lots of old books for sale:

Account
Accounting Principles 2nd Ed
by Thacker
Prentice/Hall
$10

Computing
Data Structures and Program Design In C 2nd Ed
by Robert L. Kruse, Bruce P. Leung, Clovis L. Tondo
Prentice Hall
$15

Mastering Object-Oriented Design in C++
by Cay S. Horstmann
Wiley
$18

PC Learning Labs Teaches DOS 6
ZD Press
$10

Peter Norton's Guide to Java Programming
by Peter Norton, William Stanek
Sams.Net
$20

Simplified Structured COBOL with Microsoft Microfocus COBOL
by Daniel D. McCracken, Donald G. Golden
Wiley
$10

Teach Yourself Visual Basic 5 in 21 Days 1st Ed
by Nathan Gurewich, Ori Gurewich
Sams Publishing
$10

Turbo PASCAL 5th Ed
by Elliot B. Koffman
Addison Wesley
$10

Economics
Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach - 1st Ed
by Hal R. Varian
Norton
$10

Math
A Problem Solving Approach to Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers - 7th Ed, Hardcover
by Rick Billstein, Shlomo Libeskind, Johnny W. Lott
Addison Wesley Longman
$30

Introductory Mathematical Analysis for Business, Economics and Life and Social Sciences 4th Ed
by Ernest F. Haeussler
Prentice Hall
$10

Physical Education
Constructing Children's Physical Education Experiences: Understanding the Content for Teaching
by Pamela C. Allison, Kate R. Barrett
Pearson
$15

Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology 7th Ed
by Elaine N. Marieb
Benjamin Cummings
$15

Guiding the Young Athlete
by David Jenkins and Peter Reaburn
Allen & Unwin
$20

GymFlash
by Michael Koh, Joe Leighton, Anwari Khairuddin
$15
Flash-card style activity set for cirriculum gymnastics for children.

Human Motor Development 5th Ed
by Gregory Payne and Larry Isaacs
McGraw Hill
$15

Physical Education and Sport in a Changing Society
by William H. Freeman
Allyn and Bacon
$20

Play Practice
by Alan G Launder
Human Kinetics
$15

Teaching Sports Concepts and Skills
by Griffin, Mitchell and Oslin
Human Kinetics
$15

Teaching Children Physical Education: Becoming a Master Teacher 2nd Ed
by George Graham
Human Kinetics
$35
High price because book has only referred on few occasions. Includes original receipt for $64 for this book alone! Comes with accompanying CDROM.

Teaching the Nuts and Bolts of Physical Education
by Colvin, Markos and Walker
$15

Total Training for Young Champions
by Tudor O. Bompa
Human Kinetics
$25
Unused

Religious
The 38 Blessings
by Ven. U Nanadicca
Free. Some Buddhist book I think.

Sports
Running With Legends
by Michael Sandrock
Human Kinetics
$20

The New York Road Runners Club Complete Book of Running - 1st Ed
by Fred Lebow and Gloria Averbuch
Random House
$15

Teaching
Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms
by Paul Eggen, Don Kauchak
Merrill Prentice Hall
Free. Giving away because book's edge got "stuck" together by water leakage in backpack once.

Integrating Technology into Teaching and Learning
by Dr Michael D Williams
Prentice Hall
$15

an old shot of myself at work



went out for the coastal ride last night, came back home with 50k on the speedometer; feeling great. went for an approximately 10k evening run this evening from my place to this field around fernvale, haven't felt this good for a long time now. i guess i partly inspired myself to do something active like i did in the past, i guess!



click to see a larger version of the photo

came across these two certificates for my marathon that i did back in 2000. i remember, i was fresh out of bmt recourse then, with only at most 15k in running in the preceding three months. year 2000 was my own bumper year in my running, including my good run in the army half marathon the same year, if i remember correctly. i did it before, i'll get myself back to doing it again. nice thing, this cert actually serves its purpose to remind me of the drive i had over five years ago. some will ask, how come i have two certs instead of one. well, i entered into the marathon then with no expectations of being fast, almost impossible to get anything for men's local, so i thought i might as well just play around and go for men's open instead. to my surprise it turns out that i was placed 21st for men's open, which was also good enough that i was the 9th local man back. so i got myself a decent medal too for 9th position, men's local.


front and back view of the medal

you know how the ministry of this... "touching hearts, changing lives" catchphrase? and also the original, "thinking schools, learning nation" one-liner too? just saw one in the mrt shareholders' report that went "moving people, enhancing lives".

well, for my blog here, i think all these would be "acting smart, sounding stupid". hey, nice tribute to them ok!

if there's any indication to go by, two brands that are not represented in singapore - thinktank photo and aquasphere. thankfully i got the former with ss earlier this year. phew!

the effects of the horrid flu bug finally stopped plaguing me today. wow. a full one-week cycle, literally... considering the ill effects dropped on me last wednesday after the tuesday night ride...

it's amazing to see what people can come up with, using lego bricks, isn't it?...

interesting designs abound online, but this takes the cake. what would anyone want to do by trapping almost one full week's excreta with, i have absolutely no idea. somehow, the terms like scat fetish comes to mind. yelch!

