Your face it dances and it haunts me.

Your face it dances and it haunts me.



It was not as hard as we had feared, and I dare say it was more enjoyable than those shorter but heatstroke-inducing beach runs we subject ourselves to in the afternoons. Saw several familiar faces, and even bumped into May right at the finish line (instead of the middle as planned, haha).

The start was a bit of a pain with the massive crowds surging ahead, and we reached the 2km mark feeling like we had already covered 5km. Seeing the top Kenyan runner on her last 2km apparently made us imagine we had run more than we actually had.

Chugging along, we finally got into a comfortable pace. We even picked up a new friend Su along the way, who was looking for someone to pace her through her blisters, and the three of us pretty much ran the remaining 5km together.

The rhythmic pounding of the tarmac in a sunless sky was hypnotically therapeutic, and somewhere past the 8km mark, I almost found myself wishing that the run would last a while longer. The sun was mercifully absent, the air smelt of the sea, and the crowds had dispersed so I didn't have to worry about tripping over anybody's legs. It was a great run, and what mattered was that my running buddy and I raced towards the finish line and crossed it together. 1 hour 23 minutes and 10 kilometres of non-stop running, we did it babe. :)

Sadly, I think this would be our last race together, at least for the next few years. She's been accepted to her Tokyo post-grad programme (yay!), and would be uprooting herself next March. I'm not sure if I'll ever find a running/swimming/beach/anything buddy to fill her shoes. I may have to end up uprooting to Tokyo to maintain a semblance of a healthy lifestyle, haha!

On a separate note, yesterday's Flea.Fly.Flo.Fun flea market was not so much a money-making event, but more apt for people-watching. There seemed to be an unspoken dress code of high-waist tulip skirts, and we soon had trouble telling our patrons apart. Whatever profits I made have pretty much been blown on my own flea-market shopping and today's bookfair cookbook spree!

Need sleep, and maybe one heck of a foot reflexology session.

Running in the rain.

Running in the rain.

The thought of running in the stifling afternoon heat was unbearable after all those afternoon beach runs, so I set about clearing up some work while waiting for a long run in the cool evening.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I awoke from my 20-minute nap (I know, it's becoming a hard habit to break) to overcast skies peppered with evening sun rays. That jolted me out of bed, and I was changed and out of the house in ten minutes. Unfortunately, the occasional raindrop on my first round evolved into a full-blown storm when I was halfway through my third. So I pretty much sprinted my way through, and returned home drenched and sweaty.

Not that I minded the experience. Dashing through the veil of rain was liberating, to say the least, but I would have appreciated a longer run though.

On a separate note, it looks like Marine would be coming down from France sometime at the end of the year!

Say it like you mean it.

Say it like you mean it.

It's just so... typically female to start feeling unmotivated when race day is just a week away. Lanxi and I are horrible runners when we're sleepy, and Saturday's beach side run in the hot afternoon sun almost killed us.

I was drifting in and out of sleep most of Friday night, and though I pretty much nudged B awake each time I tossed and turned, he was as fresh as a daisy when we finally sat down to brunch at noon. And eating less than two hours before the run was a huge and intentional mistake. Could feel the french toast flopping around on the run.

I'm really not sure if we'll be able to complete all 10km in grace, so I'm hoping the atmosphere will be ra-ra enough to spur us along. If not, I'm gonna kidnap May somewhere in the middle for breakfast, haha!



After a recovery nap in the evening, I zipped out to meet bitch for a spot of unsuccessful shopping and crazy antics. Dancing the Y.M.C.A and runny eyeliner that made her look like a raccoon.

And all this, the calm before the storm that awaits this coming week. Deadlines, interviews, flea markets and the big race. Need luck.

In Matcha lies the cure.

In Matcha lies the cure.

The realization of a 1500-word organizational communication essay rounds off my term break to-do list to a perfect 10. Between dates, project meetings and my beach routine, I've ridden on my writing roll over the weekend to churn out my travel writing assignment and an internship cover letter. That leaves me with 8.5 more assignments to tackle over the next seven days.

It is reminiscent of the crazy poly days, and I am oddly enjoying it. It's inexplicable how I feed off being consumed by a piece of writing. It zaps and restores my energy levels all at the same time, and I'm a sucker for this feeling.

The week before term break is almost always deadline haven, so between lessons and Japanese takeout, the babes and I had a bit of a breather mucking around with Erwin's new Woody Allen glasses.





Nothing like a spot of laughter to put things back into perspective.

That night, bitch and I caught up over some late-night frappuccinos at Starbucks.



For a few hours before I had to rush home for a midnight online meeting, I could push most thoughts of work to the back of my mind, and to enjoy my Green Tea Frappe. I've been stuck on the drink ever since Rai introduced it to me several weeks ago.

After errands and two pages of my travelogue, I met B for dinner and to catch Mamma Mia! on Friday.


poster from http://www.flickr.com/photos/divxplanet/2598031284/

I wouldn't have taken the "feel-good movie event of the year" phrase on the poster seriously if I hadn't seen the movie for myself. Despite the umpteen cheesy moments, the catchy tunes had the audience singing along, and clapping when the credits rolled. It was an unlikely movie-going experience.



"Are Singaporeans always like this in cinemas?" a clearly surprised B whispered sometime through the show. I wish!

After a semi-grueling Saturday morning meeting and a cholesterol-laden Carls' Jr lunch, I headed home for more travel writing and an energizing cat nap, before meeting a bunch of CS peeps for "cultural immersion" at Geylang Serai. Zak was our friendly tour guide of the day, and the most inspiring moment of the evening would have to be watching a whole kopitiam of Muslims breaking fast together.

