Plenty of Time - Ray ; Epidemic Pop

This is a get up and go song. Like a bubblegum pop which basically is brain numbing and I like my songs like that, choruses which go "Ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh.. thats all I want to say to you and all that "

I remember many years ago, when I was in my mid 30s and when they still had CDs on sale in the shopping centre. I was browsing casually and this eager beaver sales guy came bounding up to me wanting to impress me with his wide range of CDs ranging from classical, rock, New Age (now that has gone where ?), Pop, Hot 100, Buddha Bar and all the latest and the greatest in all the genres of music.

Sir, how can I help you ? His demeanor was so enthusiastic. Bright smile.

I'm looking for M2M (the bubblegum duo who had the song Close to You with meaningless).

His smile evaporated, and he grabbed the copy and quite disappointedly shoved it right under my face like I was a cheap fanboy (well I am actually !)

Funny story but true. 

Arguably the Best Car I've Driven So Far

                  The E 250 is really the best car I have driven in recent memory. 

I acquired this car in Jan 2018 and I have had the pleasure of driving it 15 months to date. I can safely say that the Mercedes Benz E 250 7 G Tronics is the best car I have driven in recent memory. This is the 2014 model, but apart from the Park Assist, there is nothing new from this model to the 2019 model. (I may be wrong here). I paid S$ 136,000 or US$ 100,000 in Jan 2018 for a then 3 and a half year old car which had its servicing maintained by Cycle and Carriage or the authorised Merecedes Benz agent. The brand new price in 2014 on the road (including the Certificate of Entitlement) would have been S$ 270,000 or US$ 198,000.

Singapore, as readers from foreign countries who are not aware and will be shocked to find out, is the easily world's most expensive place to own a car. The cost of ownership goes far beyond the price of the car. This similar car in USA brand new will cost no more US$ 70, 000 on the road. 

Petrol (top end) like Shell V98 (with zinc added) costs S$ 2.50 per litre (US$ 1.82) easily 3 times what you would pay in the US$ or in many parts of the Middle East. In addition, there are things called Gantries (constructs over many congested roads)  and a system using Electronic Road Pricing will charge each car (regardless of size or engine capacity) anything from $0.50 to $3.00 depending on time of day - during the morning rush hour there will be literally thousands of cars heading into town so most roads leading into the Central Business District CBD - hence there will be a deduction from the cash card (similar to a stored debit card) mounted on the In Vehicle Unit (IVU) each and every time that car passes under the ERP gantry. Hence a daily 'tax' will be imposed for cars using heavily frequented roads and on average, a daily commute back and forth to office can cost anything from $3 to $6.00 in ERP charges. 

I have stuck to driving cars, out of necessity to ferry family members as well as for business activities.

Back to my Merc E 250, since my acquisition of the car, it has given me (apart from the backup battery for Engine cut-off) zero (nil) problems. One real pleasing aspect is that servicing of the car is pretty inexpensive and there are numerous Mercedes Benz ex-staff providing routine quarterly servicing (if nothing exceptional except oil change  

The 2.0 litre Turbo V6 engine with 207 bhp power is really a speedster on the road, with massive acceleration and only the sports coupes and the likes of the Merc E 63 with 500 bhp in a totally different class.

With the 'low' Certificate of Entitlements or COEs this car 2019 model on the road is about S$ 245,000 or US$ 180, 000. Road Tax for 1 year is S$ 1,200 and Comprehensive Insurance is S$ 1,300 (US$ 1,000).

Features of the car include, electronic adjustable seats, stored preferred seat orientations, climate control airconditioning, predictive control for vehicles or objects which are deemed too close to the front and the on board computer can take over, smooth automatic changeover of gears and 207 bhp turbo acceleration, Man this baby is powerful !!! 

  

Will this be the end for the Army Half Marathon ?

I read with some disbelief that the SAF is calling time on the Army half Marathon in the wake of the recent training related deaths of several NS Men in the space of 16 months.

While each death is truly regrettable, I think, in my opinion hosting an event like the Half Marathon is an 'event' for many an NS Men's life and for many civilians like myself and my friends, it is a goal which for the better part, makes me want to wake up every morning to run and put in the km to train for that goal.

While I fully understand the rationale of standing down and relooking events in the light of safety and occurences, I think, that as an event, the Army Half Marathon is pretty well established in the common psyche of many of us 'middle aged weekend warriors'.

here are some pictures from last year's half marathon, and I am hopefully that this event will be restaged in the coming years.

  

Moving onward One Game at a Time

Now that the pressure of relegation is over, Wolves are sitting comfortably at 7th place 1 point over Watford and with 8 games to go, I must say that coach Nuno has done an exceptional job overhauling the team, the playing strategy and giving the 'boys' great focus and belief that they can overcome the best in Europe.

