To Vienna and Back

The week past so quickly bcos I was in Vienna for the biannual global meeting. The meeting was for 2.5 days and I spent the remaining 2 days getting to Vienna and back. So freaking far.

My flight at slightly past midnight and Daddy Lim had the honor to tuck the kids to bed on Sunday night, as well as the many more nights to come. Hoho.

The joy of global meeting = business class flight!

Where I could sleep, eat and watch movies in peace.

I caught 6 hours of sleep but ended up with a stiff neck that plagued me the entire week. Zzzzz. Nevertheless, the flight was still a mega pleasure. I also caught 3.5 movies. Woohoo!

Transit was at Zurich, which I was familiar with.

The connecting flight was bumpy but I arrived at Vienna safe and sound.

I had a couple of hours to burn while waiting for my colleague to arrive from Indonesia before making our way to the hotel. I had MacCafe only to realise how much better the coffee in Singapore is.

It was winter in Vienna and the weather was freaking cold. I refused to bring my 美美 Zara trench coat bcos the meeting is mostly indoor and I didnt want to spend $$ to dry clean after a couple of uses. I though I could survive with a light jacket and luckily I heeded ah yee's advice to bring along her left behind coat bcos it was ass freezing cold.

When my colleague finally arrived, we took the CAT and then the metro to the hotel, all in the name of experience. We should have stuck to a cab instead bcos it was drizzling when we arrived at the metro station and the hotel was like 8 mins away. Not only was a coat necessary, I even added my light jacket beneath. The cold was bad especially when the wind blew.

We did make it to the hotel safe and sound after overshooting and u-turn back. Bcos it was so cold, we ended up hiding in the room instead; I even stole a quick nap. The dinner date didnt happen as various meetings were taking place. I ordered room service instead. Look at my fat steak. Happy! Happy! Happy!

I went to bed at 10pm only to wake up at 3am. Jet lag lah but I had my k drama to accompany me, even in the wee hours. I did manage to go back to sleep again.

The 2.5 days went in a flash. It was intense meetings and meetings and dinners.

On the 3rd night was a gala dinner and we were to dress up as somebody who inspired us.

Who was I? Meghan Trainor in Me Too! She has a giraffe onsie and I happily stole the unicorn onsie that I bought for Lil Shauna for USJ. I had wanted to be Katy Perry in Last Friday Night only to realise how difficult it is to find a neon pink top and neon green skirt.

The dinner was a lot of fun and the bus trip from the hotel to the resturant was my 1st stepping out after arrival. Lol.

The meeting ended on Thursday pm and I had 1 hour of free time before the flight home. I roamed the streets with my colleagues. The weather was fabulous.

I only had time for 1 attraction and went to the famous church.

Then it was to the airport for HOME!

The trip home was uneventful. I had wanted to stay up for the movies but my eyelids refused to cooperate with me. I still got to catch 3 movies in the end. Hohoho.

Did I get jetlag back in Singapore? Well, I went to bed at about 11pm. Thank goodness for my ability to sleep anywhere and to sleep alot. Lol. But I was tired on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. It took me extra effort to get up for cycling and the treadmill.

Anyhow, I am happy to be home, just not happy to chip my right most end molar while munching on potato chips while watching Captain Marvel. Seriously?

I got reminded of how "young" I am.

Mummy Lim

Nestle Koko Krunch Junior TKD Championship

Yes, that had been what Zaky had been training  for and what kept the ice creams and chocolates away from him for the past few weeks. I like the 2nd part. Haha.

We were informed by the school last Friday of the competition details - report on Sunday at 8am at the JE Sports Hall. It was estimated that his competition will be at 9.15am. The competition was right smacked with the 1st "without kids tree top walk" that we had planned to commemorate our big 4-0. Sob. I know that I needed to be present for Zaky's 1st competition and contemplated joining the girls and turning back when time is up. However, I called off the idea when I realised how tight the time was. I highly suspect that Zaky will not win the competition and I think he wants mummy to be around for his 1st major setback.

I woke up before 6am on Sunday. Why? Daddy Lim burnt like 4,000 calories from the bike rally. I had a fraction of that from the same rally but also had 2 bfasts. Hohoho. The weighing machine instructed me to head to the gym and I had a short quick run before home to wake all the sleepy heads.

