Referee Fever!

I first started playing soccer when I was in high school in the land where little girls like to giggle. Since returning to Singapore, I've learnt quite a lot about our local branding of soccer "lingo" - most notably, those relating to the least celebrated person on the field : the referee!

For instance, apart from the words "GOAL!" followed by "ole, ole, ole, ole....ole...ole", the two other most common terms that I can think of are :-

Referee Kayu : According to Talking Cock dictionary, kayu means "wood" in Malay, used to suggest stupidity. Hence, no prizes for guessing what "referee kayu" means!

Referee Kelong : No, I don't think this has anything to do with a kelong that a referee lives in. According to the same cock dictionary, "kelong" is a term used to describe any form of cheating or corruption in any competition. Hence, when he or she drives away in a flashy car after a match, you start to wonder if referee.....

Since the World Cup this year, I've learnt a new term :

Shamsul Maidin : According to Wikipedia (no Cock Talking here) (born April 16, 1966) is a football (soccer) referee from Singapore......blah blah blah...He was rated the top referee at the 2006 FIFA World Cup by Soccernet.com

Everyone's been talking about this local sensation.


Mr Brown : Top rated referee in the World Cup at soccernet today

Sivasothi (well known-celebrity) : Shamsul Makes Me Proud to be Singaporean

How does one become a referee anywayz? Well, when I was younger (and fitter?), I was asked by a fellow female soccer mate if I wanted to become one of the first few female soccer referees in Singapore! Having umpired for several Netball games, I didn't think it would be too different? But I think it's a totally different ball game altogether (excuse the pun)...

I was in for a real surprise! I forget what the criteria was (as it was quite a few years ago and I blame my short-term memory loss on my face plant incident) but I remembered having to sign up for a basic referee course with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). A couple of class-room training sessions and written exams on the Rules of the Game later, we were off for our mandatory fitness test! I can't quite remember what the test entailed, but according to an English website on "How to become a ref", the standard FIFA fitness test will involve :-

1. Eyesight test, car number plate at 25 m
2. 50m sprint in less than 7.5 seconds
3. 200m sprint in less than 32 seconds
4. 15 min break
5. A distance run, 12 minutes continuous running covering at least 2,700m

I recalled passing this test and then being interviewed by some newspaper.....hmmm....

Anywayz, it was heavily emphasized during the course that the referee has to be "the" fittest person on the field, having to run to where the "ball" and "action" is, while keeping a tab on what's happening on the rest of the field...and that's where the eyes behind their backs come in with the aid of their linesmen. Not an easy task, if you asked me!

In the words of Shamsul in an interview :

'Being a referee is an art,' he says. 'You have to be physically and mentally strong to handle 22 players, 22 kinds of characters.' He adds: 'I keep reminding myself in a game that I should be above the players in self-control. There's nothing for me to lose, but they get nervous because they have something to win.'

After my physical fitness test, I borrowed a basic black referee uniform, collected a list of items : whistle, little black score book, red and yellow cards, a set of flags etc. and attended my first assignment....a game between 2 men's soccer team, not as a referee but as a linesman (who, as we can see from the Zidane incident, is equally important; who else would have spotted the head butt?) During the game, I remembered being bored to tears! I was itching to play! It was then that I realised that refereeing just wasn't my cup of tea...and besides, the only remarks I got when I took the test back then were exactly the words "Referee Kayu" and "Referee Kelong"! :P
I think it also takes a certain assertiveness and self-confidence in order to do well. If I ever get around to completing my course, the following would be good advice to heed :

".....[Shamsul] reveals that one of the highlights of his career so far was meeting his idol, Portuguese referee Vito Melo Pereira, at the Confederations Cup 2005 in Germany, where Mr Shamsul was also refereeing.

Mr Pereira, 49, offered him this piece of advice: Look sterner. 'He told me: 'In dealing with the mega-stars of football, you come from a smaller country, so it's a disadvantage. When you look at the players, look at their eyes, don't move until they look away. When you show the card, be very, very confident. Once the player is satisfied, let him go first, then you put down the card.''

Well, if the chances of our making it to the World Cup are looking rather dim, there is still light at the end of the tunnel! The FAS offers basic referee courses for working adults ($58.80) / students ($27.30). All candidates (men or women) have to be physically fit, be between the ages of 16 and 34, and be able to speak and write English! If we can't play, at least we can play our cards right!

A fortuneteller told me

A few months ago, a visit to the regular medical clinic for the annual company chest x-ray ended with the most extraordinary experience...

The friendly and cheerful Malay radiographer at the clinic started a conversation with me to pass away the time...or so I thought...

X-Ray Man : "So, are you studying or working?"

Me : "Oh, I've been working for sometime now."

X-Ray Man : (adjusting the radio machine) "So, how is work?"

Me : "It's ok, thank you..."

We continued chatting for while before he gave instructions on how to position my arms etc. Snap....snap....and it was all over in a few seconds. And before he left the room....

X-Ray Man : (pausing for a moment before looking at me reassurringly) "Don't worry, all will be well after July."

He shuts the door.

I scratched my head, wondering where did that come from? worry? about what? work? hmmm....work's been pretty slack since the beginning of the year.... hmmmm....

I quickly slipped out of the robes and back into work wear. I bumped into him before leaving the clinic...

Me : "Nice chatting with you. By the way.........why July?"

X-Man : (looked at my records, from which he probably extracted the information needed for the advice he was about to give)..."Now, Saggitarius is moving backwards.....[and he went on about stars shifting and other stuff you read about in Linda Goodman's astrological bestsellers] and will eventually align with your ruling planet, Jupiter".

Me : (looking rather amused) "Errr...thank you very much for the advice".

I found it hilarious that a radiographer could offer more than even Superman's x-ray vision...a vision of my future! I think I'll dub him "my personal soothsayer"!

