CNA938 Rewind - The Wellness Hour - HYROX 2025: what to do before, during and after
CNA938 Rewind - The Wellness Hour - HYROX 2025: what to do before, during and after
With the annual HYROX event around the corner, Cheryl Goh finds out how participants can best prepare, when to listen to your body to avoid overexertion, and tips to recover after the race from Sean Lee, personal trainer and HYROX participant.
17 mins
CNA938 Rewind - Eat, Drink, Singapore - Sip, savour and celebrate SG60 in style
The Great Palate 2025: Whisky & Spirits Edition is happening next weekend on 5 & 6 July 2025. Cheryl Goh finds out more about this year's special SG60 showcase, and how the whisky scene has evolved over time here with Michelle Lu, GM of Malt & Wine Asia and also overall in-charge of Great Palate project.
17 mins
CNA938 Rewind - Mind Your Money - Budgeting for your next holiday
As the June school holidays wrap up and travel bills roll in, Cheryl Goh finds out smart tips to help you keep your next holiday budget on track with Ashley Thomas, Head of Strategy & Operations for Revolut in Singapore.
17 mins
CNA938 Rewind - A Letter to Myself: Using his own journey of healing, senior counsellor Gopal Mahey supports recovering addicts and their families
Gopal Mahey is senior counsellor at the Centre for Psychotherapy, where he focusses on supporting individuals fighting substance abuse. In 2013, Gopal himself had been arrested for drug offences. It was a turning point. Throughout his journey of personal transformation, his family rallied around him and gave him the strength to re-embrace his calling as a counsellor with a renewed sense of mission. Gopal shares how his journey has given him a special empathy and insight into what former offenders and their families go through, and how he uses his lived experience in his clinical work.
41 mins
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
On The Red Dot: Finding Lost Recipes
In every home, there are dishes tied not just to flavour, but to memory — lovingly made by someone who may no longer be around. But when that person is gone, can their signature dish ever be brought back? In this series, we follow Masterchef alumnus Jonathan Ng as he helps four individuals on deeply personal quests to rediscover dishes that meant the world to them. For actress Hong Ling, it's the emotional taste of her late mother's Thai-style laksa — a dish that no one else in the family knows how to make. For Belinda, it's a race against time. Her mother Katherine, who once made a unique Nyonya chang (dumpling) every festive season, is slowly losing her memory to dementia. Can the flavours — and the stories that come with them — be recovered before they fade completely? For Kim, who lost her husband Joseph unexpectedly, it's isn't just about the dish. It's about honouring the man who made Hakka Yong Tau Foo not just a meal, but a way of bringing people together — and understanding how he added his own twist to the dish he loved. And for Claresta, it's chasing a taste she can't quite describe — the elusive magic behind her late husband Chef Stefan Liau's Cashew and Banana creation. Even with the original recipe in hand, something is missing. Can Jonathan decode the secret behind the flavour — and the man?
CNA
6 hours ago
- CNA
After winning fans on international boy band reality show, singer-songwriter WhyLucas aims to blaze a solo trail
In the quiet of his grey-toned childhood bedroom, 22-year-old Lucas Wang tinkered with original music on his laptop then paused to translate in Hokkien as he introduced me to his grandmother. The second-year business student at the National University of Singapore has slipped back into a familiar rhythm – balancing school and home life with being a singer-songwriter under his stage name, WhyLucas, which is derived from his Chinese name's initials. Just a few months ago, his days were a blur of cameras and choreography under blinding stage lights as a finalist on Chuang Asia, a reality competition show filmed in Thailand where he vied for a spot in an international boy group. Mr Wang competed on the Chinese-Thai show's second season, which follows the 'idol survival show' format popularised by K-Pop. In such shows trainees mostly in their teens and early twenties battle it out in front of celebrity judges and global audiences. Their rankings shift each week based on performance and popularity. One episode of Chuang Asia 2 drew more than 700,000 viewers on a livestream and videos of Mr Wang's performances with fellow contestants have since racked up close to 800,000 views on social media. Mr Wang, the only Singaporean contestant on the show, did not end up debuting in the seven-member group after ranking 18th out of 21 finalists in the final episode, but said the experience has changed his life. The show began with 60 trainees mostly from China, Thailand and Japan. 