2014 in numbers

125 blog entries, this is the 7th year in a row. Seriously someone should give me a super consistency prize or something. =P

158 days of commute to ulu place recorded, which covered 16002.6 kilometres, giving an average of 101.3 kilometres per day.

43 petrol filling recorded. My 7.5 years MyVi is still giving an average of 15.5 kilometre per litre of petrol.

39 days of worked till overtime-worthy late.

19 days of leave taken.

50 badminton sessions attended, out of 89 that happened. I can only said that this year I have had to be at the Penang site rather regularly, which affected my badminton attendance. =(

26 tabletop gaming sessions. A combination of 12 board and card games played. I am spreading the geekiness. ^_^

33 (and 74% on the 34th) novels read. 11.1 days for a book, reading speed improved from last year. =)

37, 10, 7, 5, for my own reference.

Happy New Year dear reader, wish you a fantastic 2015!

心的频道：烂玩意

老婆仔不在人比较伤感，动不动就有所感触所以这个月有那么多篇有感而发的文章。

今天不要再写感触，要写心里的疑惑和「度烂」。

我的人生应该已过了一半了吧？

这样的年纪了，竟然还被同年的朋友拉去做兄弟，我已是两个孩子的爸爸了啦…

真不明白为何真心相爱要结婚了的新娘会要自己的姐妹折磨自己的新郎的？这是什么道理？

如果是「意外」发生为了负责任而无奈要结婚的话我倒可以明白的，一口怨气什么的…

（但会发生「意外」双方都有责任呱，怨谁喔？）

已经答应要结婚了还干嘛要靠姐妹用什么测试诚意啦、打动芳心啦等烂借口来折磨自己的新郎（的兄弟）的？ >_<

还不肯定，还要测试什么的就不要答应要结婚啦！真是莫名其妙。 -_-

想出这烂玩意的人真是勾叉零蛋三角形！ =\

要热闹去放鞭炮或开歌台还好啦，真是的。

男女平等齁？反过来要新娘和她的姐妹过关斩将才能嫁，看女人会有什么感受。

但真的发生的话，我想兄弟们一定是铺好红地毡自动把新郎扛出来巴不得自己的兄弟快点娶到新娘，快点洞房生孩子那样的，呵呵！ =P

鬼叫男人要有绅士风度，死要脸啊！命贱。

接新娘啊接新娘… 应该是很欢喜的事但姐妹们的烂玩意搞到很恐怖的感觉。

兄弟，真的因为是兄弟才会做这样违背自己良心的事。

还是要讲多一次：想出这烂玩意的人真是勾叉零蛋三角形！

心的频道 |系列|

Run Log (October 2014)

04 October 2014, Saturday.

Rainy days lately.

Decided to reset the Nike+ calibration so I hit the gym. Good thing too since it started drizzling again as soon as I stepped out of the door.

Ah, running on treadmill, something that I do not miss. It's just different to running on the road, a difference not so nice.

Did it anyway, for calibration, and for not getting wet. From my records, I should be able to do 8km/h comfortably, so that's the speed I started with.

Only somehow I am not. >_<

It's as if all those outdoor run data are invalid when it comes to running on treadmill. After about 1.5km I had to switch to 7.5km/h, and then reduced it again to 7km/h before I gave up huffing and puffing at a mere 2.5km.

Something didn't feel right. Think I will just do the calibration on the road. After all, I am not sure if the treadmill is calibrated.

So, 2.5km in 20 minutes, ended weak.

-----

12 October 2014, Sunday.

Hazy days that even the rain couldn't improve, plus a few late working hours totally ruined my resolution of running more frequently in October.

An evening rain turned me back after I was about to start running yesterday. So I decided to run this morning, rain or shine, haze or clear. I invited wifey too.

Those who know me well will know that I really mean business when I am sacrificing my weekend sleep in.

Determined to get the distance regardless of speed today, wanted my run to be more than 5km from now onwards so took the Straits Quay route starting and ending at guard house.

