2011 agenda

monday – run

tuesday – swim

wednesday – badminton

thursday – laze around

friday – run

saturday – swim

sunday – laze around

and i’ll give myself 15 out of 52 weeks allowance for screwing up this plan, not including the first week where i need to get mentally prepared and ready for this adventure!

 

from macritchie to bt timah this time..

yes, i know we went last week. but last week was a recee trip, and this week was to start getting myself geared up for the real hike.

and guess what, i started off the trip with such a great find, and im still thrilled abt it……

i saw an owl butterfly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! one of those things i wish i could get to see in real life, other than photos from internet. though small, i must admit, perhaps i have got quite a good eye… or maybe someone who went with me brought luck!

check out this leaf thats so badly eaten up!

anyway, lots of fish in the reservoir. the same kind we saw when we kayaked there 2 yrs ago.

too bad, didnt get to see Mr WML today. and walking on the boardwalk, just reminded me of the conversation my friends had when we walked there previously.

we saw this weird insect. handing upside down. and after my amazing experience with the owl butterfly, i thought maybe i found a dead leaf mantis (its a living mantis that acts like its dead). it wasnt. still, it looked like a naked cockroach from my angle.

and im getting a tad bit better at photographing spiders…….. hmmm…

then we saw this leaf with warts protruding out of the leaf. not the first time i saw this. dont think its some plant virus. i wonder what that plant is, and why it has things growing out from the leaf.

on so many leaves on the plant!

a pretty little ladybug..

then i spotted this weird black insect. there arent that many insects that are black.. i think. this one was black and yellow. and the more i look at it, the more it looks like a grasshopper…

finally reached the tree top walk…… here’s the view from the top.

i could only think of Dr Loo while i was up there. that guy is like a plant expert. i dont really have that much interest in plants though..

we finally got down the steep flight of never-ending steps, much to our knees aching.

“would you rather you were climbing these steps?” TBL asked.

“thank God im not!”

and here’s the weird snail we saw last week..

and because a colleague said i took a nice photograph of the snail the previous time, i tried it again!

the shot didnt turn out nearly as artistic… still, its a shot!

for a long time, we didnt see anything, and i was sad that i still didnt get to see a tree snake… but somewhere after we crossed rifle range flyover, i spotted a snake, maybe not a tree snake. it was dark brown/black and spotted… it was so close to us, by the time i realised it, i was startled. but the poor snake must have been more startled, cos it flipped over, and leaped, and skidded into hiding, within 2 seconds!

no photo of that snake!

the last i saw was this nice red dragonfly. which reminds me again why i love my camera, cos the veination seen in the wings are just beeeeeeaaaaauuuuuutiful!

overall, nice trip. my muscles arent aching as bad as it was last week. but there’s more to come. canoeing at marina, will hurt my arms.. and im going to get to doing some push ups to get me ready for the whole day canoeing trip!

btw, a genuine question.

does anyone know what happened to the rifle range rd monkeys? i know i called them devils, but to have the entire stretch deviod of monkeys is weird. not a single rustle on the trees, not a single family sitting on the road, not a single monkey hiding on the trees. have they all been culled?

 

from bt timah to macritchie

6 hrs ppl…… 6 hrs…. we took that long, cos of various factors, that included my fitness level…

but at least we saw a whole lot of things!

a number of crickets. 

 we saw many many fig trees. here, there everywhere……. 

 and we saw nice termite house trails 

and ant trails.

and this cute little spider web…. first time seeing a zig zagged spider web in this manner……. ! 

we crossed rifle range rd, and im so grateful we didnt get to see the monkeys devils that confronted us the last time i went… (how to survive devil attacks)

we passed by the same place where we saw a monkey trying to open up a tied plastic bag to effortlessly, to get to its contents.

 we saw this cute snail, not the typical shell we usually see.

 

and this toad! 

i spotted this insect, that looked like this segmented body was falling apart, but then i realised the insect was that way…. 

and a plant that looks like its been infected with virus

and a pretty red/orange flower…

nice macaranga tribola with its modified sepals which houses ants.

this interesting looking fern. which splits into 2 at each terminal. end up looking like some alien creature!

we saw this small cute caterpillar…

finally at macritchie, we spotted a stealth Varanus salvator (WML). i thought it was a komodo dragon the last time we saw one at macritchie. and remember my dear friends calling out to it as if it was a doggy! haha..

and another monitor lizard in hiding. can you find it?

and at the end of it all……………. all muscle ache and all…….. we were sure that our end of yr camp will be a terrifying experience for our cadets… aaahahahaha……. *evil laughter*

 

beaten, with heat rash and muscle ache

after 2 days, my muscles are aching like they’ve never been used before. and that includes the gluteus maximus and the skin muscles between the thumb and index finger. oh, and my shoulder blades hurt. and so do my triceps. and the muscles on my waist.

and reddish skin. and realising that sun block doesnt actually work, even if its a 45.

and while doing what we were doing, i was chatting with someone abt exercise. and it got to a point when the instructor got me thinking abt what i want to do. get fit? get muscles? build up stamina. cos they all require different types of work out.  

so you see……. i was under the naive impression that carrying weights will increase my endurance and build up my stamina and i’ll become fit. i dont know, i guess there’s overlap somehow, cos its all sports physiology anyways. but, now i think i got to be more focused on what i want first.

and building muscles will probably be first on the agenda because a higher muscle mass needs alot of energy to sustain at rest, compared to a lower muscle mass. simply put, a higher muscle mass burns more calories at rest. (btw, i now have a nice set of lateral epicondylitis on both my forearms. )

now, the idea abt burning calories and not being fat and all doesnt equate to being healthy. skinny ppl have had heart attacks due to clogged arteries. so visits to the doc, and regular blood tests are important. having said that, i havent had mine for a while now. anything to keep me away from the needle.

so, just because im exercising doesnt necessarily mean im fit. is my exercise regime enough….? i doubt so. like what the instructor said, if i want something, i got to work for it. seriously inspired by the Team Singapore girls who were doing weights training, for god-knows-what. 

you know the rims of the weights that you add to both sides of a pole and then do the lifting? ya, she was holding one of those big ones and doing sit ups on a sloped seat. and for me to realise im now struggling to do 10 basic sit ups in 1 min, when i could easily do 30 in sec/jc…. sigh.

hmmmmm…… i want to get back my momentum. now i know what YW was talking abt when she said i need a solid reason to start working out. losing weight may not be a good enough reason. sometimes you just need a live or die situation to give you the drive to push yourself to the limits. i shall join Team Singapore as part of the sailing team to earn another gold for Singapore.

or not. sometimes, committment to a decision is just enough.

here’s a list of the primary muscles ive (over)worked over the past 2 days:

Infraspinatus muscle, supraspinatus muscle, triceps brachii muscle, brachialis, some obliques, vastus lateralis of the quadriceps, flexor pollicis brevis, adductor pollicis, among many others. phew. not forgetting i have nice lateral epicondylitis now..