That afternoon, a ton of work fell from nowhere and onto my desk! All the marketeers started feeding me with matters marked "urgent"! A big project required me to burn the midnight oil every night and for 3 weekends! Day had become night and night, day! Unbelievable! I thought to meself, when it rains, it pours! Such was the nature of my job! Or was it? Did this have anything to do with the X-Ray Man and his astrological predictions? Who was having the last laugh?

Upon reflection, one never knows in what form foretune-tellers will appear in one's life. I've had my palm read several times, once by a reportedly famous blind Taiwanese fella. I can safety say that most of their predictions were easily forgettable, mostly general speculative statements that could have applied to a dozen other persons.

The most accurate palmreader for me to date was a lady introduced to me by my younger sister, Ping, both of whom are currently residing in a little island called Waiheke in NZ. Faye was born in the 1920s in North Island, NZ and reminded me of a character who had just stepped out of "Little House on the Prairie"! Her life story begs a whole blog of its own!

Anywayz, she said many things which held very true, which unless my sister had blabbered to her about before our meeting, could not have been known to her.

Or did my face and mannerisms hold the answers? Was I so easy to read?

One of the things she warned me about was the hazards of living in the "city". Because I needed to be "close to nature", I had to compensate for the lack thereof by keeping at least 17 plants at home. The first thing I did when I reached home was to count the number of pots I had in my little garden! Ok, I've at least passed that test with flying colours!

My fascination with "fortunetellers", "palm readers" etc. had waned through the years as my "cynism" meter started rising. I pondered about how general prediction statements usually read, and how easily one could be swayed by the words of someone professing to be able to predict another's path in life.

I remembered treating Linda Goodman's Love Signs as the ultimate dating bible - with the pages on which star sign was most compatible with a female Saggitarian being doggy eared! Haha! Looking back, it surely was an entertaining piece of work, but was there an ounce of truth?

I recalled reading the book when I was a teenager...and reading it again 10 years later. I was shocked to re-discover that Linda had specifically mentioned that people of my starsign would, for the love of animals, organise a charity event for organisations such as the SPCA. True enough, a couple friends and I had organised a concert titled "Animania Musique" to raise funds for the SPCA in our early 20s!

Was it a self-fulfilling prophesy? Had I somehow allowed Linda to creep into my sub-concious? Hmmm....I'm no psychology major, and I'm sure debunkers out there will scoff at my silly theories offering a dozen valid explanations....but I'm sure the truth is out there...somewhere, if you really need to know the answers.

For an interesting read about fortune-tellers in our region, I would highly recommend the book "A Fortune-Teller Told Me" by Tiziano Terzani. Extract about the author from Wikipedia :

"Terzani knew much about the historical and political background of Asia, but had also a deep interest in the philosophical aspects of Asian culture. Though an unbeliever, he always looked in his journeys for the spiritual aspects of the countries he was visiting. He lived in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and New Delhi which became his second home. His stay in Beijing came to an end when he was arrested and expelled from the country for "counter-revolutionary activities".

And about the book : Warned by a Hong Kong fortune-teller not to risk flying for a year, Tiziano Terzani, a vastly experienced Asia correspondent, took his first step into an unknown world. Traveling by foot, train, bus, car, and boat, and consulting soothsayers and shamans along the way, Terzani discovered as never before the complex traditions and unexpected delights of the people and lands he had been reporting on for years. "I was marked for death, " writes Terzani, "and instead I was reborn."

I guess I have in my own little way a special connection with Mr Terzani when I first heard about him when I was studying in Japan. His daughter, Saskia Terzani, had just joined our class and we heard that he'd worked for Die Spiegel and had just been expelled from China, fleeing to Japan. Last I read, Tiziano had passed on almost exactly 2 years ago. And I hadn't seen Saskia since high school!

It's the 1st of August, and my workload has tapered down somewhat, though not to the state pre-Mr-X-Ray-soothsayer visit when life was a lot less hazardous!

Maybe it's time to pay another visit to the X-Ray Man to find out what lies ahead for me? But then again, maybe not....:P

Action Asia Challenge 2004

Last weekend. Michael Maddess, Race Director and Course Designer for Action Asia events, raced in the Men's Masters category of the Kent Ridge Mountain Bike Championship 2006 and came in 6th! I doubt he even had time to test the trail as I heard that he had just touched down in Singapore the night before! Madness? No, Maddess!

Anywayz, Team MingLing just can't get 'nuff of all that torture and have just signed our lives away for this year's Action Asia Challenge 2006! *gulp* Evidence that we're suffering from short-term memory loss......it'll all come back to haunt us again when the pain hits us where it hurts most during the race! Yikes!

At least we'll have good company : Becks and Rina are forming an all ladies team, and Tian and Cyen have also decided to jump on the bandwagon! To read more about Tian+Cyen's belated account of the 2004 race, click here.

Then called Team Ming-a-Ling, have yet to complete our write-up of the 2004 race...hope this is not an indication of our snail-paced perfomance this year! Hee hee!

Check out the following articles on the 1st Action Asia Challenge back in 2004...the merlion.......all the squid bodies.....the bridges.....it's all coming back to me now! Double yikes!






39 more days to go before 3 September 2006! *shudders* Only thing I'll be doing consistently from now til then is carboloading on kettle chips! Haha!

Tour de France : The Phil & Paul Talk Show

Can you imagine watching the World Cup in silent mode? Or Tour de France live without the ramblings of a commentator? Worst still, take away the subtitles, the results and anything else in writing which gives you a clue as to what is going on on the screen.

Can we really enjoy broadcast sports without a sports commentator? Well, maybe only if you're sitting in a pub with other thugs with nothing between you and the TV screen but an unlimited supply of beer!

