just when i thought everything was screwed up, a good friend's having it worse.

lost and found

i think i've just found what i'm looking for. very good muddy. time for a manual on training secrets.

suddenly it seems like nationals are approaching very soon.

there's hope (:

fly

guess sometimes playing by the rules is a must. seems like we're stuck, trapped but it's times like this when that extra special bit of spirit comes out. rethinking the strategies. yep, when there's a will, there's a way. if there's a strong desire for it, there will be means to achieve our goal.

it's not the fears we have, but how we face up to them that matters. well, this works for muddy; even muddy can get unmuddy sometimes. see, but that's when muddy knows there's a fear to confront. the awareness itself is powerful. if muddy can recognise it, muddy can change it. listening to chariots of fire now, chanced upon the song title while scanning thru some ex-raffles canoeists' blog. perfect music for some emo ppt slides with pictures.

muddy has a new theory, the more trecherous the journey is, the more motivated one will be (provided the stress doesn't kill first). let's start with the less positive side first, fear of losing, failure, disappointment, all these are strong feelings evoked in us and they can push us on. the images, the memories, something that can't be forgotten that easily. unfortunately/fortunately, this method works. something abt the human instinct for survival. in the same logic, it's when we lose something that we start to treasure it. will the title always remain elusive? does the title belong to us, or anyone else for that matter, or do we belong to it? each team that won the title, definitely poured their lives into it. positive stuff, the feeling of pride, the thought of success, camaraderie, feelings best experienced. the team.

muddy's conviction: I still believe we all can fly.

monster training

monster training has begun (for real this time)

some psychotic training, number-crunching= 540 pushups, 200 situps, 26 modified suicides thingy, 150 IPUs, machine row, twisting.

very good, muddy likes.

keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others. yep, with great power comes great responsibility... one thing abt a team, everyone shares a common fate. with every decision there's an outcome, good or bad, muddy likes to believe the intentions were always good. sometimes muddy wonders what all these is for (problems, the trite "communication breakdown" , screw ups and all), then muddy is reminded, it's been 5 years, 10 years, doesn't matter, point is we should at least give ourselves a chance; it's a cause we've committed ourselves to. well muddy, do you expect anything from the team? live to be your best, tough call no doubt. should you give without any expectations? good point there. somehow it's back to 12. as strong as the weakest link? are we ready? standards wise and... as a team? something's lacking and it's bugging muddy but muddy doesn't know what. read an article on individual vs society today, seems like no matter how much people are governed by self-interest, there's a need for a community. the gizmos and gadgets invented serve to max personal satisfaction (according to the article), where then is room for a group to exist? it's pressurising, it's demanding... why do we row? not just why "I" row, but why we row.

and so there's nothing to fear. have you got the spirit?

GE women's 10k

today muddy woke up at some imba time, left the house at 4.30am for elisa's house first then padang! ahhhh, the ndp place (:

was er.. dark there, got the volunteer's t-shirt-cap sponsored by Adidas and breakfast was a slice of Pelican pizza! haha, not the bird, it's a brand.

drinks station was super super fun (: was chionging to hand out water/cups of sportade/bottles, uncapping the bottles, pouring into cups, stabbing holes into the mineral water cups (my favourite!)

but the coolest part was watching the runners come by, especially the imba fast runners! some trivia java told us, someone estimates that taking a drink slows you down by 30seconds. anw, when you hand the drinks to the runners (it's like some baton relay), WHEEEEEE, 3/4 of it does an upward projectile and lands on the floor/all over you (: super fun!

yay (:

wheeeee

wheeeeee, finally blogger's working properly.

last day of school on thursday, didn't feel like it though. wheeeee, end of J1 (:

more exciting stuff, training on thursday and training today! wheeee, thanks van and joo (: super powerful! yay!

muddy's happy (:

can feel the boat moving
and everyone's improving YAY

randomly on thursday, was waiting for the rest to come out of the toilet, yep, so doing pushups, then someone called "raffles", so muddy turns around and there's this trio sitting/stretching. they're from MR25, macritchie 25! to join the club, guys need to complete 5km in 25 minutes, girls 4.8km. haha, yay, the coach asked if muddy was interested! woohoo!

but seriously, the club's quite imba.

muddy: how often do you all run?
coach: not very often, just seven days a week!

