Koh Seng Heng in action
J-Kai in action
Ah Kong in action
Ah Kong serving
Pak Chan in action
Koh Seng serving
Joseph in action
Joseph partner Ah Kong
Loo KK in action
J-Kai hitting the ball
Joseph on stand by while Ah Kong serving
Joseph and Pak Chan
Ah Kong and Koh Seng Heng
Ah Kong Sundown 21KM certificate
Ah Kong semi-nude
Posting before the run
Posting after 21KM run
At the finishing point
No one plans to fail. Some fails to plan. Many friends asked me do I feel bored after retiring. My answer is NO! When someone stop working, there is no more the usual daily routine works like reporting to office at 9.00am and knocking off at 6.30pm. Part of my past daily routine work was inspection of the building where I was assigned. I had been carrying out the same works when I was still in service with my former employer旧雇主. To avoid following what some of the senior citizens 年长者 are doing like bird watching at the China Town Peoples' Park 坐在唐人街 珍珠坊无所事事, loitering at the Housing Board void deck 在政府主屋楼下闲荡, or staying at home eat, sleep, watching TV programmes and growing fat在家里吃,睡,看电视节目和增胖, I therefore planned my own retirement schedule 退休计划.
My Daily Routine After Retirement
Some of my friends asked me why don't I take up a part time job to get some income and also to kill time. It sounds a very logical suggestion in present context where our Government is making it by law that all employees can work till 65. There is no right or wrong answer. My thinking was life will not be meaningful if I continue working till the last day of my life like my Dad had experienced. We spend more time in the office than with our family when we are working. We always defer doing something due to lack of time. We may regret one day that we have not spent enough time with our love ones. No one can predict whether he will wake up tomorrow. Many people use health to earn money when they are young. On the contrary, they use money to nurse health when they are old 年轻时用健康换钱，年老时用钱换健康. After my retirement I can do things at a much slower pace, no more mad rush. I can have my own time management. I can go for exercise every morning to stay healthy. (My blood pressure 血压(BP) was 173/90 before retirement. And It is maintained at 131/65 now.) I will go for morning walk with my wife at the neighbourhood park or around the housing estate. When my wife slept late the previous night due to late TV programme, I will exercise on my own. I will choose either going to the gym or take a jog at the estate. After shower, breakfast will be 4 slices of wholemeal bread with cheese and peanut butter and a glass of skim milk. I will pamper myself 宠一宠自己 once in a while with wanton noddle 云吞麵, ba Chor mee 肉脞麵, lor mee 醹腼, loti plata 印度煎饼, mee rubus 马来腼. My daily bread is reading the News Paper to keep in touch with what is happening in my country and around the world. This will last till 12 noon. I will then enjoy the Starhub SCV programme together with my wife till 2.00pm while we had our simple in-house lunch. I will log on my personal computer (PC) 电脑 to check mails and surf the internet 上网 . Afternoon tea break will be around 4.30pm. At 5.00pm, I will again switch on the TV to enjoy the Starhub SCV programme. I sleep at 10.30pm and wake up at 6.00am. I will read some books and magazines if I am not with my PC 电脑. I will go for a 20 laps swim occasionally. Swimming is one of my favourite exercise when I was young. I learned swimming by observing others and practiced on my own 无师自通. Though I am not a qualify swimming instructor, I have taught my 2 children and few friends to master the art of swimming and stay a float in the water.
Weekly Marketing
My wife and I will go to the near by NTUC super market职总平价合作社超市on every Tuesday morning to shop for the week's food supply. NTUC will give extra 2% discount to senior citizens 年长者 who are 60 and above. Thank you NTUC for helping the senior citizens to save money. For the retirees, every cent counts.
Area Cleaning
Wednesday is scheduled for area cleaning. The house cleaning will take one day.The cleaning exercise is divided into 2 operations. Vacuuming of the floor will start from 10.30am. to 11.30pm then stop for lunch break. Mopping of the floor will start at 2.00pm after the TV programme. The area cleaning will complete around 5.00pm. The scope of work includes mopping of floors(Marble,parquet,ceramic), cleaning of tables, sofa, display shelves, washing of toilets. Since I cannot afford a maid, then it is natural that I become the maid. I also believe that man being a stronger sex physically should handle the domestic works which require more physical strength. Master of the house should volunteer taking the hard labour job. We should also share the domestic work load with the other half. Intermediate area cleaning touch up work will be carried out on Saturday. The touch up work will take 1 hour.
Tennis Game
I have tennis game 网球 with some close friends on every Thursday evening (8.00pm to 10.00pm). This activity has been carried on for many years even before my retirement. After tennis,we take showers before proceeding for a light dinner. We take turn to pay for the meals. I enjoy the game and treasure our friendship very much.
Week End Activity
As usual, all brothers and sister will meet on alternate Saturday evening for dinner. This will enhance family bonding. We have been doing this ever since our parents are not around. As for my own family, we will head for East Coast Park or Botanic Garden for a Sunday morning exercise thereafter we have breakfast together. My own family outings also include dinning out, shoppings and vacations together. This will boost family harmony and narrow the generation gap.
Window Shopping
My wife and I will take the MRT to the neighbourhood shopping malls to window shop once in the blue moon. This will break the daily routine monotony activity. We have visited the NEX at Serangoon in November 2010. NEX is the biggest shopping mall in the heartland area. The size of NEX is equivalent to the size of Orchard 313. There are two super markets 超集市场(Cold Storage 新家坡冷藏公司and NTUC 职总平价合作社) and two food courts 食阁(Food Republic & Food Junction).
Half Marathon 21km Run 半马拉松21公里 跑步
I took part in the half marathon run on two occasions recently. The first one was the SAF half marathon and the second one was the Sundown Addidas half marathon. I had my first half marathon run by chance. My son & daughter registered for SAF half marathon. On the day of the actual event, my son was down with flu. So instead of wasting the money & registration, I substituted him for the run. To be frank, I had never run 21km before. That was my first attempt. To my surprise I finished the run in 3 hours. It was an endurance test for me. I was physically tired. It was my mind over my body that enable me to complete the run. Though I was exhausted but was extremely happy that I have achieved the goal. I signed up for my second half marathon together with my son & daughter. The run was on 29 May 2010, Saturday. It was 2 months after my retirement. I had more confident this time and completed the run just under 3 hours. Though this is not a good timing but the consolation is that I had completed the run again. What an achievement by a 63 old man ! Well done ah kong 63 - 阿公63! Mou Tuck Deng 无得顶. I will not take part in any future mass run to save cost. I have no income since stopping work. Registration of mass run requires a fee of $60. I will still continue my running but on leisure/shorter distance(5km /10km) and less frequent basis to avoid injury. Running will strengthen the cardiovascular muscle心肌 but prone to knee and heel injury due to constant impact.
Periodic Maintenance Work /Adhoc Maintenance
It was blessing in disguise that I was doing building construction works and maintenance works in the past. The knowledge and skill I acquired enable me to do DIY works on my own house. I can service my house aircon, electrical works, plumbing works, carpentry works without having to call the service man. This is one way to pass time and save money. One stone kills two birds 一石二鸟.
Wishing all relatives & friends a properous & healty 2011 year
祝亲戚和朋友过一个繁隆和健康的二零一一年
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