5*5 1/1

Since I rarely get around to do anything much after getting home on weekday nights, I've now taken up to blogging on my phone to actually try to post a thing or two while commuting.

The day before yesterday, I started on the StrongLift 5*5 plan. It is a plan where you do 5 sets of 5 repetitions of squats, bench presses, overhead presses and what I think is a barbell upright row for every single workout. The catch is that you increase 2.5kg each time and build your volume and weight you carry steadily. There are only 3 moves you do each workout; 2 sets of exercises you alternate every workout. The first set is squats, bench presses and the rows. The other consists of squats, overhead presses and deadlift. Now, the deadlift is only 1*5 where the main proponent of this training technique proclaims you should be able to hit it hard enough and yet still have enough left in you to come back for the next challenge (with more weights) the next day.

I guess I didn't quite followed instructions. After my first workout, I went ahead to do 5*5 of leg curls for the hamstrings and _that_ machine for the abductors and adductors. One word, ouch. Over-training is terrible. I should have known better from all the crazy running I used to do, almost going all out for too many runs.

Needless to say, I have to pay the price of this lesson (again). Heading to work on the MRT, regurgitating my regrets while standing on my still-sore inner thighs and almost falling over when the plus-sized lady beside me nearly trips due to the train's oh-so-usual sudden stops.

ed et al Visit

It seems that I am kinda falling back on the updates.

Yesterday, I had a session of pilates before heading to The Good Tailor at Sin Ming. After which I headed to Bukit Merah to check out ed et al. Its really too bad that The Flyer is not available OTR anymore. I also overheard another customer asking for them. What a pity. They are of course still available as customs. At a premium of $500 which I'm not ready to pay unfortunately.

Anyways, The Merlion had caught my eyes thru pics online and they do look pretty better in the flesh. It also worked out that they have one last pair in my size (EU38 though I thought I would be EU40 as I normally wear US8). Needless to say, I got them. Support local.

The Good Tailor Visit

The Lunar New Year is just around the corner. The key interest of this point is that I'll have an "excuse" to get new clothes. The old Chinese adage when loosely translated, says that there is no room for new things if the old don't make way.

I've started my wardrobe revamp (only those that I wear out, of course) around October 2012. For that, I've been primarily visiting two places: A tailor (Dylan and Son Sartorial) and a alterations tailor (Meng Yee Alterations). Both are indeed very good at the services they ply. A little background information before I get back on track with the topic in the title.

Through Meng Yee, I have altered my Calvin Klein suit, Hugo Boss pants, several Feraud, JAG and Espirt shirts. I also commissioned a waistcoat from a heavy cashmere-wool blend. It turned out very very nice. A little traditional-looking but really fine fitting. I wore it between a shirt (100% cotton) and winter jacket (from Comme Ca Commune, 100% wool) and it came me pretty warm on most days in Switzerland where I was away for work). On the colder days, I would have a 100% cashmere sweater (from ColdWear) extra. Pretty good.

And so, all went well. Until I decided to commission a new shirt that is. This happened after a few shirts from Dylan actually. Wasn't that experienced then and didn't speak out. The collar was just wrong, sleeves too long, armhole too big (MAJOR issue to me as OTR shirts available here have this problem on me), sleeves a little too long and overall the fit wasn't quite as nice as Dylan. It was of course less than half-price of a regular shirt from Dylan's. The uncle is very accommodating but I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough to give instructions (then) to get what I wanted. C'est la vie. Went back a few times after that for some other shirts' alterations and was also quoted for a suit. I will... consider.

On to Dylan, I have commissioned 1 Soktas FastForward virgin white Indus shirt with black mother of pearl buttons, 2 basic Oxford button-downs (OCBD). one casual Inizio checked pale/bright pink shirt, wool-blend navy trousers for work, Inizio Egyptian cotton skyblue pair of pants and a pair of wool-blend grey/brown trousers. The very first piece came out in perfect size. No alteration was needed. Besides the last piece which I got them to change cos they got the length wrong, everything was made very nicely in Dylan's house-cut which is slim (my cuppa). BUT, as anyone who may have at least asked around would know, Dylan is by no means cheap. Of course you pay for the quality, but at Dylan's I feel that I am paying more for the rent (in Lau Pa Sat) and the "exclusiveness" that comes with marked up prices.

Now, this leads me to one of the reasons that eventually brought me to The Good Tailor (yes, it's really the name of a tailor shop). Why pay? Somewhat in the business of selling stuff myself (though, very different stuff), this isn't a very difficult question to answer. There are of course several things one could cite. However, how many of those are actually tangible? And how many of those tangible ones can actually be not repeated and to what degree? Being the choosy cost-cutting engineer that I am, I had to look for someone else besides Dylan.

This post is getting draggy so I'll try to list out the points in bulleted style.

