Extreme emotions can co-exist

This must have been the longest and yet shortest week of this entire year.
Apart from my birthday week, I felt most emotions this week.

Love and Loss was felt so keenly. I came back for Ranie's mummy's wake. It was crazy unbelievable, that this happened in a flash, and then death stared at us blankly in our face. And, I just met uncle and Auntie Pang with my mum only in July. The emotions are too real, but yet, the thing is - life demands that we continue to live well. Hence, I love the "Choose to celebrate" theme. We grief, but we celebrate.

I was telling Uncle Pang that at 50-50, I am very very very sure that Auntie Jo would have made the best ever decision in her life. No one would know for sure, but in my heart, I believe. This has been an incredible journey and God has placed different ones into our lives. Ranie stepped into my life a decade ago. And 1 decade later, it still feels the same. It is the same God who binds.


A most incredible woman. We will meet again.

I had such beautiful moments with many different ones, albeit the short trip. I am overwhelmed, as always, by the hthts and sharing of faith. So good - whether it is with my mum, my parents in law and family, P-J, P-MH, Lips and Daphiee, Sabie, Zeal, YF, ZH, Evelyn, colleagues, etc, etc.
I never knew such warmth and love, until I tasted it, time and time and time again.
How can I ever be grateful and thankful enough? One day, in heaven, I am sure I will have eternity to bless them back and sow into their lives.

And PK came back to the church on Sat. It was a different atmosphere. The praise and worship broke thru' the roof, and you could feel it. Again, what else can I say. When there is such a renewed newness, and when there is such a "we have moved together regardless, and now we continue to move forward in love". 


So in the midst of all the extreme emotions this week, I am glad Sunday arrived. I am always happy and sad when I am about to leave for SG or Abu Dhabi. Always.

And, I decided I would do one more last run.
MR is and always a constant in my life in SG. I need it. I went a little later, about 1230pm, and as I finished the run, that one constant bridge spot was where I breathed life. I paused for a moment and prayed. Am so so so thankful. May He always be centre of my life.


MR@Dusk (18 Aug 2019)


MR@cloudy noon (25 Aug 2019)

Super Unreal Long Weekend - some emotions, and lurving my Oura

When it comes to long weekends, it is always a time of rejoicing and celebration everywhere. Most folks might take the opportunity to travel and do a short trip and I have done that countless times too. But this time round, I just wanted to stay in, do nothing, sleep, read, swim, tennis and netflix. :)

It's been good, except that Aunty Josephine weighs on my mind throughout. I cannot imagine how tough it is for Ranie and family. Gotto keep praying and believing for a miracle.

Anyway, one of the most interesting things I have gotten my hand upon recently was the Oura Ring. I must say I really didn't think I would be such a die-hard. Every morning I wake up, I check my stats. Every time I do sports, I dutifully key in the activity and its duration. It's been pretty interesting stats to me.

The Oura Ring is basically a sleep tracker first and foremost, and then an activity and overall wellness tracker. I have never really owned any of such wearables before - the max I've gone is to use the phone and apps like Strava to track my running and steps, but that's it. I dunno whether I'd like the feeling of a fitbit on my wrist, or whether I would have the tenacity to keep tracking. So it took me a few months to decide whether I should get it and in the end, I did. :)
And I am lurving it.

First, the oura ring box, and the charger - it arrived last Sat; smallest ring size for me. Before the actual product came, there was a test kit, basically for ring size testing.


This is how it looks like, and it comes with a small charger in a sleek box. And it being pretty and non-bulky - was one reason why I like it. :-D

And, it is water-resistant to 100m, which means I can track my overall activities including swimming. I've taken it into the pool a few times and it's great. No problem at all. I just wonder how it does the tracking of activity to calculate readiness - the algorithm and science behind. I've had it for only barely 1 week, so certainly, there's a lot more understanding of the data behind it.

So, some interesting findings of myself after week 1.

(1) I found myself ridiculously and religiously chasing "crowns". Basically the ring allows you to clock a max of 3 "crowns", if your sleep, readiness and activity all register a score of at least 85 each daily. To my great dismay, I only manage a full 3 crowns the day after I returned to Abu Dhabi.
I learnt that even while I clock daily exercise, I might not get a crown for activity too, because apparently, I didn't factor in many other things, like recovery, and sleep time, etc.

Yikes - fail liao. Where are my crowns? But one thing I learnt - sleep is very very important. I will try to sleep more.

(2) My resting heart rate is insane, and sometimes, (gasps), the ring cannot detect my heart beat.

Steve's one is more normal (pretty flat) and doesn't have such variations up and down. Mine is like stock market every night. Why? And - my heart stopped beating at times? haha. Actually, Oura Ring website says that there are several reasons, including an exceptionally low resting heart rate, the sensors are unable to detect the pulse, etc.
I thought maybe - it's because I dream more and I always have exciting dreams? But - they don't quite coincide with the REM periods (which dreams occur in).

(3) My sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep) is quite terrible.
Aka - I fall asleep immediately most days. So Oura Ring greeted me with this - "Are you overtired?" on the particular day my latency registered 0 seconds. Ideally, falling asleep shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes, but if one falls asleep immediately, it is a sign that there's not enough sleep generally.
It's pretty incredible to me. Steve's latency is about 10-over minutes,

I suppose this is quite accurate. On weekdays, because of differing time zones and meetings, I sometimes sleep lesser. How can I get a crown this way???

There are many other things I want to observe from my data, e.g. how well do I sleep if I am travelling on a plane; how would my sleep efficiency be just before a major meeting; how will I sleep if I am travelling for work or on vacation; after a heavy meal, after some drinks, etc, etc. :)

And as I type away, the day too is coming to a close, the long weekend is ending, and we are all still hoping and believing for the very best for Aunty Jo and Mr Tan. It's been pretty unreal really.
I just got off a zoom chat with Ranie, and got some further updates. We will still keep believing for good news.