Having watched a couple of World Cup matches and some of the Tour de France stage races, I am totally amazed by the knowledge about the sport and the competitors amassed by the live sports commentators! They are literally walking encyclopaedias who not only know what the hell is going on, but are able to read the game/competition, give their personal assessment / analysis of the situation, and most importantly, be able to entertain and keep their target audience glued to that channel!


Maximuzz and I ventured up north to Genting Highlands in 2005 to catch Stage 5 of Tour de Langkawi. That was when we were fortunate enough to have been introduced to Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen, the Tour de France television commentators. Above (left to right) : Phil, Max, Merciless, Paul and Adele hanging out at a coffee joint, waiting for the cyclists to arrive at the top of Genting Highlands! That was also when I realised that everyone was in love with Koji Fukushima! That's a story for another blog!

To find out more about these gurus of Tour de France sports commentating, go to :- http://www.olntv.com/tdf/article/view/741/?ss=reports&tf=Body.tpl

Things that KRank at ya!

Poster designed by Papa Smurf and Merciless Productions.....




Video by Papa Smurf Productions...



And yet another video by Broken Arm Productions (the fella who coined the term, Steroid Sistas aka Yew Weng)

KR Trail rocks!!!

A word of thanks to NParks (sent via email)...(below, photo of one of my favourite spots - the mossy green rocks, taken by eaglet)

Dear NParks,
C/o Alvin Lok


"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it"
To Kill a Mockingbird

To understand what a mountain biking trail means to a mountain biker, I think it best to see it from the viewpoint of a mountain biker. I am a keen mountain biker who has been mountain biking for over 8 years, and have dedicated 5 years of my life as a volunteer for the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association (SACA).

I will try my best to tell it like it is, based on my experience thus far.

Biking is one of the top 5 sports in Singapore attracting more than 10,000 cyclists; I believe the numbers are growing by the minute. Cyclists who cycle on the roads either do so to commute, to get from point A to point B, as part of their training programme or for the pure enjoyment of cycling. Many "leisure cyclists" prefer congregating at the crowded East Coast and Pasir Ris Parks, or riding along park connectors. Anywhere which is relatively flat, concrete, not remotely close to the hazardous bike-unfriendly roads, you will find these bikers. These paths require very little off-road skills, albeit a decent amount of road savvyness.

The above just about describes the bikers that most of us are familiar with. Many people are not aware that there is more to cycling than meets the eye. There is a creature called the "Mountain Biker". They are generally nature lovers who bike so that they can be close to nature. They take the opportunity to socialise with other like-minded mountain bikers while on the trails. In the process, they get a good work-out bursting their lungs on the uphill, and then feel a sense of satisfaction in negotiating a challenging downhill! It makes them physically and mentally stronger, allows them to bond with other bikers, and promotes a healthy lifestyle!

Many mountain bikers start off on their BMX bikes from as young as 4 years old, and then pick up the sport later when they can afford to buy a mountain bike. We have kids as young as 4 years old joining our youth races! Some start out riding on the Tampines BMX and MTB trail - a good introductory trail to basic off-road cycling. Next, they will attempt Pulau Ubin - which offers a variety of off-road trails to suit beginner to advanced level bikers. As their skills improve, they are ready to take on Track 15 and Chestnut, and then eventually graduate to the mother of all MTB trails in Singapore - the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Mountain Biking Trail, touted to be Singapore's most technical trail. They will continue riding BT every weekend until they master it. So, what's next?

Many mountain bikers are content just riding these same trails for the rest of their lives. Some turn to other trails not sanctioned by the authorities. Others will no longer find these trails challenging and will venture to our neighbouring countries in search of new trails. Some will cross over to road cycling. Some will stop cycling completely. With the few mountain biking trails Singapore has to offer, one would naturally ask : is the sport of mountain biking dying? Well, statistics show that it is very much alive in Singapore!

A few hundred hardcore bikers have ventured into competitive mountain biking and most participate in the SACA races and races in the region. To compensate for the lack of mountain biking trails meeting worldwide competitive standards in Singapore, these bikers will look to regional trails to train and to compete. The Subaru Mountain Biking Championships held in Sentosa attacted 600 participants and 5000 participants over a weekend! That trail was touted to be even more difficult than BT, but unfortunately, part of it has been destroyed to make way for a more lucrative "luge" track! The up and coming sport of adventure racing, such as the Action Asia Challenge, will see more worldwide participants coming to Singapore to take on the multi-sport discipline. This sport will almost always include a mountain biking leg, and the usual biking venues will include the BT, Sentosa or Ubin trails.

It is amazing that our national athletes are able to remain competitive when their skills are pit against the region's best cyclists, given the limited trails on which to practice on; in particular, there are no "mountains" in Singapore. In order to be a world class cyclist, one needs to have the facilities to train on. Some countries rank their trails on a scale of 1 to 6, 6 being the most difficult. None of our trails even come close to reaching 6 or even 5 for that matter! Wouldn't it be great if we had a technical trail in our own backyard where our national atheletes could improve their bike handling skills? They could in turn pass on these skills to our youths who may wish to take on the challenge of winning honours for their school, their club, or maybe even in the long run, our country?

The bikers who have been assisting and consulting with NParks on the Kent Ridge trail are a passionate lot! They all have had extensive experience riding in overseas mountain biking tracks and are more than ready to share their knowledge and give back to Singapore in terms of trail creation! They have been busy gathering information, surfing the net, consulting with other trailbuilders such as IMBA on how best to create biking trails while taking all necessary anti-erosion and safety measures suited for our climate and weather conditions. And they all unanimously gave the KR trail three thumbs up!!! You can almost see the pride in their eyes and hear the lilt in their voices when they speak about the new KR MTB trail!

