Always Bon Jovi Cats in the Cradle

Got to post this entry and lock it in before July commences. June is a good month for me and this was taken by my Sony Ericsson K850i on 27 June 2008.

Location: IndoChine, Wisma Atria
Band: Cats in the Cradle.

Rich DiGirolamo

"

The easiest success measurement tool is a simple question. What did you do
today to move forward? The easiest project plan on earth is also a simple
question. What will you do tomorrow to move forward? At the end of each day,
document your success and design your next move.

" Rich DiGirolamo

Lancy and Chelsea from Sim's COzy Guesthouse

Children are the ultimatum, the pure innocence brings everyone closer. I miss them. We totally enjoyed our stay there, will be planning a trip to go to Tibet once the unrest is resolved.

I still WANT to go to Tibet.

Sign off,
Marco

P.S. The video was taken after the 512 sichuan earthquake. The kids did not know a thing but still there warned us about the minor quakes coming up when we played with them.

cheer chan 陳綺貞 - 旅行的意義 meaning of traveling

Love this song. Will be my theme song for a few days. Love her style of singing.

The World Today

Today, many countries in the world are plagued with natural disasters. People are seemingly helpless. But it seems like people around the world, all around the world, are flooding natural disaster-struck places with love. Donations and aid come pouring in. The government sector for almost every country are helping themselves out and humanitarian groups are striving to help out in these place.

If you think you are living in comfort, think again.

Our world rates wealth over courage and comfort over commitment. We think that nothing will ever disturb our loves. We are surprised when people get sick and die. We think that technology can fix everything. We take our safety for granted. We have more degrees but less sense. We have more medicine but less wellness. We've added years to life, not life to years. We build everything bigger, but not necesssarily better. We have more convenience but less time. We have more communication but less understanding. We make heroes out of actors but have no idea who the real heroes are.

From Ginza Apple Store, Tokyo

The Mac store here is damn cool, selling a lifestyle here, don't people just love apple?

Haha, enjoying my travels..

Marco

Ｔｈｅ Ｔｒａｖｅｌ Ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃｌｅｓ

Ｉ’ｍ　ｄｏｉｎｇ　ａ　１　ｏｎｅ　ｔｒａｖｅｌ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　Ｃｈｉｎａ　ａｎｄ　Ｊａｐａｎ．

Ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｂｅｉｎｇ，　ｐｌｅａｓｅ　ｖｉｓｉｔ　

Ｈｔｔｐ：／／ｗｗｗ．ｔｈｅｔｒａｖｅｌｃｈｒｏｎｉｃｌｅｓ．ｂｌｏｇｓｐｏｔ．ｃｏｍ

Ｔｈａｎｋ　ｙｏｕ．
ˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ
Ｔａｋｉｎｇ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｏｆｆ　ｔｏ　ｓｍｅｌｌ　ｔｈｅ　ｒｏｓｅｓ．

Chengdu Day 1

Will do the same set of pictures, else it will be very empty for my own blog.



Im touched Aili came to fetch me off, Im touched. Haha. And my sister driving me off to Terminal 1.




After a hearty dinner at the authentic spicy hotpot restaurant, I'm blogging while the others are planning for the chengdu part of this trip. Way too tired now, and Jackie already went to sleep. Haha, going to do individual body maintenance.

Expenditures before China/Japan trip

Background: Was intended as a Tibet/Japan trip. Had to make changes since Tibet is politically unstable and China has just started strict VISA regulations to travelers. Initially, it was essential to get a VISA to get into Tibet itself, and it is hard to get one. A pain to forgo such a beautiful place.

Flight to Chengdu, China : SGD436
Application of International Driving License: SGD20
A big backpack suitable for backpacking: SGD250 (its crazy i even get a 40% discount, i got it because its functional)
Ferry from Shanghai to Osaka, Japan: SGD300++ (cheapest class on tatami mat)

Of Endorphins and Serotonin

What happens in a relationship and why does passion die off?

It could be because of the brain, the single most important sex organ:


Endorphins is a neurochemical that can be produced at the frequent presence of a loved one.
Endorphins are a group of chemicals produced by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland in the brain. As they travel through the bloodstream, endorphins act as natural painkillers and create a sense of well-being.

Sense of Euphoria

A product of endorphins, this creates the 'high' that many people experience when they first fall in love.

Obsessive behavior

Love causes serotonin levels in the brain to drop, causing obsessive behavior, researchers at the University of London have found. It also increases production of cortisol, which can cause high blood pressure and loss of sleep.

