Hello 2019, Goodbye 2018!

Yet another year gone by.

It has happened with the blink of an eye.

It has had its ups and its downs. Generally not as significant as 2017 but still a significant with some really big milestones nonetheless. Here's hoping that 2019 will be a happier and more prosperous year!

Here are some of the key events unlocked in 2018:

- Moved into our new home
- Promoted at work to a higher position that I never thought possible
- Perth family trip in May was super fun!
- Hong Kong family trip in November unlocked HK Disneyland and Ocean Park
- Completed a full marathon

That said, it hasn't been all that smooth sailing. My supposed feng shui in 2018 wasn't too bad but 2019 is supposed to be a really bad year for Goats. In fact going into 2019, there is trepidation and the only way I can properly describe my thoughts now are to use that common cliche of hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Anyway as with tradition, here was last year's review.

And here were my 2018 resolutions.

So here're my resolution reviews after the year's gone:

1) Achieve >20% Return On A Key Investment Account PASSED
This I surprisingly achieved with relative ease, thanks to some good punts. I've covered it in my investment blog here. Hopefully I can keep this streak going in 2019.

2) Score At Least One Big Positive Life Achievement In 2018 PASSED
Without a doubt this had to be the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I've covered this amazing achievement here, and here. One very significant thing off my bucket list.

3) Exercise 3 Times A Week FAILED
In spite of achieving (2), I could only say I exercised regularly maybe twice a week at best. I have to carry this into the new year and hope to do better in 2019. At least for my own health, if not for my family.

4) Achieve Passive Income Of At Least $200/mth FAILED
This was actually almost achieved. See my November update. I haven't updated for December but definitely wouldn't achieve this. That being said, let's not forget that I completely got out of debt in 2017 and started in 2018 at zero investible AUM. So I still want to pat my back for this even though it is classified as a fail. Another resolution to bring forward to 2019.

5) Spend More Time With Kids and Family PASSED
This I actually achieved with effort! I really made it a point to get off work earlier to be with the kids throughout the year. Of course it may not be fully evident, but I have significantly cut down my social outings to almost negligible, just to achieve this. Will keep on doing this and hope it lasts for as long as possible.

And there you have it, 3/5 passes makes 2018 a better than average year for me. All I need to do now is to make more money, keep myself healthy, and 2019 would be even more special for me.

So here's wishing myself and my family overwhelming good health, wealth and prosperity in 2019!!!

Manchester United 4 Bournemouth 1

OGS's third game in charge and his third consecutive win as well.

Again the players played with freedom and with a lot more of an attacking vibe, which is brilliant to watch.

Pogba had a standout game with two goals and an assist. Could easily have had a hat-trick too.

Rashford and Martial are such an exciting front pairing, and even Lukaku who came on as a subbed contributed with one goal.

The only negative aspect was that for the third consecutive game we did not keep a clean sheet.

Also Bailly got sent off for a lousy tackle. Personally I still like the partnership of Lindelof-Jones anyway.

Herrera and Matic were also excellent with locking down the defensive side of midfield.

Let's hope this will continue and we punch our way into the top four by end of the season.

GGMU!

Manchester United 3 Huddersfield Town 1

Another fantastic win, the United way!

Here's a transcript of what went on on my FB feed.

Yeah! Looking good although I had Martial as my captain in the FPL. FML!

Really like the way we're playing. Reminds of the good ol'SAF days. I think Lindelof and Jones might be a very good anchor defensive pairing in OGS system.

MATIC!!!

Fantastic goal off a corner! 1-0! Nice work by Lindelof.

When even Fred appears to be having a good game...

Look at our possession! Don't remember the last time we camped in an opponent's half for so long at home.

Wah so nice by Rashford, wasted by Dalot!

HT 1-0. We are dominating very nicely. Just need to get a couple more goals to kill the game off.

I think Lindelof and Jones are actually doing a good job. Nothing heart in mouth type, preserve one goal lead type like Mourinho and LVG games.

Dalot wasted one very good chance to score! But generally Dalot could be our Kyle Walker.

Second half starts! Let's get two more goals!

Herrera on for Fred

Young on for Dalot

Good changes IMHO. Let's score!

What a save by DDG!!!

Wow that really looked like a certain goal. DDG back in good form in the new domination system.

POGBA!!!

Really nice passing play all round! Need to buy Pogba for FPL!

2-0 everything is going great! Maybe Lingard needs to be subbed.

Luke Shaw what a monster! Lingard looks tired now.

Pogba has had such a stellar game. Lingard needs to be subbed asap!