I was slightly worried about the weigh-in bcos Zaky had a huge dinner the night before at USS. With his uniform, he was 34.4kg at home and I was glad that he was too sleepy head for a proper bfast. Soon, we were on our way to the sports hall.

As expected, the girls started later than planned too. We are afterall mostly mummies, which meant a high rate of hipcups. This kid needed to suckle, that one needed to poo, somebody spilled milk... whatever. If I had joined the girls, I probably only have time for warm up before needing to rush off. Haha.

We arrived on time to find a fairly empty hall.

I had also expected a lot of waiting for such competition. I was half wondering if the girls would complete their hike before Zaky's turn.

We saw the schedule; in his age and weight group, there was a total of 3 pax. He was up against a Korean boy and the winner would spar against the lucky guy who is guaranteed at least a 2nd place.

There was so much waiting. Only 1 Master had arrived and the other one was on her way. The other TKD schools had much greater strength in support.

The Master helped the kids to warm up.

So were the kids from the other TKD schools. It was then that we realised how much stronger the other kids were. Some of them were really fast and strong. Gulp... swallow saliva.

Then it was back to waiting and waiting. The boy was constantly whining about how scare he was and squirming everywhere. Maybe it wasnt such a good idea to be with him. It was so irritating and I really wanted the competition to start really soon, to get the boy off me. Haha.

The bout 1 to 12 were asked to report. Bout is like the sequence or something. Zaky was bout 21. Finally, the game started.

While his peers were gathered to see the games' progress, Zaky was happier playing with the phone. It distracts him and made him calmer.

Finally, it was his turn to report for registration. The weigh-in was in full gear and I was worried. Zaky said that he was 34.9kg with all the gears. Phew! But I dont think they were really super strict; I didnt see any kids get turn away for being "overweight".

After registration, their nails were checked and they sat with their opponent.

Before they slowly make their way to the arena.

The chest guards were electronic and the scores were immediately displayed when contacted.

There were a total of 3 games of 1 min each. The game would stop if the scores were too wide (20 points) or if one of the player is disqualified, meaning any head contact.

Zaky got the 1st 2 points but he clearly lacks technique and strategy. His opponent blocked off his kicks while Zaky hugs his chest guard as taught in protection but scores were still registered when the opponent gave hard kicks. His opponent waited for Zaky to attack and use the split second where Zaky recovers to counter attack. The scores widen in favor of his opponent in the 2nd match. His opponent went for multiple kicks, while Zaky still attempted single kick and flight. This also wore him down physically.

The gap was super wide in the last match and his opponent strategically played defensive, opting to mainly flight. Zaky's inexperience was obvious, maintaining his attack and flight game instaed of aggressive attack. It was impossible to even narrow the gap and Zaky was visibly more tired as the game wore on.

Of course he lost the game with a huge gap. It was a huge blow to the boy and I was glad that I was there.

We went through the video and I pointed out to him what his opponent did to win. There was unfortunately no more chance to learn bcos there was only 1 game. The boy didnt want to stay on and we left in search for lunch.

He was sobbing in the car on the way to lunch but soon calmed down by the hearty lunch and ICE CREAM! He has worked hard and we will just have to try harder the next time.

Zaky has another sparring competition coming up in mid April. I already told him that his diet continues after the hearty lunch. Haha. At least that competition is sub-36kg and we have a slight leeway.

I told Daddy Lim that Idlo TKD is probably not the school to continue if Zaky really wanted to continue to train and compete. It was obvious that the competition sparring classes are lacking; most of the Idlo TKD kids lost in the championship and I attributed that to the lack of proper sparring techniques and strategies. The other coaches/ masters were yelling encourgaements and advices to their kids in arena but the Idlo TKD masters were mostly quiet and watching. I wonder if they even advice the kids properly in between the games. We will see how it goes for the upcoming competition but I forsee another big lost. Oopsy.

On a side note, Lil Shauna commented that I was so easy on Zaky and so hard on her training and competition. I tried to deny but she is right. Daddy Lim said that it is bcos I had all my hopes on her. I think he is right too. The woes of being the 1st born.