Not really in shape and with wifey tagging along, I ran at a slower than recent usual pace. Managed to achieve what I set out to do and ended strong so I am happy about it.

The random number generator known as Nike+ said I ran slightly more than 9km, if only it's true... I used the known distance 6.23km from last year instead. Took us 48 minutes.

This is definitely a sustainable pace for me, albeit slower than I preferred. Would really like to be able to complete the 10km, come bridge run, in less time than I did last year.

Still have time to train myself.

-----

19 October 2014, Sunday.

Honestly, I really wanted to run during weekdays, after work, given the marathon is next month. But a combination of late working hours and rainy evenings has spoilt my plan.

And I was actually disappointed that it rained again yesterday evening. So I did something I am not proud of, something that is ruining my slacker extraordinaire reputation.

I woke up early on a Sunday to go running. Da horror! >_<

I know I know, sleeping in is the bare minimum show of respect for weekends, I am totally ashamed of myself... =P

On the plus side wifey was running with me again today. ^_^

Anyway, did the Straits Quay route, which had more than usual runners today, apparently there was some kind of event. At least that's what I thought since there was a gathering of runners at Straits Quay.

Nike+, after several calibrations, seemed to behave better today, it says we ran 6.37km in 46 minutes, believable. Ended okay.

-----

27 October 2014, Monday.

When I asked wifey whether she wanted to go running yesterday morning, she asked whether I wanted to go for roti canai instead, needless to say I chosed fat over fit. =P

It's a replacement holiday today so I went running this morning, without inviting wifey. =P

The usual Straits Quay route, ran faster by myself compared to the previous two runs. Did 6.27km in 44 minutes. Ended okay.

-----

In this series:  |May 2013| |June 2013| |Duracell bunny, not| |Hazy dazy| |July 2013| |August 2013| |September 2013| |October to December 2013| |June & July 2014| |August 2014| |September 2014| |2014 Penang Bridge International Dodge Walkers and Selfie-takers Game|

有感而发：今年冬至特别冷

二零一四年十二月二十二日

冬至

要和家人吃汤圆哦

团团圆圆

但我没有

陪我的是那翻了肚仍坚强活着的金鱼，它叫「圆圆」

还有它的兄弟*「肥肥」，「胖胖」和「泡泡」

没有汤圆

晚餐是辣白菜即食拉面

吃了肚子热热的

迟点可能肛门也会

但胸口那心的地方仍是空空的、冷冷的

心里已经阴天好久了

几时才要大放晴哦？

好想念拥抱的感觉

我要抱抱！

*其实我根本不知道它们是雄还是雌？又没有奶奶或鸡鸡来辨别啦！

有感而发 |系列|

The Cave

Day five of solitude.

Been home most of the five days, as if it's a sanctuary. Refuge from what? I do not know.

There is solace in isolation.

Went out only for the necessity of eating.

Face to face human interactions were sparse, mainly when ordering food and drink.

Social interaction is overrated.

I don't talk much either. There's no one to talk to. I do talk to the goldfishes.

Am probably entering a strange state of mind.

