How nice would it be if it was a get together camp aka chalet instead of a group training camp. We wouldn't have to carry 7 meals and a ton of equipment. We wouldn't have to walk distances longer than a marathon and not get a shirt that says "I am a Finisher of 42.195". And we wouldn't have to eat sand.
But this is the last time I will ever get pumped/tekan until army comes. After this, I will be pumping others. Somehow it has been 4 years since I first got pumped. But at least GTC will be fun in a certain way. Not masochistic-aly, but just fun. Just like how kayaking was fun even though it's now causing wierd spots on my shoulder and neck that makes me look like the 2008 chair of info comm. But at least I got my 2 star without much trouble, and 3 star sounds really fun =)
After GTC, will be rushing the hike log, then going for vcord and hoping I pass, then rushing yet another hike log, then rushing survey area, then flying off for holiday, then coming back and planning some stuff for CCAL camp, then going for a real chalet, and facilitating CCAL camp, then planning acts for next year, and next year will start.
Holidays have ended
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Spirit of the Marathon
Just finished watching that awesome movie on youtube, thanks to that kind soul who uploaded all of it. Being a runner myself, I can really relate to some of parts of the video and what some of the runners are saying. Watching them run the marathon and finishing it, crying tears of joy and hugging strangers they never knew before but who also had the same experience as you.
One part of the movie mentioned something about an event that has over 30 thousand people all doing the same thing and having the same thoughts that you are having. This is truly the only sport around where anyone can take part in. And while the journey there may be tough, I've no doubt that it is also very rewarding.
In other news, today was another really shitty day! The first part of the day was really productive. I managed to squeeze in a blog post, photocopied all the documents I needed for Pre U scholarship, went home and snuck off to the pool for a quick 30min swim. Came back home, wolfed down my lunch and went to school to submit the application.
First horrible thing happened. I boarded the bus, struggled to get the wallet out of the small pocket in the RI PE pants, tapped the wallet to the reader and wondered why there wasn't that "di!" sound that was I always heard. Then I opened my wallet and realised that I had taken out the card and forgot to put it back...thankfully I had a ton of coins and paid 60 cents.
After handing in the application, there was act which was sweaty as usual. PT was pretty managable; at least compared to last week's. After act, I took the bus back and I prepared the 60 cents to pay for the fare. Upon dropping the 6 10 cent coins that I had into the money thing on the bus, the driver gave me an angry look and I imagined he must be thinking something like "WTF WHY GIVE 60 CENTS ONLY YOU @#^&%$@*#)(&@!!!" Then he told me it wasn't enough, I told him I'm a student, and he told me where's your card. Obviously I didn't have it, and he tell me I need it to prove that I'm a student. I mean if I have my card why would I bother paying in coins, wasting 16 cents and having to speak to someone as grumpy as him. I don't think I look old enough to be an adult, and I boarded the bus right outside RI. And he also said something about now its the school holidays. I was thinking to myself what has that got to do with me being a student or not. Holidays or not, I am still a student and wouldn't make a difference to the consession rate. At that point I didn't have any coins left, so he grudgingly accepted the 60 cents and muttered some complains under his breath.
On the bus, I slept and...overslept. Missed by 1 stop. I walked all the way home and...the lift was spoilt.
I live on the 10th floor.
I was carrying a laptop.
Oh well my life sucks. Maybe the lost karma will be used during tomorrow's interview. Or on the run.
One part of the movie mentioned something about an event that has over 30 thousand people all doing the same thing and having the same thoughts that you are having. This is truly the only sport around where anyone can take part in. And while the journey there may be tough, I've no doubt that it is also very rewarding.
In other news, today was another really shitty day! The first part of the day was really productive. I managed to squeeze in a blog post, photocopied all the documents I needed for Pre U scholarship, went home and snuck off to the pool for a quick 30min swim. Came back home, wolfed down my lunch and went to school to submit the application.
First horrible thing happened. I boarded the bus, struggled to get the wallet out of the small pocket in the RI PE pants, tapped the wallet to the reader and wondered why there wasn't that "di!" sound that was I always heard. Then I opened my wallet and realised that I had taken out the card and forgot to put it back...thankfully I had a ton of coins and paid 60 cents.
After handing in the application, there was act which was sweaty as usual. PT was pretty managable; at least compared to last week's. After act, I took the bus back and I prepared the 60 cents to pay for the fare. Upon dropping the 6 10 cent coins that I had into the money thing on the bus, the driver gave me an angry look and I imagined he must be thinking something like "WTF WHY GIVE 60 CENTS ONLY YOU @#^&%$@*#)(&@!!!" Then he told me it wasn't enough, I told him I'm a student, and he told me where's your card. Obviously I didn't have it, and he tell me I need it to prove that I'm a student. I mean if I have my card why would I bother paying in coins, wasting 16 cents and having to speak to someone as grumpy as him. I don't think I look old enough to be an adult, and I boarded the bus right outside RI. And he also said something about now its the school holidays. I was thinking to myself what has that got to do with me being a student or not. Holidays or not, I am still a student and wouldn't make a difference to the consession rate. At that point I didn't have any coins left, so he grudgingly accepted the 60 cents and muttered some complains under his breath.
On the bus, I slept and...overslept. Missed by 1 stop. I walked all the way home and...the lift was spoilt.
I live on the 10th floor.
I was carrying a laptop.
Oh well my life sucks. Maybe the lost karma will be used during tomorrow's interview. Or on the run.
Imbalance of life
Last Saturday we had 2 star kayaking at Kallang Basin. The place is smartly camouflaged under a highway of some sorts, and being the good scouts that we are, some of us got lost a total of 2 times and we ended up being 30 minutes late.
Other than that minor hiccup, the rest of the lesson was pretty fun, with Tak being suay enough to capsize twice unintentionally, and Anurak who got targetted by Stanley due to his GLness. The instructors were all quite cool, strict yet fun at times. And the weather that day was unbelievably good, seeing as how the past few days were raining and it only rained during lunch time that day.
While we were kayaking, there were also the manly dragonboaters around, not just guys but also girls. We take comfort in the fact that the girls were doing assisted pullups, but some of the guys have such a sick physique. While watching them dragonboat though, I can't help but wonder; since dragonboat only requires them to pedal on one side, do they all have super imbalanced bodies? Or do they actually switch sides once in a while to offset the imbalance?
And to sidetrack, I was doing my Pre U scholarship essay yesterday, and inevitably I also thought that if we mug too much, will we become imbalanced? Do we have to switch sides, like the dragonboaters, and do something different (like triathlon)? Then again, maybe being imbalanced in life is not such a bad thing.
But I'm pretty certain it is a bad thing for the dragonboaters. Because then, they cannot camouflage into the crowd - unlike the WV outlet.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
You have been in my life ever since I was born.
I have had a love-hate (ok mostly hate) relationship with you since Primary School.
I have neglected you most of the time, but the past few months have seen the most interaction between the 2 of us.
Hopefully I will never ever cross paths with you again.
Goodbye, Chinese.
I have had a love-hate (ok mostly hate) relationship with you since Primary School.
I have neglected you most of the time, but the past few months have seen the most interaction between the 2 of us.
Hopefully I will never ever cross paths with you again.
Goodbye, Chinese.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
the butterfly effect
a butterfly flaps its wings and a tornado happens in the other side of the earth. and its nothing to do with hasty generalisation or wtv cock
anw was just thinking of how if i screw up chinese next tues, i may not get a perfect grade, not get scholarship, not go overseas uni (if i want to) and my life will be a whole lot different.
and then again theres psle. what if i had made a careless mistake in 1 maths qsn, screwed it up, get less than 260, and not get into RI? then i wouldnt have been in 01, wouldnt have met a whole group of people, and again my life will be a whole lot different.
or maybe i would have gone hci and been in an even better cca (which i doubt it), make even better friends (possibly classmates), and life would again be different.
stuff like these are so cool, but thinking too much abt it can make you crazy. i had 60 laps in the pool today to think about it.
last day of school tmr, but it doesn't seem to mean anything to me. not sad that im leaving this class of mine, certainly not sad im leaving behind stuff like RE and random assembly programmes, but a bit sad to leave some friends. then again, looking forward to whatever RJC has to offer, which is quite a lot.
anw was just thinking of how if i screw up chinese next tues, i may not get a perfect grade, not get scholarship, not go overseas uni (if i want to) and my life will be a whole lot different.
and then again theres psle. what if i had made a careless mistake in 1 maths qsn, screwed it up, get less than 260, and not get into RI? then i wouldnt have been in 01, wouldnt have met a whole group of people, and again my life will be a whole lot different.
or maybe i would have gone hci and been in an even better cca (which i doubt it), make even better friends (possibly classmates), and life would again be different.
stuff like these are so cool, but thinking too much abt it can make you crazy. i had 60 laps in the pool today to think about it.
