reason for break up

"The financial independence achieved by women had brought in a change in their attitude. They feel that their individuality must be respected and should not be interfered with. Their economic dependence on men is much less or non-existent compared to olden days when women stayed at home. Further, the separate careers result in men and women working in different places, thus increasing not only the physical distance but also the mental distance. This invariably leads to separation. All these causes, either singly or in combination, end up in the couple breaking up.

However, an understanding approach and a give-and-take policy would avoid divorces, if both men and women take a more tolerant attitude."

found this off the internet and it made went "ah! so damn true!!"

newton challenge 30km singapore

today is newton challenge 30km race. everything jus didnt seem right for me. when i woke up, i didnt feel "good". it didnt feel like its a race day. when i put on my racers, it just didnt feel correct. and so, i changed to my mizunos and this is the first race i ever attended without my adizero.

the race is held at east coast park and i had a really hard time finding a carpark lot this morning! hai..

lucky for us, we managed to find a lot after 15 minutes of hunting and we walked a good 2km to the starting pen.

i tried my new power gel and it was giving me a little trouble. probably the caffeine content caused me to have stomach upset and i had to endure the sensation for 20km..

on the whole, i did an alright timing of 2:30H. hopefully i can shave off another 10 mins when i go for my tokyo marathon!


so heres some photos i took today :)




my surfing friend told me her personal favourite is the red GU gel (chocolate raspberry) and that was no doubt my least favourite today! i literally went "eerk" while running!! haha..







putting on my new EQ power band!!




the confusing route markers along the race.




a self-portrait after my race




all my baggage after the race. too tired to organise my stuff properly..




the one and only taping left on me after the race.




"born to run". im born to slack man. lol




one of my running buddies finishin up the last 4km of the race!




my impromptu icing station







the amount of pocari sweat litter during the race! ahem* yes. guilty as charge. i like to anyhow throw my litter during my race. hahaha!!







my wish for all the pain.










beautiful scenery as i am walking back to the car. alone.










recovery food from bukit timah market!! yum yum yum!! and yes. i eat ALOT. thats definitely something tt im glad running gave me-high metabolism rate. ho ho ho!!!




gonna wear my under armor recovery pants for today! hopefully "no damage done"! haha..


i saw a wife carry her child waiting for her husband near the finishing line. the husband stopped and kiss both her and their baby. its a really touching moment. i will find myself a partner that will support and cheer me on at the finishing line! someone tt will be proud of me for who i am. :)

Zac Leow
peace
:D

running : pre- newton 30km sg

as usual, i believe a very good pre-race will lead up to a very good race.

tomorrow is singapore's newton 30km race along east coast park (ecp).

did some minor changes to my pre-race training and felt really good abt the race tomorrow! its gonna be tough, but.. yes, i will do my best!! chiong ar!!


and so i started training despite god tried to play a "scare" on me.


but alls well! completed my run in time and was really pumped out. phew*



following tt, i headed for my pre-race massage and taping. and so.. im done!! :)



gastronemius taping (aka calf)




patella(aka knee cap) taping in pink and my peronus taping in blue.

and so, im prepared to get yet another round of verbal abuse at the race tomorrow before the flag off.

life goes on.

i made a wish for tomorrow's race. i know it will come true. :)





ZAC Leow
peace
:D

music : LET'S DANCE TONIGHT - updated

Hi. I am Zac. I am a sports scientist.
Hi. I am Zi Xiang, im a student.
Hi. I am Xiang. im a musician and this is the best talent god has given me.


I have been keeping this song for a while. initially, i wanted to sell this song off.
Then again, im glad i didnt.

Today, i realised how important this song has been to me and how much it meant to me now. LET'S DANCE TONIGHT!!! =)

This is my song.
This is my music.
This is my lyrics.
This is how i feel.
This is ME.
This is XIANG6699.


