Archive for the 'Diary' Category
March 10th, 2010 by Eshin
Wow, I must say that it really does add an extra dimension to training for a race when you are doing it for charity. See Swimming for a cause.
With less than 2 weeks to go to my swim at the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2010, all of you have helped raise over 50% of the target amount of S$2,000 for the UN High Commission for Refugees and the Asian Women’s Welfare Association. I certainly feel a sense of accomplishment already without even having heard a starting horn!
But the race is not yet finished, and we still have 48.5% of the target amount to go! Any amount that you can donate is appreciated, even if it is a small one. Remember, small drops can eventually fill a bucket.
So get on over to Swim for a cause and donate today.
March 1st, 2010 by Eshin
Last year, I had never competed in any race, in any shape or form. After I survived the 1.9km swim as part of the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Corporate Challenge, it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. So this year, I wanted to do something extra – race for a cause.
This year, I am back at the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2010, competing as part of a relay team and taking to the water as the swimmer. I’m looking to raise money for two charities – the UN High Commission for Refugees and the Asian Women’s Welfare Assocation
You can support these worthwhile causes by donating directly to them yourself or visiting my page on Ammado – Swim for a cause – where you can help me raise a combined total of S$2,000 for both charities.
You can either:
- Just donate outright (and be mighty generous)
- Wait until I have completed the distance (to make you feel I’ve earned it)
- Only donate when I’ve beaten my time last year of 58 mins (to make me really feel I’ve earned it!).
This is the first time I’ve done something like this and raced for charity so bear with me if I haven’t quite got it right yet.
A couple of things to note:
- Yes, my company sponsors the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore so I do have an interest in this, BUT
- No, I don’t see a cent of what you donate and nor does my company. The money goes directly to the charity.
C’mon and do something good today and support my swim for a cause! That link again, in case you missed it: Swim for a cause.
If donating money isn’t your thing, then I’d happily welcome a couple of virtual cheers over at the Aviva Ironman Virtual Crowd just to let me know that I’m not swimming alone. Just look for my name on the drop down list and leave a message of support. (Warning: This is a shameless link to my company’s corporate site and an attempt to solicit support for myself!).
February 19th, 2010 by Eshin
I’ve been scammed twice in 24 hours with a new trick to earn restaurants a few bucks more – taking down the incorrect order and charging a higher price for it.
The first time it happened was at The Villa Bali last night. Apparently some genius decided that it would be clever to call the alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of a drink, Strawberry Freeze and Strawberry Freezy respectively. Mrs. Eshin had ordered a Strawberry Freezy quite clearly but they naturally heard Strawberry Freeze to the tune of $6 more.
The second time was just now over lunch at Manna Korean restaurant. Apparently, they mistook the order of a $17 beef rib soup for an order of $24 beef rib set. The unfortunate thing, which might be mine own stupidity, is that it sort of looked like a beef rib soup abeit a poor one so I didn’t send it back.
So now being $13 out of pocket, I’m not a happy camper. Not a large amount but it’s the principle that matters. That being said, the food at both places was still good.
January 1st, 2010 by Eshin
Happy new year to one and all. Of course, as I write this, it is still not New Year yet where I am but for most of the folks that I know in Asia, it will have just passed.
So, as another year closes and a new one opens up in front of me, I am in the mood for both reflection and goal-setting, something that surrounding yourself with cold weather and the drearily sunless skies of winter Europe lend themselves well to.
What were the highlights of 2009 for me? Broadly speaking, it was a good year on all fronts. Professionally, I survived a tumulteous year at a company inevitably adapting itself to the prevailing financial climate. Naturally, when my appraisals come around as the first points of order next week, I will not only have survived but excelled at surviving. I do, of course, work in marketing.
On the financial front, I have happily met the financial goals that I set for myself at the start of 2009. I have finally learnt the importance of financial discipline and the comfort that it breeds in leading a secure lifestyle. It hasn’t been an easy road and support has been there from friends and family, and not just in the financial sense. If I had to name this year on purely financial grounds, I would have to say that this was the year of the ham sandwich, the every present symbol of my new found financial discipline. My suffering colleagues can serve as testament to this.
Family has been a mixed bag this year. While there were no new additions and thankfully no losses, my father’s health is beginning to become a concern. As an expat over 5,000 miles away, I can insulate myself from it to some degree but I do get to see the more pronounced effects of ageing at longer but regular snapshots. These snapshots never used to change but now it seems there is a new picture every 3 to 6 months. I suppose it is just about getting used to it and dealing with it and I forget sometimes that my father is pushing 80. If I looked and functioned that well at 80, I would be a happy bunny. The last kick in the teeth that 2009 had to offer was a stroke that hospitalised my grandmother. Thankfully, I’ve had the chance to visit her in hospital during this visit.
Most of my family continues to progress well. I was shocked to find neice’s newborn had developed nicely into a 2 year-old personality in my absence. I dread to think what my other niece and nephew have grown into after not having seen them for too long. One regret for 2009 was that I didn’t take more time to visit them while I was in the UK earlier. Some highlights for next year will be my father’s 80th birthday and its subsequent family reunion. My own plans for family will also progress somewhat further and my uncle is making a landmark visit back to the homeland after not having left Australia for more than 25 or so years.
