Countdown to Standard Chartered - Ekiden!

I signed up for a run. I can't resist the temptation after all :x but instead of the usual individual run, I'm trying out the Ekiden - The one category which got sold out first every year! (usually within the first week).

It means that I'm going to run short (max 8km), but fast! Its a change from how I have been running so far and I'm still confused on how to train on that.

In a glimpse of eyes, I realized that I only have 2 months to train! I better figured out my technique fast. Now I'm responsible for a team, not only my self T_T Why running also felt so pressurizing.

62 Days to the Marathon!

So it means that I can't really drop my running... yet. Not until I finish this one :)
ED

Cleaning of Student Care Centre

There are so many interesting CSR event this year! I unknowingly applying for two which happen one after another.

The Cleaners Team! :p

Early Saturday morning, we went to Life Student Care Centre at Sengkang to help them cleaning up the place. I went into the centre and the first thing I noticed is. The place is clean. I was expecting a dirty place, but I can vouch that the place is actually cleaner than my room!

Anyway, apparently we're not doing the usual sweeping and mopping since those are taken care daily by aunties. We have to do the spring cleaning time of work - cleaning up fans, windows, shelves, changing light bulb, etc.

I worked with 100% energy for the first two hours, and started dying out in the next two hours ^^; I blamed it to the cooling air-con which turned me to relax mode. The center is actually quite huge!! There are 5 big class rooms at one side, and each class room have ceiling to be sweep, light bulb to be changed, windows to be cleaned, table to be mopped, air-con to be wiped, shelves to be arranged, toys to be washed, toilet to be cleaned.... the task list was endless.

The cleaning was really draining. And honestly, I don't know if we really made a lot of difference. All of us worked really hard, but at a quick glance, the place looks the same as before =.=' Cleaning isn't as obvious as painting I guess.

The Main Room!

All decorations cleaned

The classroom! We spent at least 2 hours here

In any case, I still learn something out of this. Now I know which detergent I should use to make the table shine. Now I understand how powerful is the windows cleaning liquid. And Now I know that my mopping skill was really, really bad =__=' No one could stand watching me mop and they took over as soon as I started. They draw a conclusion that I never mop floor my whole life which is so untrue! :x I never know that I'm not even qualified as maid. There goes my back-up plan. sigh.

We finished at around 2pm, and the care center gave us a cute thank you note :D Thanks so much for the hospitality. It's my first time being in Student Care Center and I'm quite impressed - kids these days are really fortunate with all the facilities and educational tools around them.

A cute thank you note from the children!

I reached back home at around 3pm, starved but satisfied. Had a big bowl of noodle and my bed seems so cozy afterwards... zzz...

Life of a cleaner,

ED

Boarding Star Cruise Virgo with Elderies!

I went for Star Cruise Virgo last Jan. Never thought I will go back to Star Cruise again so soon! And this time, for free!.. I mean, charity.

The objective of the event is to give a taste of cruise to underprivileged elderly. Each of us is paired with one elderly, and it's our full responsibility to take care of them throughout the journey. I participated in events with kids before, but it's my first time with elderies. I'm a bit concerned for some obvious reason - If kid fell down, the max they will cry. But if senior citizen fell down... I don't want to imagine. I just need to put more protection around them!!! I screened through their profiles and OMG... some are really... seniors. Mostly were born in 193x!

The show must go on, so I proceed anyway and praying hard that whoever came with me would have the strength and patience to survive me XD We gathered at the Harborfront bus terminal at 12pm. All the elderies arrived at around 1pm, and we onboarded the ship at 2pm.

The voluenteer @ the bus terminal waiting for elders

Bunch of elderies and volunteers waiting to onboard the ship

My partner! Born in 193x. She said I'm pretty and she liked me. I was so happy until I realized that she actually said it to every random person we met ^^;

We proceed to Lido Theater after we boarded the ship - felt so nostalgic! We watched "Somewhere in Time" where I vividly remembered were played during the last night of cruise. One of the best performances ever.

The glittery Lido Theatre. I sat so close!

And yes, I remember this awesome show!

After the show, we proceed to Bella Vista for high tea. One of my favourite restaurant! They didn't serve buffet, but the selection of food was good enough - think there were at least 10 types of meal there. And they did choose those small bites which can be easily eaten by the elderies. Appreciate the thoughts.

It's nice of them to put our logo in the screen, despite the wrong spelling :x

An elegantly served high-tea

After high tea, we went for a quick tour of the ship, and it was soon enough time to say good bye. The tour was quite short, but it was enough to give a taste of how cruise like. I really appreciate the star cruise staff who worked extra hours, did extra performances, cooked extra meal, all to serve us, that too with an unwavering smile. By the team we off-board the ship, there are already new flocks of passengers coming in. I know for sure they didn't have lots of time buffer to prepare everything.

