Well, this weekend has been a wild ride.

First, on sat morning, was the osim triathlon. Did a mini sprint relay team event with Thomas and Daryl.

200m swim sprint followed immediately by 200m running sprint was.... much more than I had anticipated. Coming up from the beach, and running through the shower station, my legs already were about to give way... plus everything was blurry because I wore my goggles super tight during the swim in the sea to prevent sea water from getting trapped inside and me to have a smashing good time.

Then had to run up the damned slope... across the bridge and back down... hit the field, saw Thomas yelling and clapping... passed the chip to Daryl and collapsed onto the grass.

On retrospect the feeling that came over me right after that was damn fun! But at that moment I felt like I was going to die and my legs were going to explode. Couldn't even stand up till about 5 minutes of recovery and breathe controlling.

So in the end we got a silver medal. Kinda funny how I train like hell for my k1 and only get into the top 10 for nationals, yet get a silver for something we just chiong for.


Went home and rested for the performance in the evening.

Let the makeup artists do my hair.... hahaha. Pretty cool... and I didn't get a headache XD

The performance went pretty well... had to wait awhile for the applause and cheers to quiet abit so that the SOOPA SLOW SOFT TOUCHING AND EMOTIONAL intro could be heard. hahas.

Oh yeah my godamn fly wouldn't work.... so had to resort to masking tape to tape the inside up.... and right before our scene the damned fly was open with the masking tape staring up at me. Lucky I remembered Karen reminding me to check my fly every now and then or else what a wonderful memory that would have been.... whew.

Then this morning sent sis off to changi.

There's so many places I want to eat around there now!!!! Shit, hungry again.

Well... I knew I would be cutting it very close by going to training right before today's performance, but haha almost didn't make it ah...

Running like mad then 150 pushups, then chiong to auditorium, change and sit at the piano. Then felt damn lightheaded haha.

Luckily I managed to subside it 10 minutes before the scene.

Playing went well I guess, tried a funny stunt at the end and I guess it worked too.

Tired, triathlon tomorrow then another show... >_<

Friday's training went well. Hoorah, leg didn't act up.

Did a little bonus to training... see how the guys handled it....

They're tough :)



Sat presentation. That's the end of that. I'm a free man now. Skipped rehearsal because I had a headache and worked on heart of strength. yay.

Did k1 in the morning. Sensei let me use Jaguar. Err.... thrillingly light and unstable. But still fast.

Then db training. Wah.... melvin got smelly mouth hahaah, but he's trying lah.

Went to watch avp with some of the guys after that.

Predator's 360 staff thrust is hella cool. I wanna do that! :)
But... nothing to stab :(

Now quite tired... but manager called... some audition... sians......

o well

Its finished!

My symphony of triumph.

http://www.reubenkee.com/music/singles/Heart%20Of%20Strength.mp3

Hahaha yes! I spent the whole morning slacking and playing spiderman 2!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm convinced that if I really was spiderman, and I couldn't "magically" alter my X and Z accelerations, I'd spend most of my time peeling myself off walls or the ground.

Then again, I'd have faster reflexes so I could estimate each swing better though...


Meeting Yixue and Junwen to row later. Fun fun fun!


Ben not going training tomorrow... which means, need to lead running.

I hope these damned legs are better by tomorrow. I really should take chan or cid up on that offer for a massage >_< trigger points suck.

Anyway, I'll take the Xbakuretsu just in case... hahahaah.

And behold, yet another senseless fill-em-outers.

10 OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS (in any order)

Cougar
Jaguar
My Brasca IV
handphone
pullup bar
Piano
pc
ps2
barbells
food.

9 THINGS THAT U REALLY WANT RIGHT NOW

Move faster in the k1
Run faster
Do more pullups
Do more situps
Do heavier weights
Compose music faster
Work on MUGEN faster
Relax
Sleep. No need for money haha

8 IMPORTANT THINGS IN YOUR BAG

Singlet
Shorts
underwear
Goggles
Towel
Shaker
handphone
wallet.

7 OF YOUR FAVORITE FOOD

Tom yum soup
Salted vege soup
Chicken Ginseng soup
Chilli kang kong
Prata
Nasi Briyani
YOSHINOYA!

6 OF YOUR FAVE MOVIES
Matrix
Matrix reloaded
Matrix revolutios
Star wars EP 1
Star wars EP 2
Star wars EP 5

5 THINGS IN YOUR ROOM
Dumbell
Piano
PC
PS2
Pillow

4 THINGS YOU ATE/DRINK TODAY
Rice
Chicken
Fish
100 plus

3 THINGS YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT
Food
Water
Air

2 THINGS YOU USUALLY READ
"Welcome to windows"
"Now loading data"

1 PERSON YOU CANT LIVE WITHOUT
Life is too short to live for some other person.

Damnit... so hectic today and its supposed to be holiday for me!