有感而发：惆怅雨

二零一四年十二月十六日

昨天打羽球又扭伤了左踝

昨晚稍痛，今早超级痛  >_<

行走时非常疼痛不便

勾叉零蛋三角形！

唉，最近总是弄伤脚踝，超级败失败

今天开始我拿假三天

老婆仔和小瓜们去娘家两周

明天我应该可以睡到自然醒了吧？

是不是只有我会趁小瓜们不在家时拿假来睡觉的？

巴不得每天吵醒我的小瓜们去，但又舍不得老婆仔去

我每天要抱抱的嘞 =(

唉…

所以嘛，今天

细雨连绵

天灰灰的

我蓝蓝的

还有那超级败痛的左踝

有感而发 |系列|

有感而发：午餐那三人

二零一四年十二月十四日。

两个瓜早睡，所以晚餐也吃得早，老婆仔也随着他们的用餐时间。

每天在我还没有放工前他们都已吃饱了，所以我已习惯了一个人用餐。

习惯并不代表喜欢，只是现实的无奈。有得选择的话，我是喜欢有伴共餐的。

自从两个瓜开始上星期天的武术课，我星期天的午餐也要自己解决。

有点*孤僻的我通常会打包了宅在家里边吃边看书或上面子书看看新闻、八卦、赞一赞喜欢的、贬一贬或踩一踩不爽的、笑一笑自恋和自以为是的等等有聊无聊的事。

*只是一点点啦…

今天我不知发什么姣决定一个人在咖啡店里吃，短短十五分钟的过程我见识了这样的三个人…

*****

无品阿伯

尽量疏远人潮的我一人坐在最角落，隔桌来了一对有点年纪的安迪和阿伯。

负责茶水的小弟看得出是趁学校假期来帮忙的中学生。

我是听到阿伯的骂声才开始留意他的。

茶水小弟递了杯冷的饮料给阿伯，阿伯立刻开口提声大骂，说要的是温的，少糖的饮料。

我心里想，真的需要那么动气和无理吗？不能就是好好的讲么？

茶水小弟换了杯饮料给阿伯，阿伯碰了碰杯子，又提声说那是热的饮料，他要的是温的！

真的很讨厌这种倚老卖老，不可一世的人，超无品。

我可怜你啊安迪，要和这样的人生活。

*****

有礼小妹

我暗中可怜的安迪叫的是炒面类的食物，递送食物的是位彬彬有礼的小妹，应该也是中学生吧？

安迪要了多点的辣椒，小妹很客气地再送上后加问够不够，不够她可以再送上多点。

客户服务态度有够好哦！

相反的我叫的鸡饭老板总是一副不耐烦的样子，巴不得我快点给钱滚人那样。

我留意了有礼小妹一阵（她有一头长发嘛，呵呵！ =P），在没有服务贴士的咖啡店里她很有礼貌的招呼客人，总是会客气的微笑。

我要给她一个赞！

*****

股沟安迪

无品阿伯的隔桌来了对安迪和安哥。

安迪坐背向我，穿的是低腰的牛仔裤，不穿裤带。

我老婆仔也是喜欢穿低腰牛仔裤不穿裤带，总会显底裤，我讲她屡次她也无动于衷。

我想还好啦，底裤也不过是一层衣服，像泳装咯。

但很不辛的是，这安迪要么就是穿很小件的底裤，要么就是根本没穿，暴显股沟。

安迪啊安迪，有身材倒罢了，你这样会令别人反胃的咯！

>_<

有感而发 |系列|

Budget approved, part deux

Home finance minister approved budget for card and board games purchase at the end of October.

I think of it as buying myself, to date, the most expensive birthday present ever and I have finally got all the games as of Tuesday this week.

*happy* ^_^

new toys! Seven games and two expansions

Qwirkle and Gold Mine are bought primarily for family gaming sessions, they are suitable to play with the little monsters. Perhaps Alhambra too, though I bought Alhambra not with the kids in mind but because I like the game.

Sketch it! is my answer to the annoying die mechanism in Pictionary. Now this is a game that really rewards player for his or her drawing and guessing skill, not die rolling luck.

In a somewhat similar vein, Libertalia is my answer to Jamaica. Besides getting rid of the die rolling luck that predominates Jamaica, I also like the same starting hand mechanism of Libertalia, so much room for strategy and replayability.

my card and board game collection bought in recent years

Elder Sign is my second cooperative game, the first being Forbidden Island. While die rolling luck predominates this game, it does provide a lot of mechanisms to counter lousy luck. It can have up to eight players and the game mechanics is such that players can drop in and out half way, which is pretty nifty as there are those who like to sit on the fence on game commitment and those habitual latecomers in my regular gaming group.

