In 5 minutes we will be leaving for the finale.

One of the guys will be taking on the burden and restrictions of the title holder.

I think that most of us won't sleep tonight. It'll be partying till we all leave at separate times tomorrow. Its like the last day of school, except that we will all be going back to our individual countries.

Made some good friends here. Sivert, Francois, Bryan, Bryan, yes two bryans... the list goes on.

Went for a haircut yesterday... like... the ultimate haircut. But ironically it wasn't because of the cut.

So they bring us with police and all to this big ass shopping centre in the city. Its huge... like, takashimaya size or something.

Everywhere people are watching and shouting mr worlds mr worlds... Security guards on every floor saluting... outside the salon, like all the shop keepers and hair stylists lined up on both sides shouting welcomes in unison. We were like what the hell?!

Inside the hair salon, they wash your hair, and you know how they usually massage your scalp abit when they do that? We were given the full vip treatment or something apparantly... head massage, neck, back, arms, fingers, wtf! They even did the painful pressing and cracking of bones and all that shit.

So after that we went shopping! And all the shops I went to... like adidas or nike... they have all this shit in singapore anyway... and its only slightly cheaper so I screwed it.

Made friends with some of the dudes in the national wushu school, guo kang, kai wei and feng feng. Feng feng is this 11 year old kid who can do 6 backflips in 3 seconds. -_-


Anyway the hairstylists came to do the pre final hair styles and stuff. Pointers and stuff... and they said I did a pretty good job so yeah!


Nowadays when I look at myself in the mirror I have trouble recognizing myself.

2 more days and I'll be home sweet home.

I just want to go and rape orchard road right now.

Aight so what do the guys who don't have psps or handphones to play with do during rehearsal breaks or waiting back stage? They play hand games... those slapping or hitting games that they used to play back in school. And some of these games that the ang mohs play are damn interesting. Even more interesting because most of these guys are like 22+ adults... and their expressions when they play the games are damn fricking funny. Though when the huge guys play... it gets quite scary.

Its damn weird seeing yourself on tv... let alone a cinema sized screen. I know that its going to be pure torture watching myself when this gets televised.

One of our female dance instructors is damn hot. I don't know whats about modern dancers that is damn hot. The movements to the music, the sharpness, the energy. But I still couldn't talk to her today. Hahaha. knn.

And in the evening, I saw something that was frickin inspiring. Amazing.

I've got the fuel to go on again.

Perhaps I should write a faq or something... these questions are coming more frequently:

"Hi Reuben,

I heard some of your video game music arrangements on Overclocked
Remix and loved them. It prompted me to check out your website,
where I found dozens of other great pieces.

On your website, you wrote that you've been playing piano since your
early childhood. I even recall reading that you're self-taught,
though I may be mistaken. Regardless, I was wondering if you had any
tips for a beginner? Do you find lead sheets helpful? What's the best
way to be able to read sheet music?

Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Henry Cao"


Today's run: 10 mins, moderate pace.

Norway was play sparring with bahamas and ended up getting poked in the eye and kneed in the groin. Geez.. that's why I hate play sparring with amatuers sometimes, no control and stupid accidents happen. Lucky it was nothing serious.

In 2 more hours, it will be 5 more days till I'm home.

More shooting at the beach today. We got to drive jet skiis. And I wonder who the retard who named them "jet ski"s is... because I don't see no godamn skis. It looks more like a jet bike.

It was damn fast, and you can play corner without having to worry about skidding, because you're meant to skid.

The resort we were at had a hot spring pool where there were hundreds of little fishies. And if you put foot in, they would swarm around and start nibbling. Its incredibly ticklish at first, but once you get used to it.. it gets bearable. Once you put your whole body in, it gets quite insane haha.

Then another party at night. Dancing, pictures, autographs, whatever. Haha when we cross the road, the police have to stop the cars for us. Power.

Talent show lat night. Played "Play that melody" and rocked the house down haha.

A fight between two fat chinese men almost broke out at the teppenyaki restaurant where hongkong and I were enjoying a midnight supper. Bottles and kicking and all. Luckily the staff stopped them or I would have to put them out of their pathetic drunken misery....

The disco nowanights are... whoa... and we all learned a very valuable lesson - Never dance of with an african american, no matter where you're from or what you've learned, cause you gonna get burned so bad...

Today was rehearsals for the final show. Everyone's temperament rising because of the long hours and etc etc. Relievement of boredom for the younger guys is a mix of soccer and play fighting.

But I got rug burn from wrestling with norway. Well at least he doesn't fight like a pansy cat.

Can see alot of rebels. Like, those who would oppose every school rule because they were written too strongly.

