Does she realise that the book is upside down?

mind in disarray

calculus, limit, n tends to infinity, squeeze theorem, L hospital rule.......All these things are tormenting me....

wink wink

Not feeling well

Since yesterday afternoon, I have not been feeling well. After my group meeting, I felt like I was running a temperature and it peaked to 38.5 when I got home. Had a short rest after swallowing 2 panadols and it got better. However, I still felt a little tired. This afternoon, it came back again. I guess there must be some virus going around as 2 of my other course mates also fell ill. Thankfully I do not have classes tomorrow so I can revise my stuff from home. Seems that I can only resume running next week. Speaking of which, I clocked in my worst timing for the SBR last sunday. Basically, the whole route was so cramped and the trail portion from Fort Rd to the Marina Barrage was simply energy-sapping. The frustration soared when the Padang was so muddy and crowded which dirtied my shoes of which I am thankful I did not wear the newer Adistar. Now to look towards finishing within the 5h30m for the SCSM.

Esther and her classmate

European GP - Ferrari's reliability take another dip

As in Hungary, Felipe Massa controlled the European Grand Prix from the front. But this time he stayed there to win - despite that controversial pit stop - as Ferrari’s technical gremlins chose to pick on team mate Kimi Raikkonen instead. The world champions had the pace, but not the reliability. Their second engine failure in as many races left McLaren victorious in the numbers game. Lewis Hamilton extended his advantage atop the drivers’ standings, while Ferrari’s constructors’ lead diminished into single figures.

Further down the grid, Toyota proved their Hungaroring form was no fluke with another excellent performance, while Toro Rosso’s superb showing throughout the weekend put their supposedly ‘senior’ sister squad, Red Bull Racing, firmly in the shade.

Esther with her classmates

Esther is on the extreme right....

SBR 08 - A Huge Disappointment

I just got back from a function and I am dog-tired. As some of you may know, the SBR was a huge disappointment. As for myself, I clocked in my worst timing ever. More details coming up in tomorrow's post and I am seriously considering if I should run the SBR again next year...

Eve of SBR 08

The weather has not been good since morning. Though there was no thunderstorm, a light drizzle is all it takes to dampen (literally and figuratively) moods for such running events. However, just hope for the best tomorrow as far as the weather is concerned. The favourite kind of weather for runners would be that of windy with cloudy skies. If the sun is scorching, performance will be hampered due to higher rate of water loss plus the fact that it takes a toll on how fast one can run. Keep a lookout for tomorrow's post as it will be quite long. SBR in the morning followed by the combined service. The anniversary dinner will take place tomorrow night which means my whole Sunday is practically gone. Hopefully I can wake up on Monday morning in time for the 0830 class.

eww.....

Gotcha

Feeding herself

Smile smile....

ND Rally Speech

It will be the talk of the town over the next couple of weeks after the ND Rally Speech was shown on tv earlier. As with many bread & butter issues, it seems that the government is listening to the voices of the people and are doing something concrete. Many of these issues are not new. However, due to current circumstances, it has seemingly become more serious therefore they needed to act. But the bottom line will be how the people will take to it and do they buy the story. Only time will tell...........

Eternal vs temporal

The sermon today was not difficult to understand. Basically, it talked about humans craving for temporal stuff when they should be building up their eternal wealth. Your truly is guilty of this. There are many things in life which I desire owning. A nicer car to drive, multiple properties which I own but rent it out as a form of investment, the list goes on.....However, if one fails to build up their eternal wealth but indulge in chasing after temporal things, somewhere along the way you will be losing your eternal wealth. In today's highly competitive society where academic qualifications and meritocracy is key in the working world, it is inevitable that we neglect the spiritual aspect. I for one 'sacrifice' church commitments when my coursework and family needs my attention. Admittedly, our family and daily work is a ministry in itself but if we are a slave to it, then it becomes a liability. Food for thought don't you think?

SBR race pack

I collected the race pack for the Bay Run which is coming up in about a week. I must say that old habits die hard. THAT organisation is well known for messing things up big time and it was no surprises this time round. Inefficient system which saw long queues plus the tardiness in getting things all packed properly made the whole process frustrating especially for those who make use of their lunch hour to go and collect their packs. I can imagine how it will be on the day itself. Let's see....

An Olympic medal at last

It was almost half a century when Singapore last won a medal in the Olympics. Come sunday, if by the Lord's grace the women's table tennis team brings home the gold, that would certainly be the icing on the cake. Read on for the report on the asiaone website:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Singapore's women table-tennis team won 3-2 in their semi-final against a skilful and tenacious South Korean team.