This infectious disease has spread to the mountain biking community of Singapore, who can't get enough of this new trail! Many are discovering their newfound biking skills, while others are summoning the courage to experience it! About 3 videos have been produced about this trail, the trail has been discussed ad nauseum in biking forums, and bikers are coming in droves to check out what this new trail has to offer!

So, what's my interest in the KR Trail? My fascination with trail creation and maintenance started off in Malaysia when I took part in a biking event at Bukit Kiara located just off KL City. To read more about how that trail was created, you may wish to go to :-http://lingthemerciless.blogspot.com/2005/11/evolution-of-biketrail.html

I then helped to organise the BT Trail Maintenance event 2 years ago, a community project run by mountain bikers! It gave bikers a sense of ownership in the trails on which they ride on, while understanding that a trail is only worth riding on if maintained properly.

I have also been attending the Penang Mountain Bike Jamboree held in Penang since 2002. It is an annual event organised by a Penang bike group where the Penangites get to boast about their awesome mountain biking trails ...and their food! The ride includes a food and heritage ride on a Saturday, followed by a super challenging ride on Sunday! This ride originally attracted 270 participants, and has grown to over 500 bikers from all over Malaysia and even Singapore! It is easily one of the biggest events held in Penang, supported by the government!

To find out more, you may wish to visit these urls :-http://lingthemerciless.blogspot.com/2005/12/penang-jamboree-2002-1-hill-ride.htmlhttp://lingthemerciless.blogspot.com/2005/12/penang-jamboree-2003-expect-unexpected.htmlhttp://lingthemerciless.blogspot.com/2006/01/penang-jamboree-2004-see-u-dare.htmlhttp://lingthemerciless.blogspot.com/2006/01/penang-jamboree-2005-ready-for-more_23.html

I thought to myself : wouldn't it be great if we could organise our very own Singapore MTB Jamboree? Then I thought about the mountain biking trails that we had to offer and decided that the only way we are able to make this work is to create more challenging trails and string all the existing trails together (even the ones which are off-limits to bikers) so that it would be worth the while of overseas bikers to come to Singapore for this event!

Now that we have a new KR MTB trail, I could proudly tell my fellow Malaysian riders that we have a reason to entice them to cross the border to ride in Singapore for a change! I would also advise our local bikers to hone their technical skills at this new trail so that they can at least remain competitive with our friends in the region!

And I am able to do so because NParks has made this happen by giving us another trail that we can be proud of! On behalf of all mountain bikers that I know, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

I will end off with a quote from a famous bike visionary :-

"I live for the moments when the bike just blots itself out, and every little element is singing the same note - me, the bike, the trail, the sky, the dirt. Yes, yes, yes.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is this : ride more.
Get on a bike.
Fall off a bike.
Leave something of yourself in it.

Does a bike have a soul? Only if you do."

I say, does a mountain biker have a soul? Only if a good trail is in the equation!

Avid Mountain Biker (hopefully with a soul)

Shelley's Weirdos

It seemed like just yesterday that we went to visit Maximuzz' relatives in Perth! Now the kids are all grown up...and much much much taller than I am! Sigh!

Thankfully, their youth and innocence were captured in 2 home videos which I made just for laughs. I knew I could count on the Eramanis for a hilariously good time!

Shelley's Weirdos Part 1



Shelley's Weirdos Part 2

Snake and Ladders!

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Kent Ridge Trail

Another Cheap n' Quick Production by Mingloid!



I managed to ride most of the new Kent Ridge Mountain Bike Trail today! Woo hoo! Trailbuilding has its privileges! :)

What Makes Grown Men Cry?

The answer? Working your ass off for the past 4 years, and then having your hopes shattered as someone else steals your chance of clinching the worldcup championship title in your homeland! And that is exactly what Italy did to Germany, last 2 minutes prior to the anticipated penalty shoot-out! The score, Italy vs German, 2-0! I wonder whether they will suffer a double-whammy after playing Portugal tonight!

Ah, frailty, thy name is soccer player....especially the English ones who tend to tear a lot!

Many soccer fans I know beg to differ, arguing that most of these players are overrated and grossly overpaid blokes who only train with their teammates a few months leading up to the big international event! Otherwise, most of the big names are busy making a living playing in the league games...and gettin' paid for them!

I've actually watched the Germans play live in the last FIFA World Cup held on 21 June 2002! I was in Korea for a working trip and told me MD, "hey, if you don't need me after this meeting, I'm outta here! Gotta get meself a ticket to the Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, pronto."

Needless to say, I was headed for the Germany vs USA game, which saw Germany's defeat over the USA 1-0 - which was also their ticket to advance to the semi-finals. I wasn't a big German or USA fan, but just wanted for once in my lifetime to attend a World Cup game live, and this was my big chance!

Our Korean clients were pleased that I showed such interest in soccer in their homeland, and assisted me in finding my "black market" ticket in the last hour! Couldn't remember how much they were, but I knew they definitely weren't cheap!!! Was it worth it? Every KWon of it!

Given my pathetic knowledge about the who's who in the soccer fraternity (shocking for an avid soccer player), the only German players that I kinda knew were Michael Ballack, who celebrated his 39th minute goal, and the German captain and keeper Oliver Kahn! Didn't even know the US were such strong opponents, even though I believe soccer is a game which most American junior and high school students play before they migrate to more lucrative sports like American Football, baseball etc. etc.

Anywayz, I checked out of the hotel, lugged my Samsonite suitcase with me, hopped onto the local bus, which took me from Seoul to Ulsan. I was going to catch the next bus or train back the next morning after the game to catch the early morning flight back to Singapore.