last day of school tmr, but it doesn't seem to mean anything to me. not sad that im leaving this class of mine, certainly not sad im leaving behind stuff like RE and random assembly programmes, but a bit sad to leave some friends. then again, looking forward to whatever RJC has to offer, which is quite a lot.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
is it better to try and screw up and face whatever consequences there are, or don't try at all?
today i was repairing my bike, some stuff wasnt right, and i tried to fix it. while fixing it, i accidentaly caused a new problem, and the previous problem was still there, and now there were 2 problems. after much sweating and worrying, i decided to leave it and go to a bike shop tmr to get it repaired.
and chinese Os are in a week. i know i should be studying, but i dont feel like studying, as usual. but then again i will study, eventually. after chinese Os...woohoo!
today i was repairing my bike, some stuff wasnt right, and i tried to fix it. while fixing it, i accidentaly caused a new problem, and the previous problem was still there, and now there were 2 problems. after much sweating and worrying, i decided to leave it and go to a bike shop tmr to get it repaired.
and chinese Os are in a week. i know i should be studying, but i dont feel like studying, as usual. but then again i will study, eventually. after chinese Os...woohoo!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
cos you had a bad day
ever had one of those days where everything just seems to go wrong? today was that day for me
my mum woke me up at 5.45 cos she thought i had school. i did have to go school, but only had to wake up at 6.30
i stoned in school from 9.30 till 2.30 cos there was supposed to be act. but it got cancelled.
i went cycling and 2.4km in, my tire punctured and i did not bring wallet/handphone. i had to walk all the way back - in tights and cycling shoes
i came home and the door was locked. the only person inside was bathing.
i was bathing halfway and the water pressure just died on me.
oh well today cant get any worse i suppose.
i wonder what all those people whom i walked past were thinking. i was clad in full spandex/lycra, holding onto a nice looking road bike, sweating like an ass, and walking like a retard cos of the cleats on the shoes. must be an amusing sight for them
my mum woke me up at 5.45 cos she thought i had school. i did have to go school, but only had to wake up at 6.30
i stoned in school from 9.30 till 2.30 cos there was supposed to be act. but it got cancelled.
i went cycling and 2.4km in, my tire punctured and i did not bring wallet/handphone. i had to walk all the way back - in tights and cycling shoes
i came home and the door was locked. the only person inside was bathing.
i was bathing halfway and the water pressure just died on me.
oh well today cant get any worse i suppose.
i wonder what all those people whom i walked past were thinking. i was clad in full spandex/lycra, holding onto a nice looking road bike, sweating like an ass, and walking like a retard cos of the cleats on the shoes. must be an amusing sight for them
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
last act before gtc
today was interug half marathon and basketball. the very one that i missed last year cos of OIP at Hue. i started with high hopes of getting first, as we have a very strong team. but it turns out, 02 had an even stronger team, so kudos to them for winning
im happy with myself for overtaking bb and causing about 40s gap. and i felt really light wearing my zoot. and ernxu stop fanning over it goddamit
on another note, this is the last activity before...gtc. and that is the last gtc before we are the ones organising it. be prepared for hell lot of abraisions, blisters, mosquito bites and whatever else might come my way. of course a few hundred aching muscles, thats understood already.
and after gtc...well just say im not looking forward to then =s
im happy with myself for overtaking bb and causing about 40s gap. and i felt really light wearing my zoot. and ernxu stop fanning over it goddamit
on another note, this is the last activity before...gtc. and that is the last gtc before we are the ones organising it. be prepared for hell lot of abraisions, blisters, mosquito bites and whatever else might come my way. of course a few hundred aching muscles, thats understood already.
and after gtc...well just say im not looking forward to then =s
Saturday, September 12, 2009
rebecca!
today's a cool day! went to visit ms goh and her baby, rebecca (goh!) lim. nothing much about the baby, except that it has a lot of hair and it knows how to make the poopoo sound =D
but the journey there was pretty eventful as well. we met up at tampines 1 to buy some presents + eat lunch, and also because we (zhixuan) thought that she lived near tampines. actually it was in simei, and turns out there was also a block 22X (blocked out for privacy! take that, stalkers!) in tampines. in the end zhixuan rememberd/realised there was simei mrt as well, but thankfully there was a direct bus from wherever we were to her house.
at her house, we said hi, ate a lot of ice cream (ben&jerry wow!), butter cake, and had some drinks. and we also talked a hell lot, updated ms goh on whatever has been happening in school, in scouts, in life etc. we really talked a lot, and also reminiscended about the past. oh and also ate some warheads, hehe.
after that we walked (correctly this time) to simei mrt, and i went to join my family for dinner at serangoon garden's aston's.
and last thursday i got a new shoe! zoot advantage, for $100+. looks fantastic. took it out for a run on friday, without socks, and got slight blisters on right foot, but this shoe will do alright for my shorter distances. as for longer ones, theres still my asics.
and hillary post will come soon, i promise!
but the journey there was pretty eventful as well. we met up at tampines 1 to buy some presents + eat lunch, and also because we (zhixuan) thought that she lived near tampines. actually it was in simei, and turns out there was also a block 22X (blocked out for privacy! take that, stalkers!) in tampines. in the end zhixuan rememberd/realised there was simei mrt as well, but thankfully there was a direct bus from wherever we were to her house.
at her house, we said hi, ate a lot of ice cream (ben&jerry wow!), butter cake, and had some drinks. and we also talked a hell lot, updated ms goh on whatever has been happening in school, in scouts, in life etc. we really talked a lot, and also reminiscended about the past. oh and also ate some warheads, hehe.
after that we walked (correctly this time) to simei mrt, and i went to join my family for dinner at serangoon garden's aston's.
and last thursday i got a new shoe! zoot advantage, for $100+. looks fantastic. took it out for a run on friday, without socks, and got slight blisters on right foot, but this shoe will do alright for my shorter distances. as for longer ones, theres still my asics.
and hillary post will come soon, i promise!
Friday, September 4, 2009
hcs2009!
hillary challenge is tmr. and the trials seems so yesterday, esp talking to mr ibrahim yesterday, reminded me of the puzzle game. i will give it my all, and hope for the best.
today was interhouse day, i took part in aquathlon. was a really great experience, showed me where i stood, and how much more i can improve from people like kenneth lim. but i met my own personal goals of doing my best, and while we didnt 100% deserve the gold medal, the end didnt really matter to me. it was just a interhouse race, not much of a big deal.
first of many races to come my way. good start to it =)
today was interhouse day, i took part in aquathlon. was a really great experience, showed me where i stood, and how much more i can improve from people like kenneth lim. but i met my own personal goals of doing my best, and while we didnt 100% deserve the gold medal, the end didnt really matter to me. it was just a interhouse race, not much of a big deal.
first of many races to come my way. good start to it =)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
what now?
Did i make the right decision to join? Or should i have just stuck to my happy life, and spare myself all these?
I may not be viscous, but it does not mean I don't have a boiling point. Push me too much, things get ugly.
Help. Who do I turn to?
I may not be viscous, but it does not mean I don't have a boiling point. Push me too much, things get ugly.
Help. Who do I turn to?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
cool stuff!
http://dailyviews.runnersworld.com/2008/10/next-barrier-th.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYg4CMJ6p-w
haha people have such FAAAANtastic sense of humour. reading stuff like these is just so funny =D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYg4CMJ6p-w
haha people have such FAAAANtastic sense of humour. reading stuff like these is just so funny =D
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
official timing
Name: KENNETH KUAN CHEE YIN
Net Finish: 02:07:09.45
Category: 21KM MEN'S OPEN
hehe my watch got 2:07:11. so this will be the time to beat whenever I next join a HM =)
Net Finish: 02:07:09.45
Category: 21KM MEN'S OPEN
hehe my watch got 2:07:11. so this will be the time to beat whenever I next join a HM =)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
bay run 09
i have completed a half marathon!
ok fine its 7 minutes off my goal time but at least i can say i can run 21km (almost) non stop. still awaiting the official results, but my chip time SHOULD be around there.
"pain is temporary but pride is forever"
ok fine its 7 minutes off my goal time but at least i can say i can run 21km (almost) non stop. still awaiting the official results, but my chip time SHOULD be around there.
"pain is temporary but pride is forever"
Friday, August 7, 2009
race expo
went to collect my race pack today, first time i actually went to collect it. quite a lot of people streaming in and out, but collecting was fast, although i stayed for quite a long time.
training today was also nice, first time since prelims that everyone came. quite pleased that i managed to reach the top of the rock wall, as being 10m+ above the ground isnt really my thing. good job to everyone today =)
training today was also nice, first time since prelims that everyone came. quite pleased that i managed to reach the top of the rock wall, as being 10m+ above the ground isnt really my thing. good job to everyone today =)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
the end is near...
its amazing how much impact an individual can have on others. in both ways.
past 2 weeks or so have been super busy, with physics and socdoc due on the same day. last thursday was spent entirely on socdoc, from 2.30pm all the way till 4.30am (:O) and me having a grand total of 1.5h of sleep. camperama was right after that. so you can pretty much guess how foamy my entire weekend was.
camperama itself was super fun, but my mood now would make it seem so unfun. anyway, anurak's litra entry about it is just so marvelous, so i shall just kop it.
