Soon this blog will come to an end, and I'll hang up my paddle in exchange for a paddle.

The race over the weekend went... not as aspected.

My team had the best timings from heats and semi finals.

Rowing during the semifinals was awesome.

Its not like last time, when all the pacings previously showed that you sucked, and that the team is going to have to pull damn hard to try and prove our previous records wrong.

This time, all the pacings previously showed that we could pull away damn far. All that we had to do was to do a good set as per training.

The pace and speed during that race was unbelieveable. I'll never forget rowing that 500 metres. First, for our semis. Best time for the whole event, I think, 2:16 mins.

Then came the finals.

As Jiaqi put it, bronze, forever a reminder.

No one, is god in the water. You can't secure your first place.

No matter how much reasoning and thought we can put behind the loss, the pressure from coach to shave off 6 seconds, the pressure from everyone to come in first, the boat that we used being heavier than the others, it all boils down to one thing.

We lost.

When the boat came in third... I looked behind to the rest of the team.

Scared expressions.

"Coach is going to scream at us." I thought.

The sky turned darker, and the boats pulled in for phototaking as coach paced back and forth, he threw his papers on the chair, started mumbling to himself.


Haiz... damn lucky he found that one dollar on the floor, and the ntu girls cheered him up abit.

But the feeling now from the team is that we shall accept defeat. But get up, grow stronger, get better!



There was training on saturday after the race... sprints, upslope running. On sunday, before the race there was a 2.4 run followed by pullups and nature hike. It was damn fun. Never been to macritchie in so long. Missed nyp's race though.

From what I heard... haiz... guys were victim of more kamikaze piloting.

I knew there was some current going against the race course. But the slight flow from the left side.... I can't believe people can cock up their coxing so badly man.

The girls stroke, too short at the entry again. The guys, not enough twisting and dropping. In the end, the underdogs nabbed the medals. In a way I'm glad for SP, I'll always support underdog db teams haha. But ITE really kio sai! hahahah.

Thus are the results. I wonder if things would have been better had I stayed on longer with them, to push and pull things along. But in the end even if I did, it would be more disastrous when I would finally leave. I made a promise to Him to help mould the future leaders of the team. Something more important than leading the team.

Nevertheless, there are some last slight pulls and pushes to be done. One week to accomplish this.

Went to kfc with them after the race. Uhhh.... haven't eaten kfc in so long... haven't junked since... can't remember when.



Tomorrow's my last training with teamS. Andy's promised a 'special session' for me hahaha. 3 rounds triangle.

So this final 1.5 weeks will be used to finalize and fix up many things indeed, before I leave.

And the final chapter in this blog is written.

I guess the more you get dissapointed, the more you learn to deal with it.

4th yesterday.....

Maybe experience is just such a heavy factor, that you can't win against it.

Rowing the k1 for about a year now. Managed to beat a couple of strong rowers, but still not good enough to beat most of them.

I've learned so much in this 1 year... I can't imagine what someone else could have learned in 2 years... or 4 years... or even 7 years time.

It seems like an impossible feat. No matter how hard you pull, and the experience isn't there.... you lose.



Maybe thats why in a way, dragonboating is more fair.

You get a new team every year consisting of old and new rowers. You train the team up as a whole, taking into consideration all of them.

Its not like some secondary school team stays together AND goes to the same exact jc or poly team.

Even the uni teams have new rowers, even though a good number are experienced.





Anyway, next week is the mr500.

Completely different feeling loh. This week I was the underdog... stupid ass newbie... kenah bullied by the experienced canoeists.

Next week I'll be with the more experienced rowers... the other way around la.

Not sure which is more fun. Its more exciting being an underdog, that's for sure.


Anyway, I'll be cheering for teamNYP, even if we end up in the same race.

Reu‮ says:
I'll be rooting for you guys
Reu‮ says:
will be down this wed too
Jo: If this is it, den just let it be.. says:
rootin??
Jo: If this is it, den just let it be.. says:
u will be our competitor leh!!
Jo: If this is it, den just let it be.. says:
hahahaha..
Jo: If this is it, den just let it be.. says:
u coming down for wed's sea trg eh?
Reu‮ says:
yeah
Reu‮ says:
haiya not competitor la
Reu‮ says:
imagine me in the other boat as just there to encourage you all loh
Reu‮ says:
^_^



I wonder if they've gotten stronger.