Ah well.

top dog says:
ggggggggg
top dog says:
haha
top dog says:
i tink the team cant do without ur coaching lor
Reu‮‮ says:
haha
top dog says:
at least for now
Reu‮‮ says:
issit
Reu‮‮ says:
whats cocking up
top dog says:
ya
top dog says:
haha
top dog says:
duno leh
top dog says:
i tink ur training more structured
top dog says:
n ur race strats better oso

Maybe it matters too much whether there is someone truly capable to take over or not. Maybe it takes more time for them to earn the team's trust. I don't know. Is it really not possible to ensure the success of the team once you're gone?

I guess the right one hasn't come along yet. But I may not be able to stay long enough till he arrives.

Where is Den, and Kang.

Leadership is something that needs too much time to cultivate and level up.

Even the so-called natural leaders or born leaders had practice early on in their lives. They may learn quicker, but there must still be practice to evolve their own definition of how to lead.

Dragonboat race today at the sanya river.

Got to see some local power action. These guys can do 600 metres in 2mins 7 seconds. Thats like how godamn fast la... and its not even the national team yet.

Spent a long time talking about technique and strategies with the locals... thank god I can converse in chinese better now.

Today was rest day. No gym... instead went for sports massage! Got elbow jabbed and cracked and chopped up. Damn shiok.

And err... found new ways to induce immense pain on a person. haha.

My room mate loves me.

Haha. China often lets me use the laptop in the room when his colleague isn't using it. So I get to nerd out when I'm not in the business centre or on my psp.

Dragon boat race tomorrow... which I'm sure will turn disastrous, because half my team can only speak spanish, so I don't know how the hell I'm going to teach them how to row.

Its interesting to see how differently each of these guys carry themselves. There is the ultimate gentleman, the superficial snob, the super friendly guy, the loner, and the crazy shit. Yes, there is a crazy shit. And no one understands him and quite frankly I am tempted to put him out of his misery at times.

Hearing of how different the culture, society and sex in different countries... especially denmark... my god. I felt like I needed to run to a church to cleanse myself after just hearing some of the things that go on.

Crazy things happening everywhere... even here actually haha.

In 30 mins it will just be 9 more days till I'm home. Home sweet godamn frickin home.

Being here confirms that I don't need a luxurious lifestyle to be happy. Some of the guys really enjoy this place, but some don't. Some wouldn't mind coming back here, spending 10-20k for a few days... but all I want to do is do what keeps me going in life.

I think that as long as you love what you do, you don't need such a break. I mean yes, its good to take a rest every now and then, but you don't really need... well, this.

I'm glad I wisened up early and started directing my life into where its headed. In the future some of our path will be unfollowable, untouchable, and perhaps looked up to, just because we dared. Anyone can be who he wants to be, but only so few dare, and only fewer remember what it is he wants to be.

Music was always a stupid ambition. It never seemed like anything that could bring in the money. Perhaps some things that we enjoy doing will never bring in the money, like rowing or training, or fighting. But the smart man will think of a way to revolve his life around something that will accomplish both tasks. I pity people who always use ultimatums. They limit themselves in trying to limit other people.

But being the rebel that I am, I could never stand for that. Maybe its this rebellious nature that made me want to break away from it all so badly. Maybe it was ego to think that I could accomplish something more than the common drone, the common student, the common worker.

Being a game designer empowers you oddly. It makes you think that you can create your own game in life. Instead of playing the game that everyone else is playing. Ultimately we choose who we are.

Oh yeah, none of the guys whom I look up to here do anything stupid like smoking. That's one perspective to keep.

Quote of the day from Costa rica: "I don't need girls. I need many bitches."

So today we were brought to the beach for some navy seal obstacle course...

I can not believe they made us do that. Godamnit. Leopard crawl through sand, mud and water.

At one point you were supposed to leapord crawl under a net which went through a trench of water with a metal bar about 25 cm from the ground, so you have to bloody hell hold your breath and crawl like hell through the water. I couldn't see and ended up ramming my head into the godamn metal bar at first.

Then there were tumble falls. Like... who the hell does a tumble fall. But when you see EVERYONE being able to do it, you just godamn jump, dive, roll and breakfall. Some guys landed FLAT on their backs hahah.

The finale was a 5 METER TALL WALL that we had to clear as a group. Like, I put it in caps, because even with my supreme ninja powers, and I run at full speed, take two steps up the wall, I would not be able to grab the ledge. So we had to hoist each other up.

Luckily our group had this HUGE ass guy... which is like damn huge. Venezuela. And when someone twice your size (two point five times your size in nitek kia's case)clasps his hands and screams "SIN GAH POOH RU JUMP!", you sure as hell are going to jump into his hand.

Aight, rehearsals for talent nite now.

