STORE WARS: Spread the seeds of the organic rebellion

A friend just sent me this. It's an incredibly funny spoof of STAR WARS, and it aims to spread the message of organic food products. Check it out!

Banda Aceh

It's been more or less confirmed...I'll be headed for Banda Aceh on 3rd July as leader for a volunteer reconstruction team under the flag of Habitat for Humanity, Singapore. I'll be there until 9th July. Click here for a .jpg file taken from http://disasterscharter.org which shows Aceh prior to the tsunami, and Aceh on Dec 29, 2004, a few days after the devastating waves hit its shores.

Just last Thursday, another magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck off the western coast of Southern Sumatra, the epicentre being 235 km from Banda Aceh. More details available here. Somehow, I've got a feeling it won't be very quiet during the time I'm due to be in Aceh, but someone's got to do the job, and I'm honoured to serve and help in whatever capacity I can...

Beach out!

Another glorious day at the beach! About two dozen of us turned up to play frisbee, captain's ball and volleyball, and that includes my good pal Jaren who's back from the US for his summer holiday. There was also a special instructional session on beach frisbee and beach rugby today near the place where we usually play, so it was an excellent opportunity to pick up a few tips from the pros. But perhaps I had too much sun today...I'm still feeling a bit dehydrated even now as I type, some 8 hours after leaving the beach.

Activate Order 66 now!

The Revenge of the SITH was a great movie. Lucas is still terrible with his romantic scenes, but the action-packed storyline more than makes up for it. It's a funny feeling, watching Episode 3, with the hindsight of Episodes 1 and 2, and the foreknowledge of the events in Episodes 4 through to 6. :)

Well done, Lucas, and may your new production house in Singapore continue to generate stunning visuals for everyone's viewing pleasure!

My Rediscovery of "Doctor Who"

I've just watched the BBC Doctor Who series "The Scream of the Shalka" off the internet. I haven't watched any Doctor Who episodes for almost two years, and it's great to suddenly remember it and go watch it! "Shalka" is extremely entertaining, and I applaud the scriptwriter for the brilliant storyline! It's just so-o-o-o British! And it's such a classic! My sincerest thanks to Alex N for introducing me to it in 2003! :)

A malady of malaise in May

It's almost the end of May, the time for exams in Cambridge. Even though I graduated years ago, I think I'm still suffering from Tripos syndrome, a malady of malaise usually associated with too much studying or work. I'm feeling lethargic, losing interest in eating, and generally hoping for something exciting and extraordinary to pop into my life and zap me out of my present wearisome routine.

Yesterday, I had a brief but delightful conversation with Nicola P over MSN. I haven't spoken to her since graduation. Now, she's already in her 4th year, finishing up her projects and cruising through her Tripos examinations. After chatting with her, I realised just how much I miss student life, how much I miss my good o' Brit pals, how much I miss punting up and down the River Cam, drinking champagne and eating strawberries coated with a delicious layer of whipped cream... *dreamy look*

Banner painting

I spent most of my day at the NUS Sports and Recreation Centre, putting in the colours for our group banner in preparation for Camp Sunshine. The weather was rather hot today, and the pool looked extremely inviting from the second floor where the other befrienders and I were painting. Too bad I didn't bring along my swimming gear, otherwise, I would have dived right into the clear blue water after we were done with our work. Not that I am able to swim well... :( *sigh* I had better practise more often at the SAFRA pool while I still have a SAFRA membership...

Alejandro Sanz: MTV Unplugged

Today, I purchased Alejandro Sanz: MTV Unplugged from Sembawang Music. ¡Este disco es muy bueno! ¡La música es fabulosa!

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain

Last week, I was informed that today's wheelchair repair session would be "special" -- there would be media coverage. Yes, media coverage...members of the press would come along for our training, and maybe do a special feature on us in the papers. That's great, since this ministry of repairing wheelchairs needs more publicity anyway, to generate more donation funds and to attract more volunteers to help out.

Surprisingly though, there were even fewer volunteers who showed up today than last week. I had expected more to turn up, simply because some would want to have their pictures taken by the press. :) But more surprisingly, the media folks failed to appear altogether! Lol. Maybe it was the rain that kept them away. :)

With the soothing, rhythmic sound of drizzling rain accompanying us in our repair work, the volunteers and I who were there swiftly completed maintenance of six wheelchairs within a span of 4 hours. Our instructor Eugene told us that the chairs were due to be sent over to the Philippines as part of a relief aid package. Cool! :)

Family Day at Sentosa

This afternoon, thanks to Li Lian's help, I caught a ride in Patricia's car to Sentosa for our combined divisions' Family Day. The sky was gloomy as usual, but also just as usual, the rain stayed away during the whole time we were there. The programme for the day was "The Amazing Race", so we were split into teams of five to six persons to comb the island for clues and solve puzzles.

Initially, I had hoped to be able to spend some time at Sentosa to enjoy the company of a few good friends and colleagues, but we weren't allowed to form our own teams. :( Everyone was assigned to a pre-determined team. *sigh* So this supposed chill-out, relax, get-together event at Sentosa didn't allow me much of an opportunity to talk to my best pals at all. Pity!

