千九百三十三：2010 reflections

The year of 2010 just flew by in the blink of an eye when I can still remember the previous year so clearly. Perhaps it's because it's so eventful that when I think back, I can still remember clearly what I did each month in 2010, almost each week.

A Recap of the year:
January: Visited my sister in London, and went to Paris and Sweden as well! Realised the travelling alone is a lonely lonely thing, but i survived -16degrees celsius.

February: Wedding anniversary at Kinosaki Onsen, ate crabs until I was pretty sick of them. Found out I was allergic to crab sashimi.

March: A loved one hurt me very badly. 1st death anniversary of Ayaka, the ladies came down from Tokyo and we had a good get together.

April: Bought my first DSLR & watched my first soccer game live in Jpn, went to SG - v-jimlim left MS with kelly... but good food and good friends all around :)

May: Went to USS with Xinhuan, went to Melaka, went to Tokyo, met up with friends :) Baked my first (& only) buns.

June: Quiet month, mainly prepared for JP wedding & took Vik around Osaka/Kobe. Ran outdoors for the first time.

July: World Cup finals, & went back to SG for 2 weeks for wedding stuff and alot of food again,

August: JP wedding finally over (8-Aug), family gathered at my place for 3 weeks & was busy with wedding & sightseeing and work. followed through the high school baseball tournaments, got very tanned as a result. but the passion they provided is unforgettable.

September: Went back to SG (again...) Lots of birthday celebrations in SG, with both family and friends & turning 28, probably finally grew up alot more as well.. F1 for the first time and I realised that car engines are my lullabies..

October: Supported runs (Real Run, North Face), joined my first run (Nike!), and GE run. ILight , eMcee-ed at Adrian's wedding, sixoneder gatherings, XQ came back to SG

November: BMW World, went to the museums, went to Kukup

December: Christine's wedding, Jimmy's unexpected wedding, went to support a (few) marathon participants.. got hurt again. Went to Guam, thought through alot of things, decided it was time to stop being an idiot.

There. my 2010.

Jampacked with activities, came to the realization that i need to be more aloof. I put in too much of myself for people I care about but then that's me, why would you want to do things halfheartedly? No one forced you into anything, rather than regret bad decisions, what's done is done and just put your heart to it and you might enjoy this alternative route that you had thought was wrong.. I guess i want to just say, stop sweating over the small stuff, life is not that long, u never know when's it's your last. I would rather die knowing i put in my best for the people I loved than have treated any of them shabbily and regretted it.

Spring cleaning yesterday, today was just abit of last minute clean up and then later to the temple for the 初詣 at midnight.　To give thanks for 2010 and to look forward to 2011. It will be a better year because I will make it better, and not just because I hope it will be.

Happy New year everyone!

千九百三十二： Guam

Okie, holiday's over (i think?). but tomorrow is a public holiday in JP again. yay!

Guam had great weather for the most part, I managed to finish a book and 5 magazines and read another book halfway.. and ate so much beef (cos it's an US island after all) that I'm kinda off beef for the time being. I'm quite happy that i brought my running shoes cos this is the first time i've gone jogging when I travel, and it helps to deflect some of feeling fat from eating US -sized food portions for the whole week. I did gain 1 kg (luckily only 1kg) and went for a run immediately today to try to get used to running in the cold (it was very cold, the runny nose / winds almost killed me). We went on a half day tour on day 2 (i think, kinda lost track of time last week) then went to the beach / pool almost the rest of the whole trip daily. The beach was beautiful, clean and clear waters. But, I think the hotel was lacking service wise, or maybe I was too pampered by Conrad Bali, with their drinks service and towels, fruit platter brought to you the moment you sit down poolside.

All the rooms were oceanview (first time i actually stayed in a room that was full ocean view but the whole hotel was ocean view apparently) and managed to catch the sunset almost everyday. Meals were quite a problem, USD10 avg but that's at a food court which we had to wait 30 min for to go to, and if we wanted to eat nearer to the hotel, it was restaurants avg USD25 per person and the menu was the US food, steaks/ribs/burgers etc. Luckily we found a Din Tai Fung near the hotel (imagine that! no starbucks on the whole island of Guam but they have a Din Tai Fung!!) and it was pretty good to eat some Asian food at almost the same quality as it is in SG after a week of meat and potatoes.

Happy to be back in JP again after a week of not so good meals (i do miss the tropical weather though), now i have to start training for the upcoming run on 9-Jan. I don't know how I'm going to survive the cold weather running seriously. Wearing more than 1 layer is heavy but w/o a jacket the wind will really kill me. must train alot more...