They are now assured of a silver medal and will meet the victor of the other semi-final, China or Hong Kong, in the final of the team event.

The match was played at the Peking University Gymnasium in Beijing.

Feng Tianwei was the first up for Singapore and she won her match against Dang Ye Seo, 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, giving Singapore the lead.

The second match between Singapore's Li Jiawei and S Korea's Kim Kyung Ah was a tensely-fought match, characterised by several brilliant rallies as neither party was willing to concede the point without a fight.

In the end, Kim Kyung Ah beat Li Jiawei 3-2 in a five-set thriller, 5-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8.
For the record, Kim also beat Li during the Athens 2004 women's singles bronze play-off.

In the next match, Singapore's Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu paired up against South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young.

The Singapore pair wrapped up this match efficiently with a 3-0 win over the S Korean pair, taking the match 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.

In the fourth match, Singapore's Wang Yuegu lost 0-3 to S Korea's Dang Ye Seo. She went down 11-8, 14-12, 11-9.

In the rubber, Singapore's Feng Tianwei beat S Korea's Park Mi Young 3-1, taking the match 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9.

With their triumph over the South Koreans, the Singapore team is now guaranteed the silver medal. They will now meet the victor of the other semi-final, China or Hong Kong, in the final for a shot at bagging the first Olympic gold for Singapore.

On their way to the final, Singapore's women table tennis team had to beat the United States, Nigeria and the Netherlands.

Starting to make some sense....

After some terrible sessions of struggling with a module called Cal2, things are slowly starting to make sense though Cal2 is the tough one. Basically, Cal2 is to be done after Cal1 but since a large number of us are upgraders and/or crossovers, we are doing it concurrently which is quite a handicap. However, what motivates you is that you are not alone. Talking about the questions together and even getting it wrong is part of the learning journey in the field of mathematics. No matter how horrible things like "limit to infinity", "row echelon", "squeeze theorem" and other terminology it still beats having to make sense of things like linguistics, language art and grammar because I just do not like having to read all those dry stuff. I think one of my coursemates doing BA in English will humbly beg to differ. One man's meat is another's poison.

gulp gulp....

Drive Safe

We were on our way home earlier when we were held up slightly due to a mishap at the slip road leading into the Bt Batok Ease Ave 3 exit. Saw a van which hit a brand new (SJH plate) Jazz which in turn hit another car in front. From the visual damage, it appears that the rear of the Jazz was totalled. It made me think about the safety of such hatchbacks. The impact practically sliced almost the whole boot area and if there was a rear seat passenger, I dare not think of the consequences as the rear windscreen virtually disappeared.....

New Balance Real Run 2008

It's back. This year, this event will be held at the same place as last year but the trail part is what everyone is talking about. Seems that it will be quite a tought 4k as it might get quite dirty and soggy. I am quite undecided if I should use my Asics or my old Adida Supernova. No way will I use the Adistar as that will be reserved for the Stanchart 42. Anyone wants to try running on cross terrain? Check out this website. http://www.realrun.sg/index.html

2 more wks to the SBR

It is now down to the last 2 weeks before the Sg Bay Run. This is my 3rd year participating and it is the 2nd time I am running the half marathon. When I began running about 3 years ago, my very 1st event was the SBR 06 and I ran the 10k back then. I have not looked back since and my target this year is to try to do it in about 2h10min? This will be a very good gauge for my projected target of 5h30min for the Stanchart Sg Marathon on Dec 7th.

"I want to hold my own bottle...."

Tyre problem

When I drove out of the car park this morning, I knew that there was something not right with the car. There was a droning noise and it seemed to be coming from the front. I check the car and nothing seemed to appear abnormal. Ignoring it, I drove to Esther's day care and dropped Angela off at work. When I went out later, I decided to drive it slowly and listen hard. True enough the noise was still there. Stopped at the car park and checked the tyres carefully. I could not pinpoint that it seemed to be coming from the left. Then I saw it. It was a screw that got wedged in between the grooves. Went back the tyre shop where it was bought and they patched it. Upon further checking, there was another nail in the same tyre. No wonder I noticed that the air seemed to be escaping. They patched it up and since there was still sufficient thread, I did a tyre rotation. They did not charge me at all since I bought (or rather Stanley bought it from them and he passed them to me when he upgraded his car last year) it from there. The noise has disappeared. The next thing though is to change the brake pads. That will set me back by about $150 but considering that I am getting better ones than from the agent which costs almost double the price, I might as well get it done outside.

Trying to make some maths sense....

