team mahjong paws! takes home the cake at SG Heritage Fest!

wow, i dunno what to say... really stake my name as "urban racing queen of singapore 2008/2009" out there for the competition. high stress as i knew i wanted to retain my "title". and even more cos i was racing with a new team...

so we spent the whole day... 9am to around 2pm running around loose in town! main areas covered were little india, chinatown and city hall region. wah liew. no joke. i was hungry by around 12 and errr... almost out of motivation to run! hehe. :P can't be helped lah. yesterday i went training with mr alex. we went cycling for nearly 3 hrs (i took half an hour to go eat at changi village even) and went running at ECP. i was soooo undermotivated (just like in port dickson, my 2nd OD triathlon) that i was walking most of the way :P but anyway.....

the story goes! we won! hur hur hur... that's a cool $2K for the team! (and covering our whims and wants for this month...) like cover my debts for this mth (considered as payment for my rinjani holiday 2 wks ago), then mich can finally get her iPhone, boon (payment for his rinjani trip also) and caleb... winning some money to donate to his organisation for freeing him from this event! hahaha.

this race is definitely a lot more brainwork vs the usual races that we go to. which makes it good that the new team is made of a who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire winner, me the urban racing queen, boonie the number 2 city chaser (but is a fantastic navigator) and michele who pretends she's a bimbo but is reaaaaaaaaaally great at all these arts related topics! but well, expectations were pretty great cos of whom we were. WINNERS! :P

the race tactic is slightly different to cater to my nuah-ness and my teammates who don't really exercise (less boonie). we decided to take as much bus as we can when possible, then can run lesser what... which proved to be right. some of the friends' teams around couldn't make it thru cos they weren't using this option to cut their time.

it should be a foot race... only when you need to break into a foot race, then run. why waste your legs? never made good sense to me to waste time/effort on running. 2 bus-stops = good chance to rest up, enjoy some aircon and... sprint when you reaaaaaaaaally need to.

we played different roles.
caleb was walking wikipedia (arhbutthen?)
boon was legs (for running and navigating)
mich was manja queen and the texter! (need to sms answers in leh)
i was the err... nuaher/tactician. (call help line! :P)

am just pretty glad to retain my title for another err... race season. i attribute the win to donating $ at the kwanyin temple at bugis lah. well, will make good of my promise... now if only my next prayer is met... marry a flight doctor!

Winning - Jack Welch Style!

I was reading a book on management by Jack Welch. Its an old business classic by the name of “Winning”. I found that I particularly liked how this biz guru shared his wisdom on what type of characteristics he looked for in the winning GE teams of people.

Jack summarized it as the following: Just 4Es and 1 P.

I shaped it into the qualities that I look out for in team-mates.

1. Positive Energy:
• The ability to go go go – seizing the action even when it is not in their favour. The ball might not always be in our court, but it is in our every ability to take charge of how we feel and be ready for action.
• Extroverted and friendly – There’s something about that friendly person that you just spoke to… One that makes you feel super comfortable and hey… makes you willing to share information.
• Work and play loving – While racing isn’t a full time job, there’s bits of it similar to working. You got to do the research – or someone else will (take the prize too!). Play loving – you got to love the challenge! Can you imagine if you hardly like to swim and you are made to dive from a platform? That’s definitely a no-go and no-fun!

2. Energizing:
• Getting myself and the gang all revved up, inspiring us to take up the impossible.
• Communicative: So we get instructions right and execute to perfection.
• Sense of humour: We got to keep ourselves entertained when the race is getting tougher and tougher.
• Credit-sharing: Nobody likes a big mouth that blabbers non-stop about his/her goodness. And come on, it’s the team that makes the race possible! Not you!