Saboteur was not on my radar until a friend bought it, I looked it up and like it, so I bought the expansion Saboteur 2 as well. Quick and fun game that can accommodates up to twelve players with the expansion, ten without.

Scoundrels of Skullport is the expansion for Lords of Waterdeep. I love Lords of Waterdeep, so buying the expansion is a no-brainer. It adds the sixth player too.

games bought more than seven years ago, very seldom get played nowadays

Started playing some of the newly acquired games with my regular gaming group, can't wait to play all of them! =D

So many games, so little time. Game on! =P

2014 Penang Bridge International Dodge Walkers and Selfie-takers Game

Written on the 16th of November after the run. Initially wrote this as part of the November's Run Log, but ended up way too long for a simple run log entry so I made this a separate blog entry instead.

16 November 2014, Sunday.

The day. 2014 Penang Bridge International Marathon.

Or more appropriately, Penang Bridge International Dodge Walkers and Selfie-takers Game.

Underestimated the jam and the distance I needed to walk to the starting point, so 10KM Men's Open has started by the time I reached the starting point.

But thanks to the ridiculous number of participants, I caught up to the tail end of the walking mass to slowly inch passed the starting line. You would have thought people would start running after the line but everyone seemed content to just walk, probably because there wasn't any space to run no thanks to those walkers at the front who were in the clear.

Similar to traffic jam really, the slow refused to go into the slow lane and stubbornly hogging the fast lane, resulting in massive jam miles back. Selfish people are everywhere.

For the first kilometre or so, I wasn't able to run at all, only after the ramp curve onto the bridge that I could start to run. Well, start the dodging game, that is.

Common sense would dictate that those who are slow stick to the inner lane while the fast runners stick to the outer lane, following our traffic system. But alas, common sense is not common.

After much silent cursing of the outer lane walkers and selfie-takers that I noticed there were equally frustrated runners running on the motor lane. So I jumped the divider and finally got to run properly.

Unfortunately I had to slow to a walk again at the 5km mark to turn back and again at the finishing line. It's a frustrating experience really. I want to run all the way, dammit! Not there to play dodge game. And darn those selfie-takers, couldn't you join the Fun Run instead?

Anyway, despite my reduced training frequency, I was pretty confident I could run nonstop the whole 10km. If it was all flat, that is. =P

I didn't have any strength training this year since I only ran the Straits Quay route, I had to walk on the return uphill span of the bridge before I could run again. If I ever joined the bridge run again, I have to remember to include some strength trainings.

The thing is, I just don't know if I want to go through this frustration again.

Anyway, in my haste to start (since I was late), I didn't properly check that I had my Nike+ running until about 1km into the run, so I do not have the exact distance and time information. I will have to rely on the official record.

On that note, I had to hold my pee all the way since I had no time to release before the run, and every toilets on the way had a queue that I refused to waste time on. >_<

Not a nice experience, meh! =(

In this series: |May 2013| |June 2013| |Duracell bunny, not| |Hazy dazy| |July 2013| |August 2013| |September 2013| |October to December 2013| |June & July 2014| |August 2014| |September 2014|

Random behaviour for December 2014

Succeeded in October's impromptu resolution, yay! feel good +1

Didn't set an impromptu resolution for November since it's the slacker month. =P

Anyway, for December 2014, starting today, my impromptu resolution is: to do legs lifting or other abdominal muscles related exercise everyday.

Because I can.

How to stop getting Facebook game invitation

I posted the steps on my Facebook before but then the status update tends to get outdated fast. Also only my Facebook friends can see it so let me do a public service this time in the form of a blog entry.

Feel free to point people to this entry if you are also one who wishes to be rid of the spam.

Got a chance to do this today since a new game is making its spam round, good timing really as I have blocked all the previous ones and I needed to take a few screenshots for this step by step instruction. ^_^

Note that I did this using web browser on a computer, not the mobile phone app version.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4: done! One more spam blocked and an angel got its wings! =D

Feel free to click that "Report app for spam" if you really hate it.