(&*@$@$(Y($*Y@
Worked on the oath in the morning, cleared my stupid room, went for lunch, came home, worked on arrangement for the school's musical... rushing... burn to cd, ran down to school, changed to formal wear, indoor photoshoot at the piano, rush down to training, ran, statics, rushed down to auditorium for rehearsal at 7:25, rehearse with zhiwei, rush back down to training for debrief, got call spammed by SA staff.. told them I was in toilet hahas, then edelweis called, have to rush back doh, right when ben was debriefing... so rush loh, then play with zhiwei in the run through, then rush back to catch the team for dinner.

Argh.

I need to kage bunshin no jutsu.

Blardi mindef always putting me at the earliest slot for checkup....

So I'm Pes A+.... again haha. Managed to score perfect on the eyesight test this time instead of the one error last time.

The doc commented that I'm "super fit", and that "this country needs more men like you to defend the country." Little does he know that it is not that I am super fit, but it is that most guys in singapore are "girly men" ahuahuahua.

Ohh there was this really fun mental stability test!

So tempted to give funny answers when they're asking questions like...

"Do you often feel that someone is trying to hurt you, or poison you?"

"Do you believe that you have supernatural powers?"

"Do you believe that people can read your thoughts?"


I kept remembering Al's "advises" on how to chao keng and downgrade... but didn't haha.



Went home and remembered I forgot to update passport so couldn't join the ER team for outing at johor doh. So took a much needed nap then rushed down to school to meet Jo.

Then practiced with Zhihui, then went to train.

Tried max sets today. 27 pullups. That really sucks. I need to hit 40.

Did gym then swam 0.5km.

And now I'm damn shacked hahahaha.

Idiotic SAF... want me to go checkup again tomorrow. I'll just get a bloody pes A again and cheat on your lame iq tests this time lah.

First day of holidays so far quite good. Managed to work on a piece of music. Hoorah. Went to school to meet Jo and see Lina for the camp... and got bombarded by SA staff haha.

Haiz... what to say except that I'm being pulled here and there again. Rehearsals for the musical are on wednesday, and Mr Wee is threatening to cancel all db trainings until the musical is over because I've been skipping rehearsals to go for training.

But skipping training is like an impossibility... so I'm going to go training first, then run off at 7pm hahaha. Even Ivan is shooing me to go for rehearsals argh.

Had a talk with Ivan at the track after that, you know, all NYP students are real lucky to have SA officers like we do.

Haiz.

Met Chan at the track and ran with him before going to swim then do weights with the juniors. Omigod, I felt the knee act up for awhile during running doh. Time to up glucosamin intake again.

So it only occured to me when I started packing my headphones, windbreaker, water bottles, that I wasn't going to be coming back here anymore.

Last day of work is supposed to be a happy time. But in a way I couldn't bear to leave it a little.

Will miss helping Ling finish her food at Yoshinoya and drinking her miso soup for her,

Will miss Jean's friendly nagging :D

Will miss Ivan's bioing of girls hahaha.

And they got me a card and water bottle as a farewell persent ;_;



Haiz..... well, now to work on all the things I've been dying to... only problem is where to start argh....


Training on friday was pretty good, cept for a few minor hiccups. Think I accidentally rubbed my eyes during situps as this was right before pushups and I felt a strong stinging and itchy feeling in my eyes argh.... Thought I was going to daiiiiii and kept squinting tears out. Stupid dirty school track.....

Lugged myself to canoeing training on sat. Holiday mood liaos... paddled around kallang basin aimlessly, shoulders damn pain ah....

Sun was very hot today.... stupid sun. Boat very heavy, stupid boat. Shoulders more pani, stupid shoulders....

Jem came for training yesterday. Was nice to see the bugger again, although I didn't get to talk to him much :(

Haha managed to get out of rehearsal yesterday thanks to the cd I cut and get back to training in record time.

Had some difficulty during pushups yesterday..... that means I was affected by the weights session on monday and tuesday, which means I've lost some conditioning shit! And I went for a race like this? Walau eh.....

The guys are doing alot better now. Particularly impressed by Mike... who would've thought such conviction would surface from one such as him? His stroke and technique is the best yet.

Pool rowing was uh... *slaps forehead*

We need to work on timing....




Went to YCK to eat after that. Argh I seriously am beginning to hate the food there... this fri, S-11 yay.

