wang writes

Keanu popped the question and I said yes…

new do

”Yes”, of course, was in reply to the question: ”Why don’t you try cutting short hair?”. Keanu was not from Speed, Matrix, Constantine or some other black trenchcoat wearing movie, but my new hairdresser from across the road at Next hair salon. He initially said I should follow Victoria Beckham’s (old) bob do, but I politely refused to follow in her high-heeled footsteps.

Baby says he likes the new do. I think I look more like a school kid now. It does take a lot faster for the hair to dry, though, which is excellent. And it doesn’t take much maintenance. The only problem I foresee is the not-long-not-short phase, where it will start getting irritating. According to Keanu, once you go short, you will only go shorter in future. I don’t see how that is possible, unless I want to look like a 15-year-old teenage boy.

Anyway, that was yesterday afternoon. I came home after and fixed a quick, healthy lunch of grilled veggies and spelt toast. I’ve always been a fan of grilled veg — bell peppers, carrots, asparagus, eggplant, etc. And with my Breville Grill purchase almost a year ago, it has been a breeze making them. Just need to lightly coat the sliced veg with olive oil and some salt, then pop it on the grill for eight minutes or so. Out it comes soft, sweet, and with those beautiful black grill marks. It’s so cheap and easy to make at home now, I can’t imagine paying just for a few pathetic slices in some fancy restaurant.

grilled veggies and spelt toast

I spent the rest of the day surfing the net, sleeping, then waking up for a swim. Biked down to the CCAB pool, where I did 3.8km easy, just to get back the swimming rhythm that I had lost over the past few months of focused running. Surprisingly, as the Ks went by I felt increasingly comfortable in the water, like a metronome’s pendulum gliding from side to side in perfect rhythm. Eventually clocked 1h 11min 59sec for the 3.8km swim. That’s even faster than I swam during my three Ironmans!

This morning I went for a two hour-ish bike ride, through Seletar, Sembawang, Woodlands and back by Bukit Timah, 63km in total. It was scorching out and my bottle of water had finished by the 40km mark. Thankfully, while that first 40km I had spent battling headwind and hills, the last 20km was relatively flat and speedy, with what felt like a nice tailwind carrying me home. Maybe I’ll head out for a short run later, before we go celebrate the end of 2008 and ring in 2009.

I’m not one to make resolutions. I don’t really have a goal for next year either. I guess it’s just to keep doing what makes me happy and stop doing what doesn’t. And that’s what I’ve been doing all these years. Swim, bike, run, write interesting, inspirational stories, stop doing them if my body or mind tells me to. Love my boyfriend, my family, my friends. Cook more, bake more. Sleep early, wake up early. Swim more. Bike more. Run more. Swim faster. Bike faster. Run faster. Do them all with a big fat smile. Love what I do, do what I love. Everything else doesn’t matter. And, remember, it’s just a bloody job.

For people who might not understand my love of sport, I put it this way to a friend couple of days ago. ”It’s like going to the toilet to poop and not wiping your butt after. It feels uncomfortable if I don’t do it.”

Happy New Year, folks.