  

Random Tidbits

Dug up some old notes on funny or memorable conversations that happened among family members.

- Permission granted -

7th of August 2013

The usual bed time routine.

*Kisses and hug*

"Good night, I love you, Young Young."

"I love you papa."

"No good night for me?"

"Good night papa."

*Kisses and hug*

"Good night, I love you, Hsiang Hsiang."

"Good night, I love you, papa."

*Exited room*

*Re-entered room*

Young: "what now?"

*Taken aback*

"Can I kiss mama?"

Hsiang & Young: "okay."

-----

- How does he do it? -

19th October 2013

Wifey: "hello <girl's name>!"

FH: "hello aunty!"

*Hsiang passed by*

FH: "I called him boyfriend." *giggle shyly*

-----

- Princess -

19th October 2013

Young: "mama is my princess!"

-----

- ... -

19th October 2013

While outside...

Wifey: "I am going to go out wearing hot pants or short skirt."

Me: "why suddenly said so? Want to show off your legs?"

Wifey: "I am old and no body is looking at me."

-----

- Awesome -

21st October 2013

Young: "mama, can I have another red bean bun later?"

Wifey: "sure, you don't want to try a raisin bun?"

Young: "huh? I thought it's red bean bun?"

Wifey: "yes, the one you had is red bean bun, but I made raisin buns too."

Young: "mama, you are awesome!"

-----

结婚十周年

有看过一百朵玫瑰花束吗？

我今天终于见过了。

从年头开始就问老婆仔结婚十周年要做些什么？

她总是不以为然。

十周年嘞，我觉得是一个重要的里程碑喽。

不要再拍婚纱照，不要去第二度蜜月，不要更新结婚戒指，什么都不要。

所以最后我给了超老土的玫瑰。

十年，就一百朵吧！

老婆仔，结婚十周年纪念日快乐！

谢谢你选择了一位和你心目中的白马王子完全倒转的男人。

你是怎么会爱上矮矮瘦小，样貌平凡的番薯宅男我不明白，总之我是拾到宝就对了啦，呵呵！ =P

要还有很多很多的十年哦！ ^_^

心语细述 |系列|

Don't leave your cubicle unattended

I was assigned to grow mushrooms in another site for a few weeks, in that time period my cubicle was left unattended.

One who goes around leaving graffiti in other people's cubicle or pull some pranks, you know, basically being an evil and mischievous person, tends to accumulate hate over time.

Maybe it's love... =P

Anyway, an unattended cubicle of such an evil and mischievous person is prime target for all the "haters". Especially if birthday happened during that period of absence.

So...

 

Truth is, it's such a nice gesture, the kind of prank I would have done myself. I am really touched.

Thank you buddies! I still don't know who actually did it so I guess I just have to do it to all of you in return. =P

Got a few requests to share the messages so here are some choice ones. I omitted those with birthday wishes and nothing else since I am the slacker extraordinaire. =P

You will need to know Chinese to understand some of the messages.

 

There are those who think I am 100 years old, and there are those who think I am 20. I think I am somewhere in between.

These are the messages with smileys.

And these are the messages that are slightly lengthier.

Yes, I didn't miss that joke within the inverted commas. =)

One who reads my blog.

One who reminds me of my lack of contribution.

And one who is always thinking of taking over the world but hasn't succeeded so far since, well, she insists on being the brain. I will let her figure it out. =P

Yes I know who you are and I love you too! I need all the loves I can get. ^_^

Then there are those with some drawing skill.

Poking fun at my bald head is a common theme, and spreading rumour of my supposedly girlfriends. Wish the rumour is true then I would have daughters in my next life. =P

I likey the Munchkin hat! =D

Another one who reads my blog. These poor misguided souls... =P

 

Well, there is me, wifey and my two sons, then there is that plus sign of my wish for a daughter, but those squiggly things are rather, ehem. Interpret it yourself! =P

Yes, I wanna build a snowman and I love hugs! ^_^