in the meanwhile... it seems that i have to relive hard lessons yet again. went a tad too hard on tuesday's night ride along coastal; totally forget the thing about catching a chill... and not to forget that i slept the next morning during the wee hours due to postprocessing photos; followed by a long travel up north to take photos in the morning, and only to get back home by 2+pm. end result of overexertion and under-rest? yet another bout of pharyngitis. getting sick as the end result of good hard training sounds bad enough; but that's not the main thing. i had to fork out money to see my doctor, that's what hurts (the pocket). when your income has a big question mark draped over it, you'd feel the same way too.

was good that i went for the seng chu hin tuesday night ride. was fairly amazed that i could pull into the direction of c.v. at 41-42 kph... but the way back was tough. was only with one more person whom i wasn't familiar with; so we didn't exactly pull each other back to the group where hansel was. only found out it was him after the ride!

got to meet up with old schoolmate ee lyn, and was i surprised that she was there too, as well as andrea, who happens to be hansel's girl and actsmart's former classmate.

then i popped back by stacy's to get my printout of my invoice (thanks!) and i'm now slogging on my computer to get the photos ready for my client first thing tomorrow morning. gotta reach their premises by 8am if i can!

on the bright side, hey, at least i've cleared all of the three basic cmfas papers - namely the m5, m9 and hi papers. woohoo!

after the cj walk this morning, beng chye and myself went over to nanxing's coffeeshop. incidentally, one of my former student jiayi was there with his dad, and we got treated to lunch. it's heartening to know that his dad is a very hospitable person; and the boy would have someone good to model himself after.

the dinner at marche with the rest of the team guys was fine. some girl talk here and there; but no boundaries drawn as such that the guys couldn't chip in; it was a nice atmosphere though i admit i must have spoken so fast, that i almost ate up my words.

incredibly, i totally didn't do a thing about the photos from the assignment from thursday and yesterday. and haven't watched fishlike freestyle yet... and haven't started to do the overall revision for the upcoming exam...

aerosmith sang about a blind man who helped him to see... last night while i was on the northeast line back home, i saw a blind man who helped me in a similar way.

this man, i only knew that he was getting on the train when i felt something brush against my leg, while i stood near the door that opens at the station, because i was facing away from the door itself. only when i saw his white stick, did i realize he was visually handicapped.

when he sat down, i noticed that the white stick he used - it wasn't anything like those i've seen before, which were usually white or silver/red aluminium sticks. his was a fairly straight gauge natural piece of wood, with one rubber bung covering the top end. in other words, he didn't seem to have much money to spend on his necessity to facilitate his moments.

another man hopped onto the train and was carrying a big red plastic bag, with silhouettes of many cans inside. i figured out it was all empty cans, from the way he was handling them all. i estimated there were at most, twenty-five cans in all. he was on the train for about three to four stops. that should be well over sixty cents. how is he going to afford to pay for the train ride if about seventy cans pays under a dollar? i do not know of the current rates, but i have definitely seen a lot more elderfolk rummaging through bins trying to get their hands on aluminium cans.

i don't want to lead my life to that same direction. the only assets i have now are - a little more well-rounded education (computing, photography, sciences, financial), my youth and my generally fit body.

i achieved running 5k around my neighborhood yesterday and today. good. just need to keep up the standard and make it a positive habit. i'm working back to the fit ol' seh suan of the past.

over the years, i knew that naoko takahashi was using vaam, but this advertisement was something new!

"you will see what you want to see."

that would have been something i'd like to tell a friend of mine. after a particular event, i let her know of some guys' talk post-race, and she didn't believe it was such. and she got really peeved, and said she wouldn't take part in similar events again. in fact, she said in order to talk to her in person, i'd have to go through a qc (quality check) test by the boyfriend. huh? she deemed us as "perverts." oh great.

we didn't treat her like a sex object; but only had some cheeky behind-closed-doors chat. keyword: cheeky; not serious. honestly, i know the guys' characters pretty well, but if she so chooses to think we're perverts, so be it. why? because "you will see what you want to see." cycling into a cemetery in broad daylight as part of the race route, how many really get affected by it? even my maternal grandparents are lying in there, and i'm not the one to feel it's wrong to do so. we didn't desecrate any tombs, so what issues could there be, really? i didn't see anything wrong despite having gone there when my grandparents were buried there in 1989 and 1992; but she so chose to feel it was wrong to cycle into the cemetery. why? because "you will see what you want to see."

if it means the loss of this particular friend, i'd say it's worth it. why? because some issues are just not worth fighting for; and most of us know it's easier and pain-free for us to change the way we think instead of changing the way others think.

and for me to change my perception of people who are easily affected by things is easy. i doubt i will want to associate myself with such people ever again.

the yew tee cycle challenge was good - woke up at 5:20 in the morning, gave the wee hour chek jawa trip a miss; packed my necessities and got to the main road by 6. had a drizzly start to the race; cycled around between yew tee town and lim chu kang on end. it was very tiring trying to start from a full stop each time.


