Whispers to the Deaf

I had my first ever barefoot jog (well, close to barefoot) just now. I didn’t know how to run, so I ran like I always do with shoes on. After a short jog, I came home with some aches, and I doubt they are a good sign. I will be doing a longer jog (I hope) tomorrow morning, and I hope I can get the hang of striking the ground with the ball of my feet first.

我是不是为了不要记得不开心的事而无形的弄到自己记忆极度衰退？

不只你，我自己也觉得自己很无理取闹。我是对你对自己很失望。如果你真的关心我的话，暂时不要来找我，让我一个人静一静。

Book > Film
Enough said.

It’s arrived. Pictures to come shortly. Too tired now to upload them. No disappointment, yet. Getting my first e-book, BaZi The Destiny Code by Joey Yap. USD7.99. Hope it’s worth it.

—
Here’re the pictures! (Click the images to enlarge)

The box they came in. A tad squashed at the side, and it got me worried for a while. Luckily, they are safe and sound.

The Kindle, the cover and the flat air pack

The Kindle, the cover and the interesting looking Quick Start Guide. The words on the Kindle are not on a piece of paper, they are displayed by the Kindle!

Luckily, no nasty colour shock; it's a brown like how I'd imagined.

Images of random authors will appear on the screen when the Kindle is on standby

The LED light at work, for reading in the dark

I was reading through the DBS Card Agreement, and realised that I am not very smart after all. I have thought that I am smart in using a Citibank credit card to pay for my online purchases that are in USD after reading this article. I am not so smart after all.

Citibank’s Banking Fees:

All VISA card transactions in currencies other than Singapore dollars will be subject to an administrative fee of 2.5%, or such other rate as determined by us and notified to you.

All MasterCard International cards will be subject to the following charges:
- 1% for transactions in currencies other than Singapore dollars incurred outside of Singapore
- 0.2% for transactions in currencies other than Singapore dollars incurred in Singapore
- 0.8% for transactions in Singapore Dollars incurred outside of Singapore

In addition to the foregoing, all MasterCard International transactions in foreign currency will be subject to an administrative fee of 1.5%, or such other rate as determined by us and notified to you.

POSB Charges:

All transactions in foreign currency are subject to a charge imposed by the respective card associations, either as a reimbursement charge representing the charge imposed on us or as a direct charge to you. For foreign charges converted by American Express, American Express applies a conversion factor of 1% to the converted amount.

An administrative fee for services provided or actions taken by us in relation to such foreign currency transactions shall be payable by you and debited to your Card Account. The prevailing administrative fee is 1.5% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving VISA International and MasterCard International and 2% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving American Express International, Inc.

In short, since Visa and Mastercard have a 1% charge on foreign purchases, I gotta’ pay an administrative charge of 2.5% for any online USD purchase I do, no matter which card or card association. Bah.

I had the Cramp of the Century at the gym on Wednesday! It happened when I was trying to take off my right shoe without first releasing the laces. Bad move. My calf just seized up immediately. Thank god ZS was there, and she helped me tide over the bloody cramp. I had done interval running and some cycling, and as a result, my reaction time was a tad longer because I was too tired, and there you go! My calves have always threatened to cramp up; I always manage to get away by relaxing them muscles immediately right after. According to the net, “A bout of severe leg cramp may cause damage to the muscle. Fibres of the muscle may be torn due to the shear strength of the muscle contraction. If this happens the muscle will be painful for some time afterwards.” God, my calf still hurts even now, so that means my muscles must have been damaged! Cannot work the legs at all in such condition. Bah. One good thing though is that I have to try even harder to use my core muscles for some of the exercises in the Pilates class, so as not to overwork my calf and hamstring.

Perhaps having some sodium-laden tidbits could have prevented the cramp. :D

Huimin had to give up her free ticket to the Singapore Flyer due to some unforeseen circumstances, so I ended up there with Jme on Thursday (last day of the free tickets). In the rain. Again. It started pouring cats and dogs while we were having our Pilates lesson.

I was having a nagging headache the moment I woke up, and that literally added to my headache. Lunch at the Rocks Urban Grill + Bar was then replaced by JPot where we ate so much that we felt like bursting. The headache promptly went away after the complimentary Dark Mocha Frapp.

Nevertheless, we still went ahead to the Singapore Flyer, it’s free anyway. A capsule to ourselves. Nice. The view can be better though; thin, wispy clouds (otherwise known as Cirrus clouds, for the intellectual) with the sun setting will be wonderful.

Was rather disappointed when I first stepped into The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. With the constructions still going on, the floor was unpolished, and escalators dirty. OK, maybe my expectations were too high to begin with. Funnily, the only coffee place there is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, or maybe we didn’t look hard enough or are too poor for the rest.

The thin, wispy clouds did appear, but I was already having dinner with another group of friends by then. All I can manage was two pictures. What a shame. The good company did make up for the disappointment though, and we had a rather interesting night squeezing stuff, and being squeezed.

Despite the rain, we went to take a look at National 5-Crew Dragon Boat Challenge 2010 at Chinese Garden. Thankfully for the teammate who stays around this area, I am able to get there without riding in the rain. I haven’t shot dragon boat races since god knows when. I tried panning the dragon boats and even the safety boat, but all the shots came out bad. I had trouble using the lens I borrowed from my colleague (sometimes it refuses to auto-focus) which adds to the frustration! In the end, all I got are some mediocre shots. The D90 feels too foreign, and the MB-D80 makes it worse somehow.

【曲/史俊威　词/吴青峰　导演/徐仁峰】

今夜的月光超载太重
照着我一夜哄不成梦
每根头发都失眠
天空他究竟在思念谁
是不是都和我一样
挥不去昨日甜美的细节
才让今天又沦陷

你现在想着谁有
没有和我相同的感觉
固执等着谁
却惊觉已无法倒退
曾经想一起飞
在自己心中盖了座花园
把你的一切都种在这个地点
却像鱼守在里面

今夜的月光超载太重
照着我一夜哄不成梦
每根头发都失眠
天空他究竟在思念谁
是不是都和我一样
挥不去昨日甜美的细节
才让今天又沦陷

你现在想着谁
有没有和我相同的感觉
固执等着谁
却惊觉已无法倒退
曾经想一起飞
在自己心中盖了座花园
把你的一切都种在这个地点
却像鱼守在里面

不管要多少时间
多少眼泪多少落空来等待
不管你是不是会回来
其实我也不明白 为什么如此傻傻地期盼
你是我仅有的爱
你现在想着谁
有没有和我相同的感觉
固执等着谁
却惊觉已无法倒退
曾经想一起飞
在自己心中盖了座花园
把你的一切都种在这个地点
像条鱼守在里面

守着幻影葬在里面

这首歌让我感触很深，尤其是现在。