"
Just a short post to recount Camperama.
Gathered after school.
Oreos.
Bradell Westlake.
Mini-Pudge.
Leonard Leng and his imba skills.
Sitting in the lorry.
Carpark.
OTOT is the new Dubyew.
Tying gateway.
Bony!
Red ants.
Deo flamethrowers.
$4 Hokkien mee.
Go Fish!
Pavilion.
Next day.
Putting up banners.
Tak's $4 knife.
Roti prata breakfast.
Kitchen tents.
Blasting music.
Tying balloons.
Balloons within balloons.
Balloons within balloons within balloons.
Pitching dome tents.
Retrieving the tent which went into the sea.
Prepare for campfire.
Reverse tepee.
Kerosene bomb.
Dinner.
Campfire.
Durian shelling.
Movie screening which we didn't see.
Cycling.
Cycling even more.
Park connectors.
Foam.
The bridge which we crossed the long way.
Getting lost in Bedok park.
Pasir Ris.
Snickers and 100 Plus.
Cycling.
Back to camp at 3am.
Sleep.
Wake at 7am.
Foam.
Breakfast.
Unpitch stuff.
Lorry.
Siglap CC.
Bradell Westlake.
Unload stuff.
J8 and lunch.
Good to go?
"
The last line is really just a perfect way to end it. and of course, if that isnt enough, theres still the beautiful photos that alvin took! link
and today was not good at all, have a lot to rant but it wont do justice to those coming here to cheer up. just hope the whole day spent tmr with 0106 will make me feel much better.
past 2 weeks or so have been super busy, with physics and socdoc due on the same day. last thursday was spent entirely on socdoc, from 2.30pm all the way till 4.30am (:O) and me having a grand total of 1.5h of sleep. camperama was right after that. so you can pretty much guess how foamy my entire weekend was.
camperama itself was super fun, but my mood now would make it seem so unfun. anyway, anurak's litra entry about it is just so marvelous, so i shall just kop it.
"
Just a short post to recount Camperama.
Gathered after school.
Oreos.
Bradell Westlake.
Mini-Pudge.
Leonard Leng and his imba skills.
Sitting in the lorry.
Carpark.
OTOT is the new Dubyew.
Tying gateway.
Bony!
Red ants.
Deo flamethrowers.
$4 Hokkien mee.
Go Fish!
Pavilion.
Next day.
Putting up banners.
Tak's $4 knife.
Roti prata breakfast.
Kitchen tents.
Blasting music.
Tying balloons.
Balloons within balloons.
Balloons within balloons within balloons.
Pitching dome tents.
Retrieving the tent which went into the sea.
Prepare for campfire.
Reverse tepee.
Kerosene bomb.
Dinner.
Campfire.
Durian shelling.
Movie screening which we didn't see.
Cycling.
Cycling even more.
Park connectors.
Foam.
The bridge which we crossed the long way.
Getting lost in Bedok park.
Pasir Ris.
Snickers and 100 Plus.
Cycling.
Back to camp at 3am.
Sleep.
Wake at 7am.
Foam.
Breakfast.
Unpitch stuff.
Lorry.
Siglap CC.
Bradell Westlake.
Unload stuff.
J8 and lunch.
Good to go?
"
The last line is really just a perfect way to end it. and of course, if that isnt enough, theres still the beautiful photos that alvin took! link
and today was not good at all, have a lot to rant but it wont do justice to those coming here to cheer up. just hope the whole day spent tmr with 0106 will make me feel much better.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
greedisbad
how ironic. my previous post i was talking about how nice the cycling community is, and today i had a theft attempt on my bike.
my bro took used my bike to commute to the gym, and locked it outside. when he came out, the seat post was gone. a woman nearby said she saw 2 indian kids trying to steal the bike. and my brother saw those 2 secondary sch ppl just as he exited the gym, but didnt think much of it. he tried chasing, but couldn't find them, then somehow a while later the woman came back with the younger of the two, a secondary 1.
in the end, both of them returned the stuff they stolen, which was the seat post, seat quick release and pouch. apparently they had wanted to steal the bike as well, but was unable to break the lock, and ended up spoiling the lock as well. so they were just told to pay for the lock, and nothing else. no police report, never tell their parents.
although my bike is fine, clearly the integrity of some people aren't.
my bro took used my bike to commute to the gym, and locked it outside. when he came out, the seat post was gone. a woman nearby said she saw 2 indian kids trying to steal the bike. and my brother saw those 2 secondary sch ppl just as he exited the gym, but didnt think much of it. he tried chasing, but couldn't find them, then somehow a while later the woman came back with the younger of the two, a secondary 1.
in the end, both of them returned the stuff they stolen, which was the seat post, seat quick release and pouch. apparently they had wanted to steal the bike as well, but was unable to break the lock, and ended up spoiling the lock as well. so they were just told to pay for the lock, and nothing else. no police report, never tell their parents.
although my bike is fine, clearly the integrity of some people aren't.
Monday, July 13, 2009
cycling community
today was doing a short ride to explore, and saw this road bike cyclist doing loops around a certain area i was exploring. correction, saw him 4 times. first time, he just looked at me. second time, he waved to me. third time, he asked me (using hand sign) if i was doing loops as well. and the last time he just waved once again.
when you are on a bike and you see another cyclist and look at them, most of the time they will also be looking at you. theres a kind of unspoken...friendship? yet another reason why i love this sport of triathlon; the community is so fabulous.
when you are on a bike and you see another cyclist and look at them, most of the time they will also be looking at you. theres a kind of unspoken...friendship? yet another reason why i love this sport of triathlon; the community is so fabulous.
Friday, July 10, 2009
first bi brick
woohoo today's training was wonderful. everyone's performance was dam good, and its dam heartening to know that =p
on a not that nice note tho, i think my swim has a lot to improve on, especially endurance.
its been a long time since i felt so shiok knowing i trained hard and came out of it alive.
on a not that nice note tho, i think my swim has a lot to improve on, especially endurance.
its been a long time since i felt so shiok knowing i trained hard and came out of it alive.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
term 3!
=o its already term 3 of sec4. 2 more terms and im in JC!
june hols felt a bit different from past years, maybe cos im so much busier. finally i didnt get the slack feeling too much, which is extremely good as that feeling sucks and makes me think im a waste of space.
on a brighter note...i love swimming now! cos of my leg injury i stopped running and changed to swimming and im proud to say i self taught myself front crawl and (partly) total immersion!
its really dam easy to swim front crawl once the technique/form is correct. now i cant wait to brick train even more! hopefully next year i can do the ocbc cycle, sg bi, some sprints, and maybeeee if im ready, ocbc tri! then a 70.3, then ironman, then...
one can dream.
june hols felt a bit different from past years, maybe cos im so much busier. finally i didnt get the slack feeling too much, which is extremely good as that feeling sucks and makes me think im a waste of space.
on a brighter note...i love swimming now! cos of my leg injury i stopped running and changed to swimming and im proud to say i self taught myself front crawl and (partly) total immersion!
its really dam easy to swim front crawl once the technique/form is correct. now i cant wait to brick train even more! hopefully next year i can do the ocbc cycle, sg bi, some sprints, and maybeeee if im ready, ocbc tri! then a 70.3, then ironman, then...
one can dream.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
my scouting life thus far
since today is such a boring day, i shall blog about my scout life since i joined in sec 1, 2006. ive been wanting to do this for quite a while, and this post is inspired by a senior =) have fun guessing who. oh and if you are a non scout reading this, good luck trying to understand most of it.
when we were told to choose our ccas in sec 1, my first 3 choices were sports (something like softball rugby judo i think). and my 4th and 5th choice i contemplated between putting 01 and 02, somehow 4th choice was 01 and im thankful it was 01. so my sports applications were rejected, and yea i was put in 01. remember it was a 4th choice, so i wasn't exactly very happy about it at that time.
the first ever moment i remember was sitting at a table in the shaw foundation ceremonial hall. then-stls hiokhong and alvinyong were there, along with ms goh and the rest of 01-06. ms goh asked us to say what we thought scouting was about, and i remembered saying something generic like outdoors, camping etc. (and i also remember sup saying guns and all of us laughing at his answer. typical sup =D)
i got posted to falcon, and i was in falcon all the way through till sec 3. my first impressions of my patrol were pretty good. koala and hq were just so hilarious in anything they do, and qianwei and benhong were exactly what i thought a senior should have been. first part of sec 1 was fun, just going for act every wednesday, pump a bit, laugh a lot, lala here and there. friday patrol meetings were non existent for falcon, it was just go den, take attendance, and zhao off. and the first part of sec 1 ended with SUTC.