Mummy Lim

NTU Bike Rally + USS

Everything seems to be falling on this weekend. We have the NTU Bike Rally, Zaky's sparring competition, the girls' big 40 no kids' hike (which I had to miss) and the global meeting. Zzzzz. So busy.

Some of the WWF gang were joining the NTU Bike Rally and Daddy Lim had really wanted to do it too. I somehow got talked into it and signed up too. Fortunately, the registration fee was only $35, giving me the avenue to chicken out. Hohoho. There were too many obstacles - the Sun, the Sun and the Sun. Well, we also needed somebody functionable to man the kids and I don't think that is doable after a 118km ride. My decision was firmed particularly after the 80km ride and I had the taste of Mr Sun's power despite us starting the ride at 5am. So, I nobly volunteered to sacrifice myself and gave Daddy Lim the chance to complete the Bike Rally. It was decided that I would join Daddy Lim for part of the ride if the route allows.

The 118km was waved off at 7am but the WWF gang agreed to meet at 5.20am at Suntec's carpark so that we can do registration at 6am and Q for the wave off at 7am. Yes, it sounded like a lot of waiting and there really was.

Daddy Lim enthusiastically prepped everything the night before. I just sit around and play my Suduku. Lol.

We were up at 4.30pm to have some time to eat bfast before setting off at 5am. We reached the F1 pit just in time to see the wave off of the 178km gang at 6am. There was a large group.

It was about 6ish by the time we were done with registartion and the rest of the time was spent chit chatting and waiting.

The WWF gang doing the 118km route. Though I wasnt doing the full route, I sneaked in for a picture opportunity. Yay!

We started Q-ing at 6.45am. It was borrriiinngg.

The wave off didnt happen on time. Zzzzz. We started seeing cyclists moving off unofficially and we did just that bcos we all wanted to go home early. Lol.

It was a leisure pace largely bcos the group needed to conserve energy for the long ride. I dropped off from the ride at Jurong Town Hall, which was about 18km into the ride; the gang had another 100km to go. No sweat. Hoho. I was constantly updated by the gang via the chat group.

I was happily at home for my 2nd bfast. I came to realise that no matter how much bfast I had, I will still get hungry when I start riding. Hohoho.

Daddy Lim successfully completed his 118km by 1.51pm. Woohoo! His only comment was how freaking hot the ride had been - I know right. Haha. He didnt reach home until 3ish, bcos he was famished and needed to top up the calories that he had burnt.

I knew that he needed to rest and the kids had asked to go to the USS. That's exactly what we did bcos the park was opened until 10pm, leaving us with plenty of time even if we stroll in at 5pm after class.

Even at 4.30pm, the sun was freaking hot. I can imagine hot it was in the morning.

USS wasnt too crowded at 5pm. I like theme park with no crowds.

We managed quite a few rides including the Transformer, Human, Cylon, Mummy and Canopy. Bcos these are all thrilling rides, I had to take every single ride with them. Seriously?

We had dinner too in USS; at our favorite Sesame Street restuarant. The kids were thrilled.

Daddy Lim came to pick us at 8.30pm. We even had the chance to catch the parade.

While there was plenty of fun, the kids would stay on if it wasnt bcos Zaky needed to rest for his competition the next day.

A last picture before we left.

I hope Daddy Lim appreciates the rest. I needed to sleep too having woke up at 4.30am. It had been a long, long day...

As for Daddy Lim, he is a tapir.

Mummy Lim

Last Push

Zaky's TKD Sparring competition will be on coming Sunday. Mental note to myself: do not put 2 kids' competition in the same period. It had been plain exhausting. 

Zaky had sparring classes last Friday and Sunday as the final push. The Sunday class was super crowded; we werent the only ones who needed the "佛脚". 

I somewhat thought that the competition has been poorly organised or maybe it was the school part, giving us insufficient information. Just 3 weeks back, we were told that the kids would be categorised by weight too on top of age segegation, which started our mad frenzy to put Zaky on a diet. We were given like 1 day to decide which weight category to sign up. What the... Just for infor, he was even heavier when he weighed in at the school on Friday but that was after dinner and the competition would be in the afternoon as briefly mentioned by the Masters. Zaky had been given very limit ice cream and snacks for the past weeks and he looked set to be sub-35kg at weigh-in. We are trying to go lower (with his weight) since we can never be sure if the compeition weighting machine gives the same weight as ours. Cross fingers.

