Birthday Celebrations

Long overdue so let's do a little write-up about birthday updates. Immensely enjoyed this year's birthday. Often, the control freak in me likes to plan my own parties. Not birthdays but Christmases and such. However where birthdays are concerned, it can sometimes be a little depressing to be planning your own birthday. This year however, I got a little of a best of both worlds situations where friends would let me plan part of it but handle the rest.


F was sweet and msged me about 3 weeks before the bday to ask "Do you have any plans on 10 October?". A series of sms ensued and in the end, we gathered at Jules Cafe and Bar for my birthday celebration. I was rather sick that day and was disappointed that I could not play, what more, go near my Godson but surrounded by friends, I could not ask for anything more.


The Warwick gang also pitched in and we had dinner at Yantra. G and I were initially craving for Nandos having seen it at the entrace to Tanglin Mall but given that R had pulled some strings for this dinner reservation, we kept our hankerings to ourselves and settled down for some Indian food. Food turned out fantastic and honestly, apart from the fact that I would look like a complete pig, I really could never get enough of Indian food. The gang also bought me a lovely pair of Paul Smith cufflinks (R chose it) and I'm looking forward to wearing it when I start work once more. Though I also anticipate a fair amount of metrosexual/gay comments from everyone.


With H's bday near mine and knowing how busy the other two are, H and I took it upon ourselves to choose a location, date and time for our bday dinners. My suggestion of going to Disgruntled Chef was taken up and we pigged ourselves out over some pretty good food. Not fantastic, but not bad. What was even better though was opening that bottle of Zinfandel from Rubicon Estate, Napa Valley that I bought 3 years ago. I remember it to be a rather light wine but the wine had truly aged well and was a splendour of flavours in my mouth and more than anything, I was glad I had the right company to appreciate the wine with. H also picked out a beautiful Celine tie for me which with every sight, I'm falling more and more in love with.


If this past year of  relationship mishaps and singlehoods have taught me anything, it is that I am truly surrounded by wonderful friends and though most, it not all of you, do not know of this blog, I thank you all deeply. 

In an odd dreamland

Spent a few minutes talking to V after my lunch. As I stood outside the library whilst on the phone, I turned around a certain former AG came around the corner. I was so stunned to see him so up close and in the flesh that I had difficulty suppressing my reaction of awe till he passed.


I related to V how he collects teddy bears and V remarked that it is rather creepy for a man his age to be collecting teddy bears. I said I thought it was rather cool in an eccentric sort of way and remarked that since all geniuses have some odd trait or behaviour, I should develop one too. At least for future usage.


After a short discussion, because obviously V will not be so kind as to entertain my thoughts for that long, I decided that supporting Arsenal should be my trait. Such that whenever Monday rolls along and if Arsenal had lost over the weekend, my associates will steer clear of bringing me their work and will whisper in hush tones to each other "Watch out.. Arsenal lost this weekend!"


If all else fails, I shall also develop some strange twitch (inspired by the one and only twitch-cher) that I'll suffer from whenever Arsenal loses.


Alright, enough day-dreaming. Back to trying to get qualified in the first place.

Melancholic

Celebrated my birthday this week. Not surrounded by family but surrounded by many many many friends. There's a time to give thanks for all the love.


But for now, I'm just feeling blue.


I stand by the decisions I've made. They are/were selfish but such is life and such is love.


Inevitably, I've hurt others and not to be presumptuous but will probably continue to do so.


Must happiness always come at the expense of someone else's sorrow?


Must life always be led with the handbrake on?


When the wind is blowing in your face
When the world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love


Ahh.. Melancholy, thou art true bitch,


striking you when you least expect it

GOAT for Arsenal?

Once in a while, I get this question, mostly from fellow Arsenal fans but sometimes from supporters of other clubs.

Who is your favourite Arsenal player of all time?

In some way, I always feel like that's a trick question. It feels like you're supposed to name someone old like Charlie Nicholas or Liam Brady to show that you have been supporting Arsenal for a long time. Or you could name someone real underdog like David Rocastle or Gilberto Silva to show what an appreciation you have for Arsenal players. Or you could name someone timeless and classy to demonstrate your taste for beautiful football like Dennis Bergkamp.

And I really feel hard press to name any one at all and proclaim that player as the best there ever was.

This video though really does show why Henry is one of the best, if not the best.

PMS

Depressed, upset, moody, emotional and constantly assessing my life.


Ahh.. the birthday must be near..

Of friendships and such..

7 years into adult life, one of the things I still struggle to deal with is drifting apart or losing friends. I make reference to adult life because it sounds to me like one of those childish and churlish things that one should handle better after the acne-filled years have passed. Alas, I am still plagued by acne and so I shall continue on my teenage rant.