Calculus, algebra......oh man. It is so abstract. I do not recall my A level maths being so difficult. At times, I wonder if I made the right choice by choosing maths as my AS. However, the same thing is being said by others taking English, Chemistry etc etc....But then again, who said that the degree course is smooth-sailing? I was so inspired by 1 of my classmates who is a returning teacher and he has been out of touch for about 20years. But what is even more encouraging is that their determination is something to emulate. So I guess my 13 year gap is no excuse.

Problem solving

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen believes he must solve his recent qualifying troubles if he is to have any chance of retaining his Formula One drivers’ crown. Raikkonen has been sixth on the grid at the last two rounds, effectively preventing him from fighting for victory at either race.

“You can't pretend to win the title if you're always starting from the sixth position,” said the Finn, who spent much of Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix stuck behind Fernando Alonso’s slower Renault. “You can even drive one second faster per lap than the one ahead of you, but if you start from behind you can't use the pace you've got.”

Raikkonen admitted he struggled with setting up his car both in Hungary and at the previous German Grand Prix. His aim now is to find a solution ahead of the forthcoming European round, though with no testing over the summer break that could prove difficult.

“I don't want to deny that the last races didn't go as I wanted,” he said. “Every time something strange happened and we didn't manage to find the best possible set up for the car. We tried to find a good compromise, but it didn't help. We've got to solve that problem now for the upcoming race at Valencia.”

The good news for Raikkonen is that Ferrari’s race pace was much improved in Budapest - he set the fastest lap - and, due to the misfortune of his two main title rivals, team mate Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, he actually improved his position in the standings. He moved up to second place, cutting his deficit to Hamilton to just five points.

“Whenever you're able to narrow the gap to the leader it's very important,” he added. “I gained more points than any other of my direct competitors, which is pretty positive as well before this short break. The situation in the championship is not too bad: obviously one can always improve and this is exactly what we want to do.”

Raikkonen will be spending some relaxation time in his native Finland over the coming weeks before returning to the track for the inaugural European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 22-24

Hungarian GP

McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen may have benefitted from others’ misfortune in Hungary on Sunday, but some would say it was merely payback for the poor luck he has previously suffered this season. It was a race that saw McLaren move into second place in the constructors’ standings, taking a sizeable chunk out of Ferrari’s lead in the process. The only consolation for the Italian team after that late engine failure was their revived race pace, which saw Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa score the two fastest laps of the race.

More upbeat were Toyota and Renault, who both got two cars home in the points after displaying genuine progress in Budapest. Seemingly going in the other direction were former 2008 race winners BMW Sauber, who left with only a single point after a highly disappointing weekend.

2 years since I began blogging....

My blog has just crossed the 2 yr mark and it has been fun writing my thoughts online. There is this hypothetical question that I would like to pose on the 2nd anniversary of my blog:

"If you had only an hour left to live, who will you call and what will you say?"

Start of my pursuit of my 2nd Uni degree....

I will begin my BSc(Edn) in Mathematics tomorrow. This is indeed a grace from the Lord as in all honesty, I humbly confess that I absolutely did not deserve it. But He had plans for me to pursue and He has, is and will continue to provide in all ways. All I need to do is to fully trust Him which is something I am still learning.

Just yesterday when I stepped into CEFC Woodlands for the 1st time, the sense of awe and gratitude was awesome. 3.5 years ago, it was just an empty plot of land. Yesterday, it was something which we gave thanks for His providence. The amount to raise was obscene. However, people gave sacrificially and indeed, the Lord provided. We entered the land debt-free. Yes, the building has been fully paid. There was no need for any of our pastoral staff and church members to do dangerous and silly stunts on national television nor our senior pastor having to perform some ultra insane acts just to get donors to make donation phone calls. This is true to the saying "we do our best, He will do the rest".

Bought 2 bks which cost me.....

I bought 2 books which are required for my maths modules and the total damage is 100 bucks. Not only is it thick and heavy, it also looks quite abstract. My course mate Charlene and I were scratching our heads when we were simply flipping through some of the pages. At first, we asked each other this question if we did the right thing by choosing maths as our academic subject. However, it was our choice so we got to live with it and strive for the best possible results.

Went to sign the teaching bond today and that means that my bond will run out in the year 2015 which means that will be when yours truly reaches the magical age of 40. But this is the career path that I wish to pursue therefore the quest to excellence starts right now. Met some of my other coursemates and the 1st thing all of us were talking about was that of our wonderful timetable of which I had better not complain.

Funny timetable

For the 1st time in my NIE life, I have an official off day. However, there is this dumb science lecture that starts at 1730hrs on Fridays! Why can't it be pushed a little earlier or better still, rescheduled to another day? As for the 5 hour break, I am numb to that so I will just use that time to do my research, assignments, go for a run and have a good sweating session and top it off with a dip in the pool....