SUTC was really a diferent camp from my idea of camps last time. sec 1 it was at balestier hill primary if i remember correctly, and my patrol was juggerknot (theme was dota). my fitness increased dramatically, my mental strength improved by leaps and bounds. but 01-06 still wasnt solid. i remember being more attached to the then-sec 2s, somehow always drifting to them rather than 01-06.
next major thing that came up was GTC. absolutely tiring, totally exhausting, but extremely rewarding. people keep saying GTC is life changing, and yea i totally agree with that. some memorable things were 1. hotel ubin 2. 6 loafs of bread 3. frickin long hikes 4. THAT night call 5. big petty jug
number 4 will be something i remember for as long as i can remember hopefully. its such a special moment that really kickstarted our batch bonding, and since its so special it cant be expressed in words.
and the last part of sec 1 was group celes. all i can remember was jianliang saying something like "i hope i have done a good job with the gc next year".
sec 2 went by in a blur. somehow i dont remember much except batch project. the endless hours we spent in the library tying our knots, the fun moments (how to save a life!) we had stoning in the project room once again, tying knots. and it was really rewarding to see our stuff being sold at AVSW, to know that we have actually helped the group.
oh another thing i remember about sec 2 is SUTC. the last part of SUTC was really cool, where we formed 01 while in pushup position. and the j1s were really fantastic to give each and every one of us cards with feedback on them. i still keep mine =)
gtc was painful, as always. just that this year was more painful than last year. the sense of relief upon reaching back to RI was just amazing, and the blisters and abraisions i had were just sooo disgusting. and the night call at west coast park...still remember how dam loud leonard shouted, how much it echoed throughout the night. and the crowding in the pavillion when it rained was just so fun, and ms goh calling us mother hens or something like that.
moving on to the more recent sec 3. being patrol leader was fairly stressful at times, especially at the start of the year when i was not used to it yet, and also during AC period where its just pure mentally tiring. i wished i had been a more fun person like how koala and haoqin were, but i guess its just how my personality is. sometimes i regret being too strict with the patrol on stuff, and wished i could be more like eagle where they just whatever everything and everyone has fun.
getting 1st for AC was a pleasant surprise, and it was made possible due to every single member in falcon. no one slacked, everyone worked hard, and yea the effort paid off. it made all the preparation seem so worth it.
and i have no idea why my sec 3 life seems so uneventful at this point in time. weren't we supposed to learn the most in sec 3?
and lastly, venturing is just awesome. having a chance to do something different from the past 3 years is nice, but having a chance to do something different WITH your best friends is just amazing. and im just hoping this year never ends, cos when we get to j1 its inevitable we will split up into those who get into gc and those who dont, and i really wish it doesnt happen. im so not looking forward to end of this year =(
and of course looking ahead, theres still gc to go, where it will be a lot of stress yet very rewarding as well.
im so thankful i got my 4th choice
when we were told to choose our ccas in sec 1, my first 3 choices were sports (something like softball rugby judo i think). and my 4th and 5th choice i contemplated between putting 01 and 02, somehow 4th choice was 01 and im thankful it was 01. so my sports applications were rejected, and yea i was put in 01. remember it was a 4th choice, so i wasn't exactly very happy about it at that time.
the first ever moment i remember was sitting at a table in the shaw foundation ceremonial hall. then-stls hiokhong and alvinyong were there, along with ms goh and the rest of 01-06. ms goh asked us to say what we thought scouting was about, and i remembered saying something generic like outdoors, camping etc. (and i also remember sup saying guns and all of us laughing at his answer. typical sup =D)
i got posted to falcon, and i was in falcon all the way through till sec 3. my first impressions of my patrol were pretty good. koala and hq were just so hilarious in anything they do, and qianwei and benhong were exactly what i thought a senior should have been. first part of sec 1 was fun, just going for act every wednesday, pump a bit, laugh a lot, lala here and there. friday patrol meetings were non existent for falcon, it was just go den, take attendance, and zhao off. and the first part of sec 1 ended with SUTC.
SUTC was really a diferent camp from my idea of camps last time. sec 1 it was at balestier hill primary if i remember correctly, and my patrol was juggerknot (theme was dota). my fitness increased dramatically, my mental strength improved by leaps and bounds. but 01-06 still wasnt solid. i remember being more attached to the then-sec 2s, somehow always drifting to them rather than 01-06.
next major thing that came up was GTC. absolutely tiring, totally exhausting, but extremely rewarding. people keep saying GTC is life changing, and yea i totally agree with that. some memorable things were 1. hotel ubin 2. 6 loafs of bread 3. frickin long hikes 4. THAT night call 5. big petty jug
number 4 will be something i remember for as long as i can remember hopefully. its such a special moment that really kickstarted our batch bonding, and since its so special it cant be expressed in words.
and the last part of sec 1 was group celes. all i can remember was jianliang saying something like "i hope i have done a good job with the gc next year".
sec 2 went by in a blur. somehow i dont remember much except batch project. the endless hours we spent in the library tying our knots, the fun moments (how to save a life!) we had stoning in the project room once again, tying knots. and it was really rewarding to see our stuff being sold at AVSW, to know that we have actually helped the group.
oh another thing i remember about sec 2 is SUTC. the last part of SUTC was really cool, where we formed 01 while in pushup position. and the j1s were really fantastic to give each and every one of us cards with feedback on them. i still keep mine =)
gtc was painful, as always. just that this year was more painful than last year. the sense of relief upon reaching back to RI was just amazing, and the blisters and abraisions i had were just sooo disgusting. and the night call at west coast park...still remember how dam loud leonard shouted, how much it echoed throughout the night. and the crowding in the pavillion when it rained was just so fun, and ms goh calling us mother hens or something like that.
moving on to the more recent sec 3. being patrol leader was fairly stressful at times, especially at the start of the year when i was not used to it yet, and also during AC period where its just pure mentally tiring. i wished i had been a more fun person like how koala and haoqin were, but i guess its just how my personality is. sometimes i regret being too strict with the patrol on stuff, and wished i could be more like eagle where they just whatever everything and everyone has fun.
getting 1st for AC was a pleasant surprise, and it was made possible due to every single member in falcon. no one slacked, everyone worked hard, and yea the effort paid off. it made all the preparation seem so worth it.
and i have no idea why my sec 3 life seems so uneventful at this point in time. weren't we supposed to learn the most in sec 3?
and lastly, venturing is just awesome. having a chance to do something different from the past 3 years is nice, but having a chance to do something different WITH your best friends is just amazing. and im just hoping this year never ends, cos when we get to j1 its inevitable we will split up into those who get into gc and those who dont, and i really wish it doesnt happen. im so not looking forward to end of this year =(
and of course looking ahead, theres still gc to go, where it will be a lot of stress yet very rewarding as well.
im so thankful i got my 4th choice
the curious case of my desktop
i was using my desktop normally last wednesday when the keyboard AND mouse just died on me. tried all methods to repair it, and nothing would work. even called up dell, but they didn't have any solution for this problem. so now my desktop is left rotting in my room, and im using my dad's desktop. it was really quite a bad time la, seeing as how my proposal for VPA was due on the friday to zx actually, so I had to redo it when i came back from...
VLC! yea basically thanks to everyone in VLC, ranging from 01-06, to other venture scouts, to the leaders, to the (very old) lecturers, to the people working at terror sea scout. some of the people are reallly wonderful, like justin, who is desperately getting people to add him on msn/facebook =p despite the 3 hrs of sleep, it was still dam fun (but suuuper humid!)
and when i went jogging 2 days ago, my right knee hurt after that, and after yesterday's super tiring swim training it hurt even more, then after a while the pain went away. no idea what is wrong, but ill limit my exercises to swimming as much as i can to let my leg heal. and i really hope it heals.
its already the 3rd week of hols. this june hols got frickin lot of projects, and glad to say at least SS is going well, although the rest are *ahem*. hopefully h1n1 causes sch to be closed even longer hehe
VLC! yea basically thanks to everyone in VLC, ranging from 01-06, to other venture scouts, to the leaders, to the (very old) lecturers, to the people working at terror sea scout. some of the people are reallly wonderful, like justin, who is desperately getting people to add him on msn/facebook =p despite the 3 hrs of sleep, it was still dam fun (but suuuper humid!)
and when i went jogging 2 days ago, my right knee hurt after that, and after yesterday's super tiring swim training it hurt even more, then after a while the pain went away. no idea what is wrong, but ill limit my exercises to swimming as much as i can to let my leg heal. and i really hope it heals.
its already the 3rd week of hols. this june hols got frickin lot of projects, and glad to say at least SS is going well, although the rest are *ahem*. hopefully h1n1 causes sch to be closed even longer hehe
Thursday, June 11, 2009
hillary
k this is long overdue. 8 days to be precise.