'Before going to Chuang, I would (always think), 'Can I do this?' But now the way I approach things is, 'Do I want to do this?' And if I want to do this, I'm not going to stop until I get something out of it,' said Mr Wang. Since returning from Thailand, Mr Wang has picked up new fans from around the region, acquired a management team and has been approached to perform at music festivals because of the added exposure. Being on a reality competition show taught him to push himself musically, after being exposed to the 'amazing amount of talent from the world'. Mr Wang grew up loving 2010s pop music, including the likes of Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift and Adele. After coming across singer-songwriter John Mayer's music in 2020, Mr Wang took influence from a more guitar forward, self-produced style of music and wanted to bring a 'bluesy rock guitar style' to his own songs. 'I would say the music I'm creating now is still pop. But the kind of pop that feels so experimental but you would still add to your playlist not just because it's trending, but because of its ageless, catchy melodies, production and guitar-playing,' he said. Part of training to be a global idol includes learning to greet fans in multiple languages and Mr Wang's self-introduction in Thai, Malay, Mandarin and English still rolls off his tongue with the ease of muscle memory. During our interview, he gamely attempted a more localised version in the Hokkien. Perhaps most Singaporean of all is the way he fumbles with the translation in the Chinese variety before popping out of the room to consult his parents and grandmother. Moments later, he returns with a big smile and a bit more confidence in his greeting of 'Dai gei ho', saying in Hokkien, 'Hi everyone, I'm WhyLucas'. STANDING OUT SOLO Having watched a few such shows, I always thought it would be my worst nightmare having to endure being openly ranked against other talented contestants day in and out. When I saw WhyLucas' first solo performance on the show, I pegged him as someone who must be my polar opposite, or at the very least not nearly as self-conscious or anxious about public critique. After all, there he stood in a muscle tank, playing electric guitar and singing his original song to a pool of professional singers and celebrity judges – a clip of which has 44,000 views on YouTube. It turned out that Mr Wang has plenty of doubts of his own. During our weekday afternoon chat at his home, he said he was conflicted after receiving a direct message from the show's casting agency in June last year, given that the opportunity was far out of his comfort zone. A friend told him that the programme was 'really famous' in China and convinced him to audition for it. Following an online then offline audition, Mr Wang flew to Thailand to prepare for filming by November, which lasted till April this year. Mr Wang is no stranger to being in the limelight as he has spent two years busking at the most lucrative corners of Orchard Road. Aided by that experience, he quickly immersed himself in the competition process which included almost 24/7 filming of his daily life. Each day included round-the-clock filming of their living quarters via CCTV, plus six to eight hours of practice with the remaining hours packed with filming of reality content, advertisements and marketing for the programme. He also had to work in a multilingual environment, though his fluency in Mandarin and English enabled him to play translator in group projects with other contestants. 'When I first came in the programme, I was definitely a little bit intimidated, because I saw a lot of China trainees who felt very professional, and they looked like they knew how to dance, but I just didn't know,' said Mr Wang. Besides being able to dance, some trainees were also familiar with the reality competition format, including how to circumvent filming restrictions such as having to surrender one's mobile phone, he said. 'Most people brought extra phones. But for me, I was actually very naive. I was like, I'm not gonna bring my phone, I got to focus. Then when I went there, everybody brought phones. Some people brought tablets, someone even brought five phones,' he said with a laugh. Unlike other contestants, Mr Wang did not have a management team helping him garner votes but became popular among other contestants and drew fans from all around Asia. One highlight was the first meeting between contestants, where each trainee got three stickers to place on other contestants with whom they would like to work. Mr Wang, the only Singaporean, managed to get the most stickers from the other trainees after his solo performance. 'Along the way, I felt like because I came from a busking and singer-songwriter background, I stood out a bit more and that let me be a bit more confident in being the person I am,' he said. Scattered around his room are souvenirs from the show, including a box filled with handwritten notes and pinned up banners from fans who would swarm the hotel entrances where contestants were housed. Despite not making it to debut in the group, he models the custom bedazzled jacket he received for being a finalist with no small amount of pride. 