yay (:

wheeeeeeeee

haha, just realised the dob on the meet the parents paper is 19891103! yay (:

today's a happy day (:

last pe lesson

lots of complex thoughts today, about laos and everything. brings back to mind about special olympics. yep, the one thing where i think i understood what service learning meant. really grateful for the opportunities.

crap, and one thing that irks muddy is ponners. if you're damn smart then go ahead and pon lah, might be better to explore in the library or something. but after the ggxx promos, after all the "i really really really want to do better"s (right), still pon?

hm.. muddy, you must understand that it's a personal choice after all. one thing for sure muddy, you won't want to remember jc life as cutting classes to hang out at j8. so don't blame it on the school, on the system and say jc life isn't good. or for that matter, that life sucks. it's a choice as to how good you want it to be.

complicated thoughts, first sparked off today by GP. some imba people wrote the essay on elderly in society, and what they wrote shocked the markers. abt how the elderly are weak, physically and mentally unfit. but on the other hand, they're good to be table cleaners at the food court. wow, nice balance? the world is weird, muddy.

on to happier stuff

wheeee, had the last pe lesson for the year today. played badminton for the third time in my life and table tennis for the third time too. yep, super fun (:

hm.. ever noticed how relaxed you feel being with a certain group of friends? wheeeeeeee, happy (:

muddy thinks mrs ng is getting nicer; econs today was talking session because we didn't feel like studying and she didn't feel like teaching! woohoo!

the good old nan hua days (: talking childhood memories with sau is super fun, somehow we never get bored repeating the same stuff over and over again. yay, thanks friends (: the guai kias for today, miao, xiumin, xingyan, sau, xinying and pingni (for pe), muahahahahha, happy (: powerful abs building session!

live the life you love, love the life you live (:

happy (:

feeling very happy now (: contented, at peace, yea (:

water training today was powerful, felt the glide, the water. k1 tiger, then rj advantage. today i rowed my guts out. rowed until i couldn't balance anymore. painful, but good. come next year we'll be ready.

what's the best part of today's training? that everyone's rowing better. ahh... but some of the best things can't be put in words. the team (:

listening to muddy's favourite song now, i believe i can fly. yep, that's the space jam song. and muddy's wearing the favourite shirt, rj pe shirt!

things are going pretty smoothly now, yep (:

"when we train, we're giving ourselves hope" muddy (:

the most important thing

muddy realised something today, hm.. wait, this is hard to phrase properly. muddy realised that it's true; we're our strongest critics.

yep, took a bus ride with darinne, got muddy thinking about stuff. every cca has their own set of challenges to face; so do people too. muddy thinks it's important that we love the way our life is, or otherwise, be in a position to change it for the better. yep, maybe sometimes we worry about funding and training time and yea.. that is definitely alot to cope with but just take a look around, there are many problems that thankfully we don't have to face, coach fees, coach personality and things like that.

today was suppose to be one of those normal slack tuesdays, but it turned out pretty fruitful. hadi was trying to do some new art work, so he asked us "what's the most important thing to you?"

If you have it, you'll be happy
If you lose it, you'll be sad.
If somebody took it away from you, you'll be angry.
If you get it back, you'll be contented.

family? friends? love? acceptance? dignity? confidence? happiness?

strength
courage
integrity
hope

promos ggxx

promos! muahahhaha, promoted! still 07S05B! yay

Let's see:

• GP B (common test B)
• Econs C (D)
• Physics C (S)
• Geog B (B)
• Maths A (B)

yay, maths got 88! super happy and muddy passed physics and econs! wheeeeeeeee, feel motivated to continue working towards straight As, woohoo!

training yesterday was good! back to the noob days (: happy

happy boss day

happy boss appreciation day! thanks team (: wheeeeeeee, sneaky, haha, didn't notice anything, thanks for the spongebob (: yay

"Only gods and saints run around unafraid. And liars..."nike

just a few more cushion thingys to go

end of the week and homework's still undone! haha, not like there's really much, but it's always good to get a headstart on work. yay, muddy feels powerful (: can feel all that strength rushing back, but just become muddy's good to go, need to sort out all these random thoughts since children's day. yep, the only day in a year where muddy realises muddy is only a kid at heart.

randomly, who says rj is a cold, unfriendly place?

got to admit though, some people here are mega smart, some are as weird as muddy, yea... but here you find a good school with strong grounding and friends! not to mention canoeing (:

if there's one thing good about the whole pressure cooker mugging system, it brings like-minded people together. yep, i never had so much fun mugging until this year. and besides, muddy likes to think there's a place for everyone in rj. there are cliques, the sports/performing arts/ clubs people, arts/science streams, the evil ri/rg/others classification, but that's where the diversity stems from. "whatever their chosen paths may be"

on the less patriotic aspect for sceptics out there; since you're already here, make the best out of it. love the school! feel proud for being part of the legacy and for all those opportunities.

