Childhood Memories brought to life again with Disney

I was surfing youtube when I came across this Disney songs medley cover by Alex G and Peter Hollens. I did not know who are they initially but I thought that it looked interesting and whoa, I was surprised at the quality of the video and song! It was amazing how they combined Circle of Life (Lion King), A Whole New World (Aladdin), Colours of the Wind (Pocahontas), Under the Sea (The Little Mermaid), Beauty and the Beast and dressed in costumes. :) Brought back memories of how I loved Disney movies, songs and stories when I was growing up and on hindsight, it had really impacted me deeply because even as I'm listening to this medley now, it brings goosebumps.

My favourite Disney princess used to be Pocahontas & Mulan, though they were not exactly princesses, I felt they exude confidence and a wild streak which I saw in myself! Despite the stories always brought in a Prince Charming, which always made the story end 'happily ever after', I could feel a connectivity with the characters. In fact, I once dressed up as Pocahontas for some school dress-up competition! hahas..

A profile of Disney princesses on Thought Catalog :)

This was one funny article about Disney Prince Charmings.

I do hope they would do another set of medley of Disney songs! :D

After listening to that song, I thought of trying to listen to Disney songs sung in other language, just for fun and curiosity and this is what I managed to find:

Reflections (Mulan) sang by Coco Lee in Mandarin, Coco Lee is actually one of my favourite Chinese singers. Originally sung by Lea Salonga/Christina Aguilera. Below shows the Korean version by Lee So-jeong & there's another one officially sung by Lena Park.

Next up - Colours of the Wind, originally sung by Vanessa Williams but here in Chinese by Coco Lee, Cantonese by Amanda Li and Korean by 신동희 (Shin Dong-hui). I thought it was interesting how the Chinese version changed the flute in the introduction to the dizi (Chinese flute), added a nice touch to it.

A whole new world originally by Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle. Here in Korean, Nam Gyeong-ju & Lee Jeong-hwa sings the song. However, this time I feel that the english one is still the best.

Do you find any contrasts to the songs of different languages?
Pretty cool stuff there, I did enjoy the songs :) Goes to show that Disney movies are pretty universal!

Just another packed weekend! :)

I'm always looking forward to the weekends now, especially when I'm working so I can sleep and rest more but strangely I'm always ending up more tired due to the hecticness of my weekends when it's back to work on Monday :O

Well, last weekend was spent in race preparation (trifactor run 5k) was on Sunday so I had to spend the Saturday resting but in the end, I could not bear to lock myself at home and decided to do a solo brick session at Sentosa (800m swim+ 5k easy run) just to get the blood pumping for Sunday's race. I won't say that the race on Sunday was "just another race". Although it was only a 5k (a distance which people don't exactly look up to nowadays with all the long distances and puke-inducing runs), it was an event important for me. I was out to win those Oakleys shades and make a comeback for 5k races, which I have not been doing since Singapore Aquathlon, I think! However, sadly, Denise Chia was present in my category and I knew at my current level, I was nowhere near to her standard so my only way was to stick as close as possible to her throughout. It was tough, she was going faster and faster and in the end the gap was 1min. Wasn't my PB but I guess it was the best for now - settled for a 2nd placing and got an Oakleys cap, Banana Boat sunblock, Cloth tube.. :/ Dennis, my aquathlon junior was 2nd too! :) Yays for NUS Aqua! I was glad to see familiar faces at the race too - Dwayne, Dennis and Jayanta, who made my event a lot more interesting.

me, dwayne and dennis

After my morning race, Debs gave me her slot for Splashdown! So I rushed to Woodlands after church and although I was late, I still managed to swim 7km in about 2h 40min, with many breaks, but just right to redeem the Arena towel, the most valuable item on the list. I must say it was an interesting experience, swimming with about 50people in the same lane. Going fast is a no-no, I really don't know how my teammates like Sherlynn, CP and Jon Ma were able to swim above 10k in 3h to place in 2nd and 3rd. Respect.

NUS AQUA peeps after the swim with 3 podium-finishers!!