On the bus, I realised there was a group of Korean men who were travelling together. No prizes for guessing that they were headed for the soccer game in Ulsan! I tried chatting with the gentleman who sat next to me in broken English. He later introduced himself as a professor. Oh, educated one! Another spoke good American English, so I started chatting with he who later became the translator. I was told they were colleagues working at a finance company. And I left it at that. In the photo above, that's me with the Professiore on my right, and the English-expert on my left.

Being in a foreign country, where two other foreign countries are playing, I guess it just didn't have that "kick" as opposed to if I had been there when the hometeam from South Korea was playing against a foreign team. But the supportive US and German fans made up for it....all those fancy costumes, face painting and country flags! Brilliant! Would I have painted my face with the Singaporean flag if it were Singapore playing xxx? Lemme revisit that question if it happens! :P

My new Korean friends kept asking me where I was sitting, if they could help me carry my suitcase, where I was from, what I was doing there all by meself etc....and I thought, "hey, what a buncha caring folk!" When we entered the stadium, I realised they knew many of the security guards who were on duty. I asked where they were seated, and they couldn't tell me, so I made my way to my seat and waited for the game to start.


Lo and behold, the Korean contingent appeared and took their seats next to me! "What a coincidence", I thought to meself. But I was glad to see familiar faces.

The game was all that I'd expected! It was a blast! Just wished that I had my soccer friends with me for the ultimate experience! Part of the enjoyment of watching sports for me is to enjoy the moment with those who share the same passion for the sport. Well, these Korean folk who have been kind made up for it!

I took the same train back to Seoul with one of the Korean dudes. That was when he disclosed to me that he and his friends were from "internal security" and that attending the game was just part of their duty! And my fellow busmate was a professor of "criminology", who was probably psycho-analyzing me and wondering what the heck was a single Singaporean girl doing going to watch a soccer game all by herself, with that suspicious looking bag! Hmmm.....

Apparently, the South Koreans decided to upgrade their security arrangements for the 2002 World Cup following September 11th. "International terrorists may use the world’s biggest festival as an opportunity for committing terror to make demands and achieve their goals," a KOWOC spokesperson said.

The new measures were to include no-fly zones over its stadia, increased monitoring of the coastline, beefed-up security at industrial facilities and airports, reinforced cooperation with American, British and Japanese intelligence, as well as the banning of known or suspected terrorists. It was reported that security will also be stepped up inside and outside all World Cup venues with the deployment of special anti-terrorist squads!

I never found out whether I was on their list of "suspicious characters" but hey, at least I can say I've rubbed shoulders with Korean internal security while watching one of the greatest competitions on earth live! I didn't see any of the Germans or Americans cry though from where I was sitting! Perhaps the Samsung LCD screen advert really does speak the truth! Stay home, and you won't miss a thing on TV!

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle! I want to ride my....

The first promotional video I made for the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association (SACA). I was so inspired by the gathering of the different biking disciplines (or tribes) under one roof in 2003 that that moment had to be documented.

Designed most of these posters too with the help of my shifu, Ah Bong!

Howard Hall Productions!

Ok, these Howard Hall videos have definitely inspired me to put together me long-overdue Galapagos video, many thanks to Davy Koh for forwarding me this link!

Me thinks high def underwater videos are the way to go! Am salivating already!

I want to be Howard Hall's slave! Hire me, hire me!!! :P

Creepy Crawlies

Ok Siva, what the heck is this incredible emerald-green winged creature that I bumped into while huffing and puffing my way up the Cameron Highlands Jim Thompson trail?


One moment, it was a little grasshopper-like insect. The next, it spread its wings and started crawling very slowly on the sandy floor. Intruiging!

Since i'm putting me toes into the realm of the land creepy crawlies, this is a spider that made its home in one of the petrol kiosk stops up north from Perth. Lovely little Eight Leg.


And something closer to home, this slender spider crossed me path while I was rekkeing the new proposed bike park at Ubin in the Western part of Ubin.


This brings back fond childhood memories of my conducting experiments at home as a sadistic kid...ok, so it was part of my private science experiment. I'd catch spiders and flies the size of the spiders and chuck them in the same bottle to see who wins the battle? Does size really matter? Well, I did a search on the web (no pun intended) and found out that the spider doesn't always win.

"Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly.....but little did the spider know......" (food for thought)!

Maybe my next post will be about cockroaches! I know some folks who can't even stare at a picture of a flying cockroach! Guess Fear Factor's major out of these guys! Hee hee!

Comic Soccer

Thanks Mag for sending me this link! This video serves as a reminder to us soccer players that NOT ALL really really good soccer players are invincible! They DO fumble!



This made me recall the time I played soccer at NUS back in the early 90s. Someone kicked the ball directly into my eye from only a few metres away! (can't remember which eye though....maybe it affected me brains too)....but thanfully, no major injury, I can still see.

The next day, after a job interview, I could see a "waterlevel" rise in that eye. Before I knew it, I was blind in one eye! Gulp!

My bro-in-law introduced me to an eye doctor, who confirmed that I was suffering from an hyphema (bleeding of the eye) . Prescription? To relack for 2 weeks without moving my head too much to let the blood coagulate and heal! So, me put on me Stevie Wonder glasses and stayed put for 2 friggin' weeks! Was told it could lead to longer term effects for me eyes, but am crossing my fingers (and hopefully not me eyes)!

So trust me, it ain't fun when you get a soccer injury that causes REAL injury!

Since we're all suffering from the World Cup fever, think will write a little about my experience when I watched the US vs Germany game in Korea during the last World Cup! :)

Team Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr reports!

Ok, Team Grrrrrrr comprises Chiku, AhmatChi and Chi-B** (a multiple personality team).....(that's him on the left, and Lopez on his left....photo taken by Janice)....

It didn't take much persuasion to get this one-man team to take up the challenge of the solo Nomad Adventure Sprint category for the Eco-X race over the weekend!