Recently, on the way to supper, G told V that you'll reach a stage in life when you realise you don't have to be friends with everyone, that you just have a niche group of friends and that's good enough. To some extent, I agree, though I think such sentiments should not be taken to the extreme. So though I may agree that we often end up hanging out with a niche group, it still hurts to know that you've lost or drifted apart from someone.

Recently, D got married. Naturally, a lot of people were invited and not surprisingly, I didn't count as one of them. We've certainly drifted apart but the manner in which we did still hurts till today, albeit much less. I'm not bearing a grudge here but I think I'll always remember when D suddenly pretended like we never had this "bro-sis" relationship. V said I should know that D is odd like that and I should let it go and really, I should and yet why can't I?

I've been re-reading Jane Eyre recently, a lit text I used to have to tackle in JC. I'm certainly enjoying this second reading much more and plan to blog about it some other time. But one of the quotes that always struck close to my heart was something Helen Burns told Jane when they were at Lowood.

"Hush, Jane! You think too much of the love of human beings.."

Today, tidying through my mail, I found an email I sent to T when I was in London last year. It was a quick email but basically telling him that I'm in London and that if he's still around, we should meet up since I haven't seen him in 2 years. I had also previously tried to call him (number no longer in use) and messaged him on msn (didn't reply). Alas, I suspect mine is a friendship he has decided to let slip. 

We were so close before. So close I at one stage wanted him to be one of my "xiong di"s when I get married some day..

I'll end of this post with another quote from Jane Eyre.

"Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity and the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs?"

I certainly don't bear animosity or am registering wrongs but perhaps the message that life is too short to worry about such stuff is applicable here.

Another run, another struggle

Another run yesterday. According to the training programme I've adopted for the Nike 10km run which I'll be doing in 3 weeks time, I had to do 7 miles. Of course stupid me didn't factor in that it was in miles and all I thought was "Well, 7 is less than 10 and if I have done 2 10 km runs this week, 7 should be chill". Then it hit me. Miles. MILES. An online convertor soon made realise that I had to do 11.2 km! "Ridiculous" I thought. Who does 11.2 km to prepare for a 10 km run!! Of course I know it makes perfect sense and alas, what has to be done, has to be done.


Took to the roads after another day in the library. I had skipped lunch and was pretty much fueled up with junk food. Didn't help that the evening sun was still up and it made for hot, humid conditions. I took a loop around the school, being Evans Road, Cluny Road, Holland Road, Farrer Road, Dunearn Road, through botanical gardens, out to Cluny Road again and back down Evans Road and into the school compound. Construction along Farrer Road aside, it was a good run and at the 10km mark, I looked at my watch and lo and behold, the magical sub-hour timing still stood.


58 minutes was the record this time.


The 4 minute mile idea truly works. Once you go under, you'll always go under. Well, maybe a little premature to say but I'm still excited nonetheless.


Told my mum that strangely, my legs have not been aching as badly as I would think they would be after clocking 31.2 km in the last 5 days. Truth is, I woke up this morning and man are my legs soft! And according to the programme, I still have to do a 40 minute easy run today! I suppose it will help in getting the blood circulating and will aid in draining away some of the lactic acid but the thought of another run today.. gosh.. I wish I could say that I'm addicted to running but the truth is, I'm really far from that. I like the fact that I feel fit and am losing weight but if I could sit at home on the sofa and have the same effects happen, I take that any day.

When you drink no noir, you pinot noir.

Was craving for a good bottle of wine (and company of course. Wine must always be paired with good friends) so I texted R and H and both replied saying they had dinner plans but could possibly do a late drink. Perfect timing for me since it gave me time to study a little longer at the library before heading home to get changed.

We ended up meeting at Wine Company @ Dempsey at 10.30 pm where we bumped into R's friend who works there. She not only recommended us a beautiful 2006 Nevis Bluff Pinot Noir but signed off on our bill as well to offer us a nice 20% discount.

We talked, laughed and between the 3 of us, finished a bottle with a large portion going into satiating my thirst. In retrospect, I should have tempered that drinking since I'm now seated back in the library, nursing a mild hangover whilst attempting to work on my commercial practice essay.

Onwards and forwards I say.

Madone on the Madone

Col De Madone - 12km ride in the Cote-D'Azur region.


That's and the video above is as much as I can find about this little legend of a ride. Perhaps the bike that's named after it is more legendary, the Trek Madone and someday, I want to ride up the Col De La Madone on a Trek Madone.


That would be another feather in the cap for me, a legendary ride.


Had a look at this guy's blog. Riding through Monaco? Amazing!