From today onwards, i wish to share more of my works with everyone. To spread the love of music and to reach out to more people.
I shall no longer hide in the shadows of a vocalist or behind another artist. I shall be true to myself.
I shall love myself more. I shall be fair to myself.

prepared and written by Zac Leow

basketball : nike skills

steve nash academy

kobe bryant academy

lebron james academy

vince carter academy

thumbs up to nike for hosting such academy to improve the game of basketball. thumbs up to the athletes that are forever willing to share their knowledge of the game. un-selfish. truly.

for the game of basketball. its all about 

love. passion. commitment. discipline. 

self-improvement

its hard for anyone to justify another man's actions. may it be for whatever reasons that caused the reaction, it will always be the same.

i may have my reasons behind but it just doesnt matter because we are all standing up for our loved ones.

i see lots and lots of hatred coming my way. and i have no choice but to accept them for it is me who reacted. regardless of the "reason" behind.

note to self: never ever react to any situation for it, i might regret it later on. its always better to let it be. think of "seishen". yes. zen mode i must. for it is for me to learn and to become a better man so i will not hurt people arnd me. keep it to myself, take the fall. to be a better and wiser man.

dear god. please send me the strength to learn and the patience to think things through properly and the capacity to endure.

Zac Leow

pain. a chapter in god's teachings.

this is the conversation between my friend and i.

fren: dont worry bro, god has a plan for all of us.
me: why does god want to teach me "pain"?
fren: god may just want us to learn more about ourselves, our life and do a reflection. cause when we are in pain and suffering, thats when we learn the most.
me: kinda like a reflection on ourselves?
fren: yap yap.

just how many times have i been full of myself and moved on taking things for granted and only to find that i have hurt people beside me, friends and loved ones. plenty.
and i do have to agree that when im down, tore, tired, its when i reflect on myself, to make myself a better human being.

after all these years, i feel that i have improved a little and i matured a little. but im still as immature as before, im still as lousy when it comes to controlling my deepest emotions.
my deepest of apologies to those that i have subconsciously hurt.


its been a long time since i last said my prayers. today shall be day 1.

dear god.
please bless me with the strength to move on. the strength to be able to understand life better and to be more at peace with myself so that i can help people around me and the least i could do is to stop hurting them subconsciously.

Money RULES $$

When it comes to the way we think about money, I've noticed there are two kinds of people: those who think $1,000 is a lot of money, and those who think $10 is a lot of money.

I fall into the second category. But I'm not especially frugal. I have a fairly nice car, I take a vacation every year, and it isn't too hard to convince me to drop a few hundred dollars on a great pair of shoes now and then. I've never even clipped a coupon. But I've also maxed out my retirement savings, bought a house, and live without debt — all on an average salary for where I live.

What I've done isn't extraordinary, but it does seem somewhat rare. That said, I think most people can accomplish this fairly easily. All you have to do is live and die by two simple rules...

1. Pay Yourself First: The Best Kind of Cliché

"Pay yourself first" is a very common piece of financial advice. It's simple enough to follow, but that doesn't make it easy.

If you can save $200 per month at a 6-percent interest rate, you'll have more than $200,000 in 30 years. At the very least, you'll have a great savings fund at the ready for whatever life may bring. But how can you come up with that cash when you barely have any money left between paychecks?

The answer is to take that money off the top. And yes, it'll sting a bit at first.

I've made a habit of taking contributions to my retirement and savings account right off the top of each paycheck on the very day it hits my bank account. I try to cut pretty deep too, leaving myself just a little more than I need to pay for expenses.

This works on two levels: It forces me to really budget to meet my basic expenses while keeping extra cash out of easy reach. I can still retrieve the money from my savings account if I happen to need it, but because I have to make a decision to transfer funds, they usually stay put. I allow myself to spend whatever I don't need for expenses on whatever I like — if I don't spend it by the time my next paycheck comes, I roll that into savings too.

I also save any additional money I get. I think a raise, tax return, or bonus can go two ways. It can raise your standard of living, or it can raise your standards. Rather than creating more expenses to suck up these extra dollars, I live the same way day to day and tuck the extra money away for something better.

2. Practice Mindful Spending

Having some leeway in your paycheck isn't a given, but I think many people have more wiggle room than they realize.

This is what I mean when I say that I think $10 is a lot of money. When I decide to buy something, it's a decision, not an impulse buy. I want to spend my money on things that really have value for me, not just things that are convenient or appealing at the moment. So while I can buy something nice once in a while — without guilt — I have a hard time going out for lunch or buying (you guessed it) a latte.