#theregs

Well, that was last weekend. Now to this weekend: Basically, Saturday was so choked full with activities that my Sunday was spent recuperating :) But it was great, made up for my horrible Wednesday and Thursday. Thank God ..

First thing in the morning was a loop in Macritchie with the aqua team :)), after a long 200x7x2 at 40-42s the night before, my butt was pretty much SORE, though it wasn't half as bad as Sunday's Macritchie run. Its really cos of them I'm willing to sacrifise my mornings and its really worth it. Then we went for brunch (me, Debs, Chunnie, Kenley, Baris, Sara and Eden) at Thomson Plaza, followed by shopping and Fitness Expo visit. We headed to Chunkfest at the Promenatory and were a little disappointed that you had to pay for ice cream :( Lastly it was Nike training Run at AVALON :D

The pacers consisted mainly of the aqua people (Yinghao, Jon Tan, Aaron, me, Debs, Chunnie) and Jolene, Ruimei, Glenn, Ernest and Charmane. We had hiphop, pop and dance gear from Nike. However, I felt that it was weird running 7k  in those sort of clothes -__- Hopefully we can pull in more Aquathlon people..hahahas :D

Family Staycation at Marina Bay Sands

I haven't blogged for a pretty long time..still lagging for my NZ trip update as well as several articles for RunSociety (something on Holiday Running, Power of the Mind, Woes of the Working People) gosh.. work must be really tiring me out :/

Anyways had a staycation (having a vacation in your home country) thanks to my dad's company family day - we got to stay at MBS, which I've never been before, except Ku De Ta on a free Wednesday night, despite it being opened eons ago and that at least half of Singapore has already been there, done that. Well, I must say that it was indeed still an eye-opener for me and unless it's  paid for, I will never spend to step foot into that needlessly extravagant place ( though I admit that its a revenue-generator for Singapore and provides countless of jobs).

WELCOME TO THE LIFE OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS.

Don't kill me but I'm sure many people aspire to be rich, me too, but for various reasons. And MBS is one of them - more of an analogy - to be able to flaunt their wealth materially for others to envy. I was glad to be able to sleep in a comforatbly huge hotel room with everything provided for, take a dip in the famous infinity pool 57 storeys atop MBS, eat an international buffet meal that costs $60/person but I won't pay that much to be able to enjoy it again. One day in my life is enough - why? I get bored and I was bored.

Please don't misunderstand me but my intention merely to say that in my opinion, I would only use money to enable me to see the world, experience different cultures and interesting moments and not on paying to sleep comfortably in a hotel, swimming in a pool that overlooks a skyline and taking photos to upload and rouse people's jealousy. Hahas.. which I also realised is what my sister, Rachel, loves to do. Each to her own, I guess...

I'm not too sure if my perception will change if I'm older but I'm inclined to believe that it is in my principles rather than an age thing. Previously, I was telling my colleagues about what we touched on in Sociology of Tourism that older people do tend to prefer a different type of tour/holiday compared to teenagers - bogged down by work on normal days and the hectic lifestyle of a working person, older people shift their preferences to a slow chill relaxing holiday tour to slow their pace of life down, as compared to teens, who prefer activities like backpacking to see the world.

Ok, enough mentioned about my critique of wealth and back to family day. Dad, Mum, Esther and I went to the 2 domes at the Gardens By the Bay. I've been to the Cloud Forest once with Leon but not the Flower Dome. The flowers were really pretty, reminded me of my travels overseas! Other than that highlight, the day was pretty dull and passed really quickly and I realised that I haven't actually done anything much the whole day except eat at RISE at MBS and walking around the gardens. hahahas..no more staycations for me!

Buffet Spread at RISE

The Sister and I :D

Look at the variety

Sushi round!

They even have cheese!

Ice cream selection I made!

Desserts!!

Awfully sinful!

Spoilt for choice!

Mommy!!

Doing the heart, acting cute

My sis is really cute

Toeshot 1

Attempt to take a poolshot

My reflections - 8 years of growing as a runner

Thinking there's nothing else more for a runner than just running, you can draw inspirations from my contemplation about my growing life as a runner.