Who would have thought that a few light blows to my chest would have triggered that old injury again. 3 days later and I still can't jog for more than 3 minutes without it acting up, forcing me to stop.

Doh.

Really makes you realize just how stupid it is to do some things.

Day off tomorrow to enjoy paradise.

Hongkong and I rigged the computer in the business centre to download the new ninja turtles game for psp, and we seduced the girl in charge not to switch off the computer when they close so that the download will finish faster. hahaha. Kidding, she's a nice girl. The staff here are all too nice actually. It actually makes me feel bad when I say "thank you" because they will have to 100% say "you're welcome".

Today when we were at the lounge surfing the net on our psps the waitress gave us a free banana milkshake and spring rolls.

Oh yeah, and the tai chi old ladies... those 70-80 year old ladies... can do frickin splits. Like, they can spread their legs open 180 degrees, then bend their heads down and touch their legs while in that position! What the hell! I pity the fool who would try to steal their handbag or something, because they will send him flying away with one palm strike. They're so frickin old yet so frickin flexible its so scary. Tai chi rocks man.

Its been... really windy here today for some reason. Which is nice. Breezy and the temperature is 20-23 degrees. The best part is, its damn cloudy so there's little sun. Hahaha loser sun kenah block by the clouds _|_

Its 6:53pm now and upstairs in the reception there are girls in red chinese dresses playing the gu zhen, and elderly chinese women in tai chi clothes practicing tai chi. They really spare nothing to create a unique ambience around here.

I need to rave about the swimming pool here. Its not a pool, its like a circuit. Like curvey long ass circuit... perhaps about 200-300metres in length. Its incredible. Part of the stretch goes under a small bridge. There's a net for pool volleyball or something, but all the way at the other side it branches out into a pool with 2 hoops for pool basketball. Who the hell invented pool basketball? Don't they know water isn't good for the ball? But they don't care, because they have many balls... -_-

Anyway, I've come across the most interesting sign off for an email in one of the recent fan mails:

"Heya there!
I'm a big OCRemix fan, and an absolutely obsessive fan of your MGS2 remixes and I was thinking that you should make a myspace! I'd be HONOURED to have "The Path to Redemption" as the song on my myspace (it'd suite it PERFECTLY) and I also feel it could help as furthering getting your name out there as it so very seriously deserves to be!

Peace, love and mung beans....
Zeb."

What is a mung bean and why is it related to peace and love?


Also, there's a chance for me to do a soundtrack for an overseas feature film. Woot.

Romania's gym routine saves alot of time... I think I spent like 40 mins in the gym just now but felt tired like shit after that.

Tried to go for a warm up run before gym but after 5 mins, my chest was so tight... I think I sprained my lung or some muscle required for breathing.

Studying all these the different methods and routines of the guys here, really gives more perspective on what I should be doing now and what I've been doing right.

1.5 weeks of this new programme and we'll see if anything happens.

I am now the reigning street fighter alpha 3 player here... which would technically make me like worldwide sfa3 god in this resort haha. Yun is awesome. Hongkong is really good. So is nigeria. I've never seen anyone zone so well before, but now after playing against him and learning from his strengths and weaknesses, I've built his zoning game ontop of my counter game so the odds are now in my favor.

Today is rest day. So we get to do whatever the hell we want. Its a nice break from the hectic filming, etc etc.

Oh yeah, I really shouldn't get too cocky with my chinese. Just cause I can converse basically and its been improving somewhat, I made a huge mistake to do a tv interview in chinese. God... when the reporter hit me with some level 99 chinese question... I was like... omgwtf. It was like those godamn chinese compo questions, compare the climate of sanya to sg, which one do you prefer, and why? Bad memories... Yuck.



Going for teppanyaki with hongkong now.

So the guys performed shit on saturday.

Drummer tossed the buoy and it caught unto the second rower's paddle which made him drop paddle.

Like what kind of fucked up excuse is that?

Anyway the exco us screwed because of their commitment to nteam and its tearing them away from the team. Which is why I'm having them merge the teams temporarily.

Commitment wise I'm not in place to say much anyway... what kind of screwed up captain goes overseas while his team goes for 2 races.

It would be so easy to let go of them and just do my own thing. But there's still some work to be done.

Less than 2 weeks to go...

More comparisons against the gym here and the ones back home...

If you forget to bring a towel... they give you one. So you don't really bother bringing one to the gym in the first place.

And then, if you happen to be so stupid as to lose it in the gym, they'll give you another.

If the mineral water bottle they gave you is running dry, they'll swap it for a new one for you.

But get this..

If you forget to bring shoes... and are wearing like slippers or sandles or barefoot... they'll frickin ask you for your shoe size and bring you a pair of spankin brand new white shoes. omfg.