Amazing thing was that he drove all the way to KL and back, ferrying the Angels, their race gear and their bikes! To think that one of the things on his mind while struggling back to the finish line was none other than "oh no? How will the Angels get their change of clothes? I have the car keys?" Awwww......how thoughtful of ya, Chiku! You truly ARE our bossley!

Team Grrrrrr reporting

The air horn goes off and the Kiasu category (Excapade) racers disappeared off into the distance at the start of their mountain bike leg. The Sprinters were then turned around to face the other way and without much fanfare, we headed off towards our first CP, some walking, others jogging, and one little lady pounding along.

I started jogging and fell into my natural rhythm of what I figured would be a sustainable race pace. Govinder, a Navy fella introduced to me by Ming and Ken, joined me and we were about 5th from the lead. Slowly but surely, we caught up and became the first two sprinters. Learning from previous experience, I knew that the bottle necks would be at the waterfall, abseil and rafting sections, especially if you start having newbie sprinters in front of you, and if the Excapade teams caught up.

The plan was to stay in front so that we could clear these sections without much of a queue. As Govinder was a much faster runner, I asked him to go ahead while I kept to my pace. When I reached the car park, I saw him gesturing that he had found the path to take.

Mistake number 1 - I assumed that he had found the right path and followed him without checking my instructions.

So we head off into the jungle, attacked by leeches and getting ever further from the river. I called a stop to it after about 15 minutes citing that we should be right next to the river instead of heading away from it. We turned around and headed back down to the river. We met up with a group of 3 women sprinters who were lost so we took them under our wing and attempted to find the path.

This was quickly done and by the time I reached the waterfall, there were more than 10 sprinters in front of me! So much for my plan of staying in front. These sprinters were mainly beginners and watching them try to ascend the waterfall was painful. It was wet and slippery and people were sliding all over the place banging themselves silly on the rocks. I was impatient to ascend but the marshals would not let me cut the queue.

There was a lady who was stuck at a section for 20 minutes before she relented and moved to the side so others could pass. As the minutes ticked by, I kept glancing at my watch figuring that the fastest of the Excapade teams would reach us within 1 hour and 45 minutes. If I wasn't already on the waterfall by then, the hopes of climbing it would fade pretty quickly as the Excapade teams came fast and furious.

Mistake number 2 - There was a gap in the Sprinters where I could have gone up because they had run out of slings and prussicks. But only if I had the right equipment on me! Unfortunately, although I had a harness and 2 crabs, I was missing the slings and prussick cord.

Since I didn't, I just sat around listening to some girl scream about leeches attacking her butt yelling, "Take it off! Ahhhhhh! Help!" I was disappointed when I saw the first male Excapade team turn up as I knew that the others could not be very far away. True to form, Team Slack soon turned up and so did Team Angels. I knew then that the Angels were the first women's team to reach the waterfall. It was great seeing them but at the same time, I knew that I was not going up that waterfall.

Soon enough, after about a 1.5 hour wait, the nice ang moh lady came around and took away my slings saying that they were needed at the abseil site. Damn, I had already reached a point where I was fourth in line to go up the waterfall! I got a No Go written on my passport and headed for the abseil section with Govinder. As I left, I saw Team Slow Smurfs make their way up towards the waterfall CP. I shouted out some words of encouragement to them. I told Gov to go ahead and after two "no lah, I'll wait for you," I would not see him again until much later in the jungle hike.

So I jogged/walked until I reached the start of the jungle hike. It's lonely racing alone because you have no one to push you on. Singing to myself just didn't cut it.

Before the jungle track, I caught up with and passed the 2nd male team to reach the waterfall. Unfortunately, they weren't interested in chatting with me. By the time I reached the jungle track, I had caught up with another group of women sprinters who had skipped the waterfall climb. I chatted with the last one named Joanne. She was from KL and had been persuaded by friends to join this. Wee little girl so she needed help with getting up that slippery muddy slopes from hell.

Bamboo and thorny palms everywhere. Steep. Off camber path. Mud, mud and more mud. At least the conversation was interesting. This never ending hike was a real pain. I left Joanne to the company of her friends, overtook them, and bumped into Gov hiking with two other women sprinters, one of which was cheerfully screaming about bugs, thorns, mud and other stuff. I needed the peace so headed to the front and stayed ahead.

Pretty soon, Team Slack caught up again and passed by. They looked strong and were going pretty fast. A little later, I was passed by a team of 4 Frenchmen. I didn't know you could form a team of 4? Or maybe it was two teams of two?

I reached the abseil CP and submitted my passport for the Sprint abseil. I was well out of water by then and was getting dehydrated. Luckily for me, Gov had water in his hydration pack that he hadn't drunk from and had kindly offered it to me. He must carry that just for training.

I started filling my water bag when Team Angels turned up looking none the worse for wear. We talked and I gave them a few packets of rehydration salts. The effusive sprinter lady, who had turned up, started screaming her head off about a leech. I think it was Rebecca who asked her not to scream so loudly as it was only a leech. Her calmer friend took aim with a can of OFF and sprayed enough to make the leech fall off. Soon, the Angels were off to do their abseil while I waited in a queue for my equipment.

When my turn came, I climbed to the abseil point and quickly finished the "ho hum, move along, nothing to see here" abseil. Really boring compared to the abseil in the Perak race.

Once down, I collected my passport and dashed off towards the rafting point. By the time I reached it, I was stuck for another hour because there were no sprinters or rafts to be found. There was another women's team there and I ended up chatting with one of them named Pauline. She mentioned that she knew Rina and Rebecca from before. One of her team mates had taken a spill off the bike and had some major road rash. Out came my first aid kit and after a short while, with help from another member and an all male team, her wound was all dressed and she was ready to raft.

