Racks Mounted!

Finally after much difficulties, I've managed to secure bike racks. The front was HARD to find! Thank God that there were supplies at The Rebound Centre, where I secured front rack for my suspension fork (Yes, I'd rather have suspension for the bumpity rides; and I bought this Surly back rack there as well.

The best bike mechanic of Tampines (and some say the East of Singapore) Winson from SCH, along with the rest of the SCH gang (Sebastian, Gerald and Jerome) had been very helpful to help me put together the bike for the trip. They fully serviced the bike, even gave me a free old gear shifter cover (cos my one got lost while at work), mounted the racks free and gave me a great price for all the long hard work I put them through! I love these guys. An A class bike shop!

So besides promising them the nice photos (I'd prolly have to give these guys a POSTER of the expedition) and stories to brag abt once I actually come home, I begun to feel a sense of excitement.

My Scott Montana (bought 2004) is finally ready to see some action. The bike is so well polished that it is a shame for it to be dirtied on the trip. But as the SCH gang said "You'd probably have to come in here after the trip and re-do the works again!" Ah. I figure so too. After this trip, I think I'd adore my Scott bike more than ever.

So the panniers can fit the bicycle and I'd need to do the next part tomorrow in between errants and outings to try add in the load and attempt to cycle around a bit. I guess it would become harder and I'd have to lower my seat post to make things more safe. Swerved a fair bit today cos I wasn't well balanced on the new sleekies I bought for the trip.

Yawn. Need to rest for now. So stay tuned!

hiho, heyho, ho ho ho...

no no, its not off to work I go.. another week to go at work. another week of mad rush, praying that i won't be activated, cos otherwise i'd have very little time to do planning. the pack list is up, the necessary work... i know it more or less. going to take the bike down to discuss mounting costs with the shop that i've found. the information age is truly truly the greatest. all the newest info is from nice netizens who shared. see, we can all do better if we all truly knew how to share.

vroom.

my team won at the gameshow. now its a bit tricky cos its all about the money now... prize translating into cash value. you see, now that the task is done, the people united under the task would be in a very fragile alliance. the €sooner the prize is encashed, the better. i have the tough job of executing this as well... haiz. i hope as one who preaches trust and integrity, i have done well to excecute what i teach.

anyhoos, its still good news. winning is always good news... more cash means i can last myself longer, go further and see more of the world that people had wishes and dreams to see but no means to accomplish. i will do what my friends have hoped, wished and dreamed... but have no will to do.

finish what i wanted at the end of my life at the beginning. how interesting is that?

*ARH* (piratey manner)

darn it. i lost the list that i took down notes all about the expedition from Jason. darn it. darn it. darn it.

so there i am on a sunday night trying hard to input all the information of where we are going to bike into a spreadsheet. (yes, i have such a compulsive behaviour). and its gone! dammit!

anyhows, i still remember parts of the expedition and trying to fit it into the larger picture of the jigsaw. so here we go...

i went to take part in this gameshow to try win back sufficient money/stuff for my expedition. lets just say that osim vouchers aren't too helpful at this point, cos i really really don't need a osim igallop or much less other of their products. or that scrabble set, in its non-travel package, is ideal to pack onto an already smaller than needed bike.

the good news is. my team is in the finals, which means there's a little remote chance that if we win it... i can have a cut of the cash, which can finance my trip and be used for investments. FWAH. i can upgrade to XTRs! hur hur...

"As one door closes, another door opens."

How prophetic is that statement in our lives... Today, a future job opportunity closed down on me just as another opened. I've felt quite inconfident about securing a job after that 3 month long break that I will be on... Yet I'm lucky that there are people who are willing to help me push me on as I go onto that state of difficulty and rise to the challenges ahead.

I spoke to Joe (Johann from The 1st Singaporean Transcontinental Expedition) today for a long and good time to prepare for the trip. He's kindly loaned me his bike panniers and stove, told me what's required and again... offered to take me for a trip out of Singapore on bike once again, just so I'm sure I want to go on this whole Thailand - China cycling expedition. I tell you, friendships like this is invaluable. And he's trying real hard right now to get his way into Earth Institute of Columbia University... Writing a paper and all. Which is great :) Keep this up, Joe! I think you've got the direction right!