A polaroid photo taken as souvenir 

Overall, I passed my elderies care day :p I did have to put extra care with their needs in comparison with kids, but they also show so much appreciation of our efforts that I felt so touch at the end of the day.

Sincere thanks to the organizer, the care center, the star cruise, and the immigration (we got a dedicated lane for check-in and check-out!) The elderly taught me to feel appreciative of what I have, and I felt attached despite the short hours spent. Then I remember that I haven't even brought my parents to cruise.

Maybe it's time for another cruise! :p
ED

Regular Dental Check-Up @ A Star Dentist

I usually go to Q and M for my dental check-up. After I shifted to Buona Vista, I noticed a dental just around the corner and decided to give it a try.

A Star Dental!

Extended consultation hours!

I booked an appointment few weeks ago and never even really notice the dental signboard. I didn't know the name until they called. "Hello, can we speak with Ms Diana? We're from A Star" The first thing that goes to my mind is "WHEN DID I APPLY FOR JOB AT ASTAR!?" I was still puzzled and then the lady at the other line mentioned "I would like to confirm our appointment tomorrow." "AND I'M HAVING AN INTERVIEW??", "It will be 10AM in the morning for dental". Then a sudden realisation hit me and I recalled having an appointment with dental =_='

So I strolled down to the dental at 10.00 AM the next day. After registration, I was asked to fill in 20 questions related to health ("Do you ever hospitalised before? Are you pregnant? Do you have any allergies?") and waited for 15mins before finally got called to the consultation room.

Once seated in the room, I was asked another 30 set of questions ("Do you drinks? Wine, Beer, or liquor?  Do you drink fruit juices? Fruit? How frequent? Where did you do your filling? When did you had tooth extraction? Where?) I was startled. It's the first time I was asked so many questions for a teeth check-up. While being questioned, I glanced to the doctor's name "Lim xx xx". Last name Lim. Same surname as me. That explains.

Apart from the many questions, the doctor was helpful. He is quite patient and happily answered any question I have. He bluntly told me that my gum is unhealthy and advised me to do flossing everyday, to the extend of showing me on how it's to be done properly. He couldn't stop asking question even when he was doing my teeth cleaning. How did he expect me to reply when an active drill is in my mouth =__='

I feel good after the cleaning, and the bill go to the amount of.... $65! That's like 30% cheaper than Q and M, and the service is good (they use Colgate for gargling water!)

A Star Bill!

Thanks for a nice affordable service :) I will surely go back in next half a year - hopefully with better gum, cleaner teeth and no filing!

ED

1,000 KM!! :D

I did it!

My 1000 KM Goal!

I finished the 1,000 KM run as part of my New Year Resolution this year.

Honestly, I was really doubtful when setting this goal (and that's why I never put it as part of my official New Year Resolution. haha) 1,000 KM means approx. 100km on a monthly basis, which means approx. 20km every week (after including all the breaks where I run 0 km for the whole week).

I gained momentum quite late in Feb, and has subsequently make it a habit to run around 4km every day. Did my last KM today at Labrador Park - my first jogging place which hooked me up to jog until now.

Thanks Run Keeper for being such a reliable tracker. Thanks Fitness First for all the treadmill hours and free T-shirt (I would have died washing all those sweaty shirt)

I celebrated the achievement by gulping off 1 full moon cake + 1 huge portion of Briyani. 9pm at night.

Need to find a new goal soon to maintain my eating lifestyle :p
ED

Hello, iOS 7

The interface looks really sleek, but I'm so used to the previous OS, it will take a while before I can start appreciate the new OS. One enhancement I really love is the Camera, I think the software is so much better and the quality of the picture somehow improved. And yeah, i hate the current cartoonish icon.

The welcome menu from iOS7

Looking forward to knowing you better,
ED

XCape Singapore: Inception - Room Escape Game!

I love Room Escape games! I had been playing them on computer and iPhone - imagine how excited I was when I know that there is a real life version of it :D :D I have to try it out at least once in my life!!

As I tried to form a team, I got to know that there are more than 1 place which offer Room Escape Game O.O Where have I  been my whole life? The more places I found, the more complex it's for me to decide on which one to go for. All the reviews I got were really positive. In the end I decided to go for the one with more likes in Facebook - Xcape - which also happened to be the most expensive one =.='

1. http://www.xcape.sg @ Bugis - $28 / person
2. http://lockdown.sg @ Clarke Quay - $25 / person
3. http://www.tywogames.com @ Scape - $20 / person
4. http://www.theescapeartist.org @ Bukit Timah - $18 / person

After deciding on the place, the next is to decide on which theme to go. I initially just picked the easiest to ensure we'll finish the game, but my game team convinced me to pick the hardest one so that the $28 worth it. Good logic. I agreed. There we go with the 5 Stars difficulty level - Inception.