After much thinking, I decided to categorise my experiences into different stages of a runner. As I move ahead in time, I become more acquainted with various aspects of a runner's life and discovered that it has made me a more holistic runner and these interesting experiences has molded me to who I am today.

STAGE 1: Baby Steps to Starting to Run

I picked up running 8 years ago when I was introduced to my school's TAF (Trim and Fit) Programme that rewards us with a shirt if we completed 100 rounds around the school in a year, and together with my friend, we attempted this ridiculous-sounding task. My family was not very active and a chubby-me also wanted to lose some weight, hence I decided to pick up running.

STAGE 2: A Recreational Runner

Seeing how my distances resulted in weight loss, made me look and feel better, the adrenaline rush experienced during and after my runs, I was convinced about the benefits of running. Besides these, I did enjoy unwinding after a tiring day at school with a jog around my green neighbourhood in Sengkang. It also helped when Singapore saw a growing number of run races organised which I signed up for and that motivated me to 'train' up for them. Besides that, I joined my school's soccer team and that had required me to improve my stamina through running and that fuelled my passion for the sport.

STAGE 3: A Competitive Edge

About 4 years ago, encouraged by a university senior, I took a leap of faith to join my varsity's cross country team. Initially, I was rather apprehensive because I had no running background compared to my teammates who were running the Nationals Cross Country Championships since young. However, seeing how friendly the team was and the satisfaction I had gained after a tough intervals workout, I persevered and saw my run timings improve. What I have learnt was that most people just run to race, but through my experiences in the team and my coach, Mr Steven Quek, has taught me that it is more than that - one must LEARN TO TRAIN before TRAINING TO RACE. A competitive runner who wants to improve has to have the discipline to train, rest, eat well and sacrifise a lot. It was then when I suffered my first setbacks in running, shin splints, knee pains, muscle fatigues, but I felt this made me grow by listening to my body, knowing when to push and when to rest. It was also then when I saw my timings improve and my goals in races would not only include a good timing but a good race position, which gave me personal satisfaction and adrenaline rushes during racing.

STAGE 4: Moving Beyond Myself

What's there to do besides just mere running, some of you might ask. There are plenty of paths to take which requires you to run but continue to have varied and new experiences. For myself, a year ago, I took up the challenge of joining my school's aquathlon team. Personally, I feel that I am fortunate to have a coach, Mr David Tay, to help and build my confidence in swimming, whereby I started out only being able to swim a lap, to now being able to achieve good timings in aquathlon races. Swimming also helps in cross-training for runners because it builds up one's cardiovascular system and upper body strength which aids in running. My next goal would be training up for a triathlon, which requires me to pick up cycling and one of my life's goals would be to complete an Ironman. Based on studies, cycling complements running because it is not only a good form of active recovery but also strengthens your leg muscles for running. Beyond myself, I have recently joined a new running group called Running Department which aims to foster a running community in Singapore through running-together programmes and we help to run clinics and pacer services in races to help others improve their runs, as well as achieve personal bests. My aquathlon team also has future plans to adopt charity organisations, as a way to give back to the community. These all does help me focus on the community instead of MYSELF and MY runs, allowing me to gain a new purpose in running.

To all runners who feel jaded or bored of running, I hope this gives you something to think about and perhaps you might just rediscover the joy of being a runner once more.

TEAMNUS Cross Country

TEAM NUS Aquathlon

Helped Mok Ying Ren with a running clinic

More updates..

Really thankful to God for giving me at least a job to look forward to. Although I was rather disappointed that I didn't get my ideal DXO job, despite my confidence at the interview - perhaps it was the grades, or perhaps I was being too overconfident. I decided to accept the SIA job as a Customer Affairs Manager because I didn't want to go too long without an income and was rather sick of applications and rejections. Well, I'm starting officially on 2 Sept 2013, which also marks a new milestone for myself, a step into the working world. Many questions did run through my mind - how does it feel like to have a table of your own and officially have work to account for? How will my superiors be treating me? Will I have good colleagues? I really have to commit all of this into God's hands and stop the worrying.