Tribob Sprint Biathlon 19 apr 2008

My first ever Biathlon event: Tribob Sprint Biathlon 2008

I completed the event in about 1 hour 10 minutes. I'm glad I completed it.

_________________________________________________________________________
Got the official timing: 1 hour 6 minutes and 12 seconds (recorded by the timing chip with a deposit of SGD50)

Transit

It was fun thinking of how to set up your own stuff at the transit area, how to place your shoes, socks, running singlet, a bottle of water to wash off the sand. A proper setup saves a lot of time. One participant even got a field chair set up.

Swim

The 750m swim was tough for me. Technique was not there and the sea water tastes horrible. I do not know what prompt me to go for it. My timing was bad and was among the last few to come in from the swim. Have to learn free-style next. I had some encouragement from my coach though. He said if I think the swim was bad, it's bad. He thought I did all right. Well, Tribob is an expensive event and I appreciate that he joined the event, accompanying me to let me have a taste of biathlon.

Run

It was a short 5km run, considering I try to do 10km every weekend. I realized training was not enough, after the swim, I could not push my body. I had to maintain jogging and was really delighted, somehow I feel its damn short at the finishing line. The swim killed me. My legs were heavy and I had to catch my breathing.

After the race

It was a delight having the event helpers to put on the finisher's medal for you. The finishing is a triumphant moment. I felt I worked hard it. There was this bag of isotonic drink, mineral water, banana and apple given to everyone. One thing about the event is, its a small event and its in Sentosa, there are not much people to cheer you on. Cheerleaders would helped a lot.

I would take time off to learn free-style and take on the full biathlon.

Tibet Preparations

Been some time since I blogged, there will not be too much organization.

Tibet is in turmoil. We are here safe in Singapore but Tibet is under siege. I would not take sides but as a traveler, it is a pity that we have to make changes to accord to the situation. We bought tickets to Chengdu, China anyway and is flying in on 9 May, 2008.

-If the unrest settles down in Tibet on 9 May, we will set foot in it still, fly into Lhasa.
-If Tibet is still in turmoil, that is no way the Chinese government will let travelers access the place. So we will tour a few major China cities and make a fast exit.

Research by Benny-san has shown that past travelers to Tibet had to hide the fact that are traveling to Tibet. The Chinese immigration officers are not willing to let just anyone get into the scared land.

It is not until the 'Tibet turmoil' that I know that Tibet's spiritual leader is living in exile in India. Well, I hope the unrest and protest will stop and both sides will take a peaceful stand on this issue. I hope that the Beijing Olympics will go on smoothly too. Afterall, the stand to many countries is clear,

"Do not let political issues get into the way of a great Sports event."

Very comprehensive coverage on the 'Tibet Turmoil'

7 Marathons In 7 Days 7 continents

Dave Heeley believes in himself.

Dave will be running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

Dave is blind and will be accompanied by his sighted running partner, Malcolm Carr.

7MM _ 7 Magnificent Marathons

This is so exciting and intriguing. This is an amazing idea, a tremendous effort, superhuman powers and teamwork. 7 April 2008 is the date. It has long been carefully planned but the results will be meteorically astonishing. Dave and partner, Carr will be worshiped. The message they want to bring across:
Guide Dogs wants a world in which all blind and partially sighted
people enjoy the same rights, opportunities and responsibilities
as everyone else.


All the way,
Marco

Disillusioned

I was disillusioned over life, not for the fact that I had qualified and not go and participate for my first Biathlon race.

I was disillusioned over my job, over finding the dream job. Been doing nothing for 2 weeks now. Sending resumes, attending interviews, talking to people. Watching 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy. Went for several leisure swim and run sessions.

I was disillusioned over a dream job, something to do, something like I like to be working on, day in, day out.

I found the answer. Follow my bliss. What I would like to do is simple. I had achieved it before but I was just put off by my "dream job". My BLISS is simply, training for marathons, registering for them and going for them. Now there are so many event overseas and it is not limited to Singapore. So, I decided to think out of the box again, overseas marathons.

Travel and do what i enjoy most. So the "dream job" would be something that could satisfy my desire for sports, for travel.

3 things to be Happy

....

.marco. says:
driven? i feel like dying..literally this few days without a job..
Stuart says:
i think we got chemistry.

....

Stuart says:
Quoting Terry,
A man needs 3 things to be happy.
.marco. says:
yah...
Stuart says:
1. Someone to love.
2. Something to do.
3. Something to hope for.
I was blown away by this.
simple but so much truth in it.

........