krisalis

I haven’t mentioned much about running or swimming or exercise in general here for quite while, mostly because I haven’t done much since I was in Austin over Christmas.

I think the last time I went running was on New Year’s Eve, when Lennie took Mark, Bonnie and I for jog around the Town Lake trail. As for swimming – well, I have swum a few laps here and there, but nothing that would qualify as proper exercise in months.

Until tonight, that is…

When Mark and I were out biking round the lake in the centre of Canberra on Sunday, we came across the remnants of a Triathlon event that had taken place that morning. I picked up a couple of leaflets, and the next thing I know, I’m enthusiastically signing myself up for a couple of Aqualthlons (swimming and running), and a mini-triathlon.

I did the first of the Aquathlons this evening – a 300m lake swim, followed by a 3km run. It went pretty well overall, and I finished the course in about 26mins.

It was great to get out and do a fun event with a bunch of people. However, I can already feel my muscles complaining, and I’m sure they will be sore tomorrow! Oh well.

The Triathlon is in a couple of weeks, so I’ll need to try to put in a bit of training between now and then. Canberra is a lovely place to get out and about on a bike or for a run – plenty of shady trails, low humidity, and there’s not too much traffic or too many hills.

I have never done a triathlon before, so I’m happy to have found a short course to have a go at – its just a 300m swim, 8km bike, 3km run. I’m not much of a biker, so that’s the leg I am most concerned about. Any tips?

It feels good to be getting back into the exercise thing. I just hope I remember that when the aches and pains start surfacing tomorrow morning!

Reflections depicting recent events….

• Taka Mirror: Waiting in the loooong taxi queue outside the back of Takashimaya department store, on the eve of Chinese New Year in Singapore.

• Gong Xi Fa Cai: Mark, Andrea and I saw in the year of the Monkey at Next Page Pub on Mohammed Sultan Road, Singapore.

• Fancy Dress: Dressed as a narcissist, I put my mirror accessory to good use!

• Outside the Australian National Museum: taking a break for coffee and sandwiches as we cycled round the lake on a hot, sunny day.

Uncle Nick’s 50th birthday celebrations saw the majority of guests dressed in accordance with the to the theme of “something beginning with ‘n’“.

Can you figure out what we’re all dressed as?

(Note – the lady on the left in the bottom picture is not really dressed as an ‘n’ character as such – rather she is dressed as ‘Nick’s wife, circa 1970′)

In addition to the costumes featured, there were also guests dressed as Night, Neo, Natalie from Charlie’s Angels, a non-conformist and perhaps my personal favourite, a Naval Displayer, who cut a circle of cloth out of a t-shirt, revealing the belly button beneath!

Happy birthday to Andrea.

Happy Australia Day to the Aussies.

Happy Monday to the rest of you!

I’ve had a happy day – Mark and I went to Bungendore this morning with his Ma and Pa, to look at lovely wooden furniture craft creations, in search of a potential wedding present. (This whole getting married thing is excellent – not only do I get the most wonderfulest husband, but on top of that, people give us presents!)

Then we went to see ‘Lost in Translation’ at the cinema, which I very much enjoyed. Bill Murray deserves his Golden Globe!

This evening, an assortment of Mark’s relatives congregated on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin for a BBQ picnic feast thingmajig, where I stuffed myself silly with traditional Aussie fare of sausages and pavlova. Yummy.

At this moment, what is your favourite…

1. …song? The Proclaimers “I would walk 500miles”. OK. Actually it’s not. But it’s still seems like most excellent entertainment to call my sister and sing/shout it down the phone in my best alcoholically-enhanced voice. Derek, consider yourself lucky that we don’t have your US mobile phone number.

2. …food? Laksa. I’ve been eating it whenever I get the chance for the past few weeks, storing up all the laksa goodness I can before I leave for laksa-free shores.

3. …tv show? Probably ‘American Idol’. I know it’s trashy, but I just can’t help it.

4. …scent? Clean laundry, Chanel’s ‘Chance’ for women and Lancome’s ‘Miracle’ for men.

5. …quote? “You a-make-a me hhAppy” – I don’t even know where it’s from, just that my sister kept saying it when we were in Austin over Christmas, and now it seems to pop out of my mouth when anything a-make-a’s me happy.

So this is it, eh?

The end of an era.

We leave Singapore tomorrow.

• sold the car.
• helped to pack up all our belongings and hovered anxiously as the movers crammed everything we own into brown carton boxes and carted them away.
• helped to move any remaining furniture to new homes with new owners.
• emptied the pantry, vacuumed and dusted in all the rooms and then vacuumed the flat a further two times (yet somehow it is still dusty. grrr.)
• moved our luggage to our new accommodation at Casa del Ricky.
• collapsed in a big heap on the bed, completely exhausted from all the moving and packing and whatnot.
• regrouped the energy reserves and went to a party in honour of our impending departure, thrown by our very lovely friends, where we ate a lot of lovely food, drank some lovely wine, listened to some lovely guitar music, and chattered away the evening. Lovely.
• met up with Andrea and Neil at Muddy’s for a couple of drinks
• slept like a log
• had brunch at Father Flanagan’s with Andrea and Neil
• sang at the 6pm service
• had kimchi ramen for dinner at Don’s
• tried to sort out how much money we are going to need and in what currencies to get us through the next 3 months
• finally collapsed into bed

We are almost there with this whole moving thing on the Singapore. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, we still have to do everything again, in reverse, in Austin in a few months time.

First up, let me clarify that I wasn’t actually arrested, I was just served with a warrant for my arrest.

The crime that earned me the warrant was failure to appear in court. The reason I was supposedly requested to appear in court was that I apparently did not pay a parking fine, which I supposedly received back in November of 2002. I did not pay this parking fine, because I never recieved any such parking fine notification, or any reminders, or any court summons or any warrant notices. Nothing. Nada. Zero.

You see where I’m going with this?

Basically, it seems that all the paperwork had been sent to my old address, so I did not receive any of it, and thus I did not act on any of it. The only reason I found out about it now is that when I went to sell the car, the pending warrant showed up on LTA (Land Transport Authority) Records.

This article, which coincidentally appeared in Monday’s edition of the New Paper, gives some insight into my situation.

In theory, everything is settled now…I’ve paid my fine, seen the magistrate and my record should be wiped clean. Of course, being me, I am TOTALLY PARANOID that something will go wrong, and I will somehow end up on the wrong side of the Singaporean law – not a place I ever want to be, thankyouverymuch.

[thanks al, who sent me the article]