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Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 11:50 am
Track Camp '09Woke up early in the morning, to much reluctance of my jaded body, yesterday, to go to school.Well, track camp wouldn't start til 11, but Adriaaaaaaaan requested for a slow morning jog before that. If it's anything with slooowww, and jooooog, I'm there man. hahaWe had to beat the side gate, which closes at 8am, or we'd have to lug ourselves all the way back to the main gate and walk all the way down to the grandstand, which is just, about 200m or so from that side gate? BUT! at 9am, it was still opened......*rolls eyes* and Adrian was still not there! It was just me, Deon, and Jason, and the cross team and Sprint Girls' Team training. So we decided to proceed with our run around the field without him. Quite fun to run slow!When the bonding session finally began, we kicked things off with Captains Ball - with a twist! Instead of a ball, we used foooooooood. And yes, as with all games which involves food, chaos and a mess are inevitable. Each group had to randomly pick a food, written on scrolls of paper in a bag. Luckily my group got watermelon - which ended up plummeting to the ground after a few lops. So we just took the subsequent biggest shrapnel and continued. There were also dates and papaya.What was most comical was the group that played with a bean. Yes, a bean.A bean, the size of...a button? It was hard to even watch the game. HAHAHA!Speaking of people having butter-fingers who can't catch, there was a group that played with a block of BUTTER! They were tossing it around when I exclaimed "Look! Butterfly!" and made people laughed. (At me or with me, I don't know :( haha )After everything, we slogged our hearts out erasing the evidence at the Linkway and headed for lunch in the canteen, then target-setting in the LT.Target to meet:110m Hurdles: 16.7s - to at least qualify for finals 400m Hurdles: 60-61s to maintain finalist positionNot much time left, but we shall train hard with whatever time we have left.Surge on, team NJ!
, 11:17 am
Wretched WeekendAll-Comers 3 last weekend (Sunday) was quiiite a disappointment.To start off the series of unfortunate events, I was on the train, on my way to Bukit Gombak when the trained came to a halt en route to Ang Mo Kio Station! The announcement of a delay of that train just diminished that little bit of hope of regaining movement. But...luckily it didn't take too long...Watching Chern Hwee's 100m Hurdles was a pity. "On your marks." "Set."Before she had got into "Set" position, the gun went off, without a second shot to stop the race! Baffled Chern Hwee stood up, anticipating a false start, had to stride off. Worst of all, that was her school's trials for Nationals!Fortunately, she had another shot at it and made it into the team. So, congrats, Hwee!My race was just a play of fate. Kinda funny to think of it, actually. Beside me was Yelun (although he didn't compete that day), two lanes away, Cassey - both my Cat High seniors; on the far end, Joel Wei (The Champion)......Ahh, but I didn't let that bother me too much.My first 110m Hurdles race, with just 2, 3 weeks of training...didn't go too well. Bad start, struggling to reach 3 steps for the first few hurdles and slipped into 5. Tsk. Really gotta polish up.Putting that behind me after the race, I was prepared to run the 400m 2 hours later. However, the weather had something to say to that. Heavy rain, coupled with lightning called for a suspension. It was just a sheet of white infront of the grandstand, with frequent gales blowing the rain indoors. Especially for us, sitting closest to the open, felt the battering of the rain, full force. That left us scampering to higher ground, only to witness streams flowing down the steps.Then Adrian had a brilliant idea of seeking refuge in the changing room! Haha! So we sat down, talked, and then realised our bags, still on the stands, might get wet and went out to retrieve them. But! As expected, our seats were already occupied when we returned...So, we were left outside the toilet, sharing the cramped space with what, 20, 30 over people? hiding from the rain as well.As soon as the officials announced a postponement, everyone scattered the scene, to their cars, the MRT station etc. hahaWell, what was spirit-lifting was that I got to meet my cat high mates!On the bus to J8 on Saturday, I met my beloved juniors, Junyang and Wenjie, also on their way to Gombak! And Yunli and Qihang (or Herald. haha) on Sunday.And yes! I did my P.B. on Saturday for 100m - 12.43s! I know I know, it's not that fast, but it's an achievement! :)