The Poster for the game :D

Despite the 1-month planning in advance, things still goofed up last minutes. For one, I forgot to cancel my earlier slot (thanks God they didn't blacklist me). For two, one of our game team suddenly said she can't make it!! Not only she would still have to pay anyway, but we also wouldn't be allowed to play since they need the minimum of 6! The game master was almost combining us with other people. Thankfully in the end, after a lot of persuasion, our friend took a cab all the way from Changi and arrived in Bugis in 15 mins :D Way to go!

Welcome to Xcape!

Geeky Clock hanging on the wall

Our game started at 7:15pm. We have to empty our pockets and of course no phone or photography were allowed =( The 6 of us were split into 2 group of three (supposedly representing the 2 stage of limbo stage in movie Inception, I guess) Three of us were placed in one room, while my other three friends are placed in adjacent room. We can still communicate if we shout, and we did have to communicate ALOT! The room was dark so we have to use torchlight to search for clues (took me 15 mins to find the third torchlight). The air-con was just nice and the movie music helped to add to the theme - I felt really in the mood - Excellent setup!

And then the game began!

We solved the first puzzle within 5 minutes, but we never thought that it's actually the combination for the other room instead of ours (duh! despite what the game master told us). The other room solved a sudoku which turned out to be our combination keys.

Once we opened the suitcase, there was an Inception poster with some numbers on it "You might think that they are the same America dream", said the text. The next room has the same poster and I admit that none of us were able to figure out what to do with it. We spent almost 20 mins and finally decided to call for help. Guess what, communication is the key to solve this!! We finally managed to get a combination to unlock a cute american flag box.

Inside the flag was a magnet. This one was quite easy - but again, we need to work together with the other room. I love how corporative our team were. We managed to get the two keys within 5 minutes. Then come the funny part. The keys didn't match any of the locks! Or at least that's what we thought. Guess we were too stressed out by then. We called for hint just to be asked to "Try the lock one more time" and it actually works =___=''

The key opened up a wooden chest which is the question to the riddle written at the wall. Our only male in the room were able to solve it with logic when the other two were just staring. We were then able to unlock a power box and switch on the light to the other room. Then the other room screamed "WOOW! You should have done it from the beginning!!" with accusing tone. Oh well fine, they didn't know it was locked ^^;

Another key unlocked the room to the adjacent room. We were together at last :D We were left with 8 minutes and have to solved 2 more puzzles before we could get out. One is the puzzle with starfish, another one is puzzle with twister. We got out just as the timer hit 00:00:00! We survived!! We escaped the toughest game of all!!

The winners :D

After the game, we hang around and took some pictures. Everyone was so excited and can't stop recapping the game. I love the game!!! After another half an hour, we realised that we were hungry and went to Nando's for dinner. We ordered the Jumbo Platter, which in reflection I think even more sinful than KFC.

All of these were gone in half an hour

Overall, nice exciting game :D For me, I got 6 different puzzles to solve in 60 mins, which are a lot!! And really, you need brain, so nerdy geeky guys will be the heroes here :p I might go back to try the other rooms IF the price is reduced. LOL.

Till next escape!

ED

Dad's Short Stay @ V Bencoolen

Dad was visiting on Saturday for a random check (kidding, it was because air flight was super cheap - less than $100). I was so excited that I don't think I slept on Friday night.

@ Chinatown, Mid-Autumn Lit Up!

Dad reached at around 12pm. We went to hotel for a quick freshen up, then walk around Bugis area for lunch at Xin Juan Yi for fish soup. I ordered the salted-egg chicken (which was recommended online), but dad said it's so so =__='' I can never change Dad's perspective of Singapore's food.

Healthy lunch!

After lunch, we wento to Vivo for shopping and trying out some moon cake. I really like the snow skin version (maybe because it didn't taste like moon cake :p) Dad was quite interested with the one from Regeant hotel, but decided not to get it because I don't have the card for 10% discount T_T For the first time I regret terminating my Citibank card.

I brought Dad back to my apartment for a walk, and chat with bro and sis while resting. For dinner, we initially wanted to try the Hai Di Lao, but was put off by the long queue and ended up at Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, which I quite love :D

Never ordered so much before!

We went to Chinatown after dinner, just nice to catch the last of the fireworks ^^; We walked around the Chinatown for a while. Despite the name being Chinatown, there was hardly anyone selling moon cake! So weird! But dad never has a sweet tooth anyway, so we actually ended up wandering more at Bak Kua area - bought Strips BBQ Pork at 48% discount - that's really cheap!