My life seems to have turned into some sort of rpg. Like elderscrolls... with huge beautiful level designs. I could wander for hours. Exploring the worldmap. Plug in my mp3 player and you've got an overworld theme to match.




Felt a little pain in the chest today... so the office called a doctor to the hotel room. Within 30 mins there was a doctor, translator.. and pretty nurse :)

May have sprained my lung exerting too much last night...




Today one of the camera men got yelled at for talking to a group of us. Like.. they aren't supposed to frickin talk to us. Even the guides aren't supposed to talk to us... only give friendly smiles and greet us everytime they see us, or answer queries.

Last night during the barbeque, we were having so much fun dancing and eating and listening to the live movie on the beach, then I looked out toward the barricade and saw the crowds of people staring in...

Part of me would prefer to be with the people than above them.

Norway's found a way to irritate me. You wouldn't imagine that he was from the special forces and had marine seal training by how he loves to do it. Then again he is 19... and I didn't hear him sneak up, though I did see and feel his wind.

The other day Nigeria hid behind a wall and burst out pointing his finger like a gun at my head and screamed "BLAM! YOU DEAD SUCKA!". I swear... one of these days I'm going to accidentally lay the smackdown on someone XD

The locals... argh... its ok if they ask for pictures or autographs but when you in the lift and they just STARE.... like from bottom up, then bottom up again. Its so annoying. I feel like smacking them! And some of them have the most dumb looks I really want to go into crowd parting mode... but I gotta keep reminding myself that I gotta set a good example. Godamnit.

Ok gotta go be nice again.

As incredible as things are here. I do wish that everything would just go back to normal.

Yesterday was the cooking challenge. I thought we were going to die when our wok caught fire... but it went out by itself.


Today was the sports challenge. Was kinda screwed up... the counters counted the reps that shouldn't count... so guys who were doing like arm swining situps or 20 degree pushups still got counted. wtf?

Eventually the best 4 of each of the 4 teams represented the teams for some events. I came in second for my team overall in statics so had to play.

For kayaking, some guy's boat prevented me from turning properly, so australia took the lead for that event. Godamnit.


Then there was tug of war, while we were up to the waist in water on the beach/sea... with 1/4 metre waves hitting us sporadically.... we came in second for that.

Then there was running with coconuts which was disastrous... had diahhrea in the morning and I was blacking out during the run.

But overall, the 4 of us managed to get our team 1st placing. So yeah, whew.

In the end, the guys who we thought would do well, like norway who was in the special forces attack team, and me ended up doing sub par because we were doing proper form for the stations... but the guys who were doing pansy form were still getting counted... doh.



Tired... can't really think straight.

I want to go canoe... gym at bishan and eat at prata house.

Oh yeah, the food here at the buffet has got labels for every dish... normal chicken... they call baby chicken. Its like the same size of the chicken at prata house and they call it baby chicken... I can't wait to see what is adult chicken -_-

And there was "poached beef". Like why the hell do you need to poach the damn cow for? Isn't that illegal?

Yesterday there was "lamb curry" which was mutton curry. And it just made me miss the food back home even more.

The other day when we were climbing the mountain, some of the guys started singing army songs.

Two more weeks and we'll be through.

SA FSA. HOO HAH!

Well the past few days have got some of us getting closer. The spaniards are noisy as hell, I'm with the english speaking group, and those who can't converse in either are still floating around.

The guys talk more in the gym, and compare abs and talk about the different type of abs lol.

We went to nan chao temple yesterday to see monks and the guys doing the kung fu challenge. Erm... It looked good but I think it was damn fake because there was no reverence in the temple whatsoever. It was more like a tourist attraction.

Dinner the other day at the cafe was interesting. Good food, and you know those live musicians who come right up to your table and start playing? There were 4 of them, some latino band. And to top things off, there were fireworks. It was amazing... or so I should say, but I couldn't give a shit because all I wanted to do was to go up and take a shower and play psp.

We visited the shopping mall today, without police and insane escorts for a change. It was nice, though I couldn't find anything I liked. And I can draw money from the atms here! wtf?!

Saw a piano. Like a proper piano at last. Not like the keyboards that I've played with at the band rigs at the hotel. I tried the grand first. It was so soft. And the upright was so out of tune, but we spoke and it had a beautiful inner voice. I accidentally attracted a small crowd though... -_-

Some of the guys have really interesting backgrounds.

Norway was in a military assault team back home. He was about to leave for a mission when he got a call telling him that he won the national title and he was like "wtf?".

Another has been modelling in several countries for like 3 years. He hasn't seen his home in 3 years.

Another is a tv presenter.

Another is a television celebrity.

Australia wants to use the english com so I'll run off to the gym.