I hope and will follow the same guiding principles as exampled on the pitch with my work and focus in life. Never settle for less and push your limits (of course make sure that you are well prepared for the 'fight').

Watch the Chelsea game below, Wolves had barely 30% of the ball but when they had one clear opportunity at goal, they took it and scored. Chelsea had easily 8 - 10 but excellent defending and hassling their top rated players off the ball like Hazard, Higuain and Wiliam, David Luiz and Pedro kept Chelsea at bay for 92 minutes.

It took a brilliant long range strike from Belgium's top goalscorer in the Premier League to save the Blues the blushes from a so-called 'newly promoted team'.

The Liquidator - Reggae Song

This song is so cute and timeless, no wonder the Wolves fans have been using it as their 'anthem' of sorts to diss the auld enemy West Bromwich Albion and motivate the team to greater heights.

I never like to diss the competition having been very comfortable in my own skin and trying to motivate people with my own struggles in life.

So enjoy the song and lets move ever onward ever upward.

Associataion Bias - think about these subconcious linkages

 The Full Moon also gave rise to a lot of Mumbo Jumbo about werewolves and centuries of  ridiculous nonsense.

At the onset, this story is about why I hated eating Peking Duck and subsequently changed my association bias and now I love the dish. 

When I was young many years ago, I remember vaguely that I was once playing and fooling around during dinner at the Swimming Club (Harbour Room), my parents had ordered Peking Duck, which was basically roasted duck skin which was wrapped in a flour type pancake and with cucumber, Chinese parsely and then dipped into a sweetish black sauce for the final accompaniment.

So that was in the early '70s, and while my parents were having a nice sit down dinner, I was eating a bit, in between the meals,and playing catching. So when the Peking Duck dish came, I ate and continued playing. All I recall later was that I had some indigestion, and then threw up badly and went home with my parents all upset. I recall I had eating a whole range of condiments that day, such as chilli, soya sauce, honey and mustard all at the same time as a 'dare' and thought nothing of it. Eating that stuff may have caused me to feel unwell and throw up and not the Peking Duck as no one else had any indigestion or vomiting. 

This experience subconciously sat in my mind for the on - going 25  years till I was about 40 and wondered why I hated such a popular and tasty dish. It was the sweet brown sauce which triggered it and I had forgotten the association that when I ate it when I was 12 years old, I had a bad reaction and threw up and thenceforth I avoided eating the dish at all costs.

Why I am bringing this up is because over the years, I had hated eating the dish, Peking duck, and I could not bring myself to dig back into the recesses of my memory as to WHY I hated such a dish which had been and still is a fantastic iconic dish of many a Chinese dinner here and of course in China.

One day, I thought about it, and realised that I had indeed forgotten the association made between Peking Duck sauce and my stomach. So I went against my irrational fear and distaste and tried the dish. 

Voila! It was lovely ! All the bad experiences of vomiting and falling sick were erased. It was a lovely tasteful experience !

So the moral of the story is this, be aware of association bias. Especially irrational ones, for we are all guided by life experiences, and sometimes, bad luck or a combination of being at the wrong place at wrong time can affect you greatly so much so that you are forever scarred by it.

Back to winning ways ; Nuno dares to make changes and succeeds

The Wolves Coach Nuno Esperito Santos is an excellent tactician.  He does not like interviews and whenever he makes a committment, he really sticks to it.

So this last weekend, he gave the No. 1 goalkeeper slot to John Ruddy, one of my favourite players and big John obliged with a clean sheet against a rather lacklustre Cardiff front 2.

In addition, Nuno made major changes to the team for the first time in this Premier League season giving starting places to 4 other not first teamers and Boy, did they take the opportunity with both legs ! Let me elaborate :

a) Reuben Vinagre for Johnny Otto ; the Portuguese under 21 was a revelation in the left wingback position, and he had 2 good attempts at goal saved by the Cardiff custodian Neil Etheridge. All in all, he played a sterling game and was never caught off the ball.

b) Adama Traore for Matt Doherty ; this guy finally showed the world what he was capable of, his surging runs made life hell for the Cardiff back 4 especially Bennett and he has the pace, the talent and the brute strength just to run Cardiff's defence ragged. All he lacked was the final product of getting the ball to the back of the net.

c) Romain Saiss for Reuben Neves ; the G'affar showed everyone he was in charge by benching the talisman for poor performances the last 2 games and putting on the Moroccan hardman, Saiss. A very solid and determined defender, Saiss stopped everything coming along his way and never once let the other 3 defenders down. My personal Man of the Match.

d) Morgan Gibbs White for Joao Mouthino ;; this wunderkind has electric pace and was in and out of every midfield battle. Though he is light of build, his pace and through passes especially the lead up to the first goal were exceptional. He will surely be an England international soon.