My Jogging Playlist I hesitate to call this my running playlist, because I can’t sustain a pace that can be considered running. To be accurate, this should be called my walking/jogging playlist. Some of these are labeled Parental Guidance, so consider yourself warned. Here goes: Time Title – Artist “Lyric quotes.” Comments 01:30 Magnet – Nike ad featuring Lance Armstrong A very gentle and inspiring start. 04:37 In My Heart – Moby This one has a moderate speed bass rhythm to get into the workout. You have to have decent headphones/earphones to hear it though. 02:47 Happy Feet – Randy Spendlove (Shall We Dance? Soundtrack) Picking up the pace. 04:05 I See You Baby (Radio edit) – Groove Armada “I see you baby, shakin’ that a**.” I guess I’m supposed to look the back of a girl who is running way ahead of me. 02:45 Wonderful Night – Fatboy Slim A really infectious song. Not sure why it wasn’t a bigger hit. 04:08 Hey Ya! – Outkast “Shake it, sugar. Shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Refer to comments for I See You Baby. No, I do not imagine André 3000 when listening to this song. 04:23 You Can Do It – Ice Cube “You can do it, put you back into it. You can do it, put your a** into it.” ‘Nuff said. 03:11 Be Faithful – Fatman Scoop featuring The Crooklyn Clan Actually, I don’t know what this song has to do with being faithful. 03:37 Don’t Give Up – Chicane featuring Bryan Adams “Don’t give up, you know it’s true. You gotta do what you gotta do.” This song brings me up to half an hour, and it is a nice song to end off on a fast pace. Love the bass. There are more songs, for when I used to work out after half an hour on the elliptical machine in the gym. Maybe I’ll share the extended playlist another time. Flickr Updates for 2010-04-05 Circle Line Discovery (Stage 1 & 2)-11 Circle Line Discovery – Impressive… Most Impressive This morning, I checked out the Circle Line Discovery event, ahead of the opening of the long-overdue Stage 1 & 2 of the CCL. If I were Darth Vader, surveying the new stations, I would say (in my wannabe-James Earl Jones voice), “Impressive… Most impressive.” And which station gives me the greatest sense of awe? Stadium Station. It is simply magnificent. The skylight takes full advantage of natural light. Yet it does not end up roasting the station because it is placed high up. Very high up. The station is big. It is one of the few stations that allows you to look from one end to the other. There are no obstructions. Just massive space. The only similar station is Changi Airport. But that’s the thing, Changi Airport station is so large that you lose perspective. I’m not sure how to explain this. Sometimes, something is so big that you don’t know the scale of it. A good example is the ground we stand on – Earth. We rarely get to see the horizon. And even when we do, there is no frame of reference. We know it is big, but we can’t put it in perspective. Stadium Station is big enough let you feel that sense of size, yet small enough for you to put it in context. Step outside and you’ll get a real feel for the scale. On either end of the station are two cavernous entrances. I can imagine a match day. People streaming out of that station. Thousands of supporters decked in red disgorging from this massive structure. And thousands of people heading into the station once the game is over. Which leads to my only criticism of the station. Two escalators at each entrance? (And there are only two entrances, not including the elevator access.) Let’s do the math. About 50,000 people pack the stadium. Assuming only half are taking the train from Stadium Station, that’s 25,000 people who are going to cram onto four escalators – further assuming that all four will be down-riding after a big game – and the central staircase on either end. Not a pretty sight. In a strange way, this may be the intention. I am not sure how frequent the trains will be after a big game, but even at 2 minute intervals, it will take time to clear the platform of passengers. So, the bottleneck will be at the escalator instead – in order not to overcrowd the platform. (Remember that the CCL trains are only 3 cars long, not 6 like those on the NSL, EWL and NEL, so they have only half the carrying capacity.) But all this is speculation. We will not know for sure until our next big game at the National Stadium our Sports Hub is finally ready. In the interim, you can use Stadium Station to get to Singapore Indoor Stadium (and the Brewerkz located there) and… err… Kallang Leisure Park. More photos of the Circle Line Discovery (mostly of Stadium Station) Flickr Updates for 2010-04-04 Cirle Line Discovery (Stage 1 & 2)-1 Flickr Updates for 2010-03-25 Singapore Art Museum Flickr Updates for 2010-03-24 Bishan Sunset Flickr Updates for 2010-03-23 Plants in the bus Flickr Updates for 2010-03-20 After breakfast After breakfast [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Siva headed to Ubin. Adrian and I headed back to Bishan. But only one of us took the bus! OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 Cycling: One of the few types of exercise I can do now without my joints and muscles screaming out for mercy. 