Kung fu class in the morning today.

We were taught by actual monks who had incredibly lame names like siao chen and siao song but they were damn good.

They tried to teach us some moves for filming. Thank god the guys learned tai chi and could mimic moves to a decent level already. Their art is interesting. Every attack serves two purposes. The first is to attack, the second is to store chi for the next attack, and so on. Its like a chain. Store, attack and store, attack and store, attack and store, attack and store. So when they land a hit, the chi focused in the blow will hurt big time.

There are alot of martial artists around here. Mr Netherlands practiced karate for 8 years, and Mr i forgothiscountry practiced muay thai for 2 years and was the district champion for 1 year and national second place. I could tell by the heavy air following his whiffed roundhouse kick that I dodged that it packed a punch and he wasn't shitting. So yeah duh, they wanted to spar. Haha. Its always fun to spar with pupils of different arts. You can learn so much.

Kayaking today for my team. Most of the guys weren't much of a challenge except Australia who can bench twice as much as me and ha slike 3-5 percent body fat... -_-

The first 4km he was on par, but after that it was my ride all the way. So yeah, the kayaking race was concluded with singapore first, australia second, can't remember the rest except canada came in last hahaha.

Nigeria has agreed to teach me dancing because we can talk street fighter alpha 3. I've learned hip hop and salsa today, and abit of stage 1 crip walk and stage 2 crip walk. Can you imagine that? There are two types of crip walk. First type goes on 3 counts then pause for one count, the other goes on 4 counts with stat point on the 3rd point. Its godamn tiring for the calves. But yeah, I can dance godamnit. There's no better person to learn crip walking from an actual african american.

There is too much to learn from each of these guys, and I'm going to level up like hell during this trip. Going to learn karate, muay thai again..., dancing, and gym techniques from the monsters. And there are so many other guys that are full of various experiences and specialties.

Getting used to the cameras and stuff. Its like they are everywhere until the point that you couldn't give a damn about them anymore. And everywhere we go people want to take pictures with you. Singapore seems to be quite popular with the chinese people for some reason... it must be a pretty good country eh?

Tomorrow we are going to the nan fu temple or something where the actual shaolin monks are to see their performance. Can't wait. And then there's a godamn boring press conference argh.

We were taken to some mountain yesteday called "seven gods mountain" or something. The bus ride took 2 hours, and we were escorted by 2 polive cars infront and 3 behind with one ambulance... wtf. Along the towns and streets everyone was like :o. Stayed at Paradise resort and spa which was located halfway up the mountain. Never seen anything like it.

This morning there was a hike up the mountain. The path was staired all the way. At the start of the hike, there was a long road... and ALOT of people. people on both side of the road... first there was 100 blowing horns, then 100 beating drums, and then 100 singing. Yes, I counted them, and there was that many. The atmosphere was incredible and the welcome was inbelievable.

And thus the hike ensued.

500metres up, panting... tired as hell, and then you hear music in the distance and turns out theres some tribe playing music for us there. Like wtf, how the hell did they get up here.

The hike never seemed to end. It was like a godamn infinite bukit timah hill. Except that the air gradually became thinner, colder, and there was fog everywhere. But we didn't give a shit. Despite the immense cold I was sweating like shit! Luckily had my phone with me so I played ghost in the shell 2's soundtrack out loud haha.

I started at the back, but slowly overtook the other guys one by one. Legs gone to shit, difficult to breathe, but I knew I couldn't face the guys back home if I didn't overtake each and everyone one of these monsters. In the end I came in 4th out of like 50+?

The view at the top was spectaular. Not.

There was godamn clouds and fog everywhere I couldnt see shit. All I could see was godamn trees and rocks nearby. like 30 minutes of hell for shit! Godamnit! The hike back down took even longer! Because you have to go down the tiny steps slowly or else you'll end up tripping over your own godamn feet and roll down like bloody sonic the hedgehog!

But what the hell.. lunch at chinese restaurant. Some of the ang moh got damn funny ways of holding the chopsticks. Australia holds on in each hand, and grasps them in some sort of death spasm before stabbing stuff and trying to fit in his mouth.

My chinese sucks. But compared to the rest, I'm like god of chinese or something. Just being able to ask for water or identify the food makes me look like some sort of chinese messiah.

Later my group, the watersports group went JETSKIING at the beach at the Sheraton.

Now that was fun shit.

Despite the godamn sun.

And we played beach volleyball. Its funny seeing some of the guys converse in spanish. Its like when they scold each other, all the words are so godamn fast it sounds like they are scolding each other in fast forward mode.

Anyway, the owner of the Sheraton came down and bought us all food and drinks.