(muddy likes the word opportunities)

that aside, every time the college anthem plays, muddy feels a great sense of pride.

anw, let muddy tell you more about the durian. it's a fruit grown in the tropics and takes years to mature. It doesn't bruise easily, its shell makes it highly durable (is that the word?) to transport. solitary, doesn't grow in close bunches; one tough fruit. then again, its hard, spikey green covering hurts unforgivingly. painful, dangerous, but the durian doesn't get damanged one bit. handlers beware. what about its insides? hm.. maybe it's not so tough after all. the flesh can be hard, soft, sweet or bitter, depending on the surroundings it was grown in. what is the value of the durian?

literally food for thought from ccal conference.

might as well put it here, who knows? maybe few months down the road muddy's perspective might change.



anyone who lasted through reading about muddy's crazy fitness escapades, pullup stories and psycho theories, well, hi friend (: been thinking about it for quite some time, muddy's 2 deepest, darkest fears:




btw, back to old school training tmr (:


1. one day muddy wakes up and forgets what it's like to dream.
2. when the durian destroys others

not a very good idea to wear my heart on my sleeve, opening the flood gates for all sorts of crap, but muddy guess it's only realistic to admit that these fears will always remain, and guess what? it might not be such a bad thing after all; will this shield?

"Only gods and saints run around unafraid. And liars..."nike

day 89

law of muddism: think positive

so muddy shall rephrase:

muddy likes people who keep their promises, who know what they're doing, who're always early! and who care about others and less of themselves. and are fair.

anw, happier stuff, now that training's in full swing, time to indulge in a training diet! mega high calcium high protein meals to build imba muscles. yay! lots of chicken (: fish pork eggs! and um.. eat cheese drink chocolate milk and loads of fruits! muahahahha, and the once a week spinach. yep, this is exciting, can feel pullup number 17 coming (: power surging through muddy!

two days of water training. did I row my best? yep. could I have rowed any more than what I did? nope. so do I think I know what it means to give until I can't give anymore; row until I can't row anymore? muddy thinks so... but this is just the beginning.

"I refuse. I refuse to lose. To be average. To fail. I refuse to die. To be afraid. I refuse to be taken. I refuse." Gatorade

If someone’s gonna beat me, they... better not think about it at all.

raffles row!

ahhhh

and it's muddy's first time watching this show, didn't expect it to be so powerful! yes muddy, today's a good day, that's the way (:

coach carter

wheeeeeeeeee

good training today (: rowed K2 with amanda, then java, imba! yay

coach carter's a great movie. yep, parts that left an impression on me (spoilers!):

• the contract signing
• the imba training
• winning their first game
• winning the championship
• and all the screw ups along the way that the team committed

haha, too much to type here, but the stuff i picked up will stick in my head. a great inspiring movie (: haha, i shall play it in my head before going to sleep.

team gold yo!

1 for raffles canoeing!

wheeeeeee

1 for raffles canoeing!

yea (:

CCAL conference

2 days of ccal conference has ended, must say it was good. For muddy at least, the internal talks were much more useful than those by the external speakers. mr siva's lecture on sports psychology was interesting, haha, what i liked best were the photos+quotes. Michael Jordan, "You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them" Mark Spitz "I swam my brains out" some tennis player "I playing much better... I'm enjoying myself"

yep, and one important lesson learnt: Whether or not your team shares the same goals, you all share the same fate.