Seeing Kenny like that makes me a little thankful that I'm not in a relationship sometimes?

Played the penang clapping game with him at the station. Managed to read him for 5 steps... heeheehee. I remember I was laughing like an idiot the first time I played that game too. We have too much in common.



Tomorrow's my last day here then freedom.



HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA>
OWF H_@#(*FNM_#@(*F&M_#@!()R

Well I guess I should recap nationals...
The extremely unstable k4 races...
The good lucks, jia yous, all the bests exchanged between rowers while waiting for the event to start.
The sighting of Francis clan in action.
The capsizing of the nyp k4 boat just 5 metres from the finish line.
Blacking out and capsizing at the finish line for my first race. What a way to start, huh.
I guess I'm dissapointed that none of the sets came even close to my pb timing in macritchie which wasn't even in a boat I was familiar with. White sting rocks. It was thrilling to be leading the other boats, and it sucked seeing another boat infront of you. Perhaps the suprise come back on sunday didn't help either. Psychologically I summoned the will to go down into the water again after I had already admitted defeat in the heats. I didn't get as far as I wanted with this short time in canoeing, but I know given more time.... which I will train for. I'm going to get so much faster.
Al told me, 'there's no point rushing to go for races. When it comes, it comes.'I suppose I'm lucky to have to have "seniors" like Al and Wee.
Thanks to Jo and Jazz for being there on the first day and helping to ease my mind, thanks to Kenny for our awesome celebration at kfc and ps2 hahaha.

Thus the end of one struggle marks the beginning of a new one. And as usual, after every race comes that spirit.

I used to think their silence and solemness after winning a race was due to discipline. But after hearing a certain teacher in charge's explaination, I guess there is some spirit in ettique, humility and honor in sportsmanship in singapore after all:

"results speak for themselves. if u haf won, u noe u're gd. there's no need to boast abt it n rub it in for ur other competitors since they alr haf to deal with their own disappointment. besides, u nv noe if u're even competing with the best in the event since every sch has diff strategies. most of all, the person who came in last may haf gone thru much more hardship than urself to jus get to the starting line. so performance shld not be the most impt judging criteria. n the emphasis on humility is cos there will always be someone better than u in this world. as it is, when u do well n is outstanding, there'll alr be ppl trying to get u down. wat more if u go ard showing off??"

Went school to to do gym today with melv and yixue. Damn shiok...

Tried the lat pulldown machine... I think deproved abit? Stacked the whole machine's weights and could only do 3/4 the way down. Maybe it was because finished 3 sets already hahaha.

Then went to play handball... tiring ahhh..... then basketball. Played 1 on 2 with melv and yixue and was losing 2 to 4 to them then did a super comeback and beat the game at 5 points ahuahuaha :p

Came home to watch ndp on tv...

Iskandar's orchestrated arrangements rock. But those modern/techy arrangements really suck lah... sounded like default cakewalk samples or something.... geez.

And what is a violin solo that goes c, d, c, d, c, d, c, d, c, d, c, d, c, c, c, a, c, a, c, a, c, a supposed to be doh.

Walau then the tribute to mr goh so sad....

Ok... getting spammed on msn....

At last, canoeing season is over.

Kenny and I got knocked out in the semis....

I wasn't that dissapointed this time. Because I got to compete against SG's fastest. Hahaha.

And oh boy is he fast.

Kenny and I felt so free, as if a huge burden had been lifted up from us. We sent to KFC to celebrate hahaha. Yeah, K-F-C. The one place I haven't stepped in in... years? Ate 4 pieces of chicken, 2 sides of mashed potatos and 2 sides of coleslaw hell yeah! Then we proceeded to my place for a ps2 marathon.

This friday... last day of attachement.

Then I can train properly again. I can't wait :)

Err... I made it to the semi finals?

wtf?

......


hahahah hell yeah!

Well, I guess I'm quite pissed...... quite sad...

I knew that there was something wrong with the direction for the 500m set.... how could the sidewinds have been pulling me to the left?

Later when Samantha said the rudder was loose I knew I had missed the estimation in my directioning. If only I had looked up more, surely I would have noticed something was wrong... Instead I was so bent on kicking harder on right, pulling harder on right. I didn't listen to cougar again... didn't listen to the waters...

At the 250 mark I know I was leading the NTU and the NJC boat... swerved out 3 times and made macdonalds proud with 3 frigging curves... pulling harder on right.... last 100 metres... breathing and heartrate in red zones.... the 2 boats pulling away slowly..... tried in vain to activate kuzuraisen...

I heard the team scream my name from the hill... right before I passed the bouy I looked far ahead to see if I could spot them......