Everywhere we go, there's water, juice, and beer. Haha but alot of the guys don't dare to drink because they don't want to turn to fat shits.

I helped Hong Kong upgrade his PSP and sent him street fighter alpha 3. Now we're having like an international street fighter alpha 3 tournament. He's good shit, but I'm trash him. Oh yeah, he's got Nitec kia's habit of CONSTANTLY CHECKING ABS.

Like wtf!

And some of these guy's names are so godman hard to pronounce, we just call each other by country.

Ok I neeed godamn shower, buffet, and gym.

I really have a profound respect for some of the guys here.

Mr Kenya has a whip made out of lion's mane. It illegal to hunt lions now, but he had to go out into the wilderness and kill a bloody lion with a godamn spear to prove his manhood.

Godlike balls man. Really blows things out of perspective in contrast to singaporean's everyday life. I mean, what are 3 ah bengs compared to 1 lion?

Tried to follow germany in gym tonite, and boy was that a mistake. We did legs and walking felt funny for awhile. I hope I can still walk tomorrow because there's a hike up a mountain.

The competition for the talent trophy is on. This is the reason why I am here. Alot of strong singers and song writers. Some dancers, some drama actors. Its like world idol cum so you can dance cum 30 seconds of fame.

Its not going to be easy trying to get that title.

Our head of security works for the british intelligence. Apparantly it makes sense because there are alot of sensitive issues with so many country's representatives in one place. And the people on every floor with walkie talkies 24/7... those aren't attendants... they're bloody security wtf?

Okay need SLEEP!

Head of security, John said that we instantly became a target for certain groups the moment we became representatives for each of our countries.

And I didn't really take the weight of what he said until tonight's gala dinner. An assination almost took place. And had I not dodged in time, I would be toast.

But otherwise it was one of a kind.

People asking to take photographs, and just now when HK and I wanted to go to the toilet, the attendant ushered us to a minibus or something... the thing that drives you to the beaches in sentosa, just the two of us with a driver to the toilet, and the driver waited for us before driving us 400m back to the gala dinner. Haha we were in awe.

Alright... descriptions of the place...

The gym firstly is not that big. But the machines isolate damn well. Regualr dumbell range... smith machine... no barbells thoughs, but I don't use them anyway. There are 3 huge plasma screen tvs in the gym, one playstation, you can get games from them to play between sets lol. No gym attire enforced... but all the guys here wear track pants and singlet.... Treadmills and cycyling machines are operated via touchsreen and the moniors are always on.

Instructor to spot you at any time, and attendant to fetch you mineral water and towels.

The buffet spread is long. Ridiculously long. I didn't know where the hell I was supposed to go at first. All sorts of food, sushi, meat... rice, noodle, all sorts of pasta, or you can ask them to make it fresh. This morning there were three types of eggs... sunny side up, scrambled and I forgot what they called the other one.

Speaking of breakfast... omg, this morning I was like damn groggy and sleepy but at the breakfast tables the guys were like... all gelled/waxed hair and everything. I think Mr HK had makeup on? Like wtf?! Godamnit...

Some of the caucasians are HUGE. And the amount they eat is insane. I'm like the biggest among the asians though, but most of the caucasians are bigger, so that puts me in happy middle.

Overwhelming welcome at the airport. Flowers, cymbals, people everywhere.

But what matters is the buffet. Its like a brazils and all you can eat pastamania...

And our first otot iternary was to gather at the gym lol.

They give you mineral water and towers and help spot you. Instead of kao pei when you don't use towels.

Some of the guys here have like level 99 PR skills... its scary. Some are built like monsters. Some can't speak proper english. Dinner felt like something out of mortal kombat... the part with the grand feast. I just hope it doesn't all go to hell tomorrow.

Time to go.

A whole new world.

Yeah ha!

Last canoe and gym today.

Brought nitec to the secret training area in kallang. He's going faster now, can keep up with my easy paddle. He went and made a rather expensive sacrifice to kallang basin though.

Then went to eat one last time at the prata place then gym.

Walau just thinking about it makes me kinda depressed. 3 weeks with no canoe, unfamiliar gym, unfamiliar running grounds... unfamiliar people.

No more home, computer, piano. No dota?! WTF!

My only consolation is the 5 star hotel, psp with tonnes of games, and mp3 player. -_-

Feels like the night before I went to BMT. But this time I won't have to lay low.

I just finished packing for 3 weeks in a couple of hours. I must be god of packing because I've nailed everything that I need.... or maybe training in the recon unit helped somewhat.



Blargh.

Well the plan to punk nitec kia with a friendster account came to naught when a himbotic proboscis monkey let the cat out of the bag too soon.

Would have written a more in-depth profile but there was dota going on that night.