We shall see.

No training for me today....

Yesterday in the pool Dennis had the great idea to jump into the pool doing a flying elbow onto my chest while I was happily floating on the water.

I'm relieved that it missed my solar plexus by 5 inches.... otherwise I'd probably be in hospital liao....

Weight of dennis (80KG) times acceleration due to gravity (rounded off to 10 because I don't have a fricking calculator around) = force impacted on my chest = 800 Newtons.

Hahaha. It ended up hitting the area right inbetween my chest so now it hurts when I cough, laugh, get up from bed, walk, not even train hahah.

Yah la.... I'm not mad, but I blame wrestling on tv.


So anyway..... this gives me some time to work on the sony handycam project and train my frozen throne DOTA.

Well yesterday's k1 1000m sucked ass haha...

Start burst... acs I and me leading... then hwa chong's boat slowly came up and took the lead at 350 mark.

Chinese high boat on my left slowly catching up with us.... then acsi and hwachong did a burst... thought it was a short burst so I maintained and focused on relaxing and keeping infront of the chinese high boat.

Turned out to be a big mistake... as when I turned my attention back to the two infront they had ended up some 10 metres ahead. -_-;

So yeah... game over... 3rd place, didn't make it to semis. But ummm... I managed to stay ahead of chinese high, rj and nj :p

Today's 500m heats was better....

Started off infront... then acsi came up, on par till about 150 mark, then he started to get a little ahead. So I pulled harder and started gaining.

Then at the 150 mark I saw.... it...

Waves.... coming in from nicole highway.

My first thoughts were "wtf omg shit."

Since I was in lane 1, nearer to the bridge, I got hit by the waves and started rocking and slowed down my pull to compensate for the rocking. While asci happily did his last charge.

Gay wake boarders la.

Bloody gay wake boarders.

Anyway, came in second, I can't believe I was ahead of the ntu boat.... I can't remember who came in 3rd... was it ntu or hwachong.... poor rj boat.

Semis are next sat.

One week to get 8 seconds faster.

Oh yeah despite the terrible ending, timing was 2:22... umm... not a pb but best for a race la.

Next time need to lean back... don't over pull... catch front more if waves come again.

I'm scared.

Tomorrow's the race.

K1, 1000 metres.

Usually I'm calm as shit before the race...

In the dragonboat, I trust my team mates, and I can feel their strength, and that makes me stronger.

But in the K1, I'm all alone.

Perhaps sometimes I train because I'm afraid that I'm not strong enough to beat my opponents.



Last time, I could always fall back on the excuse that I was a newbie.

First a newbie canoeist,

then a newbie k1 rower,

But now, there's no more excuse.

And this is my last race.

I'd like to say I'll do my best.

But I want that best to get me something.


I couldn't even tell Sensei that I'll do my best.




I can't remember when the last time that I felt like this was. Tomorrow, more than ever, I'll need to psyche down.

Don't freak out and accelerate my blade before it hits the water. Stay calm, breathe calm, pull hard, pull slow, pull with wings.


Sensei's last words: "Don't let my baby down."

I'll do her proud tomorrow.

So today was my last water training in jaguar before the race this weekend.

I can't imagine not being able to row anymore....

Since the first time that Sensei put me on a racing T1 and I kept capsizing like free liddat....

Then the races, the desire, dissapointments. I knew that one day ultimately I would want to row in his boat, that light blue boat, which seemed so fast when he used it.

Finally its a reality. My final race, I guess. In that boat, which I so longed to row in. With my own paddle which I had bought with my own money.

That name can never be spoken unless the user is ready to accept the meaning behind it in a race. It was the ultimate attack which the immortal Odin spent eternity to perfect. To me it represents the pursuit for that unachievable "perfect" movement, or stroke.

I soaped down and waxed Jaguar twice today. Scrubbing hard as hell to get rid of any marks or stains... after the waxing she looks so shiney. She's the prettiest blue boat in the whole of kallang. Even though her blue coat may not be as bright as some of the new boats due to her age.

I'll forever be grateful to Sensei, for teaching me how to appreciate this sport, for teaching me things beyond feeling the water, sportsmanship. And for giving me the chance to pursuit this interest.