Everything dimming... getting darker then the next thing I knew... I was in the water. Then I knew I had froze up and capsized... quickly looked around and back and thank god made it through the bouys, he cold water shocked me back to my sucky reality.

I had never felt so glad to have a lifevest on in my life.... almost blacked out again but clung on to cougar for dear life as the NTU and NJC boat helped me back in.


250m was just play stupid on my part. Real stupid to try something I had just thought off. If only I had stuck to the original race plan.



I wanted so much to prove them wrong. I wanted to prove sensei wrong. I didn't want to be "the new guy who's coming up". I wanted to be the miraculous newbie who trained only 3 months in the k1 and beat those buggers.

Back on land I knew those looks... so afraid to do something or say something to make me hurt...

But I'm so good at putting up that face. Crying or feeling sorry for yourself is for the weak. But inside, sucks.


Maybe that's why I like to play the piano sometimes.

Is it possible to cry without tears, without making a sound?

Maybe sometimes, when people hear, they know.

Then they just think "Oh, he's good at expression."






Heh, bluffed them again. Aren't I great?

Yesterday evening's timings at kallang completely sucked.

Nationals is tomorrow...

I just hope I'll come in with a timing around my personal best.


My waters will be strong, but calm.

My waters will be strong, but calm.

My waters will be strong, but calm.

Been lugging my wife around cuz had to transfer from kallang to macritchie for trial paddles today. Got alot of stares ahh... irritating. Obviously alot of people never seen something so tall, beautiful and slender before.

Had to finish up some stupid scripting changes to the sony project because the dumb client suddenly had a "bright" idea...... as a result had to go to training late... haiz..

Looks like ben suprised them with a PFT.... hahaha. Shucks man.

So went up to do circuits, then we played some game. Errr... Melv got alot of things to say hahas..... notice got alot of comical characters in the guys team.

Tried to sleep, but was looking at the race programme for sat...




Went to macritchie today for trial runs... sheesh.... its a little different alright. Used some stupid cramped boat for awhile then Wee let me use the team singapore boat. Damn cool sia, got singapore flag at the front and back of the boat, and the extruded shape of a "sai" at the front (the weapon not excretion damnit). Australian model..... super light, hard to balance, but pretty fun.

Did a crappy timing of 2:25 mins.... if I were in cougar we'd go so much faster....



Tonight's my last water session at kallang with cougar before the race.

....

Yeah... damn sad.


Been analyzing the race program and begun topo level research on opponents.

I guess I'm lucky? I must make it through my heats and meet Wee and JY in the finals for 500m.

250m is a tough call....

2:16 mins just now.....
was it the weights last night?

Can't be.... losing focus.

Musn't let anything affect me...... concentrate.

3 days to go......

2:12mins!

Yesterday’s trial runs paid off.

I am convinced that I currently do not possess the skill to pull off Reppaden to a decent level. However, Kuzuraisen does the trick J

Cutting it off at 20%, then activating for last 30%, 2:12 mins.

Hell yeah.

Next target: 2:05 mins.

Just did a virtual survey of the macritchie area where the national canoeing championships are going to be held in 5 days time.

All I can say is... I feel sick in the stomach.

It looks so different from kallang basin... so calm, so serene, not like the kaopeh waters of kallang basin.

The red bouys, imagining the starters....

Had a small talk with sensei on sat:

Sensei: All I can say is.... its difficult. You are trying to master something that takes people at least 1 year in such a small amount of time.

Me: So?

Sensei: You think its possible?

Me: Yeah.

Sensei: Oh. *grins*

Stupid geezer!


On sat, I'll know if its enough.

Its hard training alone sometimes. Going down in the early mornings or late evenings to row. Watching the sunrise or sunset. Pushing, pushing yourself to pull harder. Racing with other schools when they are doing sets.

A team like NJC can be strong, because they have each other. They are a team, they push each other and trust each other.

I'm out there alone. Trying to beat them. Trying to beat everyone else. Trying to be number one.



Maybe some day I'll find a strong team to be with too.



Maybe its possible for someone to train 3 months in a k1 and beat someone whos been training for years.

Just found out that next friday is my last day at work here. Instead of the 24th, its the 14th.

Everything around me is signalling the end of a cycle.





I just wonder if the next cycle will be better?

Sun very hot today ah....

Took at break from canoeing today.

6 days left.

3 rowing sessions left.

Still have yet to break my 2:18 timing.

Once this weekend is done..... maybe I will be more free?

Or maybe not?

Can't wait fo september. Extra attachment will be over, more time to train, to do music.

Yessss......