Less expensive purchases are an easy mental hurdle to get over because they're so small it seems that they could hardly amount to anything. The truth is, these seemingly insignificant purchases can easily amount to, or exceed, that $200 you may be aiming to save.

If you spend $4 every morning on a latte, and $12 each work day for lunch, this adds up to $80 per week — for a grand total of $4,160 per year. If you earn $50,000 per year, that's a full month of your salary. Do you really want all that money to amount to a bunch of coffee and Subway sandwiches?

This isn't to say that no one should ever buy a latte. But if I spend this kind of money every week, I don't have anything to devote to my savings. That's a sign that these seemingly small indulgences just aren't affordable, at least for me.

This is why I've also decided not to opt for cable TV or an extensive cell phone plan. I don't feel that I live like a pauper. After all, I have money saved that I can turn to not only in an emergency, but also to pay for things that I feel really add enjoyment to my life, rather than just distracting me for a few hours or days — and steadily subtracting dollars from my bank account.

What Are Your Rules?

Over time, I've learned to save money as diligently as I pay my bills. I also try to spend what's left as mindfully as I can. I can't say I always succeed, that I never overspend or that I'm not often tempted to break my rules.

Nevertheless, I'm sticking to the strategy that has kept me out of debt, and helped me save enough to meet some key financial goals — and still have some fun. I know of other people who've done even better by employing these rules much more stringently than I do. As for me, I'll keep saving up for my next big purchase by keeping all the little ones in check.

Reminder to self

when the world seemed to have darken, i have my guitar to battle all the darkness away.

when the world seemed to be heartless, i have music to give me hope an happiness.

when anyone tries to run away with my success and happiness, mark my words, i've got my runners and i will, i repeat, i will run faster than you. i will run so freaking fast tt i will chase you down before u know it. i will knock u over with my guitar, deafen u with guitar and leave u there, forever without music. i will run away with YOUR HAPPINESS.

i am the greatest of all evil.
i am xiang.

running : oldest marathon finisher!!

A 100-year-old runner, Mr Singh, became the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the race in Toronto on Sunday.
Indian-born Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records for his accomplishment.

It took Mr Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line - more than six hours after Kenya's Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year - and he was the last competitor to complete the course.

music : 我的錯

prepared and written by Zac Leow

gadgets: 360 degree camera

Our friends at Popular Photography found a concept camera we'd definitely love to try: a throwable, ball-shaped camera that uses its 36 cellphone camera sensors to take a 360° panoramic shot when thrown. It actually senses the apogee of its toss--the moment when it's suspended at its highest point--and captures its entire surroundings simultaneously. Check out more at PopPhoto, including a video of the ball in action. What can we say? We love ball-shaped things.

Zac Leow
peace
:D

srjc: birthday celebration

sometimes i think im still a kid.
i still like to mess around, have fun and do silly things. and so, i made my team celebrate one of the players birthday by fulfilling a baller's all time dream.
to dunk the ball.




united in strength, the helped the birthday boy up.















giving the serious game face!





going for the 2 hand jam!





leaning in for the finish!!





finishing strong!





one more look at the birthday dunk!





like a superman.





getting hia free birthday ride from the other team mates!





birthday boy being surprised by the cake!!





SRJC boys bballers \m/





cake cutting session..


today was definitely one of more more fun sessions we had. boys, when we win our future games, i ensure u, its gonna hell outta more fun.
endure and work hard. we will walk till the end of the tunnel.

looking forward to seeing u guys whip some asses. rock n roll!!

Running: Best Marathon in the world?

After reading this article from www.runnersworld.com, i am certain that this is definitely one of the marathon i wanna do in the future. its really so beautiful. then again, when i race, i dont really recall what i see. hmmmm... maybe i can take a slow jog around the venue after the race. =) active recovery + scenery photography!

The Jungfrau Marathon, a fall race in the Swiss Alps, bills itself as "the most beautiful marathon in the world," and it's easy to see why.

Photos by Victah Sailer, Photo Run