Saturday, 7 February 2009, 1:34 pm
Please Don't Stop the MusicHaven't blogged in a while...Orientation at NJ has been fun! A whole new environment, a whole new uniform (especially the pants! haha), a whole new culture! And most importantly, new friends.A scan of the list of Cat High-ers enlisted into NJ and I only know two of them - Guan Hao and Dominic. Though NJ's not their first choice, I hope and am sure they'll have a great time at NJ anyways. Tuesday night was a moment to celebrate for some, as friends got a shocking and long-awaited call to hear that their appeals were succesful! With the addition of Yiyin, Pok, Brandon Boh and Joo Chuen, I won't feel so lonely. But of course, mingling well with my OG makes that significant no more. What's the worst part of Orientation? Probably having so much fun or spending too much time doing it, that I get too tired for training haha. Monday's training was agonising! It was a long, long day. We did gym for like 1 hr + then we had to do 200m x 3, all out! Cos coach wanted to know our timings prior to today's competition. I was already drained from Orientation and gym; on top of that, I had a terrible stitch! I was feeling so bad I just collapsed and lie on the track after each run. Ex-cru-ciating!But thankfully Tuesday's wasn't that bad. In fact, it was so much fun! We played Handball for warm up haha, did 250m x 8, striding speed, then played monkey with a soccer ball for cool down. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Slack right?Speaking of pain, what was painful for us (at first) was to learn the Mass Dance moves! We had to dance to the WHOLE song of "Please Don't Stop the Music"! So confusing. You miss a step and everything screws up haha. What's more, on the last day, we had to learn another dance! To " Summer Nights ", but it was much much easier and much more fun.All that was in preparation of yesterday night's DANCE PARTY! Which was uber exciting! The hall was pitch black, illuminated by only streaks of dazzling, blinding lasers from the DJ's equipment. It was like a night club took over the place. Together with the upbeat, heart-pumping music, I was immediately immersed into the atmosphere. We started jumping up to the beat, then my OG formed a train and went around, swiftly. Then we formed a circle and synchronised random moves haha. There was a ring-like crowd, with two dancers in the centre, break-dancin. Uber cool, but I couldn't see a thing. haha Then our song came on. The start of "Please Don't Stop the Music" cued us to get into pairs and start groovin'. Still can't remember the middle part! HAHAIt played like 3, 4 times, throughout, OMG! I'm beginning to hate that song...hahahahaWe danced all over the place: near the DJ, up on stage, middle of the dance floor. The funniest dance would be to "Disturbia" where Joshua, Sneha and I did that thing to the chorus. I initially planned to leave earlier cos of competition today, but I was so over my head, I didn't bother anymore! I danced all the way through, til 9, when the music just abruptly stops. -.-Shirt drenched, shins and calves aching (from all those jumping), body drained, ear-drums probably damaged (Everything sounded soft after I came out), but who cares!That night, Music brought out the party-animal in most of us; we never wanted it to end; like a fire blazing strong from the centre, engulfing our entire body. Let's hope that fire will never be entinguished.May the Music never be stopped within us.
