Last Saturday was the long awaited wedding of Johnson and Yock Chin. Thank God that everything turned out well, in the midst of the logistical nightmare that surrounded the wedding. It was also the PHS Carnival on the same day (so there were thousands of people in school, both students and guests), and at night, their dinner was held at the Grand Plaza Hotel, which is near Funan Centre. Unfortunately it was also the day of the full dress rehearsal for the National Day Parade held at the Padang, so most of the surrounding roads were closed. Despite these obstacles, most of the guests managed to turn up on time for both church wedding as well as the dinner.
I started the day with Johnson at 7am, as the best man-cum-designated driver. It was a long tiring day, but it was a great joy to be part of the celebration, and I was privileged to be able to be by their side most of the day, as they went through the various ceremonies. The church was beautifully decorated, thanks to the hard work of Elena and team, who had spent most of Friday afternoon and evening turning our already beautiful sanctuary into a garden of hanging vines, candlelit pathways and lovely flowers.
The word was shared with us by Pastor Maggie, who very creatively wove into the message both the colour theme of the wedding (green) and the important message of how our God draws us near to him in his love. Pastor Maggie had stepped in at the last minute after we had found out that Elder Paul would not be around for the wedding.
This wedding was special because there was not one but TWO special items. First, in church there was a video clip shown where Micky and Sandra had gotten many of our church members to hum love tunes to wish the couple well. It was wonderfully received and brought tears to the eyes of the couple. And then during the dinner, some of us managed to surprise the couple by putting up an a capella song item by Micky, Joe, Clement and myself.
To Mr and Mrs Johnson Tan, our blessings and wishes that God will continue to hold them in the palm of his hand as they begin their married life together. Photos will no doubt be out soon, and I will endeavour to post them on this blog for all of you. The couple will leave for their honeymoon in NZ for 11 days next week.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
TRi Photos
The photos for the triathlon are out. Naturally this year as part of my training routine, I have also practiced posing for photos knowing full well from last year that they would catch me in all sorts of grotesque facial contortions as I huffed and puffed my way through it, so I must say I'm quite pleased with some of the photos. As you can see, the cool, practised thumbs up has paid dividends, even though I was on the verge of collapse....
Follow this link, and key in my competitor number, which is 1361, and you can see all the photos.
www.sportsphotox.com
Follow this link, and key in my competitor number, which is 1361, and you can see all the photos.
www.sportsphotox.com
Sunday, July 03, 2005
TRI'd it again
I must be getting mad as I grow older, as I signed up once again for the OSIM Triathlon which was just held over the previous weekend. This time round, I signed up for the Sprint event, which is a half distance triathlon, comprising a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run. Sounds mad I know, but my wife has always said that there is a masochistic streak in me, and truth to tell, I do realise that myself.
Honestly, I have since my NUS days wanted to take part and complete a proper triathlon and in many ways it was a dream come true for me to do this. I have been training for the event for about three months, and it felt so good to cross the finish line on Saturday after all that intense preparation. I had set myself a target of between 1hr 50 mins and 2 hours, and I came in at 1 hr 56mins, based on official timing, which is perfect. I had to make some adjustments for a last minute change in bike, (see below), but in any case, it was within my target. I am quite happy with myself, and its an achievement for me. Perhaps I will do it again next year, and improve on my timing.
What I enjoy most about the triathlon is that it is a multi-disciplinary race. Those of you who know me will know that I am someone who likes to dabble in different things and have a short attention span for any one particular subject (I know, I used to drive my teachers crazy!) because I would pick up something very quickly, become competent (but never excellent) at it, and find something else to do. Examples...I can play the drums, the guitar and the piano, but none particularly well. I can play tennis, badminton, squash, bowl, football, hockey....but none particularly well....you get the drift? So, the triathlon is an ideal sport for me, because it forces me to be competent enough in each sport to survive a gruelling trial. Take it from me, its no joke to swim 750m in the sea and then get on a bike and pedal 20km, and THEN run 5km....
