Late night thoughts...

Two things.
1) I have one of the best bosses in the world (hyperbole, i know) and i'm dang bloody grateful for it. Must let him know next monday

2) I need to not angst so much over whether i'm doing a good job.

Ajantis will be less bluesy tomorrow...

Marathoning for life

Finished the marathon in sub 5 hours. 4 hrs and 51 minutes to be exact! 25 minutes better than my previous marathon time. Guess that's the difference when you run the marathon with 6 hours of sleep and no flu (yes, i ran with a flu in 2006).

The sun and heat were tiring, but all in all, it was a great run. The toughest part of the run was walking back to my car after the finish. I was so tired, i was shuffling like a 60 year old man, leaning on the pole while waiting for the traffic light to change. The multiple abrasions on my waist, thigh and knees didn't help either....

But still, i'm glad i did this 2nd marathon. Thanks everyone for coming down, even if i finished before you guys got there!

Ajantis is tired, hungry, sleepy but contented...

Loneliness of being

I've had to make a couple of really tough decisions the past couple of weeks. It's made me realise how lonely leadership can be, because i couldn't really talk about the full picture except with my boss or with H.

Guess that's why it becomes so difficult for leaders to do the right but tough things sometimes. Something that i'm still coming to terms with but am ready to accept. Good thing H is always there to provide a listening ear (and soon, a shoulder to rest on!)

On a less maudlin' note, the marathon is tomorrow. Don't know why i'm so nervous since i ran it the last time in worse shape (cos of a dang flu). Guess it's just nerves, or maybe it's because I stupidly told EVERYONE i was doing it and asked friends to come down and support me -.-

Oh well. Need to go rush down to buy a pair of earphones now.

Ajantis has butterflies in his chest....

Weeks that are eventful

Just some random updates this time around

Had to do a tough but neccessary thing this past week. Still closing the matter, and felt like a rotten person for a few days after, but i'll get over it.

Had a moment a few days ago where i desperately missed H so much it was hard to breathe. People keep saying to me : how do you and H do it? The answer is that we tough it out day by day, get caught up in work and catch our precious moments together during vacation and phone calls. 5 more months to reunion!

Ran 30km last Monday! Am as ready as i'll ever be for the marathon. Can't believe i promised to never run one again after the last one 2 years ago! The day after, i went dancing, and then... yesterday, i foolishly played midfield on a fullsized football field for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Oh... the aching. I literally have to use my hands to move my legs when i sit down -.-

Funniest video ever. Cruel i know, but i saw this video and couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes. I love it when the cat goes flying into the wall....

Am reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma". Great read recommended to me by H, and i recommend it to you or any of your friends. Well written, engaging, thought provoking about food, how food is constructed and created in our minds and in society. And kinda turns you off your local grocery -.-

Was involved in a conversation today where i was mightily irritated by one twerp who kept interjecting himself into the conversation, to show that he was knowledgeable about the topic at hand. No interest in finding out what other people thought, or what they were talking about. Argh! Such insecurity! I thought i kept my irritation hidden pretty well, but not as well as I thought :P

Back on World of Warcraft (WoW!) but have managed to avoid getting addicted... this time. Maybe because most of the players are Aussies who go to bed earlier than me in Singapore :)
Bought Fallout 3 as well. Truly beautiful game...

Ok that's all for now. Can't really come up with an coherent post at the moment. Happy December!

Ajantis can't stand know-it-alls....

Games Shows Are Japanese

Forgot to blog about this. Discovered a new fav reality show recently : "I Survived a Japanese Game Show!"

Hilarious and fun, although they try too hard to squeeze drama out of it.

Favorite games : Sticky Sticky Bang Bang, Conveyor Restaurant, Baby Go Boom Boom.

Those are real names. Go check out the clips on youtube.

Annoyed but maybe not so much....

The title reflects the fact that i just got irritated with my mom, who has to ask me if i want some medicine everytime i start coughing more than usual. Argh! I hate how she has to over-mother for every single thing. At the same time, i do enable her, since i ask her to help sometimes. Things will get easier when H gets here, because then at least she'll have two people to smother... :)

These two weeks have been kinda busy. Was in Taiwan for a company outing with a large group of colleagues. Travelled to some places for work, got VERY tipsy (lost count of the number of drinks), and got to explore Taipei for 2 days. The first impression i had when reaching Taipei was : "where's the skyline?" All the buildings are relatively old, and there are not many skyscrapers to speak of. Most of the shops are also streetfront shops, with very few malls to speak of. Lotsa traffic, with a whole bunch of scooters (and even a dedicated scooter line at lights). In short, quite different from Singapore (duh!).

That said, there were a lot of things that felt familiar as well. The food was a lot more palatable than the stuff we had in Beijing last year. except for one meal in Shilin Night Market, where we ordered meat balls (direct translation!) which turned out to be some weird melange of minced meat wrapped in a ball of gluten and drizzled over with some fluorescent orange sauce. Needless to say, i was the only one idiotic enough to take two bites of it....

I also found it easier to speak Mandarin in Taipei than Beijing. The mandarin was more conversational and less formal in nature, and there were far fewer references to Chinese history and culture. The only problem would be business Mandarin (what's the translation for capitalisation again?)

Back in Singapore, i had to host my 3 big bosses on a visit, so i spent a day frantically swotting up on facts (A level deja vu!). Thankfully, the preparation came in handy as i got bombarded with about a thousand and one questions during the travel. The travel went well, and it helped that we had great results to shout about.

On other non-work related fronts, i managed to run a 28km run 2 weeks ago on way too little food. Stumbled to a McDonald's after that for a Mega Mac, a Cornetto McFlurry (yum!) and a Himalayan Tea Latte. Felt a lot happier after that pit stop :)

Marathon in 3 more weeks. Here's to my 2nd marathon!

Ajantis is feeling less frussed up now....