'So amazing, look at the details. It feels like an army jacket, but only finalists get this detailing,' said Mr Wang. Besides the memorabilia, one important takeaway he got from the show was his confidence in his future as a solo performing artist. 'The last performance was just a tear jerker, it was the last performance that I'd do in Chuang and probably in a boy band, because at heart, I am a solo artist, so I'm not sure if I'm ever gonna dabble in that ever again.' But to his fans who knew him from the show, he promised to have a lot more up his sleeve: 'That was pre-season WhyLucas. This is now WhyLucas WhyLucas.' MAKING GRANDMA PROUD His introduction to music at six years old happened when his father brought a guitar home from a work trip to the Philippines. Sensing his interest, his parents enrolled him in guitar lessons but it was only years later during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was 17, that he took a serious interest in music and started to produce music on Garageband, an online music platform. 'I started busking in 2022 and busked for about two years. Deep down, I probably realised it's not going anywhere, but I always thought that maybe busking could be my route to fulfilling my dream of becoming Ed Sheeran, who started as a busker.'' He joined Chuang Asia 2 at a time when he felt like his music career was 'stagnating', but the show has given him a newfound confidence in treading the less-conventional path of a musician. Mr Wang said his parents had been somewhat sceptical about him pursuing music, but became more open after seeing their son hold his own among the pool of trainees on the reality competition show. In the months since the competition, he has been working on new music, with an upbeat single called 'Tiara' launched on Friday (Jun 27). All his songs are produced in his bedroom. 'I always start out with a guitar, then I'll track my guitars. A lot of things go into the production, like guitar loops, then I'll do my own drums, though I can't really play drums,' said Mr Wang. Perhaps inevitably, school is on the back burner as he prioritises a career in music. He took a leave of absence to attend the competition and is looking to extend his leave of absence again to be around for upcoming or potential gigs. In early July, he will be on the lineup for the Sundown Festival, and he is set to perform at another music festival Waterbomb Singapore in August. Even though it has been a while since he has set foot in a classroom or lecture hall, Mr Wang said a Chinese professor from his university saw his appearance on Chuang Asia 2 and messaged him over his school email to connect. 'We ended up having lunch and I learnt so much from him although we're both in different fields. I guess it's also times like this that really warm my heart and keep me going because the professor said 'I believe in you' and it really affirms my work,' said Mr Wang. When I ask what's next for him, it seems there are so many possibilities: completing his degree, launching new music, gigs that are lined up and even the potential of joining a competition show again. 'I'm not closed off to any of it. Ultimately I want to be the best, be it in Asia or internationally in a few years' time. I just want to be recognised as someone who's really good at what he's doing,' said Mr Wang. He has also participated in two Mediacorp shows, The Battle of the Buskers and I Can See Your Voice – filming an episode of the latter one day before flying to Thailand to take part in Chuang Asia. 'I think being in a creative industry, really, I've got to be my own boss, so you can't really sit on your laurels and be like, 'Oh my god, is this gonna work'? I mean, doubt is important, but I think I am still trying to forget that side of me,' said Mr Wang. Career ambitions aside, his music is clearly personal and rooted in experiences close to his heart. When asked if this personal approach means his musical output might offer hints at someone special in his life right now, Mr Wang playfully laughed it off. But he suggested that his upcoming music releases might provide an answer to that question. Even as life is not quite as hectic as when throngs of fans would swarm around him on the street, Mr Wang said the highlight of the experience was realising that he had the strong support of friends and family to rely on. 'I definitely wanted to talk to my family, my grandma. If you asked me who I missed the most out of those four months, it's probably my grandma,' he said. Mr Wang's grandma, who is 90 years old and lives in a flat next door to his childhood home, is very supportive of his singer-songwriter career and even occasionally features in his TikTok content. He even teased a 'Grandma Version' of an upcoming song that is more in the vein of Mandopop, which he said will be a version she can 'understand better'.