so we won hillary! old news haha. but yea its quite cool cos i never really won any competition before, other than nspc heats for chariot race, but yea thats another story. up against 27 other teams, including raffles team 2, and im quite surprised we came up tops! was just hoping we could qualify at first, but yea it was a pleasant surprise to know we are doing good.
but the hc prelims itself wasn't that much of a challenge to be fair. most of the stuff we did didnt even require a leader or teamwork, it was more like if one person knew how to do it, you have already cleared the stage. so in that sense, yea we shouldn't be too complacent about the double 1st and 2nd for raffles, although its still a job well done.
oh and our team rocks. i shall refrain from using the team name, it makes me sound egoistic. DISCLAIMER: I SO DID NOT COME UP WITH THAT NAME HOR. I AM NOT AN EGO DUDE
haha but yea its all for fun so, whatever.
and i swear zann is the most hardcore girl i have ever known. she puts me to shame -.-"
so we won hillary! old news haha. but yea its quite cool cos i never really won any competition before, other than nspc heats for chariot race, but yea thats another story. up against 27 other teams, including raffles team 2, and im quite surprised we came up tops! was just hoping we could qualify at first, but yea it was a pleasant surprise to know we are doing good.
but the hc prelims itself wasn't that much of a challenge to be fair. most of the stuff we did didnt even require a leader or teamwork, it was more like if one person knew how to do it, you have already cleared the stage. so in that sense, yea we shouldn't be too complacent about the double 1st and 2nd for raffles, although its still a job well done.
oh and our team rocks. i shall refrain from using the team name, it makes me sound egoistic. DISCLAIMER: I SO DID NOT COME UP WITH THAT NAME HOR. I AM NOT AN EGO DUDE
haha but yea its all for fun so, whatever.
and i swear zann is the most hardcore girl i have ever known. she puts me to shame -.-"
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
week 1 of hols!
what a week. first of course was vc, followed by hc, then a whole day with 01-06, then nyaa, and today was hc training.
i owe about 3 blog posts now, 1 for vc, 1 for hc, and 1 for that super long thursday.
and i think i trained too much, starting to feel an injury in my right leg now, and my left leg's injury hasn't totally healed. need to be more careful from now on.
and who would like to sponser me? =D tri stuffs are really ex
i owe about 3 blog posts now, 1 for vc, 1 for hc, and 1 for that super long thursday.
and i think i trained too much, starting to feel an injury in my right leg now, and my left leg's injury hasn't totally healed. need to be more careful from now on.
and who would like to sponser me? =D tri stuffs are really ex
Friday, June 5, 2009
Venture Camp!
If you are looking for finger-licking good chicken to eat while sitting on the sand and defending the chicken from the stray bloodhounds eyeing your food, Pulau Ubin is the place to be. But before we get to that, we shall go back 1 day in time, to the start of Venture Camp!
To quote Zhongjun, "finally a reporting venue in the west..." And the honour goes to Mayfair Park! We were told to report here at 8am on Saturday, 30th May, and although the place was semi-unknown to many (except people like Zhongjun of course), most of us managed to report on time for the horseshoe. After the reorganising of groups and a quick inspection (and lots of ionised water droplets for me), Sup was to lead us to the start of our close terrain navigation. Fastforwarding past the boring and tiring walk along the long stretch of tar known as Rifle Range Road, we reached our start point/1st checkpoint and were told to look for a control card, which was a white piece of paper with 01's group emblem on it. Zhongjun lived up to his skills, and in a fashion where he would have said, "My gold orienteering not for nothing!", he found the cunningly placed control card, which was stuck on a random tree a few meters in from the road.
The next few hours up till 3pm was spent in Macritchie, where each group split up in search for even more cunningly placed control cards. My group, which consisted of Anurak, Soham, Leonard, Tak Wei and myself, stayed true to the purpose of this entire activity and practiced the skills we learnt, which was in essence just dead reckoning. There would be 1 navigator, 1 plotter, and 3 pacers, and we rotated the roles after each checkpoint. The basic navigation went something like this: After walking 100m in a straight line, the pacers would stop and shout "100m!". Hearing that, the navigator would say out the bearing we were walking at for the past 100m, and the plotters would plot this on the enlarged topo map version of Macritchie. Of course, this was the ideal case and what is desired does not always concur with reality. Often it went something like this: After walking anywhere between 95-105m in a direction thats off by a few degrees, the navigator will announce the bearing which is incorrect and the plotter will estimate the bearing and mark it out on the map. This was a perfect recipe to get lost, but being skilled venture scouts as we were, we managed to find the 1st checkpoint, although it was a good 70m away from where we thought it would be.
We reached the next few checkpoints in similar fashion. Note that reaching the checkpoint does not mean finding the checkpoint. This being Macritchie with all its crevices and revines and us not being people with GPS devices, it was fairly impossible to find a control card even though we know it is within a 50m radius of where we were. Sad to say, the first checkpoint was one of two checkpoints that we actually found on our own. One of the other checkpoint was somehow lost or eaten up as Zhi Xuan, who was following my group, could not even find it. Another checkpoint was skipped simply because the time we took searching for it was too grosteque. And the last checkpoint was found first by Sup's group, and we conveniently went to where we heard them shouting. The final checkpoint, however, was worthy of mention. We knew it was along a road, and we knew it was about 200m from a junction. Hence we paced that distance, and just as we reached the 200m mark, we turned left and immediately could spot the control card. This was an amazing feat compared to Francis's group, whom I heard took a long time to find the card, and who also tried to scam my group into believing its at the top of some random hill. Too bad! My group was just too good.
----------------------
ah screw it, takes too long writing properly. oh that was inspired by nyaa lesson, haha
some fun stuff that happened during close navi (note how soham is in all)
1. soham was plotting. after a break he said he couldnt find the protractor. a while later someone found it in his bottle compartment.
2. i asked where my permanant marker was. soham felt in his left pocket, and went like ohh shit. he remembers dammmm clearly he put it there, but somehow just couldn't find it. i asked him "does your pocket have a hole or something?" he went "oh ya shit...". and at the end of the hike, he found it in the netting of his long pants
oh well soham is just funny
going back to after close navi, we hiked to our night point which was the bamboo place. along the way we sang random songs until we forgot the lyrics, then switched songs! a dam good way to moralise yourself, but of course you need people!
night point was with zhongjun and leonard. we first chose an area to be our shelter, and we were thankful it didnt have ants, unlike some other (the suanning group) people. then we started a fire first, which was RATHER easy considering the amount of tinder and firewood we have. zj did the preparation, leonard did the cooking, i maintained the fire. we somehow managed to cook everything, including the rice! first few times in camp i could actually cook rice, except like ac or whatever la of course. for our shelter we did a basha like thing and covered it with leaves, but yea it was quite fail. oh well its more for the experience anyway.
sentry was siantry la. except i koped 1hr of zj's sleep and i had radio with me. hehe
the next day was pretty slow moving. in summary, we had a run from tampines to changi (8km), and a few ppl dropped out, but most made it alive. then we cooked lunch at the jetty, before proceeding to ubin!
thanks to the manymany firewood which we had cut during the preps, there were friggin lot of things to carry. we walked a short distance to some random beach, and prepared to cook our super delicious restaurant standard dinner! first up was digging an imba dig hole that could cover me, then dumping newspaper balls and kindling in, and laying tons of firewood on top, followed by balancing the pebbles we brought on the firewood. then, using a fuse that was soaked in j1's magic, we lighted the whole shit up and the fire was just hugeeeee, about a billion times bigger than my night 1 fire.
while all these were happening, people were also getting ready the food to cook. we wrapped them all in alum foil, then when preparation was done, we extinguished the flames, spammed the food inside the pit, and covered the whole pit up.
after i forgot how long of pitching bashas, the j1s took the food out and we were rewarded with a sumptuous dinner that also invited the ubin stray dogs. ya the food was more imba than cooking with mess tin, and certainly more imba than day 1 dinner.
rest of the day was spent lalaing, roasting marshmallows, and watching hioksupzihengamos suan themselves. i officially declare myself retired from the biggest suanner gang, hiok can take over my role. ironyirony. and night 2 was friggin long and cold cos we ended activity at like 8+, and had all the way till 7am.
the last day we had batch talk, reflections, experience sharings by j1s and zhi, and the final activity. we had to say a dream, a fear and a change. and of course one thing we would like to say to our batch
"I WONT PANGSEH" - Hiok Yang
everyone shall remember.
and of course mine: I hope we stay in contact forever.
01-06 is fantastic. They are my closest group of friends, they will be my closest group of friends, for up till NS at least, I won't know what will happen after that. Even if I get an accident and get a concussion and lose part of my memory, ask me who 01-06 is and I will remember. What sort of sucky life would I be leading now if I never knew this batch of amazing people?