Time passed by quickly because in addition to chatting with Pauline about her future ultramarathon attempt in Chile, I was discussing with the all male team about the techniques of mountain biking. They were from Singapore and had told me that they sucked at mountain biking.

By the time the rafts arrived, I was teamed with another two sprinters and we started down the river on our raft. I sat at the rear while the guy sat in front. Another girl sat in the middle. I have been called bulky by some who shall remain nameless but I can't believe that it was because of that that our raft kept getting stuck on the rocks. Exactly beneath where I was seated. :-(

As we made our way down river, the guy in front lost his stick. I threw mine to him and we continued for a little while before getting jammed sideways in a rock. It got a little dangerous at this point because during the manoeuvre to free the raft, the force of the water on the raft was so strong that it forced me under water for a while. Upon surfacing, the raft was well and truly stuck.

The three of us working in concert could not budge it. It took a guy from another team to come and help us dislodge it. In the process, we lost our steering stick. Luckily, I saw one stuck vertically in the river and grabbed it managing to free it. My male rafting partner also nearly got decapitated in another incident. Too much excitement for one day.

I decided to head to the front and steer. It was much better that way as I had more body weight (ahem) to use to steer the raft. We helped another team get free before getting stuck again due to the actions of a race helper who was standing in the river. He reached out to grab our raft and in the process, turned it enough to get it wedged sideways in some big rocks. This was a deep area of water, at least up to my neck and the other two could not stand at all. I pushed them towards the bank while the race helper called three other Malay men to help. In the process of getting the raft freed, they broke one of the bars that held the raft together at the back.

Back on the raft, I was now in front, girl in the middle with the guy at the back holding the raft together by straddling it with his legs. As we floated down river, I felt the raft slowly giving way. I did not know why until I turned around and saw the guy wincing in pain as his soft bits got caught in the ever widening bamboo poles. The girl in the middle was also getting pinched and she was falling through a split in the middle of the raft. I decided then and there to abandon the raft so as not to risk any unnecessary injury.

I told them to jump off when it was shallow and we watched the raft tear itself into two pieces joined at one end and slowly spin down the river. Having no idea where the end of the rafting section was, we made our way onto the main road. I decided to jog the rest of the way back to the finish line and left the other two to walk back. They looked tired and a little sore from the experience. Before leaving them, I told them what landmark to look for to do a right turn towards the end CP - the Tenaga Nasional power substation. As I started jogging back, it was about 1.5kms before I passed another two male teams who appeared out from a side road. That meant two more kilometres left.

The two thoughts in my mind were that the teams that I came up to KL with (Teams Angels, Slack and Smurfs) might be a little worried about my wellbeing, and that I had the key to the car with the Angels' clothes and shower stuff in it! That made me move from a slow shuffle to a faster jog.

I arrived back to a warm welcome from Team Smurfs, Max, Gov, and the rest. First thing out of my bag was the car key so that the Angels could go shower. I was tired. Mostly from the event, but also from having to wait at the bottleneck CPs for quite a bit of time. I think the waterfall route could have been better for the Sprinters if there was an easier alternate route that the Sprinters could switch to once the Excapade teams caught up.

Would I do it alone again? Probably not. Too effing boring. Would I ever do another adventure race? At this moment, I think not. Too hard on my body. But that may change once the body has recovered and my memory of the pain has faded. Maybe I should write it down so that I don't forget. Like what I'm doing now. I dunno about you people but I can barely keep my eyes open today and walking down stairs hurts my quads and glutes. Oww oww oww.

The end.

[Merciless : I'm sure we ain't seen the last of Team Grrrrrrr yet.....post race aches might be a little daunting, but he'll be back for more! Muah hahahahaha!

Check out Janice's race report and album too! The Angels are compiling ours so look out for it!]

Not Chicken Little, but the Big Cock talking!

A couple years back, I bit the bullet and left my bread-n-butter job to pursue this thing called "filmmaking".

I was lucky to have crossed paths with Pin Pin when she needed to put together a small production team for her "Moving House" documentary! Learning from this great local masterfilmmaker was an eye-opening experience!

Then came my first foray into moviemaking. I hadn't seen Colin for years, and so it was great that they needed a draftsman (you know, the black and white stuff you draft so that others can sign their lives away? heh heh!)

And so, TalkingCock - The Movie (of Talking Cock fame) was my first taste of local filmmaking - in a most unorthodox fashion! To learn more about how Colin and Joyce went about with their craft, read this!

I jumped in round about the middle of production, and before you knew it, one thing led to the next and I was doubling up as treasurer (errr, what does a legally trained person know about numbers? hmmm), van-driver, clapper, coolie etc. etc.....since there was not much of production time left, my involvement spilled into post-production....sound, music and movie soundtrack production....which involved doing fun things like scouting around for good local music (esp calling up your talented musician kakis and telling this "hey, this could be your lucky break!), hanging out at liquidfire (know it sounds like a club, but it's actually da cool music studio with lots of cool sound equipment), and seeing a movie come to fuition! It was also the time when my hokkien improved by leaps and bounds (esp in the forbidden vocab dept)!

The movie did not play in the local theatres as long as we'd hoped, but hey, it's not too late to catch it again! It's screening again this Wed 21 June 2006 @ Gallery Theatre, National Museum!

Check out the Schedule for this movie and other local films including Pin Pin's Singapore GaGa....

Support our local filmmakers! :)

Evolution of a BikeTrail - The Video

This was one of 4 videos in my Kiara CD which kickstarted my video-editing moonlighting career! Heh heh! Was half way through editing Kiara CD2 but gave up halfway when my computer kept crashing on me! :P

Wanna know more about the mysterious bikerdudes in the video, go to the related blog : Evolution of a BikeTrail

Goodwill Hunting

Related Blogs :
Dances with Sharkmen
Dances with Sharkmen 2

Dances with Sharkmen 2

Cont'd from Dances with Sharkmen 1

My Chek Jawa video gave me confidence; what I was doing could make a difference.

