WTA Tennis BNP Paribas Ladies Finals Singapore Oct 2015

Singles SemiFinal between Gabine Muguruza (No.3) and Agnieska Radwanska (No. 5)

The last week of October was a real serendipitous one for me. In the midst of work pressure and end of year move out of our office, my friend Jason Lu offered me free tickets to Cat 1 and Cat 2 seats for the WTA Finals held at the indoor stadium from 23 Oct - 1st November. Initially I was reluctant to go, but after several friends told me I would be watching world class tennis in air-cond comfort with top 10 ladies singles players, I thought "why not " ?

  

So I rushed down and met 2 other friends, Michael and Looi and was enthralled to watch the match between Maria Sharapova (No. 4) and Simona Halep (No.2). As the world No. 1 Serena Williams was out njured, this was the perfect opportunity for the 2nd to 8th ranked ladies to shine in their own capacity. Garbine Muguruza herself had beaten Serena in this years French Open and was the losing finalist to Serena in this year's Wimbledon. A breakout year for Garbine.  

                                                            Michael, Me, Looi 

To watch tennis on TV is one thing, to watch it live and the players no further than 50 me away from you grunting, striving for every ball, the drama of in or out calls, and the cheers from the loyal fans won me over. It is not everyday that I can watch world ranked players battling tooth and nail for the coveted points and winning matches in air-cond comfort ! 

 My favourite is Garbine, she is a photogenic, very athletic and goes for every ball. A Venezuelan by birth, she is a Spanish player who is only 22 and up and coming, winning the recent China Open in early October and then flying early to Singapore for up to 2 weeks to train for the WTA Finals. A true passionate competitor who in my opinion will be the No. 1 ranked player in 2016.

World No.3 Gabine Muguruza 

The final was between Agnieska Radwanska (Poland) and Petra Kvitova (No.6) was over in 3 hard won sets, 6-2, 4.6 and 6-3. Radwanska, won the championship and the crowd was on its feet for the most part, such was the closeness of the match and the competitivess of the players. Not a single ball flew out of court, that is how well controlled the players are.

There is no love lost between competitors but as can be seen in world ranked players, it is "kill or be killed" No one is here to make friends, everyone fights for his place and staying in the tournament is the No. 1 priority.

I will indeed go again next year, such is new found my interest.    World Class Tennis in Singapore is now a reality - at least for the next 5 years. 

Craftsmen Coffee - Siglap Road

               Almond Latte with a Dark Chocolate by the Side 

             A gem of a coffee joint to celebrate life and have a chat with friends on a Saturday morning. Craftsmen Coffee is just the place. Located at Siglap Road, (new building opposite Siglap Centre) and beside the Cold Storage, Craftsmen Coffee boasts about a dozen brews ranging from your Espresso, Amaricanos, to Lattes to Teas.  My friends Looi and Tom joined me for a morning 'talk cock session'  (banter amongst the 'boys')  and the prices were very economical ranging from 5 to 6 dollars for a cuppa. Teas were starting at 4 dollars.

          Compare this to your chi chi place Tiong Bahru Bakery, this is the better place to relax and unwind after a long hard week chasing orders, managing issues big and small and making short trips to the region for work. There is not as much people coming in and out of the coffee establishment, which is manned by many young baristas mostly in their 20s. 

           The breads, like croissants (I tried one) were not as fresh as the Tiong Bahru Bakery but the coffee and the ambience was the main factor drawing the crowds, mainly young professionals, to sit and chill. 

         I would recommend it if you have an hour or two to unwind at the East Coast  

Bedok Prawn Noodle - Bedok Hawker Centre

My bowl of piping hot noodles cost me $5 

     This morning, I tried the Bedok prawn noodles at the Bedok Hawker Centre next to the Bedok Mall. It was not crowded at 10.30 am and I had the noodles with big prawns and pork ribs. The noodles were either the soupy kind or the dry kind. I opted for the soupy kind. 

     The flavour of the prawn was not very strong, as was the noodles which were not too springy. The pork ribs were soft but no real flavour. The prawn stock however, was quite tasty and the condiments were untouched as I wanted to appreciate the real prawn flavour.

Occupying the Centre Stall at the Centre Aisle 

Verdict, this is not one of Singapore's better Prawn Noodle stalls, or "Hay Mee, Xia Mien (mandarin). There are many better ones at Adam Road Hawker Centre as well as the famous Whitley Road Prawn Noodles now located next to Revenue House. 

I would not make the effort to go there to have good prawn noodles.  