Secondly, I think my runs and swims have been really stagnating, with the 10k ST run coming up marking the start of another new season of running, it can be quite scary. >.<

Thirdly, I'm looking forward to my short (again 5 days) trip to New Zealand, specifically South Island of Dunedin and Queenstown. Although this trip would actually cost about 1 month's salary, I do hope it will be worth it. Can't wait ;)

Moving On - Graduation and Job search

Finally ended university life officially with Commencement 2013 - went to 5 ceremonies including my own in total - Business, Medicine, Geography, Engin and my own! Had a lot of fun taking photos and we cross girls did our own photoshoot as well! Ben was our photographer and the cast involved me, Siew, Anne, Zak, Kelly and Tricia. It was super fun :D and the pictures turned out pretty well too!

we were once here!! ^^

I'm really thankful for this bunch of girls - they really made my university life so enjoyable, fulfilling, fun and happy :) Cross friends - training together, travelling together, competing together...etc. <3 And now, we've graduated together!! Ok, I'm happy and sad... Because now we all have to leave this common path of university we have and go our own way. I hate facing these sort of crossroads because inevitably people would leave. I can come back but they might not. We can meet but not as often I guess. :/ Already, Zak has started working, Siew is studying overseas, Kelly is going to URA soon, Anne is in the midst of SCDF training and marriage preparations and Tricia seldom comes down to run - where does that leave me?

Well, it's a good thing that I still have my aquathlon friends and other cross friends but life is always constantly changing and peoples' priorities do change! Oh well, my hope is that we'll still be meeting each other often and continue to be close friends - or perhaps - that's my own  wistful thinking.

Job searching IS TIRING! And I'm getting lazier. Hoping to get the DXO job soon so I can travel a little more :)

Artsy Me Part 2: The Museums

Since museum entries are free and I've got nothing much to do, I decided to explore the artsy side of me by visiting the Singapore Art Museum and the Asian Civilisation Museum - hoping to visit the National Museum soon too!

There were new exhibitions for both museums and I was really intrigued by the pieces. Was also happy that I took Reading Visual Images which allowed me to appreciate Buddhist, Islamic, Chinese and Western art pieces better, despite not scoring very well. These are life skills which can't exactly be cultivated outside school and special lessons.

At the ACM, there is a new cross-cultural exhibition which was really interesting - Devotion and Desire, Stupas-Buddhism art and Lacquer across Asia (similar to the exhibition in Wuhan where we saw lacquer pieces). Devotion and Desire is a themed rather than chronological/period exhibition which displays the interactions between people of different cultures shown in the artworks created.

Buddha at the centre of a crucifix?

Looks egyptian

At SAM, I looked through all the permanent exhibitions and also the new ones - Terms and Conditions, Art Garden 2013, President's Young Talents - which I thought were all very interesting! Terms and Conditions displays pieces from Arab artists about the Arab world - rather political.

The phrase “terms & conditions” often refers to the fixed set of guidelines at the basis of any official contract or agreement. While these extensive specifications are sometimes overlooked in everyday practice, their implementation can powerfully dictate the representation and interaction between people, entities and countries, as well as set parameters that appear rigid over time. Yet, taken apart, the words “terms” and “conditions” convey fluid and precarious concepts that can, in actuality, be continually negotiated and modified.

Many artists with roots in the Arab world work simultaneously across different geographic, physical and cultural contexts, making it difficult to define and constrain them to specific identities and representations. Their work is thus a result of a variety of techniques, which enables them to navigate and speak within multiple contexts.
Terms & Conditions presents an open-ended debate into how history and social realities are represented, with an emphasis on the Arab world. One of the first Southeast Asian surveys of contemporary art from this dynamic region, the exhibition showcases works by artists with roots in the Arab world. These artists work across different geographic and cultural contexts, and through a combination of techniques, to produce unique artworks that fluidly traverse and defy social identities and representations.

My favourite piece was the one about 3 women singing ballads about Saddam Hussein. There's something sinister about the song but the way it is sung is so normal that you'll never imagine the meaning behind the song. The art garden was pretty cute but meant for kids to have lotsa fun. It stretches your imagination and makes you feel like a kid once again.

Chinese blue-white porcelain with images of Iran

cute phrase

quirky room

enter the scary world of nightmares