To quote Zhongjun, "finally a reporting venue in the west..." And the honour goes to Mayfair Park! We were told to report here at 8am on Saturday, 30th May, and although the place was semi-unknown to many (except people like Zhongjun of course), most of us managed to report on time for the horseshoe. After the reorganising of groups and a quick inspection (and lots of ionised water droplets for me), Sup was to lead us to the start of our close terrain navigation. Fastforwarding past the boring and tiring walk along the long stretch of tar known as Rifle Range Road, we reached our start point/1st checkpoint and were told to look for a control card, which was a white piece of paper with 01's group emblem on it. Zhongjun lived up to his skills, and in a fashion where he would have said, "My gold orienteering not for nothing!", he found the cunningly placed control card, which was stuck on a random tree a few meters in from the road.
The next few hours up till 3pm was spent in Macritchie, where each group split up in search for even more cunningly placed control cards. My group, which consisted of Anurak, Soham, Leonard, Tak Wei and myself, stayed true to the purpose of this entire activity and practiced the skills we learnt, which was in essence just dead reckoning. There would be 1 navigator, 1 plotter, and 3 pacers, and we rotated the roles after each checkpoint. The basic navigation went something like this: After walking 100m in a straight line, the pacers would stop and shout "100m!". Hearing that, the navigator would say out the bearing we were walking at for the past 100m, and the plotters would plot this on the enlarged topo map version of Macritchie. Of course, this was the ideal case and what is desired does not always concur with reality. Often it went something like this: After walking anywhere between 95-105m in a direction thats off by a few degrees, the navigator will announce the bearing which is incorrect and the plotter will estimate the bearing and mark it out on the map. This was a perfect recipe to get lost, but being skilled venture scouts as we were, we managed to find the 1st checkpoint, although it was a good 70m away from where we thought it would be.
We reached the next few checkpoints in similar fashion. Note that reaching the checkpoint does not mean finding the checkpoint. This being Macritchie with all its crevices and revines and us not being people with GPS devices, it was fairly impossible to find a control card even though we know it is within a 50m radius of where we were. Sad to say, the first checkpoint was one of two checkpoints that we actually found on our own. One of the other checkpoint was somehow lost or eaten up as Zhi Xuan, who was following my group, could not even find it. Another checkpoint was skipped simply because the time we took searching for it was too grosteque. And the last checkpoint was found first by Sup's group, and we conveniently went to where we heard them shouting. The final checkpoint, however, was worthy of mention. We knew it was along a road, and we knew it was about 200m from a junction. Hence we paced that distance, and just as we reached the 200m mark, we turned left and immediately could spot the control card. This was an amazing feat compared to Francis's group, whom I heard took a long time to find the card, and who also tried to scam my group into believing its at the top of some random hill. Too bad! My group was just too good.
----------------------
ah screw it, takes too long writing properly. oh that was inspired by nyaa lesson, haha
some fun stuff that happened during close navi (note how soham is in all)
1. soham was plotting. after a break he said he couldnt find the protractor. a while later someone found it in his bottle compartment.
2. i asked where my permanant marker was. soham felt in his left pocket, and went like ohh shit. he remembers dammmm clearly he put it there, but somehow just couldn't find it. i asked him "does your pocket have a hole or something?" he went "oh ya shit...". and at the end of the hike, he found it in the netting of his long pants
oh well soham is just funny
going back to after close navi, we hiked to our night point which was the bamboo place. along the way we sang random songs until we forgot the lyrics, then switched songs! a dam good way to moralise yourself, but of course you need people!
night point was with zhongjun and leonard. we first chose an area to be our shelter, and we were thankful it didnt have ants, unlike some other (the suanning group) people. then we started a fire first, which was RATHER easy considering the amount of tinder and firewood we have. zj did the preparation, leonard did the cooking, i maintained the fire. we somehow managed to cook everything, including the rice! first few times in camp i could actually cook rice, except like ac or whatever la of course. for our shelter we did a basha like thing and covered it with leaves, but yea it was quite fail. oh well its more for the experience anyway.
sentry was siantry la. except i koped 1hr of zj's sleep and i had radio with me. hehe
the next day was pretty slow moving. in summary, we had a run from tampines to changi (8km), and a few ppl dropped out, but most made it alive. then we cooked lunch at the jetty, before proceeding to ubin!
thanks to the manymany firewood which we had cut during the preps, there were friggin lot of things to carry. we walked a short distance to some random beach, and prepared to cook our super delicious restaurant standard dinner! first up was digging an imba dig hole that could cover me, then dumping newspaper balls and kindling in, and laying tons of firewood on top, followed by balancing the pebbles we brought on the firewood. then, using a fuse that was soaked in j1's magic, we lighted the whole shit up and the fire was just hugeeeee, about a billion times bigger than my night 1 fire.
while all these were happening, people were also getting ready the food to cook. we wrapped them all in alum foil, then when preparation was done, we extinguished the flames, spammed the food inside the pit, and covered the whole pit up.
after i forgot how long of pitching bashas, the j1s took the food out and we were rewarded with a sumptuous dinner that also invited the ubin stray dogs. ya the food was more imba than cooking with mess tin, and certainly more imba than day 1 dinner.
rest of the day was spent lalaing, roasting marshmallows, and watching hioksupzihengamos suan themselves. i officially declare myself retired from the biggest suanner gang, hiok can take over my role. ironyirony. and night 2 was friggin long and cold cos we ended activity at like 8+, and had all the way till 7am.
the last day we had batch talk, reflections, experience sharings by j1s and zhi, and the final activity. we had to say a dream, a fear and a change. and of course one thing we would like to say to our batch
"I WONT PANGSEH" - Hiok Yang
everyone shall remember.
and of course mine: I hope we stay in contact forever.
01-06 is fantastic. They are my closest group of friends, they will be my closest group of friends, for up till NS at least, I won't know what will happen after that. Even if I get an accident and get a concussion and lose part of my memory, ask me who 01-06 is and I will remember. What sort of sucky life would I be leading now if I never knew this batch of amazing people?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
last week of school =)
hooray tomorrow is the last day of school, then the fun filled june hols will come.
my life will be really busy from now to next thursday. tmr will be hc training and vc stuff, saturday till monday will be vc, tuesday will be chinese + ac visiting, wednesday will be hc, thursday will be anderson + ac.
vc sounds dam fun, but im worried wont be able to recover in time for hc. im looking forward to survival night, the cycling, the run, backwoods, building shelter with leaves and other stuff, bashing through some random forest in singapore, and of course being with 01-06. but im soo not looking forward to abraisions, blisters, and most of all mosquito bites.
and now i think the hc side is dam like hq side. dam scrup. lets just hope sup is still in =)
my life will be really busy from now to next thursday. tmr will be hc training and vc stuff, saturday till monday will be vc, tuesday will be chinese + ac visiting, wednesday will be hc, thursday will be anderson + ac.
vc sounds dam fun, but im worried wont be able to recover in time for hc. im looking forward to survival night, the cycling, the run, backwoods, building shelter with leaves and other stuff, bashing through some random forest in singapore, and of course being with 01-06. but im soo not looking forward to abraisions, blisters, and most of all mosquito bites.
and now i think the hc side is dam like hq side. dam scrup. lets just hope sup is still in =)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
passion run 09
1:24:24! was a superb run for me, my leg didnt ache, the weather wasn't too bad, the water points were good, and i achieved my sub 1:30! my 10K time was 57:21 and 5K was 27:03. i paced myself around 5:45 per km, and the km markers were reallly useful.
now 21 seems much easier to achieve, and my aim is sub 2hr =)
now 21 seems much easier to achieve, and my aim is sub 2hr =)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
tau hui!
for those not in the know, i eat at least 1 bowl of tau hui every day. it costs 60 cents from the snack stall, and its filling and dam sweet. and today after act i was telling alvin about it, and he said it was the problem for hungry kids in africa. so on the bus i was bored and expanded on alvin's idea...
-----------------------------------------------
P1 - Tau Hui is super sweet
P2 - Super sweet stuff makes you super active
C1 (P1 + P2) - Tau Hui makes you super active
P3 - Tau Hui makes you full
P4 - Tau Hui costs 60 cents
C2 (P3 + P4) - Tau Hui is cheap yet filling
P5 - Hunger and lethargy are caused by lack of food
P6 - Lack of food is caused by lack of money
C3 (P5 + P6) - Hunger and lethargy are caused by lack of money
C4 (C1 + C2 + C3) - Tau Hui is the solution for the problem of hunger, lethargy and lack of money.