I wish there was something more that I could give him. I wanted to make him proud the last few races. That bronze wasn't enough. But if nothing else, I'll give him a nice shiney boat to row in when he takes the team down for training next time.

Went with Den for his bb aq training today.

Was damn fun haha.

15 X 5 floors stair climbing, then shuttle runs and mid D run all with ankle weights.

Wasn't sure at first how I'd fair... since they've been doing this for quite some time liao... and as Gai would say... are in the springtime of their youth! hahaha. But good to know I can keep up with and overtake them. I'm not such an old fart afterall.

Seeing those boys... reminds me of the st gab boys somewhat. After the camp we played ball a couple of times, but since then lost contact. I wonder how they're doing.


Tomorrow will be my last sea training with Jaguar before the race. Will polish and wax the bugger. Wonder if I should polish and wax Zantetsu too.... but he may get slippery haha.

Lazy to type.

Dunno about this coming race....

I know I've improved since last year....

Fitness wise, I couldn't do 40 pullups last year....

I couldn't run 5 km in under 23 mins......

My form has improved alot.....

My balance has improved alot....

Only thing is.... I haven't been pacing with people alot.

Gotta just relax and forget about the timing.

Lean back, stretch forward, cross over, pull outside, relax, relax, relax.

So in one month's time I'll be dissapearing into tekong.

Sad to think that life will be vastly different soon, and never the same again. Feels like a part of me is going to die or something.

And in this last month, there's the canoeing race, and mr500.

I remember Kicker's comment when asked 'why do humans want to live so badly and postpone their death, if they eventually die anyway?'

"Because we want to go out with a bang. Like a firework. The beauty of it is how high it trails out and eventually and explodes."

haha. I hope I go out with a big bang.

I remember the first time I heard its melody in my head. It was going back home after picking up the script for "Chakra". Somehow I saw in the character something familiar... maybe about human nature in general.

A past which he was trying to forget. He wanted to become stronger to compensate for that past.

Hope, the opportunity to get what he wanted.

He took it.

He got what he wanted. But in the end, nothing can be erased. No matter how much you want to compensate for it.

That's the emotion behind Wind Cry. The pursuit of strength.

i didnt have enough sleep last night.

fading on and off headache today

lucky can psycho myself to feel normal

l;ankslkasng;kldn

went to eat prata with dad before going kallang this morning

then went to row k1

like sai la

must be an off day

I dont feel like using punctiation today song bo

nor correcting my earlier typo haha


coxing was interesting

so gu niang... the scgs boats omg

rush down home to pick up clothes then to school................................................................


concert went well I guess... tfa was pretty crowded. Very numb about my piece... not sure how ppl felt about it.

so damn tired now....................

Just finished my 7 click run to macritchie... around and back.

Wanted to penetrate into macritchie but so many places were so poorly lit.... pitch black in some places... with some light at the end of a long tunnel of darkness so I didn't go in ! Hahah I'm damn ham chee!

Actually more scared that I'll trip over a brance and sprain my ankle again. Quite cautious during my midnight expedition runs now.

Lucky I didn't penetrate too far into macritchie anyway.... or else need to take bus back... and I didn't bring ezlink card!

I recorded wind cry... which I'm supposed to be playing for tomorrow's concert and repeated it throughout the whole run... so that sort of counts as practicing la....

Tomorrow wake up... go cut hair... go to kallang... row k1... cox... get money... go school do weights... go rehearsal.. play at concert.

Saturday ... nvm.

Parents going overseas tomorrow so I'll have the house all to myself for the next week! Hooray! hahahaah.

I'm screwed!

I've been totally ignoring k1 training this week. And the race is next weekend! Die liao.

I only went down to row yesterday... abit only... shit!

Today was supposed to go and row before rehearsal... but was playing A3!!!!

Tomorrow morning, Reu you better get your ass down and row in the morning before coxing or else you're really going to be screwed for this race.

Yesterday did a time trial....

500m... 2:25
1000m... 5:14

Yeah... my timing = girls timing on national level... pathetic.


Going for a 7km run later... cuz skipped training on tues and thrus to practice for tomorrow's concert.... which I only finalized the arrangement for LAST NIGHT.


This week has totally been disastrous... slack like hell.... There's still tomorrow to make up for it.

No gaming for me tonight.