My favourite picture from Guam - i don't know how to explain it but this picture looks like i'm a really tiny person in a giant's room.

Holiday photos here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157625515724521/with/5281906132/

千九百三十一： Respite

remains of my iced lemon tea

Been in Guam for 6 days, checking out tomorrow. Weather here is like Bali/ Singapore, hot and humid. Internet is super intermittent. no free wifi .. can only intermittently connect to mail and stuff from Ryo's phone since he switches on Data roaming for work.

will continue the story after i go back to JPN tmr evening..

千九百三十： Karma Pt 2

at the Mandai Orchid Gardens

I've finally packed around 90% of my stuff I think.

Feeling a little sad that the day to leave is finally here. So much has happened in the last few months, and I don't know if I have made the right decision but it's a decision that should have been made long ago and I intend to follow it through instead of hurting other people. I have decided to change my priorities and put it straight, friends should never come before family.

A little sad when I was at Jimmy's wedding because I don't know if this was really what he wants, but at least I hope it is and I wish him happiness for the future.

I have done so much these few months - a person whom I thought didn't know me said this to me earlier tonight. She said, whenever i'm back i am always so involved with everyone's activities, and she really admired me for it, that I actually make the effort to do everything with everyone even for however short a time. I try my best, but I hadn't thought about it that way. I realise that I do have a photo album for almost every weekend that I'm here, and I try not to let the days go wasted, and this is more so after I saw a quote in a magazine - that you can't choose the way you die, so why not choose the way you live? something to the gist of it.

I picked up a new sport this trip - golf - at least learnt how to swing the club and aim properly thanks to Yinnah, and once again I marvel at how so many things just happens "coincidentally" just when you least expect it.

1. I agreed to go to F1 even though I thought it would be hard to see anything through the barriers and last minute, my cousin offers me tickets for a Saturday night on pretty good seats!
2. I was thinking on what i should do about golf, as the lessons are really quite costly, when very much by coincidence, I took the time to meet Yinnah for tea and by accident, found out that she is quite the proficient player and can teach me.
3. I heard or learnt some information that made no sense to me at the time when I learn it but then suddenly after that someone comes along needing that information and I suddenly realised that was why I learnt it? a little far fetched but true..
4. The book I borrowed from the library turned out to be the book James was also reading at the same time. How odd, considering that it was a not so common photography book.
5. I had almost decided not to go to the marathon because it was just so early and I really didn't have a reason for going anymore, but I'm glad I went because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to catch up with Xinhuan who kept me company for almost 2 whole hours and we had a fun time chatting & playing with the camera.

There are more, that I can't remember right now.. but I am starting to think that there really is such thing as Karma & that what goes around comes around.

Hence - taking things easy - letting things go - always always always just smile and let go, in spite of anything mean others are doing to you, being kind to everyone, inc people u dislike, not bearing grudges etc.. all this will just be for your own wellbeing since nature will put everything in their rightful course for you. Plus not breaking promises made. I think that's the most important thing, because if other people are treated so lightly to you, that you can break your promises to them easily, you will just be treated as lightly a friend to them in return. makes sense?

千九百二十九： 88 months

The blog has been alive for 88 months!

千九百二十八： SCMS2010

the Standard Chartered Marathon is finally over.

Last marathon of the year in SG, last run as a supporter for me this year, not sure if I will support any runs next year in SG..

Seeing so many people run back while I stood at the finishing area until my nose was sunburnt, I'm wondering why i'm not out there among the runners instead. Maybe next year that's my goal i suppose. But planning alot for next year, I can only have confidence in myself to achieve everything I'm trying to do :) Luckily Xinhuan came over to accompany me after she finished her race, I was wondering if I should leave after standing there for 2 hours plus and I wasn't sure if I had actually missed the runners I was watching out for since i hadn't seen anyone I knew yet...

1 more week to go, feels a little torn between missing friends and happy to be going back. I want to have my own time back！Commuting to work is such a waste of time, when I spend >2 hours each day in total travelling on the bus instead of working. I have no time to run as and when I want, instead i'm stuck in the office. also, I'm just spending so much money here! argh... Must go back to the cooking my own meals life soon to start growing the bank account again.

I will miss watching movies in the cinema for sure. Wonder if I have time to go see another 2 movies this week, maybe i'll just head out there and watch my first movie alone tomorrow. Rapunzel & something else that I can't remember right now. I'm glad I caught 告白.. it was disturbing but had a very interesting plot. intriguing all the way.. Anyway... time to start packing up my bags and say goodbye to people!

Trying out smugmug site for pictures of the marathon:


for people who just want to stick to good old flickr, here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157625414416685/with/5236976493/