Personally, I’ve made some new friends and reforged some old friendships that should never have lost their lustre. I am happily attended my friend Bobble’s wedding as an usher in September. I am sure there was no real position of usher in the Jewish context but I was grateful that there was a small part for me to play in his marriage. Board Boy welcomed a baby boy to his family and his own pride. Bible Boy and his wife gave birth to their first born and regretfully had a fretful first two months as the poor girl had to undertake major surgery.
I’ve had the chance to learn one new skill this year – first aid. This training came courtesy of my company and it is something that I’ve always thought was important. I’ve even suggested that my mother learn the same course so she know’s important things about CPR in case something happens to my father.
Health-wise, I’m sure that Mrs. Eshin will undoubtedly dispute my prognosis of it being a good year, so far be it for me to be as brave as to contradict this. Right now, as I type, I have a belly happily pushing itself to the limits of its natural boundaries that would agree with her. I’ve only fallen seriously sick once this year – with the dreaded H1N1 flu. My t-shirt does say, “I survived H1N1, but the tamiflu nearly killed me.”
Being sick, and having a survival workload meant that my training has remained sporadic but not without its own gustos of enthusiasm. It was quite an accomplishment for me to have taken part in this year’s Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2009. I took part in the Corporate Challenge component which saw me doing only the swimming. That in itself, at least for me, was an accomplishment – 1.9km in the open sea is no small feat for a coach potato. I suppose now is as good a time as any to set the record straight as some newspaper report erroneously that I am a triathlete. I am no such thing and it would be unfair for me to claim such a title. What taking part in the Ironman has done for me in some small way,is that it has galvanised my fitness routine and I have taken up running and swimming as a regular activity. By March, I hope to improve on my swim time at the 2010 Aviva Ironman and by May, I want also to have run a half marathon in a respectable time.
So what else does 2010 hold in store for me and what do I want to accomplish? Well, apart from the goals that I’ve already discussed, I’m looking for a charity that I can actively support and contribute to. I’m still trying to find a worthwhile cause that resonates with me but hope to have something soon. I’d like to continue learning something, even if it is one thing. Vague goals to be sure but then again, I always feel it best to keep the important ones personal and needless to say, I have set those already. It’s also less embarrassing when once I read this post next year at the same time, with the potential for disappointment at not having done what I set out to do. This way I can be pleasantly surprised.
Happy 2010 and stay safe wherever you may be.
December 5th, 2009 by Eshin
A pretty dilemma presented itself today when I got back to my bike. A guy was on his bike having a heated argument with his girlfriend (or wife) who was standing off to the side. They both seemed quite riled up with each other so I hung about for a bit to see if it escalated. A noble but in retrospect stupid idea, as I wasn’t really sure whether I wanted to get involved.
As it did. The guy stopped his engine, nearly dropping his bike as he stormed towards the woman. He started grappling with the woman’s helmet while she was shrieking at him in tears. What had me a little nervous was that he wanted to take the helmet off because he wanted to take a swing at her. He eventually got it off but all he ended up doing was gripping her wrists while she raised shrieking hell at him. This continued for a few minutes.
I started my engine in any case and put my helmet on. Would I step in at some point? If I did, I wanted my helmet on. It didn’t provide body protection but I was hoping that in the heat of an argument, an inexperienced and hot-headed aggressor would go for the head rather than body shots. I also took the liberty of checking my utility knife but put it away as it very literally would have been overkill and it could always be used against you.
I kept checking the couple as they were arguing. The woman kept looking at me to intervene.
I really, really didn’t want to get involved truth be told. I wasn’t that brave to stick my kneck out like that. So I didn’t. I felt a little cowardly for not jumping to her defence and I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body, prepping me for an evitable fight or flee response. By not jumping in, it was the right choice I realise with hindset.
Why was it the right decision? Well, the guy was obviously agitated. I believe on some primal level that men do know it is wrong to do violence against women. Myself stepping in would have provided him with a legitimate target to vent his anger on. A man in argument with his spouse invariably does not like the intervention of another man on what he views as his territory. Of course, then all hell would have broken loose and I would have tried to hurt him back. Lover’s tiffs can go either way – the woman could decide to loose it with the guy or with me equally.
He did look back a few times to see what I was doing. He even asked, “Can I help you?”. I just looked at him neutrally. I just sat on my bike and waited.
I hung around longer than I would have on my bike while it idled. I checked whether VivoCity had a website with a telephone number for security. Of course, wanting to provide the most rich and rewarding experience to shoppers, it didn’t have a normal HTML site for browsing on my iPhone. Not even the contact us page had a useful non-flash version to get a telephone number. Thanks Vivo!
Anyway, after waiting about ten minutes, I checked again and the couple seemed to have calmed down. It had blown itself out with the woman free and the guy smoking a cigarette which I took as a good sign since smoking is a habit to calm nerves. The woman could, if she wanted to, have walked away from him. I decided to leave them to their own devices as they were near a very busy main entrance to VivoCity in any case.
Was I a coward to not have stormed in there and been noble by sticking my neck into someone else’s business? I admit, I do feel a certain shame by not having done anything and leaving the situation, essentially declaring it someone else’s problem. But I do think that my presence and proximity to the situation, and refusing to leave at the argument’s height and even in the face of his challenge to me, reminded the guy that there were consequences to every action. Violence was not a viable option for him.
And I’m reasonably sure that all three of us are now safely at home without incident. Perhaps not happily but at least safely.
You be the judge.