CNA
6 hours ago
- CNA
Splurging is not the enemy. Splurging on impulse is
In over 10 years of blogging and talking publicly about money, I've found that people often equate financial savvy to being a miser. After all, conventional money wisdom is simple: 'Save more, spend less.' But being financially savvy doesn't mean saying no to all luxuries or spending only on cheaper items. Instead, it means knowing when to say yes or no, and how to do so with intention. Over the years, I've developed a mental checklist to help me make up my mind with any big splurges – whether it's tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, a S$300 dress, or a holiday trip overseas for my entire family. A key concept I use to guide my spending decisions is that of utility cost. VALUE IS MORE THAN THE NUMBER ON THE PRICE TAG I first learnt about utility cost during economics classes back in junior college, and it has stuck with me ever since. With any big-ticket purchase, instead of looking only at the price tag, I think about its utility. How many times do I expect to be able to use it? Can it offer me prolonged enjoyment, repeated uses or other long-term benefits? What are some unexpected costs I could incur in the future if I were to choose a cheaper alternative today? A cheap mattress, for instance, might hurt my back and lead to visits to chiropractors and masseuses. A S$20 running shoe with minimal cushioning or support could cause me injuries. A cheaper smartphone may come with lower camera specifications that would require me to either compromise on my work as a content creator or purchase additional equipment to make up for it. That was why I bought my wedding gown from Taobao, an online marketplace known for low-quality, super-cheap buys. I was expecting to wear it only once – and true enough, the dress has been gathering dust in my wardrobe since then. In contrast, I recently paid S$350 for a semi-designer dress from Bangkok because I expect to wear it more than 10 times for several upcoming occasions. For me, this higher utility justified the higher cost. This often gets missed in the oversimplified 'save more, spend less' narrative. It's not just about the money we're parting with; it is about how much value we're getting in return. Buying an expensive shirt or bag isn't necessarily a bad money decision in itself; only using it once or twice is. THINK LONG-TERM One easy way to help you gauge if something is worth the splurge: Divide the cost of the item by the number of times you (realistically) expect to use it. Otherwise, you can also define this simply as the value or satisfaction you expect to gain from the purchase. I hardly own any branded goods myself, but I recall how a good friend of mine previously bought a S$3,000 branded handbag which she used daily for her first three years of work. In her case, dividing the cost of her bag by the amount of time she used it extensively (S$3,000 divided by 3 years or 1,095 days) means her rough cost-per-use hovered under S$3. The bag also gave her plenty of other intangible benefits – for three years, she didn't have to switch bags or rotate her items between different bags, and she refrained from buying new fast-fashion bags. The bag even served as a conversation starter for her at networking events. To her, all this made her handbag more than 'worth' the S$3,000 she paid for it. When working out the cost-per-use value of a designer item, it helps to think about what it'll do for you, how versatile the piece is, whether you'll tire of it quickly, and if you're paying more for the logo than the craftsmanship. THE TRUE VALUE OF EXPERIENCES That's all well and good for consumer goods, but what about intangible experiences? Let's take travel for an example. I've had trips where I came back exhausted, overspent and underwhelmed; I've also taken holidays that helped me reconnect with myself, bond with loved ones, and return home recharged. The difference was almost never in how much money I spent, but rather in how well the trip was planned in accordance with what I truly enjoy. For instance, I've realised that I don't particularly enjoy or value visiting crowded tourist hot spots just to see, do or eat things popularised by social media. So, I no longer chase bucket-list destinations or viral TikTok itineraries. Instead, I focus my spending on trips that offer real value to my well-being. KNOWING WHEN TO SAY NO Still, we all have our weak spots, things that make it easy for us to get caught up in our own excitement. My system seems to have worked well for me over the last few years, with one exception: e-commerce livestreams. From beauty products to, home gadgets, there always seems to be a constant countdown, limited-quantity offers, and hosts who know exactly what to say to make my self-control disappear. I've often caught myself hovering over the 'buy now' button during a livestream, feeling like if I didn't act in that moment, I'd miss out on the best deal forever. On these occasions, my trusty utility cost framework often ends up taking a backseat to impulse. I start spending emotionally rather than intentionally. Once I realised this, I stopped tuning in for the sake of my wallet. That's not to say livestream shopping is bad. In fact, I've found some great deals this way. But if continually exposing yourself to your weakness leads you to busting your budget more often than you'd like, it's time to re-evaluate that self-exposure. After a while, I started tuning back in to livestream shopping again – but only when I was sure I could remind myself that not every 'good deal' is good for me. Now, whenever I find myself gripped by the urge to grab yet another 'exclusive', 'limited time' offer, I ask myself: Was I already planning to buy that item before entering the livestream? If the answer is no, then chances are I don't actually need it. FINANCIAL PRUDENCE IS NOT DEPRIVATION Spending mindfully doesn't mean saying no to all big purchases. It means learning to say yes strategically to only what we really want or need. This is especially important today, when we are constantly bombarded by online content and messaging telling us what to buy, wear or experience. This can spell financial stress for us when it leads us to shell out for big-ticket items with little consideration . That's where a simple mental framework – like utility cost – can help. Being financially responsible isn't about being miserly. It's about making sure we feel good about the things we choose to splurge on, instead of wallowing in the guilt or regret of post-purchase remorse. At the end of the day, the goal shouldn't be just saving more and spending less. Instead, we should ask ourselves: What matters most to us?