3. Edge:
• That comes in the courage to make tough yes-or-no calls. Race are filled constant decisions. You have to decide whether or not to jump over the railing or not… Then next you got to decide whether to cut across this junction… No wait, would that be better? Decisions have to be made within a snap and it better be good or you will end up trying to make up for it.
4. Execute:
• Talk is cheap. How fast can you run in your IPPT or how you have a kayaking certificate is just not as important as… how fast can you run in an actual race situation or how fast can your kayak move in a live-situation.
5. Passion:
• Just a whole passion for winning… is good enough for me! I love to win. And that’s why I keep taking part in races or even gameshows. It’s a great feeling to win, no matter what others tell you!

angels and demons race!

or angels y diablos in my mind... i've no idea why it comes out in spanish in my head everytime i think of the words "angels and demons". ah well, must be that i'm starting to think in... a language with a semblance towards... LATIN... OR ITALIANO :) 

we won! fion and i took home the top prize at the race! huaaaaaaat ah!

thanks to the following people (in no order of favour! :P):

• kenn and sharon (who "sacrificed" themselves at the race)
• zee beau-tee-ful ms seet (we mels are just great isn't it?hehe) and her husband-to-be ryan who gave her that "lift"
• victor, our ABC colleague, who made a "difference" to us!
• regina, fion's friend, who took time away to help us... 
• vania, who gave me the e-copy of angels and demons, years ago. 
• AND!!! how can i ever forget... my numero uno, mas mas bueno (here i go in spanish again) internet crew... CHRISTINE!!! 

i can't tell you enough of how much i put myself thru for the race... reading angels and demon on my laptop late into the night, watching the trailers again and again, writing notes onto a primary school notebook, memorising facts (thinking it helps! yah right!), researching into the race (googling all the possible combis of the race related items. i learnt this from my last incarnation as a marketing researcher)... and i was at a party the night before with some friends... i drank lesser beer that i really would like to (since i am going beer free and deepfried free till i complete my half-iron race) RATS! and i took cab home to sleep, as my friends partied on. by the way, the band playing at timbre on friday night was really good. 

and being kiasu, i've had lots of water after i had all that beer! see, can have your cake and eat it... if you are ready to do so. 1.5 litres of water to dilute that 3.5 mugs of beer and 1 mango margarita :) magic!

so really, only 20% of that advance work helped! the race was a real toughie. it was intelligent and unexpectedly so... i really underestimated that the race questions would be related to facts and stuff. but fortunately, there was a lot less running than expected. 

i only trained 8km for running this week in preparation of the race. reducing my run load and resting monday, tuesday, thursday and friday was really a great strategy. i could actually stride today (when i needed to) and discovered that my body is more or less healed from the earlier fatigue that it was crashing through. really really great! 

fion was a great race buddy! as i always say, look for someone who complemented you. i strategise as she pulled together our resources. and she was ready to be supportive when i needed her. what can i say? ymca programmes colleagues are super! :) 

strategies that we used for this race... 

1. allies. we had friends who helped us along with things. 
2. knowledge. we left as little things as we could to chance. knowing that the first leg would determine very much whether or not we make it to rome, i planned waaaaaaaay before the event how i was going to take down the first station at bugis. unfortunately, the train came only 6 minutes later (SMRT, HELLOOOOOooo... Why so long interval? Got do your work or not one?) and some groups caught up. 
3. REST: as i said earlier we had plenty of time before arriving at our 2nd station. we twiddled thumbs, sat down, drink water and stared really hard at the mrt map that we were given. 
4. do your homework. research showed me 7 of 10 stations 2 nights before already. if you are serious about winning, do your homework. lay out your plans, but be ready to morph the plan at the shortest possible time. 
5. be ready... at all times. if only you knew how much i exercise... every wednesday, i do a long run. every sunday, i swim, run and do yoga... now am organising 100km bicycle rides in the hot sweltering unsheltered desaru every once a mth at least. (and i really don't believe in errr... bouncing around on studio floors or airboxing. i take muay thai for agility purposes.) and yes... thanks to ceaseless training... i outsprinted quite a few pairs when we disembarked from platform to control station. i think i may have shocked quite a few girls on how i could outstrip them quickly. hmm.. 

so yeah. if you want to win, you need the following: beauty (like me and fion :P), brains (like us again) and brawn!!!

its not hard... just have to develop some... FORM. 

could be FORM of structure, FORM of training, FORM of discipline. its simply... form! 

time to dream of rome sweet rome. nights world!

urban races (so far in 2009)

been traveling so much that i also miss out on my earning opportunities at urban races. dang! :) work's been very heavy, travel lagi more. next week going cambodia, and at return off to malaysia. boh bian... work is work. fatigued and need more endurox (sponsor me leh...)

anyways, so far in 2009... as of march... b4 the official racing season flags off. here's the list of stuff i've done!