I had a word with someone that's doing HR work and all. The feeling that I got was that my skill sets and competencies seem better for doing HR stuff - management and development. While I'm not sure where this would take me to, I think its a great option to explore. This is especially since one of the doors closed in on me. Sigh. It would have been a great door to open. No time to truly regret what I said and not said, just only time to move on.

Anyhows, he's teaching me to leverage on my strengths by moving into HR. Pay's good. The learning processes is great. So why not consider?

By tomorrow, I'd be a Spanish school dropout. So long, Las Lilas... For now. I'd want to continue on Spanish classes once I am back from my 3 months long journey to "sort things out" with myself and truly overcome all that pain/agony/sadness that has taken its toll on me over the last 3 years. I believe that my expedition is a necessary undertaking right now to help me move on with life.

If I am good with it, I know that I've not made a poor choice all along. And its just that I took a longer road to know that I'm good. And that, maybe this is what that I was being prepared for all this time. To take on one of the last world greats... or whatever it can be.

If I am poor at it, I'd know finally that I should have never gone into all these stuff I had been. I should be doing what I'm best at and face reality once and for all.

I think this is it. This is the make and break point. This is the swim or sink stage. This is where I will be decisive and go for things.

This month is so busy that I don't really know what's next as well. I'm just looking forward to leaving the safety zone of employment and praying that I won't become a statistic of unemployment in the coming months. Luck and karma plays a huge part in each of our lives... And I guess I've done a good deal to accumulate enough karma for now... Lets see where this ride ends.

Hey hey hey my friend! Thanks for visiting this blog. This is a kinda destress blog that I'm keeping while I'm embarking/embark/embarked on my 3 month long expedition from Thailand to China.

At this very moment, I've made known to my bosses that I'm leaving the security of my job as an Outward Bound instructor to go on a true adventure. All my life, I've been this couch adventurer (ala couch potato... instead of the telly, its expeditions.) and some kind of wannabe.

Was in this student mountaineering outfit in university, only to be out of the main expedition since I have a rather weak knee condition (since fixed by working at OBS - so much exercise that my legs are strengthened and another operation after I had a terrible fall off the bike in 2005). Tried out for my university's centennial climb to everest only to be rejected since my fitness was not quite up to scratch. Tried out again for this women's everest attempt only to be rejected probably since I'm not one to get along with the project directors.

Tired of trying out such options, I went on to join OBS as a form of justification to myself that I am an adventurer of some sort. Instead, it turned into something quite different. You know that statement how those who can't, teach? Yes, it became something like that. I was a couch adventurer, sharing stories of my friends' adventures with my students, trying to inspire more out of each one of them with what I had done (albeit the fact it wasn't much) and actually pretending that I was really an adventurer.

Again... Tired out of doing so, I decided to pack up my bags to leave my safety net and go on a true adventure. Of course, there are other reasons why I decided to leave my job... Lesser than noble reasons, nonetheless.

I'd like to thank Jason from Expedition 360 for generously taking me on. I've not much experience and neither did he try ask me too much into my motivations/objectives/experience. Which is quite different from what I have actually experienced so far, since all those expeditions from junior college (senior high in American terms) to where I am today.

My best friend of 6 years is immensely worried and claimed he would go to the temple to make offerings for my safe return.

My other best friend (of 12 years) decided that there's not much point in getting worried since I've always been like this and only asked that I keep myself safe.

My parents barely know a thing, since I'm not especially strong in my communications with them. I don't really know how to talk to them about what I am about or what my real aspirations are. Even as a child, I had to cover up my aspiration to become an artist, by telling everyone that I wanted to become a policewoman. Eventually I was so convinced by myself, that I went on to join the National Police Cadet Corps as my co-curricular activity in high school. You see, I was an advertising executive. So in ad terms, its like I've run too many successful campaigns for myself such that eventually I just buy into it and imagine it to be the real deal. I'd explain more in the future somewhere here.

Life has a strange way of unfolding. Just as I decided to leave my job, I actually saw opportunities for myself. And I am enjoying this. So its probably the right thing that I'm doing now that I'm seeing positive results.