Learned some stuff about tuxedos today. Like as long as the jacket has a shiny lining its a tuxedo. Older contemporary tuxes have tails but the more modern ones don't and have more buttons.

And one of the tuxedos I'm bringing over costs about 600 bucks.... and I'm bringing 4.

I leave on friday morning, 630am to represent the country for a 3 week long event whereby there will be so many physical challenges it sounds like survivor... but in a 5 star hotel.

And I haven't even started packing yet.

Hahaha.

There's too much stuff to do. Too little time.

Tonight's mid D run: 17mins

Shouldn't have ate so close to the run. Food kept coming out before I could hit the desired heart rate.



Impacted against a power box halfway during the run.

Perhaps there are some things that I don't have total control over yet.

The reaction to the pain from a blow still produces the same feelings.

The build up in the affected area and 'his' voice again.

Was quite difficult trying to silence him. Releasing some energy helped somewhat but didn't make him go away completely.

Sometimes I wonder how long it will take to snap out of the fighter's mentality.

Perhaps I need it. To provide the contrast as to how I want to live my life.

I imaged my hand stopping his heart, and the grasp on his head before the snap.

Looking at my hands after that, I woke up, and felt disgusted with myself.

I'm stronger than this, but sometimes my demons seem just as strong.

At times I wish that I could forget some parts of my past, forget the movements, forget the feelings, forget the pain.

Deal with it, Reu.

Feels kinda weird because we were at loggerheads for quite some time, but the ex-boss wrote such a potent testimonial... I'm glad we managed to come to a truce at the end.

Here it is, with names and such censored to confuse google's bots.

"
SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES

R.EU-B-EN KE-E

R.EU-B-EN KE-E has served MINDEF/SAF commendably for 2 years. (actually its 1 year 10 months...). An Administrative Support Assistant by vocation, he has served as a Courseware Content Developer with the Armour Training Institute (ATI). He completes his national service on 7th Feb 07.

His duties as a Courseware Content Developer include the conversion of archaic Armour courseware into contemporary versions that are SCORM-compliant, and the coaching of junior content developers within ATI. In addition to ad-hoc productions of multimedia presentations for key stake holders within ATI, Re.ub-en had also been instrumental in the design of the inaugural ATI logo, and the production of an ATI song - Sons of Armour.

Concurrently, Re.ub-.en held the appointment of Team Captain of the Sing a pore Armed Fo rces Sp orts Asso cia tion (SAF SA)) Dra gon Bo a t Team for the Work-Year 06/07, and subsequently Team Trainer. Throughout his period of attachment with SA F SA, he has earned the respect from the team he leads, and his superiors. He is extremely dedicated and displays immense initiative.

The experiences and training received during his service have equipped him, with the expertise in leading a team. His dedication and sense of responsibility make him an invaluable asset to any organisation.
"



Canoed with Nitec kia in the afternoon. He made 2km without capsizing all of a sudden which is good because it shows that he's not a total retard. 1 on 1 coaching is really the best way to facilitate development. I now realize how lucky I was to have a coach who would bother to do that for me. And who would hook me up with literally the country's best in hopes that it would rub off on me haha.

But in the end it was too soon. I know that I dissapointed. But its not over yet.

Nitec should be ready to do sprint work in about a month thanks to my awesome coaching. Hopefully then we will get some fierce training done. There's still pa race in june with dog.




The commissions for my work keep coming in. I'm afraid, because I haven't even started my plans to go public and advertise yet. If it pours too heavily I'm going to be overly stressed out again. Though the cash will come flying it, but its not like I gave too much of a damn about that in the first place.

I just want to enjoy my work. That was the point in the first place. If things get too heavy I'm going to have to start a queue or start being selective.

Training today. It was long but brief, and I've done all I can to prepare them for the race in what little time we had. The rest is up to them.

Gym with the Nitec. Sometimes I think that the way he likes to put himself in rather undesirable situations is so similar to Ced. I mean... its good if you are doing it for something. A reason, a long term goal. But sometimes.... ^_^;

Well... whatever works! haha. The universe is a vast place with many driving forces after all.


Its funny how we are influenced by the people around us, yet when you reduce that influence, it is then when you know who you really are.

I shouldn't have practiced it last night. Its frickin addictive. Hands slicing through the air. Power, energy, ki. Felt so alive in a long time.

I'm just so tired of being afraid of what I might do. Sometimes it may be hard to trust someone again, even if that someone is yourself.

Usual route today: 12:15 mins

Small round was 40 seconds slower then usual pace cause I intended to have a good warmup and slack run.

Went to a secluded area after the run to practice some kata. Practiced some of the banned moves. After 2-3 consecutive attempts I'm out of breath already. But it felt good doing those movements again. You can really feel the power from the movements, unlike primitive punching hooking and uppercutting. Probably because I can channel more energy into them cause I practiced them more than punches anyway. But oh well.