POGBA!!!

Fantastic shot! 3-0!

Angel Gomes on for Mata!

Super exciting young prospect!

Crap. Still no clean sheet for poor DDG :( he really doesn't deserve this.

3-1.

FT 3-1. Fantastic display of attacking football marred by a consolation goal for Huddersfield. Onwards and upwards. Future looks really bright.

A Christmas Day 2018 Story

It's Christmas day!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today was a very good day with the family. And Christmas should always be about the family right?

Already last night we had Christmas eve dinner with my parents and siblings. It was such a fun affair where we had Hai Di Lao and I tried pig's brains for the first time ever and probably never will again.

This morning the son woke first and proceeded to excitedly prod me up to pass him the clue to start off his treasure hunt that I planned for the kids the night before. Admittedly he took awhile, and he even needed help from a very sleepy me with one of the clues (the table one). In the end he found his presents in my cupboard bottom drawer, which was a small Lego set, and two Future Card Buddyfight starter decks, all of which he chose himself in the weeks before. Then it was my girl's turn to wake up and set off on her own treasure hunt in the house. She also found her presents in the cupboard behind the sofa, which was a Japanese paper doll book from Daiso, and an Ariel toy set, again all of which she chose the weeks before.

Following that I went out for a morning jog just because I felt like it. Super unbelievable that the Japanese cartilage pills that my mom introduced to me are so effective that I hardly feel any pain in both my knee meniscus' anymore. Simply amazing! It was a usual one hour jog of about 10km. These days these jogs are fairly easy, plus a lot of sweating, so it does keep me feeling healthy. It was all the way past OBS-East Coast, all the way to the National Sailing Centre and back.

I came back to my son bugging me to play his new Buddyfight game with him, so I obliged. It was a new game but not a concept entirely new. In fact, it was simpler to understand and learn than Magic: The Gathering, a game I am really familiar with. Anyway, one game won, one game lost. I really like that he is into this game, then I can bring him on to MTG when the time is right.

After a quick bath, it was off to Parkway Parade to look for the daughter's schoolbag and the boy's school shoes. We managed to accomplish both after a quick lunch at the food court. Bought a purple Deuter sports bag for the girl. We had the experience of knowing not to waste money on those fancy kids bags with cartoon prints because they never last.

Then it was off back home to take a quick nap because we had big plans later on.

It is 5pm and we all wake up sleepy and groggy. We had to go quickly to our destination because I wasn't even sure if it was too crowded or even open, just like what happened last year. Didn't want history to repeat itself.

We were going to the Marina Bay Carnival!

So we drove to MBFC and parked at one of the MBFC towers nearest to the carnival area, and walked towards MBS. The carnival was in the space in between.

It was so fun! Like those old Uncle Ringo travelling fun fairs, only much larger in scale. It was super expensive too! We managed to take so many rides. There was the classic Viking ride, where my seat belt actually came off midway through the ride! There was the rising spinning swing ride, this jumpy ride which made me sick. And then a host of other kiddie rides. In fact while waiting for hte jumpy ride called Jumper Jumper, some guy's handphone flew out of his pocket and hit the wifey on her ankle! It was quite badly bruised. Very lucky it didn't hit anyone in the head or face. I had to tell him off a bit as he was totally oblivious to it.

We also played all the game stalls and won quite a lot of soft toys! All in all it was still good fun, albeit super expensive. We spent about two hours plus there and I spent $200!

Later on we walked to MBS for dinner. We had Ippudo Ramen, topped with R+B bubble tea.

Finally we headed home as it was almost 10pm.

What a lovely and eventful Christmas Day with the family!

Christmas Eve 2018 Treasure Hunt

Start by waking me to get your starting clue!

Good morning son, are you ready?
To search for your presents you need to be steady.
The first clue is hidden near,
It is on the robot vacuum cleaner.

That was easy wasn't it?
Now to make things harder a little bit.
The next clue is where you practice music-making,
Under the music keys that are not for taking.

Well done you managed to find this tough one,
Pat yourself on the back but try not to run.
This next clue will make you ask for more.
It is stuck behind a toilet door!

You have done really well my son,
I'm so proud of how you have done.
Here's another tough find if you are able,
You'll need to start looking under a table!

Just two more clues to finally find your presents,
I hope they have not been eaten up by ants!
Your fifth clue is the easiest of all,
It is stuck on a mirror wall.

Now your presents you will find,
Somewhere you can't think of in your mind.
It is where Papa keeps his treasure trunk,
From Simpsons, medals, Pokemon toys, and other junk!