Fragrance's Bak Kua

We walked until around 10pm and decided to call it a day and went back to Hotel. Our hotel is at V Bencoolen, which provided a decent stay. It's not easy to find anything under $150 in Singapore these days honestly. I tried to search many sources and ended up with areas around Geylang, or no windows hotel, or no bed sheet hotel, or scary toilet, or even JB for anything below $150. Kudos to my sis who was able to find this V Beencoolen for $137. It's located 5 mins walk from Bras Basah MRT, new (1 month old), and the room was comfortable (despite being small).

The Hotel Corridor

Our Twin Room - Before check-out :p

Nice and clean toilet!

The next day, we walked to temple to pray and then had breakfast across the road. After checking out, dad insisted to try MRT, so we took train to Changi.

It was such a short weekend trip, but I had fun! :D Thanks Air Asia for the cheap tix!
ED

Friday Dinner @ Lee's Taiwanese

I went out slightly late from office. It was already 8pm++ by the time we reached Star Vista, and queue was long everywhere =.=' After eliminating those restaurants with super long queues, we finally ended up at Lee's Taiwanese, serving Taiwanese food, of course.

Signature's Beef Noodle - $14.90

Pork's Bun - $12.9 - It looks much better in menu...

Sweet Potato - $6.9

Nice Taiwanese food, but not as great (and as cheap) as the real ones in Taiwan (of course). Is it me or the food price has increased here? I used to be able to find main course of $10 easily, now it's all $12 and beyond :s The portion is not even that huge.

Oh well, maybe it's a good time for me to start dieting :p
ED

Braaaaains!

I'm still addicted to PVZ2. These days, any cone on the road will reminds me of the cute Cone Zombie and I feel like taking one cone back.

Thinking about stealing the cones at the bus stop

I almost can't believe when I saw the Taco truck during lunch time. I didn't know yet what it was about, but I was ready to buy whatever they offered in the cute truck!

What's inside?

Turned out that they gave free taco or chips! Whoo.. I emptied my coins purse to donate to them. To make things even more excited, I saw my favourite cone zombie! Walking around looking really original with its cone... and office shoes? hahaha.. I almost hug him on the spot.

Cone Zombie!

They also have the other Character - what else if not the most important plant - the sun flower! But I feel that the flower is not as cute as the zombie. It doesn't have a hand which make it looked less animated.

Sun flower :D

The taco didn't taste great (lol!) but I had fun meeting the PVZ characters. I think it's a superb creative idea for a charity :D If only they have the pea shooter too!

Happy,
ED

Tuesday Lunch @ Chicken Rice Shop, Vivocity

After countless of reschedule since June, I finally managed to meet up with Marco and Ema for lunch. Vivo is our midpoint so we decided to go there for lunch. We were looking for a halal restaurant, and I never realized that the humble chicken rice shop sitting beside Kopitiam is actually halal!

... and I never realized they served Malay food instead of Chinese

We ordered its signature drinks of Ice Gula Malaka, which was really sweet (but of course nice). The food there was OK - presentation was good but taste was so so. Had good chat during the meet up. Sadly it was only lunch and we still have to go back to work afterwards =.='

Iced Gula Malaka Tea :D

3 - People Set Menu!

In the end it was around $37 for 3 of us, which I think quite value for money or the type of dishes they served (plus drinks and fish some more!)

Added to Halal Restaurant database,
ED

Monday Dinner @ Wrap & Roll, Star Vista

I have been wanting to try out Wrap and Roll for a while, but for some reason always ended up at the restaurant next door (Manhattan Fish Market or Texas Fried Chicken). Partly because I'm after all not a healthy food eater, another is because the price is quite expensive! (2 spring roll for $7!)

This monday, as I was browsing Today's newspaper half heartily, the promotion on an app caught my attention, and my foodie eyes quickly caught the glimpse of food coupon - 40% off any time at Wrap and Roll!! That's enough reason for me to download the app and sign-up.

Thanks "8 Days" for the discount!

Without delay, we decided to go there for dinner. The food was great, but the service needs a huge improvement. They have like 10 staffs walking around and the restaurant was half empty, but I was left ignored at the door for 10 mins. In the end I went in myself and they asked me to just sit wherever I want.

Cute utensils!

The staffs are all seemed to be very green. Anything I asked, they will say "Let me ask my manager =__=" And the manager is another kind. Instead of explaining the things to the staff, he said "You go, I will explain to them myself". How would the staff ever improved in that case? And the manager also seems to be handling all the cashier, which int he end becoming the bottleneck :s oh well.

Grill Pork Chop - $12.9

Fish Noodle - $14.9

After discount and all, our dinner was around $20. I seriously quite like the food. The restaurant was at least half occoupied and I can see a lot of the eaters ordering their overpriced appetisers, so it must be really good. If only there is 40% discount everytime, I will definitely come back more often.

Vietnamese restaurant ticked! Now I can go back to Manhattan without feeling guilty.

ED