Anyway, my team turned out to be among the last to reach the final checkpoint, which was disappointing...but then again, at least we finished the race! :)

Feeling lethargic

I have been sleeping a lot lately, but I still don't feel very energetic in the mornings. It's a lousy feeling. "SITH" opens today, but I didn't manage to get any tickets, which didn't make things any better. However, I expect things to pick up from this evening onwards. I'll be meeting Weixiong for dinner. He's a great chap, excellent fellow to talk to. Tomorrow, before the sun comes out, I'll head off to the gym, then pop into the office for morning breakfast with my colleagues, and then attend our division's Family Day event held in the afternoon at Sentosa. Ah...sun, sand and sea! Who can resist the charm of the beach! :)

Sunshine Camp :- Introduction Tea

This afternoon, I took my child to Downtown East for Sunshine Camp's Introduction Tea. While I was trying to get his wheelchair open, my finger got caught between two metal rods...*ouch*. But it was a great day overall. We played games, had afternoon tea, twisted balloons into swords, hats and puppies, watched a magic show and made new friends with other volunteers and their kids. There was also a pleasant surprise for me at the Introduction Tea - the doctor who was assigned to my group turned out to be my senior from college. She's now working as a Medical Officer in the Navy. This is such a small world! :)

Lightning storm

Last night in the middle of a heavy storm, I was typing my a blog entry at home. Then there was a sudden bright flash of lightning outside, and the power went out altogether...and so did my blog entry. *sigh*

Yesterday, over the internet, I found a few old friends from the International Science School, Japan (1997), and managed to add them to my Friendster's list. I haven't spoken to them in years, and I'm really eager to find out how things are going for them. Ah, the wonders of internet...in the past, we used to keep in touch via snail mail and postcards...and eventually lost contact with one another. :P

Relay Race

It's been a tiring morning. I woke up at 5:20 am, washed up, had cornflakes for breakfast, then caught a ride from Nanyan to Keat Hong for a relay race which was due to commence at 7 am. I was Runner #8 in my company team of 16 runners. I don't particularly like short races such as the one today - about 1.4km - so it was with not a little dread that I took my position at the startline and waited for Runner #7, Chee Keong, to appear around the bend. After I received the baton from him, I ran so hard I felt the soles of my feet burn against the soft cotton of my socks. But even though I didn't manage to overtake anyone, but instead was overtaken by another runner, it was a good race, all in all. Our team showed excellent team spirit, and that's what really matters. We came in 4th out of some over 20 teams, and later on, I found out that I managed to improve my timing from 5:48 (during the trial run two weeks ago) to 5:26 today - which works out to roughly to a pace of 1 min 30 sec per 400m.

After the run, I still had to go back to the office to work. :(

Poem :- This is how your Daddy says I should carry you

This is how your Daddy says I should carry you.

Turn you sideways as he does.

Stand behind you as he does.

Hook my arms under yours as he does.

Tighten my grip around you as he does.

Lift you up as he does.

Lower you into the wheelchair as he does.

"That is how you should carry my son," your Daddy says to me.

But he leaves one important step unspoken,

A step that is second-nature to him.

To love you as he does.

Busy weekend

I have a splitting headache today. Maybe I didn't get enough rest over the weekend. :(

On Saturday, I met up with some friends at Siloso Beach as usual, and played quite a bit of frisbee and volleyball. It was slightly cloudy in the morning,and the weather was just great for games. I left at around 12:30 pm with two other guys while the rest of the gang elected to stay on and soak up some more sun. After lunch at Harbourfront, I joined Mok at his church in Queenstown and befriended some folks from the Young Adults Ministry there. In the evening, I went with my Rainbow Club team leaders, Mingfa and Poh Lin, on a scheduled visit to a family whose child I am to befriend and look after at Sunshine Camp, which is to be held on 3-5 June this year.

My heart goes out to the young boy whom I am befriending. On Sunday, when I was at the Pasir Ris library, I searched for medical books which described his condition. I was close to tears when I read that children with that particular medical condition don't often live beyond their mid-teens. :( My heart also goes out to his parents who love him dearly and who have sacrificed so much for him throughout the many years. I pray that they will all find healing, peace and joy from God.

STAR WARS: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Opening island-wide on 19 May!! I must watch it! STAR WARS rocks! *whistles*

Sore legs

Ouch, the pain! Maybe it was because of the sprint last Friday, or my legs-training at the gym on Monday, or my attempts to swim breaststroke yesterday... Whatever the reason, my legs felt incredibly sore today. So it was with much dread that I turned up for wushu class, dragging my two feet along, hamstring and calf muscles all tense and uncomfortably taut. During the stretching portion of the lesson, I could barely straighten out my legs, let alone enjoy the warm-up running exercises. :( Ah well...

However, thankfully, this week, the focus of the class was not on spinning kicks and cartwheels, but an introduction to basic swordplay - which meant most of the physical exertion was borne by the upper-body, mainly the arms and shoulders. :) Wen Yeow said that he will be teaching us the "san1 duan4 dao1", an extremely rudimentary tao4 lu4 but one which is still useful to learn nonetheless.

From Meetup.com to YahooGroups

Recently, Meetup.com's started to charge a group fee of US$9 per month, and so I've decided to change the host of my Botanical Gardens Running Group from Meetup.com to YahooGroups. The new link is here, for anyone who is interested to join.