There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister

Rain, rain, rain! It was cloudy and gloomy when I woke up this morning at 830am. Geez... The shift work has zapped me of my energy and I need to replenish my strength with enough rest. Mentally draining... When I was working office hours, I could survive very well on just 6.5 hours of sleep everyday!

And it's raining now... It started off as a drizzle at around 10am, got a bit heavier and till now, it's still raining... Certainly one of those cold November monsoon day when it's nicest to snuggle in at home under your covers and read a book! A great day to stay in actually, and I would not be doing this if not for shift work.

My work starts at 4.30pm till 9.30pm today. I was supposed to meet MH for 'Harry Potter' in the morning, but was not feeling very well last night, hence decided to postpone it. True enough, I woke up with a sore throat. Must be the combination of Milo and fried fish and 'nyong hiang' that I had for dinner last night! :p

I have posted many photos of my hike with LL and SM in the east on Saturday when I was off on that day. It was a day well-spent in the company of these 2 dear friends. We had so much fun. Just going to do some recording of my activities of the past fewd ays before going into the details of that day.

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16th Nov, Wednesday: My 1st night of night shift from 9pm to 8am the next day. I already felt tired at 10+ but it was not very busy so I could lie my head down at the front counter and catch a wink every now and then. My HCA, Latifah, was an extremely nice lady and she practically took charge in answering the phone calls. And hence, I was in good hands on my very 1st night! The cases were mostly 'room' cases, and I only went out on 'Portable' rounds for 3X that night. Good, good...

Had a swim at CCK park in the morning. It was shining hot! The pool was quiet and I love it! It was a very good swim as well, looking at my timings. I tried to nap in the afternoon but I was too energetic to do that.

It rained in the evening though. At about 7pm. What a time to rain. On my 1st night of shift. I was thinking, "Everyone would be comfortably sleeping under their covers that night, while I'm working in the hospital!" :p

17th Nov, Thursday: I went for a run after I woke up. I could not sleep much. I slept from 10am till 2.50pm. I was still tired and tried to go back to sleep, but could not! Hence, decided to wake up, washed up and ate some bread. That was only 4hour 50mins of sleep. Geez.

Went for a run since I had the time and though I was tired when I started, the fatigue soon overcame itself as I ran further. I ran to 'GH', and towards Jurong East, then back to the canal before heading into the off-road terrain and onto another canal where the army camp was and back to CCK central. I met an uncle when I ran to the end of the canal. He was standing on the otehr side of the canal and he waved to me. I waved and smiled back, though he might not be able to see it. I could sense his smile as he waved. A friendly gesture of a wave as u meet another fellow runner in this 'untrodden' paths.

The route took me 1hour 13minutes. My body trunk felt rather heavy but legs were all right. It could be due to the fact that I did not get to lie down flat on a bed the night before.

As I have written earlier, my 2nd night was horrible. BUSY!

18th Nov, Friday: It was my rest day. I came back to sleep from 10am till about 5pm before I woke up. However, it was not a restful sleep as I woke at 4pm and my head was still groggy, so hit the bed again.

I went cycling at 620pm. Just to get the blood circulating and my appetite whetted for dinner since Mum was cooking. I needed to pump the bike's tyres as well. Easy ride of 40minutes. Mu bike is rusty and certainly not one that I would bring it on any event! :p

19th Nov, Saturday: My day off! It was a hike started late and the day ended late too. We were supposed to meet at 8am, but ended up 9am! We arrived at Pasir Ris at 10am, got breakfast and took a bus to Pasir Ris Park. Since SM already drew out the map of park connectors in the east, and armed with her street directory, we started on our hike. :)

We went to walk in the Maze Garden in Pasir Ris Park, took some pictures at the Mangroves in front of the coast, when there was incessant laughter from LL and me. Haha... Due to something we saw and it was just tickling... Our little secret among the 3 of us... Haha... It did not help that we still brought it up throughout the day! :p

Then it was off to Pasir Ris Town Park where there was a large fishing pond in its middle. We noticed along the way that many people in the East seems to cycle, and that there are way too many parks in the East, and even the flats are of a prettier and more colourful design! There are many more things too... Like good food in the East, the coastal areas in the East are well developed in the East (whereas in the West, u only have a pathetic SHORT stretch of West Coast Park!!!), more long stretches of green, undeveloped land in the East, and cheap fruit juice stall! Due to the fact that we chanced upon a fruit stall that sells a BIG packet of juice for only $1.50!

Tsk tsk... Are we just biased? Nope, don't think so.

Due to the fact that there are so many army camps in the West and North, the government cannot possibly develop the green areas in these parts of Singapore as they did in the East! So UNFAIR! And we Westerners have to make our wya all the way to the East for the parks and good food found there! Especially East Coast Park!

We discovered Pasir Ris Park to be really BIG and quiet, as compared to ECP. Maybe we could come here instead of ECP the next time.

We made our way to Sun Plaza Park where there was a playground! It was a big one and it was covered with sand, complete with swings and slides! Oooohh..... Those childhood days.... We relived our wonderful childhood days, indulging ourselves in the swings and 'flying fox'. HAH! I had a great ride on the swing, all thanks to SM who gave me really hard pushes on my back! WHOA OH! It was really FUN!!! Not to forget, photos taken too!

Sun Plaza Park was only a stone's throw from Tampines MRT. We made our way to Cafe Cartel for lunch and then continued after an hour break for lunch at 2.30pm.

SM followed the directions on the street directory and we cut through many blocks of flats before arriving at a long canal which would lead us to Bedok Reservoir at the end of it. This was when we discovered the fruit stall selling cheap juices too! :)

Temasek Poly is situated just in front of Bedok Reservoir! So envious! It's like VJC being situated so near to ECP! All 3 of us mountain tortoises finally seen the Bedok Reservoir that's so talked about, especially with the recent wake boarding competition being held there. It was a serene place, perfect for a rejuvenation of the senses.

We were blessed with good weather throughout the day. It only drizzled lightly when we were at Sun Plaza Park playground, and thereafter ebing very windy! ;p

Having walked for about 5 hours, we decided to make our way back to LL's place, after shopping at the NTUC in Bedok. Bedok, reminds me of those Judo days, where the competitions are always held here...

It was already close to 6pm when we arrived at LL's place. We made the cheesecake, and then went down for a swim and spent some time at the jacuzzi and steam bath. SHIOK! We had pasta(made by LL's mum) and then LL made her newly created chocolate banana milkshake for us to try. It was so fun! We promised to have more such sessions of cooking and bonding in future! At around 10pm, we took out the cheesecake and simply ate it, albeit it being still soft. It was great, just needed to be a bit harder. :)

Great day. Great company. Great weather. Memorable day. :)

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Brrr.... It's a cold day today... Seems like the rain is not going to stop any sooner. What a gloomy day to be making my way for work later at 430pm. Actually I had planned for a run today, but my body was feeling so tired last night after the swim that I decided to give myself a rest. On hindsight, I have not given myself a break for 12 days! It's either swim or run or cycle or core trunk workout... Giving my body a well-deserved break today...

It's just another 12 days to the half marathon!


Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
~Stephen Vincent Benét