P7 - The problem of hunger, lethargy and lack of money is called poverty
P8 - Poverty is a global problem
C5 (C4 + P7 + P8) - Tau Hui is the solution for a global problem
P9 - Any solution for a global problem is extremely good
C (C5 + P9) - Tau Hui is extremely good
-------------------------------------------
haha i should get full marks for philo
-----------------------------------------------
P1 - Tau Hui is super sweet
P2 - Super sweet stuff makes you super active
C1 (P1 + P2) - Tau Hui makes you super active
P3 - Tau Hui makes you full
P4 - Tau Hui costs 60 cents
C2 (P3 + P4) - Tau Hui is cheap yet filling
P5 - Hunger and lethargy are caused by lack of food
P6 - Lack of food is caused by lack of money
C3 (P5 + P6) - Hunger and lethargy are caused by lack of money
C4 (C1 + C2 + C3) - Tau Hui is the solution for the problem of hunger, lethargy and lack of money.
P7 - The problem of hunger, lethargy and lack of money is called poverty
P8 - Poverty is a global problem
C5 (C4 + P7 + P8) - Tau Hui is the solution for a global problem
P9 - Any solution for a global problem is extremely good
C (C5 + P9) - Tau Hui is extremely good
-------------------------------------------
haha i should get full marks for philo
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
hc training =)
today we went to ecp for hc training! meeting time was 8am at the macs where we like to stone for after hikes, and i left my house freakin early cos i wasnt sure how long the ride would take. and early means 6.30, and there was SOMEONE who were still sleeping at that time. =) so i took 76, took the bus and stopped a few stops too late. i got off the bus, crossed the underpass to get to ECP, and walked for about 20 minutes to the macs. and i was STILL the earliest. ah well
we had a short briefing and met the ex-hc team, then we went to get our bicycles from a kiosk. apparently it is quite cheap, $10 for 4 hours and the bikes were of decent standards, of course still farfar off from my bike =) and at this point that someone who overslept came. ya so we all got our bikes and did some basic stuff like adjusting seat height, changing gears etc. after that we were given some paper with a map that has a checkpoint, and we were split into our teams to navigate to the checkpoint.
at the first checkpoint, we played the criss cross hands game, where everyone's hand were tangled up in the middle and we had to untangle them without letting go of each other's hand. the catch is that all of us but ernxu were blindfolded, and ernxu couldnt talk. =o we took quite a while to do it, amidst all the cock like ernxu trying to make me lift my leg higher than my head, which obviously was quite fail; benkhoo throwing peanuts at sup's mouth but missing almost all the time etc. but ya it was fun and a tough job for everyone, esp ernxu.
following that, we continued cycling to the other checkpoint, which was just outside of camelot. the compound was locked, so we just peeked inside as much as we can and get a feel of the place. the high element looks pretty daunting, the rock wall looks...tall. the whole place looks quite small, made me wonder how we going to spend like 10 hours there for the prelims.
then we took a jog to some random yellow thing sticking out of the coastline. at first the thing seemed quite close, but it is actually dam far to get there cos we need to take some mega detour. quite a cunning plan to degen people =p at the yellow thingie, we took a group picture which ernxu tried to jumpshot and failed, so we took another, better one.
then we did a 5km+ walk/jog. more of a walk, possibly cos people were tired from the cycling and the job previously, but at least we came in earlier than the other team. we ran back to our bicycles which were parked outside camelot, then cycled back towards ecp and did our 2nd game!
basically we were split into 3 groups, HH, Sherm and Tat 1 group, me miin nic 1 group, sup and ernxu last group. hh's group could see sup's group but they cant talk. my group can see hh group but cant see sup's grp. sup's group couldnt see and they could only answer questions. so hh's group had a task sheet for sup's group to do, but the challenge was for them to tell sup and ernxu what to do. so it went something like this: hh group will do some action, we will convert the action to words and shout it out to sup and ernxu. was quite fun, except it really kills me when hh group laughing at what sup and ernxu were doing, yet we cant see them!
following that it started to drizzle, so we chionged back to the bike shop, and were late my 1 hour or so, but somehow we didnt have to pay extra. then we went to bk, had a short debrief by the ex hc team, then makan!
some pics i took while cycling =D quite easy to cycle 1 handed on mountain bike compared to road.
oh and ben khoo is dam camwhore. =D
in other news, i got my race pack for passion run today! the singlet is bright red, fairly small, and the craftsmanship isnt that good, but at least its thin. the race tag is the same as sbr.
we had a short briefing and met the ex-hc team, then we went to get our bicycles from a kiosk. apparently it is quite cheap, $10 for 4 hours and the bikes were of decent standards, of course still farfar off from my bike =) and at this point that someone who overslept came. ya so we all got our bikes and did some basic stuff like adjusting seat height, changing gears etc. after that we were given some paper with a map that has a checkpoint, and we were split into our teams to navigate to the checkpoint.
at the first checkpoint, we played the criss cross hands game, where everyone's hand were tangled up in the middle and we had to untangle them without letting go of each other's hand. the catch is that all of us but ernxu were blindfolded, and ernxu couldnt talk. =o we took quite a while to do it, amidst all the cock like ernxu trying to make me lift my leg higher than my head, which obviously was quite fail; benkhoo throwing peanuts at sup's mouth but missing almost all the time etc. but ya it was fun and a tough job for everyone, esp ernxu.
following that, we continued cycling to the other checkpoint, which was just outside of camelot. the compound was locked, so we just peeked inside as much as we can and get a feel of the place. the high element looks pretty daunting, the rock wall looks...tall. the whole place looks quite small, made me wonder how we going to spend like 10 hours there for the prelims.
then we took a jog to some random yellow thing sticking out of the coastline. at first the thing seemed quite close, but it is actually dam far to get there cos we need to take some mega detour. quite a cunning plan to degen people =p at the yellow thingie, we took a group picture which ernxu tried to jumpshot and failed, so we took another, better one.
then we did a 5km+ walk/jog. more of a walk, possibly cos people were tired from the cycling and the job previously, but at least we came in earlier than the other team. we ran back to our bicycles which were parked outside camelot, then cycled back towards ecp and did our 2nd game!
basically we were split into 3 groups, HH, Sherm and Tat 1 group, me miin nic 1 group, sup and ernxu last group. hh's group could see sup's group but they cant talk. my group can see hh group but cant see sup's grp. sup's group couldnt see and they could only answer questions. so hh's group had a task sheet for sup's group to do, but the challenge was for them to tell sup and ernxu what to do. so it went something like this: hh group will do some action, we will convert the action to words and shout it out to sup and ernxu. was quite fun, except it really kills me when hh group laughing at what sup and ernxu were doing, yet we cant see them!
following that it started to drizzle, so we chionged back to the bike shop, and were late my 1 hour or so, but somehow we didnt have to pay extra. then we went to bk, had a short debrief by the ex hc team, then makan!
some pics i took while cycling =D quite easy to cycle 1 handed on mountain bike compared to road.
oh and ben khoo is dam camwhore. =D
in other news, i got my race pack for passion run today! the singlet is bright red, fairly small, and the craftsmanship isnt that good, but at least its thin. the race tag is the same as sbr.
its next week and my legs havent fully recovered from some sort of injury. hope to get below 1:30
Thursday, May 14, 2009
new blogskin
yea the other one was getting quite hard to read.
err today had napfa 5 items, bio spa, and maths cct. 1 of them i did fairly well, 1 of them totally screwed up along with a hell lot of other people, and the last one was pretty ok. so you can go and guess which is which, but it isn't that hard.
and hey, theres an improvement of 1 points! lets hope by j2 can max out.
oh and yesterday there was venture camp briefing/prep. it seems super tiring yet at the same time fun and cool! the cycling and survival night should be nice, although knowing that ill be sleeping with insects isnt very comforting. but ya should be quite fun to make your own shelter and sleep in it. hopefully watching man vs wild last time would help me at vc.
as for hillary, i really hope we can pass the prelims, then we can have some proper quality training during june hols
err today had napfa 5 items, bio spa, and maths cct. 1 of them i did fairly well, 1 of them totally screwed up along with a hell lot of other people, and the last one was pretty ok. so you can go and guess which is which, but it isn't that hard.
and hey, theres an improvement of 1 points! lets hope by j2 can max out.
oh and yesterday there was venture camp briefing/prep. it seems super tiring yet at the same time fun and cool! the cycling and survival night should be nice, although knowing that ill be sleeping with insects isnt very comforting. but ya should be quite fun to make your own shelter and sleep in it. hopefully watching man vs wild last time would help me at vc.
as for hillary, i really hope we can pass the prelims, then we can have some proper quality training during june hols
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
mega trainings!
got hillary challenge and passion run coming up, so my schedule is rather screwed, having to train for both. My weekends will 100% be spent running, so lets hope i get some time to go back cycling. hillary is trying to be hardcore, but quite hard to with all the different commitments that we have. prelims shouldnt be a problem tho, so hopefully we get more time to train during june hols.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
i finally updated. had the inspiration to update on THE bus trip.
recently my life is the same. not much change, just a hell lot of cycling. really dam fun to cycle, especially when the road has no car and you suddenly see a few pro cyclist, makes you want to pace them, or rather try pacing them.
hillary challenge is coming, and im pretty interested. since theres too man(l)y people, there might be a selection. hope i can make it, even though its during the EoY period. i like to test my physical boundaries. some might call it sadist, i call it my endurance level.
and not to forget that napfa is drawing closer! somehow i have a feeling i wont be able to get gold, just too much fat that wont seem to go away. this is despite me trying to do swimming, running and cycling once a week, although trying is not what reality is. but still, i try.