First impressions of TGT online:
1. Nice fair range of good fabric
2. Not much to talk about with regards to showcasing (which Dylan is very good at) so I wasn't sure about their house-cut and styling
3. Friendly and helpful comments on local forum
4. Reasonable online prices
5. Promotion on VBC 110s and 120s (main attraction to me)

Impressions of TGT offline:
1. (Through the phone) Bright and welcoming
2. ULU (local term for out-of-the-way)
3. Shop space is LARGE compared to Dylan's
4. Spartan furnishing but accommodating and welcoming enough
5. Nice environment to sit down (can only stand at Dylan's) and look through the fabrics
6. Several commissioned pieces on display (most of which I didn't like)
7. Good business (it was Saturday)
8. Andy and Aldwin were very patient, open to listening and gave many suggestions
9. No house cut
10. Customer base seem to be a tad younger than Dylan's (perhaps with less money to throw around?)
11. Customization is aplenty
12. No credit card payment (yet). This might actually be a good thing for me
13. Andy thinks I look good in pink (wore the Inizio pink shirt from Dylan's and I agree but that's kinda off-topic

Anyways, I settled with a Grandi & Rubinelli patterned pale purple shirting from their Nobel range. I can't name the pattern unfortunately. It's a cross between checks and dots at a very minute level. Anything but the Gingham checks. Those things are everywhere...

For the pants, I went with a VBC 120s. Again, the pattern is difficult for me to describe. This set of clothes are more "new year clothes" anyways and I am making them in casual styling. As Andy commented, it's a "big step" for me. I'm a little worried about my choice but yet I'm quite assured as I had many a opinion from Andy to help. It will be 2 weeks before I get my clothes. I will update again when I do.

Week 2

Okay, so it's officially the end of the 2nd week of 2013 today.

Several things to update since the last post. Maybe I'll start with the reading first. I'm at page 644/1822 of The Idiot now. As I mentioned previously, I'm reading it on my phone. I've downloaded the ebook in .txt format from gutenberg and have been reading whenever I could. I can't remember when I first discovered gutenberg but what I do remember was reading Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky again) on a Cassiopeia palmtop 8 or so years back! I've finally picked up reading classics (in English) again and doing so now on my phone really brings me back to the old days, in a strange quasi-nostalgic way.

Anyways, The Idiot is a really good read. The antiquity whatsoever sometimes just fades away when the characters and their actions remind you of somebody you know. The characters' inter-relations and how easily I can relate similarities/differences of those relations with those that I have is really remarkable. Despite the long rhetoric passages here and there, it is pretty engaging. I don't how I could have stopped reading for the past years...

Speaking of reading, I was watching Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress last night (I'm determined to watch whatever Zhou Xun has been in). Again, I was struck by how reading could change lives. The old tailor and how he infused his fantasies and thoughts from the readings was really the most interesting to me (not the "revolutionary" ideas and what not).

On the subject of tailoring... That shall be discussed in the next post.

100 Pushups

“A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart.” 

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

Was reading Dostoyevsky (reached page 311 of 1822) on my phone and laying in bed before I managed to get myself together and proceed with the 100 Pushups plan. I finished Week 2 Day 3 of the plan on Sunday (was it Sunday?) so the exhaustion test was up next. Managed to do 27 good ones consecutively at 75~80% effort. Week 3 Day 1 shall be scheduled for Thursday then! Actually, I would have gone to the gym or a run if not for having to work late today. What more, it was raining when I finally got home. I wonder how I'm gonna handle the marathon in May.

Mondays Are Not For Running

Why? Because I end up working late and hence having dinner late. If I have dinner late, obviously I'd end up running late and sleeping late and then totally ruin my Tuesday.

So, I make a rule not to run if I can't get to the gym or home on time and with my stomach at peace.

I intend to take part in the Sundown Marathon in May and finally do a 42km but I'm really out of shape. I managed to squeeze in a 2.4km run yesterday at the gym after squats etc (yes, I shouldn't do that) in my skate shoes (yes again, I should run in proper shoes instead).

Right now, the total mileage for the year stands at 7.4km. Need to buck up...

I'll make sure I run tomorrow. The gym just started a "KM Club" thing. First prize is a pair of Adidas shoes. I don't care what they are but I want them! I'm 20km behind the top guy and it's sorta sad...

Sunday Banking

千里之行，始于足下 (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step)

- 老子 (Laozi)

I don't know when they ever started Sunday banking but wow is it convenient.

It took me less than an hour to get out of the house, head to the bank, see a CSO, answer some questions, fill up a form and get back home. That's exactly what I did and I shall be contributing $800 at the end of each month into this new OCBC Monthly Savings Account I just got created.

The goal is $10,000 in cold hard cash in a separate account by the end of the year ($400 top-up inclusive). Baby steps. Baby steps.

2013 Begins

I'm 6 days late on the whole "New Year" thing but well, it's better late than never, they say.

So it's 2013 already and I'd like to continue making my life a better one. This journey started around November 2011 actually when I first started looking for a new job and finally made the switch in late April 2012 to my present company. And so, since then I've been trying to make my life more meaningful and balanced with the newfound time and energy (albeit less income).

More than 8 months since, there are severely work-in-progress projects, some that never really took off, and some that just don't seem to be on the right track. I used to blog, in what feels like a previous lifetime, about trivialities as a then emotional and childish self. Only 2 years shy of being into my 30's, I'm too old for that nonsense and this blog instead shall serve as a record and reminder to myself of my endeavours and results.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

With that, my life from henceforth will be a series of "experiments" in finance (ie. actually starting to invest and have proper savings), fitness (ie. finally run a marathon, some full body strength), sartorial pursuit (ie. get rid of unflattering and inappropriate clothes and replace with the right ones), social life (ie. strengthen old ties and create meaningful new ones and find a life partner) and education (ie. learn a new language? MBA?).

Alea iacta est.