You've found it!!!

Start by waking me to get your starting clue!

Good morning princess, are you ready?
To search for your presents you need to be steady.
The first clue is hidden near,
It is in the refrigerator.

That was easy wasn't it?
Now to make things harder a little bit.
The next clue is where I make music ah,
When I play lovely songs on my guitar.

Well done you managed to find this tough one,
Pat yourself on the back but try not to run.
This next clue will make you ask for more.
It is stuck on a certain glass door!

You have done really well my princess,
I'm so proud of how you have done.
Here's another tough find if you try at all,
It is where we always put the football.

Just two more clues to finally find your presents,
I hope they have not been eaten up by ants!
Your fifth clue is the simplest yet,
It is inside your Heguru bag!

Now your presents you will find,
Somewhere you can't think of in your mind.
It is where Papa likes to watch my football,
In the cupboard against the wall!

You've found it!!!

No More Photos?! iPhone Updated

Really sad.

For some reason I allowed my iPhone to auto update to the latest iOS.

And with that, my Blogger app refused to work as Blogger had long discontinued it.

Still don't understand why Blogger doesn't want to allow quick uploading of photos from the phone.

So expect to see a lot less pictures on my blog until I find an app that can change all that.

I've actually blogged about it previously, but still managed to continue using the same phone to keep the app alive.

Cardiff City 1 Manchester United 5

The season has now begun proper.

with Mourinho sacked, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has come in as caretaker manager.

In his first game in charge, he gave everyone a taste of what was to come.

The old SAF way of attacking football and playing with freedom.

Rashford scored.
Herrera scored.
Martial scored.
Lingard scored.
Lingard scored again.
Pogba assisting thrice.
Lindelof was solid in defence.
Phil Jones joined in the attack.

So beautiful to watch.

Really hope this is not a one off.

If we keep playing like this, we might be able to overcome PSG in the Champions League, we might go far in the FA Cup, heck, we might even make it into the top four!

The season has now begun proper.

Katong Shopping Center Boneless Chicken Rice 2018

This place has been around since I was in secondary school!

Still delicious and unique!

An Eventful Outing At Katong I12

So yesterday I brought the kids to Katong I12 for my daughter's regular ballet class.

The boy and I were loitering awhile wondering what to do while we waited the one hour for her ballet class to end.

We ended up hanging out at the games area outside the supermarket, playing foosball. All of a sudden, this lady around my age came up to me and asked me if I would like to have this Christmas event pass that she had gotten which she didn't have time to bring her kids to. I thought for a while, and then said yes and I thanked her for it. She wished me a Merry Christmas and then went off on her way.

Now this event pass is a Christmas promotional event at Katong I12. It consisted of two parts - a rather large bouncy castle area for kids to play, and a spaceship prize catcher for life-sized participants to scoop as many balls as possible. Each event pass requires $50 spend in the mall in order to get it. This entitled one child to get in the bouncy castle for 20mins AND one attempt on the spaceship prize catcher.

Hence to continue on, after getting the pass, my first thought was that I couldn't possibly let one child go for the bouncy castle while the other watches in disappointment right? So the boy and I thought about where we can spend another $50 to get one more pass. In the end we decided to spend it in the supermarket. I bought quite a lot of potato chips to hit the spend amount.

After successfully getting the second event pass, we picked my girl, and went to the event area. Here we signed up for the bouncy castle, which required a 10min wait. In that time, I decided to do the spaceship prize catcher twice. What happens here is that I am harnessed and hooked from the back and hovered over a pool of plastic balls, and I have to try to get as many balls as possible. now I noticed that other participants were scooping balls with umbrellas so I asked around and found out that you were allowed to bring your own 'scoop', hence the umbrella.

So my first attempt, I managed to scoop 61 plastic balls with my umbrella. This earned me a prize of 2 GV movie tickets. In my second attempt, I managed to scoop 70 plastic balls! This actually earned me an XL giant unicorn plushie. Unfortunately, the plushie was out of stock! Super sad! In the end after some hemming and hawing, I managed to bargain for another 2 GV movie tickets. Thus now I have 4 tickets for the whole family!

The kids then went for their bouncy castle 20min play. Then we went to buy bubble tea and went home.

What an eventful outing at Katong I12!

Hong Kong 2018

Yet another work trip to Hong Kong all week.

This was very work related so I hardly went anywhere else aside from the office, Lan Kwai Fong, and my hotel room. Haha, such was our proximity to LKF.

