Not so happy ever after

The cynic and realist in me absolutely loves this shot. Snow White saddled with four kids while Prince Charming kicks back and watches sports on TV.

Canadian photog Dina Goldstein captures for JPG mag the not-so-perfect ever-afters the brothers Grimm probably intended Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel et al to live out.

Rapunzel loses her locks to sickness, Cinderella nurses a lonely pint in a bar... Sweet. Check them out here.




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Hot!!!

How warm is it today?
Pretty damn warm. So warm the weather station decided it feels hotter than it actually is. Nice.

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The Runner's Mall - Tampines 1

We've discovered a great new place to shop!


Retail therapy for runners at Tampines 1: New Balance & The Running Lab

We tried very hard not to visit the new Tampines 1 shopping mall until the hype went away and the crowds dwindled. But on Wednesday we finally caved in. And our adventurism was grandly rewarded.
I can tell we're so going to hang out there. Just an MRT station away from home, we'd previously avoided Tampines like the plague because of the crowds, but I think we may have just discovered a reason for braving them. The Running Lab has just moved into our neck of the woods.
While the press has gone goo-goo ga-ga over the launch of Uniqlo's first store in Singapore there, we're far more impressed that the likes of The Running Lab, New Balance, adidas, World of Sport and a very spacious Sportslink have opened up stores within touching distance of one another. This makes Tampines 1 a highly convenient sports retail location - perhaps not as good as Queensway and Peninsular, but certainly as good as I've seen this far east of town.
The Running Lab and New Balance, in particular, is a boon for runners in the East. Not only will these stores bring a wide range of running gear to our doorsteps, they're also manned by well-trained - and courteous - staff who know what they're doing and who they're selling to. I walked into New Balance to buy another one of their lightweight running tanktops that I've come to enjoy wearing. By the time we walked out, May was carrying two new tops, we had had our feet analyzed (May supinates, I overpronate), and we were saved from buying more shoes by the recession.
The Running Lab, just next door, provides even more specialist offerings and advice. Even though we were clearly not planning to buy any more running gear, we just couldn't help spending time in the store, walking around with imaginary budgets which would allow us to pick up this and that.
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Free Spirits

Jakarta Free Spirit (JFS) chicks - 8 million miles and counting. (L-R: Serena, Toni, Barbara & Judith)



So I get an email from Barb the day before she's coming to tell me she's here's with Toni and Judith to watch Cats and would Serena (fellow JFS Singaporean) and I be free to grab dinner. If not, then the next best thing, would I care to join them for a run the next morning before they fly back to Jakarta?
Okay, who flies in to Singapore on Friday evening to catch a musical, knows they have an afternoon flight to catch the next day, and still asks to go running at ECP in the morning??
Hardcore, these chicks.
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Take Home Chefs

It's no secret we're tightening the ol' belt. We're penny-pinching, watching our wallets, tying up the purse strings - while Minn looks for gainful employment, and I re-establish my freelance network here. And what do I do?
I go out and end up buying a bunch of cookbooks. To my defense, they only cost about 6 bucks each except the dark green one in the far back which is a collector's issue (so its cover says). And I know I'll be using them often enough, since I've really been enjoying tinkering about the kitchen the last couple of months.
Till now (and friends who've been over will attest to this), my repertoire only consists several versions of roast chicken, beef stew, roasted vegetables, and a too-spicy spaghetti aglio olio. But that will soon change, I promise, with the help of these babies!
Yes, the internet is an inexhaustible source of recipes, but there's something really comforting, and old school, in poring over a cook book to whip up a meal.
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33 - Revisited

I blogged about turning 33 two entries ago. Last night, while reading Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, I was convinced 33 really is some kind of milestone, magical age.

Murakami writes,

"... that's how I started running. Thirty-three - that's how old I was then. Still young enough, though no longer a young man. The age that Jesus Christ died. The age that Scott Fitzgerald started to go downhill. That age may be a kind of crossroads in life. That was the age when I began my life as a runner, and it was my belated, but real, starting point as a novelist."

I have no desire to be a novelist - that much I know. I hope this is the year I figure the rest of it out.

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Pooh to propriety

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