I don't know if it was the lack of sleep, but Lanxi and I only managed 2/3 of our usual beach route, before calling it a day and heading back to the city for our sushi lunch. And a scoop of ice-cream, green tea flavor for me. If anything, at least I had substantial doses of antioxidants over the past few days to last me through the pile of work that awaits.

Flop.

To Tanjong Beach and back.

To Tanjong Beach and back.




I suppose we had had enough of procrastinating and throwing in the towel and turning back each time we reached the roundabout, so for the first time in a long while, we extended our run to Tanjong Beach and back. And for the first time in many weeks, the skies stayed rain free for us to enjoy a spot of post-run basking.

Now here's what puzzling me. I mapped out our run online, and was told that our 50-minute run only covered 4.33km. However, a 35-minute run around my estate covered 4.9km. Speed can only differ so much. Help, anybody?

And my online shopping frenzy ends today. I've ordered whatever I wanted to order, so I'm done browsing websites late into the night. It's exhausting, so much so that I fell asleep while in the relaxation pose at the end of my yoga practice today.

Yawn.

Two plus two makes four.

Two plus two makes four.

I'm feeling mighty good, for I clocked in a 35-minute run this morning. So the timing isn't that great for 5km, but it's the longest run I've done since the crappy allergy and stupid fall. Evan checked in on me today upon his return from Malaysia - what a dedicated volunteer coach! I'd love to finally meet up and buy him coffee one day, hopefully soon.






Thanks to Mathew Yap's MICA-style teaching, Thursdays are no longer a drab and instead quite a stress-free end to the school week. And I like nothing better to herald in the three-day weekend than a good night out after school on Thursdays. This week, it was with Fagan, whose heart-to-heart chats I've dearly missed.

We haven't had a proper long catch-up since I left for India, so we had ALOT to talk about. Over a Japanese curry dinner at Curry Favor Cafe, a shared souffle and chocolate hug mugs at Max Brenner's over at the Esplanade, and when they closed for the night we took our conversations to the riverfront. About our new love interests, our families, and investments (his, not mine).

After duly updating each other in detail on all that's new in our lives, our conversations revolved back around to life, love and its many unanswerable questions. One thing this confidante of mine always says is inspiring - "If life were so certain, what's the point in waking up everyday?"

Boyish Fagan has indeed grown up. It's been almost six years since we first met each other. Him with his floppy hair, and me with my ex-penchant for way-too-low-slung jeans (Thank goodness). And there are our other two partners-in-crime, both of whom are in Australia right now. Those BizPark lunches and Tampines Mall food court dinners seem like such distant memories! Can't escape the fact that we're done with growing up and are now slowly growing older.

It ain't that scary really, once you put it into perspective.

Am up for a spot of muffin baking tomorrow morning for the evening's movie screening/picnic at Fort Canning with Ceci and Jem. Crossing my fingers and toes for clear skies!

Ciggies no more.

Ciggies no more.

Earlier in class today, Gregory Tan told us about his friend who died of nose cancer. (He was smiling while recounting it, but i'll let that rest for now.) Jolted by the tale, I immediately wrote a Stickie on my Mac's desktop: "Get Berty to quit smoking!"

So when I came home to chat with B earlier, I told him about it all, and he said that he actually intends to quit once he comes to Singapore, and replace the ciggies with sports. He's not that heavy a smoker anymore, so hopefully it won't be too difficult. Minimal persuasion needed on my part, I'm happy!


image from http://sonofthesouth.net

As class ended early and I had a good half hour to go before I was due to meet B online, I strapped on my Asics and headed downstairs for a run. I wasn't sure the ankle would hold up, but I didn't want to let too much time pass for me to develop a phobia for outdoor running.

Needless to say, my eyes were working extremely hard to spot fallen fruit traps, and I managed to clock in a 3.55km run. Not too bad for a post-recovery trial! And though the hacking cough was non-existent throughout my almost half hour run, it's back now with a vengeance. Pffft.

I'm still feeling mighty pleased with today's accomplishments. 9 days till B arrives, and hopefully not that many before we finally get to meet!

Tripping on a fallen fruit!

Never run with sushi in your tummy.

Never run with sushi in your tummy.

It was Lays' big day yesterday, and all decked out in varying shades of orange, we gathered at her Pasir Ris chalet.







It was a great chance to catch up with the people I haven't caught up with since school started, and also to test my body's tolerance for beer. No allergies, pass! And in case you're wondering why there are repeated shots of Ting Yi and myself, it's because the Alaskan boy is horribly picky with his pictures! And I'm wondering whose fingers those are in the shots... fess up!


It was pouring when Lanxi and I met up today, so we reversed our usual routine and had our sushi lunch and shopped around instead, before heading to Sentosa for our run. The strong sunshine lasted a good half hour during which we felt like we were going to keel over from overheating, and after changing into our bikinis, the rain clouds promptly took over. Murphy's law.




And even though we didn't eat enough to feel stuffed, I could feel the sushi flopping around in my stomach with each step. Never fuel up on sushi before a run! Maybe that's why there are bananas and power gels. Haha!

I'm feeling pretty shiok now because Jinli's just informed me that there's no tutorial for Corporate Communications tomorrow, which means I can meet my bitch earlier for a birthday lunch instead of a birthday tea.

Feel like I haven't spoken to B for too long! We make sure we keep in touch everyday, but it's been awhile since we last had a proper chat, and I was weak and woozy then. He'll be here in less than three weeks though, in the flesh. Hasn't quite sunk in yet but I'm starting to feel the first flutterrings of the jitters. I wonder if he'll like chee cheong fun. Haha.