Whip It - LunchMoney

The Case for Karate - Round 2

                         With Sensei Wong Tuan Sing, founder of Shitoryu Karate Association

Karate while it promotes flexibility of movement, balance, strength and endurance, is actually and all rounder sport. It is very physically taxing and the practitioners who have been doing it for decades are all household names. Our coach in our dojo is Hanshi Chia Kwek Fah. For the Shitoryu Karate Association, the chief coach is Sensei Wong Tuan Sing, also with many decades of fighting, coaching and management experience in the martial art of karate.

Sensei Ari Farkash who came today (this is his 3rd year) is an Israeli expert in kumite or free sparring, and his technique is one of smooth flowing basketball style movement whereby the 'player' combines all of the above aspects (first line), with stamina to execute the moves. It is like when we are practising the various poses, then we add the bounce movement to the pose, followed by the punch and kick and punch. The net result is a fluid and fast punch, counter punch, kick, and reverse punch. Done properly it has tremendous reach and power.

I realise my weakness is my flexibility and will endeavour to improve this every single day, till I am flexible enough to do some of the kicks with great ease. This is my short term goal. 

Sensei Ari Farkash, with our team from Ken Shin Kai Club 

While we are trainees in verious clubs, the spirit of friendly training is evident in all of the courses I have attended, as well as the meetings I have been to. The great art of karate embraces life, first and foremost.  While the training is intensive, the social aspect of the art is one which I and my club members appreciate. We are all brothers and sisters in arms, and while the suffering of the art is always a must, the sense of satisfaction after one is able to perfect the move is priceless.

That is the case for karate. Training of the body, mind, and spirit. Healthy mind, body and spirit brings out the best in us.  

The entire group who endured 2 and half hours of free sparring techniques today 18th Oct. 

Finally, the art of karate has eveolved into 3 distinct separate but linked somehow pathways.

1. Martial art - the philoslphy, the art and the behaviour of the proponents must be 
    exemplary.

2. Sports Karate - This is the new trend, karate for sports sake. To score points and win the 
                             bout.

3. Karate for Self Defence - This is the one everyone likes but doesn't practice enough. It is
                                             deadly and used only as a last resort where one's life is at risk.

Fish Ball Noodles at Tiong Bahru - Quan Fa Fish Ball Minced Meat Noodles.

                          Quan Fa (literally "everybody gets rich" fishball minced meat noodle) 

Somewhere in the middle of Tiong Bahru market's food centre on the 2nd floor lies this fishball noodle stall which is a favourite of mine. Manned by the chef, whom I call the 'artist', she very delicately breaks a portion of the noodle into a metal ladle, soaks it into the boiling water, prepares the bowl of noodles with fish sauce, light soya sauce, and vinegar, before mixing the noodles into the bowl.
                 

The small Eu mee noodles are springy and tasty, the minced meat is boiled for several minutes dipped in boiling water, the fish sauce and vinegar are the base for the noodles 

      She then prepares the fish balls, fish cake, minced pork and some small pieces of port lard and boils the lot (except the pork lard) for about 1 minute into the steaming pot of soup. While the ingredients are being boiled, she mixes the noodles into the gravy and finally adds on the ingredients and the end result looks like the above.

     The result is a springy and very tasty bowl of (relatively speaking) healthy fishball noodles which is not fried and with a hint of pork lard. 

     The price $ 3 per bowl of dry noodles with the soup on the side. You can also choose the soup version for the same price. It would be a more healthy choice.  

2 and half months before 2015 comes to an end ; Never Ever Give Up !!!

The economy in Singapore is facing a slowdown, although not many people think it will be a long downturn, but enough to worry many small business owners like myself. In times of crises, I would take financial stock of the business, ensure there is enough cashflow, push for as many orders big and small and hope for the critical breakthrough.

The smile after the struggle, Port Vell, Barcelona Dec 2016 

As in a marathon, the struggle to the finish line is never ever easy, for each race is different,and each year presents a different set of challenges, as is 2015, this year has been really good in terms of numbers, but collections and after sales and managing the vendors have been a new experience for me. 

I am 100% convinced, that we will overcome all these challenges by this month and make this year a great year to remember, even though the challenges are not easy to overcome. 

Finally made it ! 2014 finish line of the SC marathon

       It would also be prudent of me to develop the business in a concentric diversification, circles which are outside the industry but whereby the product at hand can be used in differing and emerging markets locally and internationally.

       A prudent business owner will be mindful that his business needs to be nimble and fluid, but the efforts,vision, guts and the mental stamina and collective will to carry out the plan well will be the final decider of whether we succeed or fail.  2015 is the year we learn, and learning at this age is always a challenge. It is never easy, but it will bode us well in the future.