Then, we have no details on the competition. We were told that the competition would be on 9 or 10 Mar and then more or less set on 9th Mar. Just last Friday, we were told that it is confirmed on 10 Mar??!!! Why like that? Other than the date, no other details on the schedule and program is available. Zzzzz.

Lastly, the school has a new Master (whom we have not seen before) in class on Friday. He taught the kids a new move, which looked rather promising. On Sunday, they continued to practice on the new move and the class was too full for one on one sparring. I cant help but wonder why new things are taught 2 lessons before the competition. Shouldnt the teaching be progressive to gear the kids up for competition?

Anyway, enough of ranting. Let's just hope for the best for coming Sunday. Yeah!

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 156: Last One before a Long Time

We had our last SISA ice last Wednesday before Coach Raymond heads for his 2-week long holiday. The ice was so crowded as the skaters crowd to practice with their music. I think there were like 15 skaters at least and Lil Shauna was 9th in Q. Then some of the very advanced skaters had 2 chances bcos they had 2 different songs/ programs.

I kept reminding Lil Shauna to sieze the opportunity bcos full ice with music is so precious. In the end, she only managed to practice once before the hour was up. Aiya, it was almost her turn again, only if the session was another 5 mins longer. At least the practice with music wasnt too bad.

Coach Raymond did ask her to try her 1st axle on ice! It was a mess. Lol. An axle jump is a 1.5 round jump and she barely did 1 round.

I was just reminded that are a lot more to learn and progressed after we are done with the competition. That sounded nice; she was stuck for months due to her ligament injury last year.

Her next lesson will be at the end of the March, which is like a couple of days before her competition. Coach Raymond's parting words, "bring her for practice if we can". Lol.

Of course we did practice. We were at the rink on Saturday morning for a good 1.5 hour. Mummy worked her very hard without coach; tearing down the program into small segments and concentrating on improving the small movements and overall asthetic. I had wanted to do it with the Jabra wireless earphones that we bought for the same purpose the last competition but the bluetooth pairing didnt work. Ended up, it was video and repeating numerous times tweaking and improving as we go. She worked hard and even went back to the ice an extra 15 mins after resurfacing to try the entire program bcos ice earlier was just too crowded with little people. We tried working on her camel spin too, baby steps, baby steps.

We went back to the ice this afternoon after church for an hour. This time, I got the Jabra to pair but the music went off at certain distance. Zzzz. I dont remember having this issue then. Nevertheless, Lil Shauna managed to practice a big part with or without music but was super irritated again by little people.

Side tracked, we finally gave away Lil Shauna's old skates. Her last pair was given to one of Coach Raymond's students. I had actually wanted to keep that pair for Zaky's leisure use but some miscommunications took place. Never mind, at least it was put to good use. Her very 1st pair of figure skates was given to the niece of one of the adult skaters that we always see at the rink. This pair had been around for over 2 years and Zaky recently grew out of. Now, the cupboard is so empty. Haha.

Mummy Lim

My 1st 80km

It is a blessing to find the WWF. We started with them in February 2018. It had been a year! And we had been joining them regularly in their leisure Saturday morning rides. Those rides had been such big joy and a great motivation to get the heart pumping.

Looking at my blog history, I saw that they were the ones who organized our 1st 50km, 60km and finally the 70km ride when we expressed our desire to go further and longer. I am looking forward to the day that I get to finally do a round island (RI) ride, which is about 120km.

The chance is coming. There is a NTU bike rally taking place on 9th March and there are 2 categories, a bigger RI at 178km and a smaller RI at 117km. Together with some of the WWFians, we signed up for the 117km ride. Just then, we found out that Zaky's TKD sparring competition will be falling on the same day but time is unknown yet. It was agreed that I would do a small part of the ride if possible, leaving Daddy Lim to persevere the remaining with the WWF group. Secretly, I didnt mind. Haha. It is not the distance really, but that the ride starts at 7am??!!!??? So majority of the ride will be under the scorching sun from 10am to 2pm. It is one of those times that I didnt mind if it rains and probably be better off drenched. Such dilemma.