My kicking is a little rusty. A little.




Whew.

Looks like the only time that I can log stuff is when she's tired out from playing the whole day and is asleep.

I really should stop playing with her while walking. Today I almost tripped on a step, fell into a drain and walked into chair...




Sigh. Have to tell the team tomorrow.

Sucks la. A part of me really doesn't want to go. Yet a part of me does. Kinda sad that you have to be separated from some people to realize how important they are in your life or how they keep you going.

But I'd rather bear this pain than to not know them at all. I've learned that shielding yourself from everything- from pain and hurt isn't the way to advance. Its giving in to fear. True strength comes when we face our fears head-on, for what we believe in.

And even if some people think that training may just be for body or for ego, its more than that. Its a challenge, for yourself. And a challenge to those whom we train with.

Its a constant reminder that you'll never get anywhere if you don't challenge yourself or expect more of yourself. Pain and hurt is like a double edged sword. It can stop you by making you fear it, or you can use it as the reference point to expect more of yourself.

I was brought up as a fighter. And even though I stopped fighting in some ways. I'll never stop fighting in other ways. As Ck said, "Its in our blood." Heh.


Anyway its just for 3 weeks. 3 weeks to learn things that I'll never be able to learn if I'm stuck here. Ambassadors, all rounders. They are supposed to be the best. Its a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and learn as much as possible from all of them.



And there goes my hope of taking a break before flying off.

Job requests keep coming in. Sigh...

Last night's movie screening was very interesting. Never would have thought the final product would be so good. Never knew Helmi was such a prominent figure in the cinema/theatre/critic scene.

Good to hear that he's being head-hunted at the moment. Was also interesting to find out that some accomplished actors and supporting the student film scene. Then again the budget for such films are getting higher and higher. Who would have thought a student would be paying more than his lecturer who requested for a soundtrack in the past?

Art fac test at n tu today.

I was damn prepared...

Woke up to start looking for stationary for the test. Luckily found colored pencils on my shelf which I bought 99 years ago, and grabbed an eraser and ruler from the study room.

Played with her on the mrt train, on the bus... until I missed my stop between transit and had to walk all the way back to the previous bus stop to take the next bus.

Arrived RIGHT on time for the test. On the exact minute.

Was playing with her in the LT before and after the test hahaha. What other course lets you play psp in an LT before and after test, and asks you not to study for the test?

So yeah, I was like damn prepared. But I didn't give a shit.

Because the test was ridiculously easy wtf.

Haiz... then again this was more or less how it was for Os anyway. Cycling down to the J8 arcade to play marvel vs capcom 2 until the arcade closes and they chase me out.

Ended up ranking number one nation wide for the local tournaments for one month thanks that intensive training lol.

Met alot of ex-schoolmates. Damn fun sharing psp games and music haha. Design side got alot of geeks la.

Oh my god. JA let me hear some new ghost in the shell track....

THE JAPANESE ETHNIC CHORAL WORK TOGETHER WITH ASIAN ASSORTED TAIKO DRUMS AND ETHNIC MIDDLE-EASTERN DRUMS IS ORGASMIC!!!11

Must get the track from him. I got a good idea on how to do a new Halo arrangement from it.


And I really want to kill some of the safsa guys. Seriously, some guys are worse than gossipy aunties. Is it so hard to keep one secret? Argh. Aunties!

There's a new addition to the family, courtesy of mr viklund.

Went to pick her up yesterday at the store. At first glance I knew that she was the one. The others like her have either black or white coats, but hers was a sleek silver.

She made barely audible purring noises the first time I played with her once we reached home, but I had to leave her at home to meet Nitec kia in the gym. She enjoyed the company of the hi fi and computer and could communicate quite well with them.

By the time I reached home she had already learned a new trick. And when I reached home this morning she had learned many new tricks to amuse me with.

So there, I think my whole life will be on hiatus for the next few days. She demands too much attention at the moment.

The only reason why I can type right now is because she fell asleep while playing with my computer.



Phuture was packed to shit last night. My god. One girl near you, and you have like 3-4 guys everywhere else around you within a quarter meter radius. Yuck.

And whats with girls touching and hugging each other? Sometimes I don't know if its safe to proceed or if they're enjoying some godamn lesbianic action. Yet somehow... it seems ok for girls to be doing that sort of thing to each other? But if guys do it its a huge wtf scenario. Then again, its ok for guys to go around and punch each other but if girls do it its a huge wtf scenario.

Had to ditch wh to run over to velvet where everything seemed more toned down.

Ahh she woke up. End entry.