what i packed my deuter backpack with -
thinktank lens changer 15, 50, lighning fast, pixel
pocket rocket, canon eos-1d with one battery, 17-35,
24-85, one spare set of aa's for the 550ex.


merciless must had been a sprinter long ago...

i've got one extra pass to make use of at golden village, good chums please let me know because i want to watch the final instalment of the x-men trilogy.

thanks to nightcrawler:

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

i look back at the dark period that came months earlier, i know i have done great wrong. i'm now starting all over again. in human terms, i may have an indelible mark; but in His eyes, that can be forgiven so long as i learn from it and repent. in this life, i'm not out to win popularity polls, though i do enjoy making new acquaintances all the time. only being in the company of true friends, do i realize my gifts that i've been given.

i am starting to recall the time when i used to run free in the forest trails, being with myself and being one with the forest. i remember the time when i was crying in my heart when i saw another plot of trees being levelled down for yet another golf course. i remember the double-plank wide plank crossing around the 8k mark of the 10k loop. i remember the opening in that amazing hedge or something, that appears out of nowhere. that was 1998; it has since been over seven years now.

tomorrow, i'm watching my food intake. a morning 5k to 10k run, basic exercises etc - partly because i need to lose my onsetting flab - as well as to help prepare for my ippt. i've got only three months to go.

"just close your eyes, you can find all you need in your mind." - dream theater

i gotta watch out for my diet now on. i'm pretty much able to grab a layer of blubber from my waistline now.

then mathematically thinking, my energy intake via food is much higher than the expenditure; my almost-daily exercise from work along has since long gone.

definitely need to revamp my diet; first i gotta get myself a little more outdoor than before, and get back to running. miss the running in macritchie at times, actually.

have quite a few things to rush over the weekend...

1. yew tee cycle challenge
2. the q-rings review
3. ndp rehearsal shoot (might want to cancel this first)
4. reading the module 5 text
5. the wee hour chek jawa visit
6. write a short bio of myself for beng chye plus compile some of my works

a fair bit of stuff, but it sure beats being too free!

yesterday's swim lesson with the small cute girl called wxsie was as follows...

1. face down, flutter kicking. arms doing nothing.
2. face up, flutter kicking. arms doing nothing.
3. face down, flutter kicking. arms doing nothing. repeat for longer distance.

hey! a swim session, the total immersion way!

purpose of the session... to get her to get used to the feeling of "pressing the buoy" as terry laughlin wrote. oh, and i passed her my copy of the original total immersion book. hope it helps!

the turnout for the yew tee cycle challenge was really good! even i was impressed!

had a good morning ride this morning to pandan to meet handbag, and paradigm, who bought the lowepro lc4 from me.

while on my way back, i ventured into the area where charles stay, and i was really amazed by the gargantuan private houses in the area.

in the evening, went out for a total immersion drill with wxsie. small girl is so happy about having the workout. gotta teach her how to do freestyle tomorrow morning...

and she's cute to boot, too! *grins*

came across an australian who came a-riding to alexandra village food centre today, complete with his trek fuel 100 team or something like that today. heard a good bike a-comin' when he was a distance off, the sound of a good hub that went clack-clack can't be missed. had a brief chat, and i noted that he inverted his poploc control to under the bar. good idea!

passed my health insurance paper today. was sweating puddles before i took it... and i was actually 5 minutes late, mistook the start for 1130am when it was supposed to be 1120am...

incredible videos for the day...

what remotely resembles tabletennis
eadwine's boyband recommendation

and a link by wendychan, presenting... parking lot idiots in singapore.

can't believe this. sisa's website didn't mention the national schools' figure skating competition that was held on sunday at all, but i totally didn't expect singapore swimming association to have a synchro competition on saturday. urgh.

the stupid balloon festival at sentosa was held yesterday, with apparently yet another lot of balloons released into the air. this was what i wrote as a post on clubsnap:

"I would petition against this kind of event, especially those that release balloons out to the atmosphere. Once these balloons burst in higher atmosphere due to lower atmospheric pressure, the bits fall down back to earth as rubber flotsam, and there's a good chance that unknowing turtles would gobble them down, thinking they're their favourite jellyfish."

how many of us have really thought of these?

1. it is a fact that when we are alive, we pay taxes.
2. it is a fact that when we die, we pay taxes - via estate tax.
2. it is a fact that after we die, we pay maintenance - for maintaining the burial plot or niche in the columbarium.

sometimes, planning for the future does sound scary. but i will actively remind myself that i live in the now, but have spared thought for the future.

i feel like i've married out a daughter.

mavic was there to witness it with me, and finally my tank race bike has been married off to stacy with the rest of my spare components.

at long last. somehow i feel... emancipated from holding a frame and not letting it being out there for so long. can't put the feeling entirely into words.

exam's on monday. will do my utmost in the next two remaining days.

one thing i learnt yesterday was; fatt choy and sea grapes, though edible, carry something along the lines of cyano-somethings that can cause cancer. ali, the resident plant guru, shared that with me.

and i had a good chomping of basil, roselle and laksa leaves today. yum!

and something of particular note... the ladder theory. boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, do try it out and let me know what you think. i personally think it's true to the extent that i have experienced through life thus far.