40km is do-able, so I signed up again for OCBC Cycle Singapore. Last year, I did the distance in 2 hours 13 minutes, which is slow. This was supposed to be the impetus to train harder and go sub-2 hours. Naturally, things didn’t go as I planned. My training was limited – mostly by sheer laziness – to three short rides at Ubin – and an attempt at the Kallang Park Connector. Nevertheless, I managed to achieve my timing goal. This morning, I clocked myself at an hour and 38 minutes. Almost half an hour better. Not that I can put this down to training. I probably knew how to pace myself better this time round. Perhaps, the earlier start this year helped too. Despite the recent hot weather, it was a relatively cool morning. And with cycling, you always feel a breeze. Although when you’re tired, you feel like the same breeze is conspiring to slow you down. During the ride, I was looking out for @gadgetygirl and @sivasothi (and friends). While I didn’t manage to spot them, I did bump into a friend from secondary school days. Audrey D’cotta was a prefect I knew from CHIJ (Toa Payoh). She now runs her own pilates studio: The Moving Body. Meeting fellow foldie-owners is always a treat too. I think I saw a Dahon guy that I saw last year, on his distinctive yellow-orche bike with matching tyres. As we whizzed past me, he hollered, “Go, bro!”. And the support staff are always generous with their cheers for guys on small bikes (read: supposedly inferior equipment). The ride itself – I preferred last year’s route. The organisers seemed to have switched the start and end sectors, which meant that this year, we headed towards the finish, then headed away from the finish… several times. All in all, I enjoyed myself. The rest area after the ride was much better too. Last year, there wasn’t much. This time, there were a few booths, the most important of which was NPark’s Park Connector booth. They had maps showing the Park Connector Networks, which included park connectors being built and in planning. Picked up a couple of brochures and got myself a nice PCN cap. Oh yes, the goodie bag includes items that I might actually use! Flickr Updates for 2010-03-07 OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Goodies I might actually use Flickr Updates for 2010-02-27 Osim Superheroes Flickr Updates for 2010-02-26 Osim Superheroes Osim Superheroes [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Flickr Updates for 2010-02-24 Wedding Cake Wedding Cake [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Photo by Pa Flickr Updates for 2010-02-20 School of the Arts rooftop 360 panorama Welcome to SOTA Spiral Staircase Double O One SJI is Flirting Point School of the Arts rooftop 360 panorama [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Best viewed at original size. Testing PicApp AC Milan 2 Manchester United 3 Pretty amazed that PicApp offers high-quality creative and editorial stock photographs for bloggers to use. For free. And in other news, United beat Milan early this morning. I am still boycotting Mio, so I didn’t get to watch the game. Flickr Updates for 2010-02-17 iPhone Nation Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-034 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-033 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-032 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-031 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-030 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-029 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-028 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-027 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-026 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-025 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-024 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-023 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-022 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-021 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-020 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-019 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-018 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-017 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-016 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-015 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-014 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-013 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-012 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-011 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-010 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-009 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-008 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-007 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-006 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-005 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-004 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-003 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-002 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-001 Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-035 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk 2010-006 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Bus invovled in accident blocking Whitley Road [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-025 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-024 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-023 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Cycle-Ubin-022 [Flickr] acroamatic posted a photo: Links for 2010-01-25 [del.icio.us] Color Correction in Lightroom & Photoshop – Video Tutorial « Modifiedphoto’s Blog Richer color without Saturation. « Modifiedphoto’s Blog Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please? - Dangerously Irrelevant BumpTop Mac: Reinventing your Mac desktop. Cool Science Fiction Suggested reading order for Asimov's books Links for 2009-11-19 [del.icio.us] Preetam Rai » Blog Archive » Best Camera Presentation Days of Wine and Roses « The Long and Winding Road Blog post on SJI at Bras Basah Road Using Both Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light Differences between Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom, including explanation about XMP sidecar.