One of my very local meals at the famous Tsui Wah at LKF.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2018 - Results

What a feat to have completed my first marathon!

Here are my results and stock photos!

Look at the total number of steps I tallied!!! I had never walked more than 30,000 steps until then. 51,000+?! Wow.

You can see my official timing here. 06:30:07

I had my name and timing engraved on my medal too! So beautiful. I will cherish this AND my finisher's t-shirt for a very long time to come.

The finisher's t-shirt from Under Armour looks bland, but who cares?! Only those who have completed it gets it!

Stock photos of me enroute.

Another photo of me.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2018

I finally achieved my dream of completing a full marathon!

What a milestone for me, achieving it only at the age of 39. Well, better late than never, they always say.

I was filled with nerves about whether I would complete it, so I was really glad to have come through it in one piece. What a frenetic weekend it was, having attended a friend's wedding on the Saturday evening, then rushing home to catch a short nap to wake at 3am to cab down to the starting line. Ending the marathon at 11.30am, I still had to rush home to pack my things for my one week of work out of the Hong Kong office, head to the airport at 4pm. I then arrive in Hong Kong at 11pm and reach my hotel at 12 midnight, then in to the office on Monday morning bright and early.

Anyway, back to the marathon proper.

So here was the starting line, at the Singapore Flyer. We were instructed that flag off began at 4.30am. However because there were so many runners, the flag off for my pen finally occurred at 5.10am.

This was the entry to the starting pens.

This was my starting pen F, with a view of the starting point really far away.

It's the official starting point!

So to commemorate my first and possibly only marathon in this lifetime, I wanted to take a photo of every kilometer milestone. Sadly by the time i reached a third of the way, my lousy phone which was cracked, was struggling to respond to my sweating fingers and refused to log into the phone. My fingers and whole body was so sweaty that I couldn't even swipe up to activate the camera function. Such was how wet I was during the run.

Here was the 1km mark.

2km.

3km.

4km.

5km. There was a timer at every 5th kilometer starting from the official 4.30am flag off.

6km.

7km.

8km.

9km.

10km.

11km.

12km.

13km. This was the point where they has bananas and food gel. They had two other stops which had this, which was great for my hungry self considering I had skipped breakfast for my marathon.

14km.

15km.

16km. So this point I really give up taking the 17th km because this photo took my awhile to take as I had to take such a long time trying to swipe my phone or key in my password. It was frustrating. I told myself I really needed to change my phone (my iPhone 8 is waiting for me in the box for the last 2 months!).

So by the time the next photo opportunity came along, it was at this 21.1km point which was the half marathon point. By then my phone is also struggling on very low battery.

Here's a shot of the finish line! I had finally done it! A full marathon! So proud of myself. Throughout the run I wanted to cry at a few points, just thinking about my life. It was very refreshing, the type of feelings running through my head all throughout the six and a half hours of the run. At this point, my phone died shortly after, which was sad because I couldn't take anymore photos of my victorious accomplishment.

Here's a picture from the official photographers. Didn't really want to buy any though.

In the end I came in at a timing of 6hrs 30mins 7secs.

What a milestone for me.

Casual Jogs

3 more days to Standard Chartered full marathon.

Getting a wee bit over excited.

Southampton 2 Manchester United 2

Since that Chelsea game, we lost 3-1 to Manchester City, drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace at home, and last night drew 2-2 with Southampton away.

This is a totally lost season and even making it to the knockout rounds of the UCL is no comfort at all.

Our play is horrendous and the players just don't want to show up and dominate matches.

We look lacklustre in our performances and there seems no way that we'd make even the Europa League this season.

I previously called for #mourinhoout but I'm still unsure what options we currently have available to replace him. Yet he is obviously one of the key problems, having failed to inspire Pogba, Sanchez and Lukaku. All three are playing really terribly, especially Lukaku.

A long season ahead and we are not even half way past it yet!

GGMU!

Final Long Distance Run Before Marathon

So my marathon is this coming Saturday past midnight.

I don't feel prepared for it at all.

In fact I think I might not complete it.

Today I ran and walked for two straight hours and could feel the effects of eating so much during my HK trip. Somehow I am doubtful that I can go through 6-7hrs of grueling running plus walking (probably mainly walking).

Scared.

Soy Eu Tua Yet Again

Then I went on another two hour run.

And this was how I rewarded myself.

A double meal of excellent food fare!

Changi Village Nasi Lemak

Post HK trip and I was craving for local food.

What better way to satiate this craving with a hearty nasi lemak meal at one of the best places for nasi lemak?

All this for SGD5.