Sunday, 1 February 2009, 2:38 pm
My house just threw the biggest party of the year yesterday! And by big, I meant, BIIIIIIIIIIG.My mother woke up early and was in the kitchen all day; I thought she was gonna prepare some ten-course dinner or something...Which didn't seem so much as a casual thought, after all...At 5, my uncle, aunt and their daughter arrived, and we helped out in the kitchen. There were so many things to be done, there wasn't even enough space to place the food alone! As time past, quickly, my grandmothers, grandfathers, aunties, uncles, cousins, were all here, all led to the kitchen by the nose.To get a taste of how big the dinner was, here's the menu: Chicken Rice with Bai Zhan Ji, Fried (ginormous) Prawns, Fried Ngo Hiong (courtesy of Ah Ma's friend), Steam Promfret in Kiam Cai, Brocolli with mushrooms, Carrot Soup, Abalone. Take that, multiply by two of every dish! Two families meant two tables! Ten at each! Wow. Beats reunion dinner, anytime haha. Compliments from everyone for Mummy's superb culinary skills! And as I had long predicted, we were not able to finish everything! And the last man standing (or sitting), me! To not waste our efforts, I tried my best to fill myself to the throat. I have NEVER been so bloated before!Just as all Chinese New Year parties would culminate in, what started as a harmless sit-down-talk-cock-drink-tea session around the round table, mutated into a rowdy gambling den. And who could resist! HAHA! Lady Luck has been on my side all night! I had countless 21s, a few Black Jacks, and a rare Double Ace! My best hand was when I was playing Banker: I started with an Ace and 7 (18 points), so I tried my luck and drew one card, a 10 (18 points again)! I opened everyone's cards except one and won all of their bets. The last person had two cards and seemed very confident, $2 as his bet somemore...So I thought, what the heck, and drew one more card. HAHA! A 3! (21 POINTS!) Tong Sha!We totally lost ourselves in the addictive and precarious game that we forgot it was already midnight and we were probably the only unit yelling "AH PEH! AH PEH! AH PEH! " at the top of our voices in the whole estate. Until my grandparents lamented that it was late and time to go home......Well, all good things have to come to an end.......Until next weekend, that is! Ho ho ho, another opportunity to sha them!
Thursday, 29 January 2009, 12:33 pm
Visited Marcus's and Qiulin's house yesterday. One of the rare occasion where everyone could make it!
Marcus's house reminds me of how long I haven't been there, because it looks vaguely familiar.
And Qiulin's house kinda reminds me of mine - a festival gambling den haha.
Self-trained on Tuesday at YCK Stadium (because Bishan's closed for whatever reason...). Felt all the Bak Kwas and Pineapple Tarts flowing through my blood. Gotta get myself in good condition for the competition on the 7th and 14th. And that includes SLEEPING EARLY! Reminders:
1) SLEEP EARLY!2) Registration for Deutsch on 2nd Feb3) Complete paintingCaution! Painting in Progress!
Friday, 23 January 2009, 7:58 pm
Yesterday's training was a brief one, 2 (6x60m), coached by Coach Kamarul - first time I've seen him! Heard so much about him but never saw him in person. Although we already knew that it was a blardy hot day, it was only til after training when I accompanied Qiulin for her 40min jog (insane) on the grass, did I (and her) felt the full force of the massive ball of flame. And we jogged barefoot somemore! Well, it felt good...but still, hot!After training was a frantic scene; everyone was scampering to changing rooms to change, packing their stuff. Cos we had to attend a Sports Talk at 6pm! Despite us entering the LT at 6.05, we weren't late and it hadn't commence, so, good thing!The Sports Talk was The Best Sports Talk I've ever attended! Dr Bervyn Lee (speaker) was so engrossing and hilarious. At the same time, the audience tried to resist their laughters as a comparibly big cockroach was scampering about on stage behind the speaker.HAHAHAExiting the LT, strolling down the stairs to the grandstand, we were all amazed by how wonderfully beautiful the sky was. Have I mentioned how good a spot the NJ grandstand is to gaze into the sky? After every training, the sky would be in a splendid mix of warm orange and blue hues. That night, the sky was a deep, mesmerizing black, bejewelled by a myriad of tiny, shiny stars. Simply breathtaking! I have never seen so many stars in any piece of sky in Singapore, ever!
Thursday, 22 January 2009, 12:29 pm
Our dear Reuben is leaving in ... tomorrow! He's gonna migrate to the Land Down Under!It's kinda sad how someone who's been in our lives for 6 years, more for some, could suddenly step out of it (well, maybe not entirely, just a foot). We'd miss all the times spent together, as classmates, as schoolmates, as best friends. On a lighter note, we should be glad for him as well - no more fast-paced hustle and bustle. Australia's a nice place, cool weather, breathtaking sceneries, good beaches, friendly people, manageable pace, good food, and those koalas and kangaroos haha. Life's good there... :DWell, where ever you may be, be sure to keep in contact with us! Msn, texts, calls, postcards, letters, photos or better, drop us a visit once in a while! And perhaps we could all go visit YOU in Australia! That oughta be fun...!Well, you have fun in Australia, Reuben. Bring back an Ang Moh Girlfriend ;) HAHAHAHA This is not Goodbye.