The usual Saturday rides had been stepping up to prep us for the bike rally. A few weeks ago, we conquered Mandai and rode to Seletar airport and back. That was a 50ish km ride. Last Saturday, we rode 80km to ECP and back! That is the longest ride that I had done so far. Woohoo!

To avoid Mr Sun, we started at 5am. Seriously, I rather lack a little sleep than be under the sun for extended time. Daddy Lim was up at 4.30am and I had 10 more mins of eye shut; the benefit of having the meeting point just opposite Centris.

We will be riding via the Keppel viaduct to barrage, then the PCN to ECP and the service road all the way to the end of ECP. Woohoo! We started at about 5.05am after a short briefing. We had some bread for bfast, which we usually dont, given the long distant.

The ride started off nicely and it was the usual scenery until Keppel viaduct. I have never been up this viaduct on bicycle.

I was lucky to be the 1st few and a chance to draft behind the leader who helped to block off much of the head wind. I was trying to be as small as possible to minimise wind resistance. It was a fantanstic experience. Hehe.

We had a short break at the barrage before continuing to ECP. The service road was a pain, a very long several kms pain. The service road was too far from the beach to enjoy the scenery and it just goes on and on and on. For awhile, I started wondering if I was lost, making sure I at least have one of the WWF cyclists in my sight but I think he was equally lost. Lol. Fortunately we found the rest of pack soon.

On the way home, we stopped for a much needed bfast at MacD. Daddy Lim insisted that we shouldnt be too full as it hampered cycling back and we shared a miserable bfast roll. I hungry leh.

The way back was indeed painful. The sun was out and I was starting to melt. We took another short break at the barrage before a continuous 25km ride home. At that point, I was really relying on will power. I was counting down for the last 10km. By the time we arrived at JE, all will power, leg power or whatever power were non-existence. I really just want to go home. The heat was just adding on to my misery and I was suddenly super glad that I wouldnt be participating in the full bike rally. It is the sun; 2 hours of riding in the sun is bad, imagine 6.

We arrived home jelly legs at 10.30am. It was 5.5 hours since we started and 3.5 hrs riding time. I think I left my legs at the barrage. We both took a much needed nap and I continued to catch cat naps during the day, in the car etc. I is weak. For the rest of the day, I just wanted to do things with minimal movement and thinking.

Lunch was well-deserved. I figured out that I had burnt enough to give myself a little reward.

Thankfully, the kids asked to go to a picnic in the late afternoon. We laid the mat on the grass in Jurong Park, the kids self-entertained and I very much played dead.

On Sunday morning, I no longer wanted to do anything with the bicycle. Zaky bugged to go riding and Daddy Lim actually entertained him. This is what they call recovery ride huh?

Though tired, I was happy to stick to the treadmill instead.

With that, we marked our 1st 80km. I am looking forward to a RI... one day... when I forget about ths 80km pain. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Ice Skating 155: The Ice gets Busy

With the need to practice her program, the 1/3 ice classes on Saturday morning feels restrictive, especially when it is always so crowded plus so many small people skating around blindly. Lil Shauna had been looking forward to her full ice lessons. Not only does she get to practice with the music and even if not, there is a lot more space and no little blind skaters.

Now that the competition is right around the corner, the ice gets really crowded and every skater wants to practice their program with the music. There is a Q system and it becomes stricter with the crowd. The skaters had to submit their CD. This will also be used for the actual competition. Coach Raymond nicely prepped this for us.

Bcos of the crowd, Lil Shauna only got to practice her program with music 2x. The 1st was a mess, it was so obvious; she was too focused on chasing the music than doing what she needed too properly. The 2nd time was fortunately a lot better. The rest of the time was spent on practicing and improving her program elements.

She had worked hard, red-faced and panting and all. There is still a lot of room for improvement. For one, she needed to stroke a lot more harder. I even recorded what looked like her competitor and showed her how much harder that girl was stroking. Hohoho. Yes, I am mummy spy.

We have 4 more full ice lesson to go and no 1/3 ie lesson for March bcos Coach Raymond or us or the rink is busy.

Mummy Lim