1) sprint aquathlon.

2) sprint triathlon.

3) radin mas heritage race. (took home 2nd price. just enough for bringing my folks go eat seafood.)

this saturday, i'm super duper hyped up for the angels & demons race. as my sports psyche book says, you need to have the attitude of a winner. so i plan until swee swee, rest myself till swee swee and the night b4... i ain't gonna drink as much as beer as i normally like. hur hur. and i am ready to win!!! will post up more info after race.

since january 2008, i've been training for my first olympic distance triathlon... which i completed pretty decently in the osim tri 2008. even went for my first overseas triathlon in desaru (it was a sprint event!) in 2008.

2009 has just begun. my mission for the year is to do the half-iron in desaru.

i think since 2005 (when i did my very first triathlon), i have improved massively. today i went for the tribob sprint aquathlon. my sea swimming was stronger than the past, now that i've discovered the art of using breast stroke! (since i would waste time zig-zagging if i use free style anyway) and of course, i worked on my running. 

this year, i started working on my swim stroke, my running gait and also the mental game. i realised the importance of psychological strength and started practising the tricks that i'm learning from books on how to shut off thoughts and tune your mind into the zone. i swear that it has done wonders.

in the past, i won't even bother to sprint past people at the end point. no difference what... since i'm not going to finish podium anyway! but the thing is, today... i did not just cut 1 person at the end point, but 5 people! what an unexpected finish! i saw just 3 women ahead of me initially, but around the corner at my blindspot was another 2. i decided to chase up to the front girl and take the place ahead of her. made my day!

i won't be at the next duathlon sadly tho its my favourite element... cycling! haven't been practising, but its not that crucial either since i'd be away for work most of my march :( sigh. work is work, no way around it! 

still, must celebrate today's victory!!! 5 people!! cut by 5 leh!!! can't wait to see results tmr! or day after!!!

Chinese New Year - HUAT AH!!!

frankly i'm anti-CNY. i don't like cny music, the relatives who roll into my house, my mom making me clean the house, cook for the entire clan and so on.. 

but!

i like to play mahjong with my relatives over CNY. no no, i'm really not good at mahjong. i tend to lose more than to win. what i do like, is that i can actually observe the different playing styles in mahjong.

you have the...

1. 2nd auntie who plays mahjong for her living (post-retirement) and is super zai.
2. eldest uncle who insists that he got the rules right (tho its really just he defines winning differently... like the animal which he draws by luck and he gets immediate payout; rather than the "cat eat mouse" or "rooster eat centipede"
3. the kiasee cousin who would rather dismantle his/her set of tiles, just so he/she won't lose as much 
4. the hapless sister who doesn't really know how to play, and would rather "ji-hu" (chicken win = small winnings) than to play any bigger.

don't you just lurve new year? :)

36 Stratagems

the 36 Stratagems is a simplified chinese strategy book which extends beyond warfare, but politics and social situations as well. i lurve reading such books, since history is such a rich encounter for me!!! i have like chinese history at the back of my head! i'm so interested that i even read about the imperial family relationships :P yeah.

anyways, we probably know the 36 stratagems already in some idioms that we use in day to day living... such as... 瞒天过海 (bluff heaven to cross the sea ie cover your intents), 借刀杀人 (borrow knife to kill someone, like how zhou yu used zhuge liang's ruse in red cliff 2 to kill cao cao's 2 sea generals) or even 趁火打劫 (steal stuff while the fire is on, ie you take full advantage of situations you are in). 

its damn brillant lah. i have decided to go and memorise all the 36 stratagems by title! its so useful to remind ourselves of all these things in daily living!!!

am writing this at 3.50am... somehow, i just can't sleep. god knows why. sleeping alike how ppl can choose to love you are 1 of the 2 things which you cannot choose. 