At the David Doubilet and Stan Waterman presentations back in 2002, I was introduced to Victor Wu by a diver friend codename : Fat Allan. I learnt that Victor worked for an NGO called WildAid and he was the sole representative in Singapore. His speciality? Sharks!

As a kid, I grew up eating sharks fin soup. No questions asked. It was a dish that was served at special occasions, an expensive dish fit only for an emperor. I never asked how it got there, how it was killed, what happens to the rest of the shark!

It wasn't til I took up diving and started watching National Geographic and Discovery Channel that I learnt more about this dish that I'd been consuming all these years. Meeting Vic, someone who's dedicated his life to a great cause right here in Singapore, was awe-inspiring! And Singapore, a country where sharks fin is fast becoming a staple for any sort of occasion with a cause to celebrate, needs a hero.

Fat Allan and I spent some time discussing with Victor about how we could help the cause against shark-finning. We came up with a game plan to conduct a survey to collect data about your regular Singaporean's knowledge about sharks and their sharks-fin eating habits. We devised a list of questions which we'd solicited strangers on the street to fill in during WildAid public events. We also sent a mass email soliciting answers from family and friends. This project was eventually abandoned when someone broached the issue that the data collected probably couldn't be used as we did not engage a professional survey company. And most of the friends / relatives forwarded were probably conservationists, so we would effectively be receiving data from the converted!

What else could I do?

In early October that year, WildAid embarked on a Whaleshark Balloon Tour in 2002 which saw a life-sized 16 metre helium-filled whaleshark tour 3 major countries. The "Axis of Evil" (as definned sharks would have coined them) where sharks fin is in high demand : Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. The tour was to end at the Cites 2002 meeting held from 3 - 15 November 2002 in Santiago, Chile. Important decisions for the protection of shark species were to be voted on at this meeting. It was the first time I'd ever heard of CITES!

Victor had taken footage of local celebrities in Taiwan and Hong Kong and asked if I could help with the Singaporean leg. I snuck out during lunchtime and ran towards the Singapore Cricket Club where a press conference was held. Lo and behold, our celebrity was none other than Gurmit Singh, whom I'd video-ed at several Camp Sunshine events organised for terminally-ill children. Good on ya, Phua Chu Kang! I captured footage of Gurmit speaking passionately about whalesharks at the Padang where the balloon was anchored.

But I still lacked footage of a real-life whaleshark swimming in its natural habitat! I'd seen whalesharks and other sharks countless of times during my prior dive trips, but I hadn't taken up videography back then! Well, if I didn't have the footage, I can't wait for it to fall from the sky! Go out there and grab it!

The end of the year marks the start of the monsoon where whaleshark sightings are almost guaranteed during weekend dive trips to Anambas. When veteran diver Davy Koh mentioned there was a trip leaving late October 2002, I immediately jumped on that opportunity! Despite my second-hand housing equipment going on strike on me, I managed to capture decent footage of the little whaleshark that miraculously appeared as if an answer to my prayers! A delightful report of the trip was written by a fellow German lady technie diver by the name of Rose.

Armed with sufficient beauty whaleshark footage, I did a short promo piece called "The Kiss" which was screened at the next WildAid event held at Hard Rock Cafe, Singapore. Victor then spoke to the audience about what transpired at the CITES meeting with accompanying footage. In hindsight, HRC was probably not the best place as the noise got heavier and the crowds got rowdier.

Victor passed me a bunch of tapes, including footage of local Indian fishermen hunting and killing whale sharks taken by internationally reknown filmmaker Mike Pandey in 1999, and of the "tofu" shark (as it is known in Taiwan) being prepared by a chef in Taiwan. We went through a several drafts of the a script incorporating the whaleshark balloon tour video and the CITES outcome. I thought I didn't have sufficient footage of the whaleshark killing and almost engaged a cartoonist friend to re-enact those scenes. I dropped the cartoon idea as it just took up too much time.

Next, how to source for original music which fits the bill. Leonard Ng, a fellow lawyer by profession, is a prolific musician and had produced a couple of CDs. I have always loved his songs, and I didn't think twice about using the other songs in his album for this video. He was always generous in giving his support. I was such a slave to his music that I plonked his songs on the editing timeline and then began to choose the images. I would listen to his CD repeatedly on my way to work and picture in my head how to fit footage to music. I also approached another musician, Neil of local band NightSound, for the closing song. For the fillers, I just rented a Korg Karma and tinkered around with the range of musical instruments.

Next on the list - how to convey the message to the audience? Voiceover or words? I always preferred the former, as the latter was too high a variable and could make or break the mood of the short film. I called upon my copywriter friend, Camelia, who conducted extensive research on the topic before spending a couple of nights in front of my computer discussing which words to use.

When it all came together, I tested the impact of the video on my then housemate and a couple of friends. The silence and teary-eyed look on their faces at the end of the screening convinced me....the video mattered! :)

Vic has since moved onto another NGO and sadly, without a replacement for the Shark Conservation Program. I really suck at marketing and am quite a pathetic public speaker, so I'd jsut have to let my videos do the talking....and others like Siva who was able to bring the video to the masses with his superb oratorical prowess.

If you feel moved by the message about the plight of the sharks, please forward the video to others you feel the need to share it with.

So sweet the KISS!

Lyrics of song "Within" by Leonard Ng / Sarah Cocks

Related blogs
Whaleshark Fever
Goodwill Hunting
Whale....shark...where's my camera?
Dances with Sharkmen
If you snooze, you lose
Anambas