01 life getting more fun now, campfire up in...exactly 2 weeks. haka is doing well, stick dance is about to begin. and after campfire, the next fun thing would be venture camp! cant wait for the cycling.
ciao
recently my life is the same. not much change, just a hell lot of cycling. really dam fun to cycle, especially when the road has no car and you suddenly see a few pro cyclist, makes you want to pace them, or rather try pacing them.
hillary challenge is coming, and im pretty interested. since theres too man(l)y people, there might be a selection. hope i can make it, even though its during the EoY period. i like to test my physical boundaries. some might call it sadist, i call it my endurance level.
and not to forget that napfa is drawing closer! somehow i have a feeling i wont be able to get gold, just too much fat that wont seem to go away. this is despite me trying to do swimming, running and cycling once a week, although trying is not what reality is. but still, i try.
01 life getting more fun now, campfire up in...exactly 2 weeks. haka is doing well, stick dance is about to begin. and after campfire, the next fun thing would be venture camp! cant wait for the cycling.
ciao
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
week 6 now, pretty fast term i would say. school has been going fine, lessons have been super fun sitting next to zhongjun and behind shuqiao, and im learning pen spinning! all the subjects are pretty ok, maths is getting tougher but still managable, physics is a goner as usual, what with hyt not being able to control the class, chinese is the same, she is as angsty pangsty as always. hist is dam strict and she is bias, ss is getting better, she teaches well, english is dam sian. yup thats my definition of "pretty ok".
and im getting better at carrom! number 5 in the batch now i THINK. if i beat zj then im no. 4. been going to the den in the morning before assembly, during recess, and after school. never thought i would ever hear myself say "I like going to school".
as for 01, or rather 01-06, quite a lot of obstacles, but nothing too major to handle. this week we got bombarded with news that there is CCA and all of us who were applicable would be signed up. and prehike log is due on the 20th, 11 days after we were told there is CCA. and this week we have a full saturday act, next week is backwoods, there are CCTs coming up, RE presentation coming up, ERP presentation coming up. and we need to plan the route too. not sure how we are going to handle it, but it will be tough.
probably shouldnt type this here, but freedom of speech.
also didnt like the way teachers handled this. yesterday we we were told abt cca, and how we should all go for it since its once in a lifetime. so mr chan signed all who can, up for CCA. and later that night had a discussion with VTL, our batch, and thought that what the teachers were doing isnt right, i mean he shouldnt assume that all of us would want to go. so this morning we had a meeting with mr yuen and mr chan, and told them that it should be optional, seeing as how CCA is after all, a personal award. and then mr yuen angsted us, saying how it shouldnt be the case, that this is once in a lifetime, that after this march it will all be over, and asking why would you not want to go for it. even after i said all the commitments that we have, as i have said earlier, they still insisted on us going for CCA. or rather, they didnt insist, they make it optional but in the sense that if you dont go, teachers will hate you for life that kind of thing. and i think because of the way mr yuen put it across, some were "forced" to go for it, and peer pressure, one thing led to another, and in the end all who could go for it, are going for it.
i just dont see a reason for them to angst if SOME OF US, not all, dont wish to go. what could happen? we dont get as much FCS points, ok. the juniors wont respect us as much because we dont wish to go for CCA because we feel we are too busy? sure. there will still be some of us going, so whats the worry about being role models? i dont see past few batches having 8 people even trying for CCA, much less going for the hike, so why kick up a big fuss about it now? this sort of thing, we need mental preparation. it isnt as simple as doing a prehike log, going for the hike, and doing the hike log. maybe the teachers dont know this, thats why they think its so simple. to me, it seems as though what the teachers care all about is about having a continuation for CCA, and showing the juniors that we should go for it, and they dont really care about how we can cope. and there are many other issues, like companions. it isnt as easy as mr chan says, we will get them to go. if they arent willing to go for it, why bother even? and stuff like changing acts because of CCA. i understand that CCA takes priority over our acts, and that venture calender is our own calender, so it isnt much of a problem, but still we shouldnt just say change because of this. isnt being fair to the j1s who already planned the act.
despite all these, i want to go for CCA, but i just dont approve of the way the teachers handled it. this is purely my opinions, and i probably shouldnt get into any trouble with voicing my opinions.
and im getting better at carrom! number 5 in the batch now i THINK. if i beat zj then im no. 4. been going to the den in the morning before assembly, during recess, and after school. never thought i would ever hear myself say "I like going to school".
as for 01, or rather 01-06, quite a lot of obstacles, but nothing too major to handle. this week we got bombarded with news that there is CCA and all of us who were applicable would be signed up. and prehike log is due on the 20th, 11 days after we were told there is CCA. and this week we have a full saturday act, next week is backwoods, there are CCTs coming up, RE presentation coming up, ERP presentation coming up. and we need to plan the route too. not sure how we are going to handle it, but it will be tough.
probably shouldnt type this here, but freedom of speech.
also didnt like the way teachers handled this. yesterday we we were told abt cca, and how we should all go for it since its once in a lifetime. so mr chan signed all who can, up for CCA. and later that night had a discussion with VTL, our batch, and thought that what the teachers were doing isnt right, i mean he shouldnt assume that all of us would want to go. so this morning we had a meeting with mr yuen and mr chan, and told them that it should be optional, seeing as how CCA is after all, a personal award. and then mr yuen angsted us, saying how it shouldnt be the case, that this is once in a lifetime, that after this march it will all be over, and asking why would you not want to go for it. even after i said all the commitments that we have, as i have said earlier, they still insisted on us going for CCA. or rather, they didnt insist, they make it optional but in the sense that if you dont go, teachers will hate you for life that kind of thing. and i think because of the way mr yuen put it across, some were "forced" to go for it, and peer pressure, one thing led to another, and in the end all who could go for it, are going for it.
i just dont see a reason for them to angst if SOME OF US, not all, dont wish to go. what could happen? we dont get as much FCS points, ok. the juniors wont respect us as much because we dont wish to go for CCA because we feel we are too busy? sure. there will still be some of us going, so whats the worry about being role models? i dont see past few batches having 8 people even trying for CCA, much less going for the hike, so why kick up a big fuss about it now? this sort of thing, we need mental preparation. it isnt as simple as doing a prehike log, going for the hike, and doing the hike log. maybe the teachers dont know this, thats why they think its so simple. to me, it seems as though what the teachers care all about is about having a continuation for CCA, and showing the juniors that we should go for it, and they dont really care about how we can cope. and there are many other issues, like companions. it isnt as easy as mr chan says, we will get them to go. if they arent willing to go for it, why bother even? and stuff like changing acts because of CCA. i understand that CCA takes priority over our acts, and that venture calender is our own calender, so it isnt much of a problem, but still we shouldnt just say change because of this. isnt being fair to the j1s who already planned the act.
despite all these, i want to go for CCA, but i just dont approve of the way the teachers handled it. this is purely my opinions, and i probably shouldnt get into any trouble with voicing my opinions.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
damn its so busy and its only week 1. venturing has begun and it isnt easy, so many different avenues and so many things to do. theres just so much expectations and so little time, and i have to cramp everything into the small brain of mine. it just makes me so angst at times and yet i try my best not to be cos i know its not anyone's fault that things are like this. sometimes, like last time, i wish people were all like me and all thought like me, then things would be done much quicker. but i guess the thing is to accept each other's differences and live with it, and also to make full use of everyone's niche area and capabilities.
on another note, school has started and most teachers are the same, except for hist ss english and maths. really happy that chem is the same, not so happy that physics the same, quite ok that chinese and bio the same. oh and ms tang seems quite ok, at least she can mange the class better than mr koh and doesnt SEEM to not hold back on calling of parents. guess i need to be a guaiguai boy and not screw up.
like i said last year, this year will be started anew and who really cares about your last year's gpa. mine wasnt very good, keeps dropping each year but grades arent everything. but yea i hope that it goes up thisyear, and i hope that i dont have to do anything yet it goes up =)
RT tmr, good luck
on another note, school has started and most teachers are the same, except for hist ss english and maths. really happy that chem is the same, not so happy that physics the same, quite ok that chinese and bio the same. oh and ms tang seems quite ok, at least she can mange the class better than mr koh and doesnt SEEM to not hold back on calling of parents. guess i need to be a guaiguai boy and not screw up.
like i said last year, this year will be started anew and who really cares about your last year's gpa. mine wasnt very good, keeps dropping each year but grades arent everything. but yea i hope that it goes up thisyear, and i hope that i dont have to do anything yet it goes up =)
RT tmr, good luck
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