I must also thank God for His wonderful timing as usual. I'd borrowed a racing bike from my friend in preparation for the race, and as I was making final equipment checks on Friday night, I'd realised that I had a flat tire on the bike! This was almost 11pm, and naturally I was panicking and trying to figure out what to do, as I would have been really dissappointed if I'd had to miss the race. I ended up calling around, but to no avail, until finally in the morning at 7.30 I got in touch with Jeffrey Chua from our church who was also doing the triathlon but the mini event. I would have been able to take the bike from him after he'd finished, but it would be a rental bike and a mountain bike at that, which would have meant much heavier than the racer I'd been planning to use. Over 20km, this can be a substantial difference in timing. And it would also have been cutting it very very fine, as Jeff's event probably ended about 10.15, and mine would have started at 10.30.
Thank God, at 8.15, as we were getting into the car to go, my friend called, and upon hearing my plight, immediately offered to lend me his $1,000 mountain bike! Although not ideal, it was still much better than a rental bike, and it was much lighter too. So I picked it up, and zoomed off down to the triathlon at East Coast. It was really in the nick of time.
Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of doing this again next year but in a faster time (I can hear Elena going "I knew it!"). Immediately after the event, I promised myself I wouldn't do this again ever...she said, give it six months and you'll have forgotten the pain. See, she knows me better than I know myself....but next event on the horizon is the Standard Chartered Marathon at the end of the year, for which we are running the 10km. That's where all the training is going....
Honestly, I have since my NUS days wanted to take part and complete a proper triathlon and in many ways it was a dream come true for me to do this. I have been training for the event for about three months, and it felt so good to cross the finish line on Saturday after all that intense preparation. I had set myself a target of between 1hr 50 mins and 2 hours, and I came in at 1 hr 56mins, based on official timing, which is perfect. I had to make some adjustments for a last minute change in bike, (see below), but in any case, it was within my target. I am quite happy with myself, and its an achievement for me. Perhaps I will do it again next year, and improve on my timing.
What I enjoy most about the triathlon is that it is a multi-disciplinary race. Those of you who know me will know that I am someone who likes to dabble in different things and have a short attention span for any one particular subject (I know, I used to drive my teachers crazy!) because I would pick up something very quickly, become competent (but never excellent) at it, and find something else to do. Examples...I can play the drums, the guitar and the piano, but none particularly well. I can play tennis, badminton, squash, bowl, football, hockey....but none particularly well....you get the drift? So, the triathlon is an ideal sport for me, because it forces me to be competent enough in each sport to survive a gruelling trial. Take it from me, its no joke to swim 750m in the sea and then get on a bike and pedal 20km, and THEN run 5km....
I must also thank God for His wonderful timing as usual. I'd borrowed a racing bike from my friend in preparation for the race, and as I was making final equipment checks on Friday night, I'd realised that I had a flat tire on the bike! This was almost 11pm, and naturally I was panicking and trying to figure out what to do, as I would have been really dissappointed if I'd had to miss the race. I ended up calling around, but to no avail, until finally in the morning at 7.30 I got in touch with Jeffrey Chua from our church who was also doing the triathlon but the mini event. I would have been able to take the bike from him after he'd finished, but it would be a rental bike and a mountain bike at that, which would have meant much heavier than the racer I'd been planning to use. Over 20km, this can be a substantial difference in timing. And it would also have been cutting it very very fine, as Jeff's event probably ended about 10.15, and mine would have started at 10.30.
Thank God, at 8.15, as we were getting into the car to go, my friend called, and upon hearing my plight, immediately offered to lend me his $1,000 mountain bike! Although not ideal, it was still much better than a rental bike, and it was much lighter too. So I picked it up, and zoomed off down to the triathlon at East Coast. It was really in the nick of time.
Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of doing this again next year but in a faster time (I can hear Elena going "I knew it!"). Immediately after the event, I promised myself I wouldn't do this again ever...she said, give it six months and you'll have forgotten the pain. See, she knows me better than I know myself....but next event on the horizon is the Standard Chartered Marathon at the end of the year, for which we are running the 10km. That's where all the training is going....
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