anyways, back to the topic. 

i'd be on tv on 28th jan 8pm!!! there's this new travel gameshow called "i want a holiday!" well, i shall not tell you the results for now. the prize is err.. kinda shrunken with the economy. one of the worse takings yet from a teevee gameshow. can see how bad things are now :P i guess we played pretty well tactically in the first round, less so in the second. will review this here after the show's played.

was at the games cafe after a long time with some friends. i realised that i need fresh people to play my favourite game "ticket to ride". if you have ever played ticket to ride... you'd realise it is a game of nothing but pure strategy.  

the trouble is, i'm quite good at this game. since the game has no element of luck (unlike dice tossing board games), your mind is able to play out the game and test out thy brillance. 

1. first movers advantage: you can opt to "block" people on strategic routes
2. resource collection and allocation: with your limited movement vs your mates, how can you collect enough resources, predict their movement and seize the route first. (note that they have just as many carriages as you have)
3. journey planning: you'd get 3 cards with routes that you MUST fulfill. so for obvious reasons, one of the easiest way is to make sure everything is enroute somehow. 
4. enemy don't move, i don't move: one of the 36 strategems that sun-tzu espouses. i personally think that it works just as well as first movers... depends on situation.
5. hiding your intention (something that you read in all strategy books.. be it in warfare or in relationships..): so that nobody can stop you when you are putting the plan out in action.
6. be like the water: folks are just as smart as you are, so you better make sure if plan A fails, plan B, plan C are ready to take over. 

wah... i really like this game. anyone wants to play with me? 

in the meanwhile since the period of my last posting, i've started my training programme. diet as well... some friends are pissed with my dogmatism over this "no buffet" rule that i've put into my life. they like to eat steamboat at bugis. i like to eat steamboat generally. just that steamboats are buffets and i tend to overeat. since starting my training and avoiding buffets all together, i have lost 1.5kg all together. like friends say "can see your cheekbones more prominently already". 

here's what happened. there's like 4 friends other than me who are in the group - there's A, N, C and Y. N wanted to organise a buffet to cafe fairmonte. everyone is pleased, less me. C looked forward to it even. after i stated that i won't go if its a buffet, N tried to change the place to shokudo (which i'm cool with). then along came A who thinks that shokudo doesn't have good food and wanted to go back to the hotpot stall at bugis (which was 2008's hangout). so the whole thing took a tack with A's choice. there was no consultation to the "final" decision. obviously i won't go already. i'm just cheesed with a lack of consideration on A's part. and it seemed like its such a sweeping decision.

i guess 2009's aim of doing a half-iron might see me lose some friends, since they won't change themselves for me and we are going thru a cold war of sorts. i don't support buffets anymore, because people just tend to overeat. and i have a guilty conscience that goes against being super duper overfull when i know that others out there have nothing to eat. not that by not eating, the food goes to them. but what's the point of eating so much? really. i love to eat, trust me. i love to cook just as much. this group of friends overeat and just don't work out as much. there's even someone whose heart is already clogged up at the ripe old age of 27 and on blood thinners already. he's grown at least 150% of his size since 10 years ago. literally one leg in the grave and not afraid of death clearly. 

just as these people won't support my cause in dropping weight for my training, there are new improvements to my training group. we're attracting new folks in our friends who are interested in picking up triathlon as a sport... there's boonie, who just did his first marathon. so proud of him, since its something that i won't do. and some of my training buddy's colleagues who lead pretty sedated lives.  we managed to pull in one of our ex-colleagues who did an Ironman event before even! am happy that we are growing in size and there are now more people leading healthy lives with us. 

i'm not an advocate of losing friends. and its one of those things which do tear me apart a little, which is probably why i'm writing this at 4.16am. but here's the deal, people do move on from time to time. and i guess, either you are on the same route or you aren't. i'd probably take some time to move on, though i'm sad and pissed how this event turned out. its a lose-lose situation in this entire playout of friendship. they won't bend, and i won't give in. different values, different takes. like N said after i shared with him how i feel... just too bad (which reaaaaaaaally pisses me off, blardy typical stat board styled statement).