a total 90-180 degrees different from my life just a week ago. Man, I really need to release some hot air by this weekend, or I'll blow up like a pufferfish on viagra...

Went out to get a new phone, because my workplaces don't allow camera phones, and my old non-camera phones were all dead or dying after NS and industrial attachment... Got this Sony Ericsson G700, touchscreen with Symbian OS for $168, pretty worth it considering I wanted a phone which I would enjoy using, with the other non-camera phones being the super-cheap and super-simple feature-less phones... I wanted a phone with features like MP3 and radio because my workplaces don't allow the use of MP3 players too! Being my first ever touchscreen and smartphone, I was pretty excited to get it too, although it was a drag to copy over all the calender entries and stuffs from my beloved Nokia 6500...