Collected my miaddias last night. Haven't got the chance to test run in them yet. Let hope my money will be well spent and this pair of shoes and they will protect me on my quest to complete the marathon later this year.

The retail price for the miaddias is S$329 for the supernova, luckily there was a 30% discount with the marathon registration.

Update on 14th September 2008, test run our shoes today. Did a 3 km with Ong Tat this morning and 6 km with Daniel after dinner. So far we are pleased with the performance of our new shoes. We thought about it and concluded that it was the most expensive shoes that we had ever bought in our lives. Let me get a picture of both of theirs' and update again. Ha ha...

Top View

Side View

Really loud har!

My last day at my current company will be on the 19^th September 2008. It was indeed very difficult to leave this position and guess there are many things and people here that I will miss. I will be starting my new job on 22^nd September 2008 and will be traveling to Prai, Penang the next day.

Feeling apprehensive about what lies ahead at the moment....

My colleague shared this story with me yesterday. I think it is really meaningful and totally agree with the last sentence. Read on to see what I am referring to.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.

He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.'

What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:

Be thankful for what you have.

 Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, 'Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness.... In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience.'

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling...

 And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Angelo, thanks for sharing this with me. I am smiling and this one is because of you.

Had always wanted to see fireflies, finally I had my chance last Saturday. Not only did I see them, I had close encounter with them up close and personal. They are indeed beautiful, emitting a faint glow from their body and flying slowly near the trees and water. Did a Google and there are so much about them that are still unknown. These guys are indeed quite secretive. My parents told me that they also love the firefly which is the primary reason that my name is 栁莹 as 萤.

Signed up for a 1 day Desaru trip with the NTU Alumni Club. The itinerary is as follows:

6.15 am Assemble at NTU Alumni Club, Level 3 Concourse. There was 30 of us on the tour and when the rep from the club house initated a 'check in' procedure; which one was supposed to introduce themself and what one was looking forward in the trip. I was terribly worried that my parents will freak out on this one, but it turn out to be alright. Proud of my parents.

7.30 am Arrived in Woodlands Checkpoints for immigration & custom clearance. Had lots of problem on this one, it was the longest ever wait that I had experienced at the Singapore Woodlands Custom. The problems lies with children and the automatic clearance counter. Sigh.. I was VERY HUNGRY while waiting.

9.30 am Breakfast in Johor Bahru. Had noodles at the Ah Khong resturant, had been there several times previously. Missed the road trips to Malaysia back then.

10.30 am Depart for the Greater Desaru via Coach

11.00 am Visit the Historical Museum in Kota Tinggi.

12.00 pm Arrive at Sungei Rengit Township for your Seafood Lunch. There were lobsters, shark fins and crabs in the menu but food was passable only. The little town was modest and had quick walk round after lunch.

1.45 pm Proceed to Tanjung Balau Fishermen's Museum & discover the beauty of the Rock Formation in Desaru.

3.30 pm Tour the 180 acres Tropical Fruitland, Desaru Fruit Farm. Saw many types of fruits and their trees, it was a pity as the durian season there had already ended.

5.30 pm Enjoy your Buffet Dinner & Fruit Fiesta at Desaru Fruit Farm.

7.00 pm Depart for the memorable Fireflies Viewing in Lebam River. At first, I couldn't see any while some are already gasping away. Anyway after a while I was enjoying the sighting too.

11.00 pm Home Sweet Home

Learn some 大智慧 from my Dad that day. While all the tour mates were thanking the organiser and tour operator at the end of the tour. My dad actually wanted to thank the participants. He was actually very impressed with the team spirit and cooperativeness of all who had join the tour that day. He pointed out that the children of the member are actually very well behaved. Thinking back it was really very true, guess 姜还是老的辣.