(randomly inserted here) it's a privilege to attend the conference, don't understand why some people choose to see it otherwise. and more randomly, muddy doesn't know how people's minds work, but for me, once i've chosen something to dedicate my life to, i'll make the best out of it. (back)

powerful questions:

• What do we want to acheive?
• How are we going to do it?
• What are the problems?
• Where do we go from now?

the longest journey in the world is from the head to the heart.

mr ortega's presentation was inspiring. he showed us quotes from various J2 ccals and also shared with us about serene, bball capt and hongsheng, softball capt, both who won the plaque leadership award. out of 20+ recipients, only 3 from sports and games. it's up to us now. you know what? his is the best presentation i've sat through in a long while, every single detail was good for me, from the content, to the visuals, right down to the ppt background and font size. omg, and high D high I person here, muddy totally loved the way he bullet-train through his presentation. efficient, muddy likes. and we were released early as the day before, "you guys have too much energy to be sitting in this lt". lol (: someone who understands, in a way, mr ortega is a leader to us too. he managed to connect very well with us.

something else i picked up, the lessons we learn from geese. when geese fly in formation 'V' they gain 71% speed from the uplift created by other geese. If a goose falls back, it will do it's best to catch up, because it's easier to fly with together. When a goose is sick/shot, two other geese will stay behind with it till it's ready to fly or till it dies. When the leader of the flight tires, it will rotate position with the next goose in line, and use its uplift to carry on.

so what can we learn from geese? If we had as much sense as geese, we'll stick together as a team, and acheive more than what a lone ranger can ever do; we'll look out for one another. Even the leader doesn't have to be in front all the time, once the direction is set, let the other geese take over the parts where they're better at.

yea.. see, evidence of an effective presentation, muddy remembers everything (:

walked out of the lt feeling inspired. "The CCAL conference gave me the impetus to explore my leadership." Strongly agree. muddy's brimming with ideas, new ways we can make things work even better. wednesday, we will churn out our ultimate plan! whether it's 5 years or 10, it's been a long while...

will we rewrite the record books?

"when we train, we're giving ourselves hope" muddy (:

day 81

yesterday had team dinner at some imba eat-all-you-can steamboat. yep, figured we'll eat them broke when our whole team of 70+ go there in full force to whack! muahahahhaa

back in the water today! happy!

and we need to train harder. promos is evil, all the training gets sapped into the books or something.

was flipping through the newspapers today, saw a short section on respecting yourself (heard on the radio before) hm.. isn't it interesting how easy it is to wallow in self-pity? people do it all the time, most of it subconscious i guess. but the law of muddism has no place for that! MUAHAHAHAHAHA

train hard. train often. train together.

"The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching." Anson Dorrance

when no one else is watching.

let's scare the crap out of everyone when they return.

muddy feels strong today.

a short walk to school

muddy's plan was to walk from home to school. and muddy did it! in only 3 hours. yep, super exciting and muddy felt adventurous walking and walking (: by some chance, met a tarbet sec 1 (now sec2) at the most ulu place under a random flyover, and she offered muddy a lift to bishan because she stay opposite! another chapter in the weird things muddy do.

muddy's in a reflective mood today, yea... after a 3-hour walk and an hour of swimming (:

yea.. happy, finally got back my life from promos.

As we grow up, we meet more people, make more friends, widen our social circle. but then again, who would you really consider a friend? muddy thinks bus stop friends don't really cut it as friends. yea... what muddy would like to think a friend is: someone who can accept you for who you are. people whom you're happy talking crap and being as unglam as possible with, people who encourage you to be imba in your talents and support you without expecting anything.

yep, and it's never too early to tell your friends how much they mean to you. muddy would like to think random emails/sms or special stuff do make a difference (:

muddy believes the things we do can change our lives, and that we are in control of our lives. make or break, win or lose, it's up to us.

training is addictive, muahahahha. bet some monster training gene hopped into the bloodstream. all ready for training! (spongebob: i'm ready! i'mready, i'mready i'mready i'mready) yep, we will definitely need some time to get back to full swing, not just physicaly but mentally. think most of us have been drained by promos and morale's not exactly at it's peak now. but we will do it!

muddy wonders how many of the promises we made on day zero still hold, how much do we continue to believe that the dream is still alive. how far away is gold?

No one expected miracles to happen, but they did. It will take a miracle for us to win? Who knows, it just might happen.

Legends begin with the simplest dreams.

muddy's plan

wheeeeeee

the nail polish remover is killing muddy.

*muddy and nail polish remover?

muahahahaha, the biathlon markings refuse to come off, argh. my skin's coming out already, wheeeeee, haha, but the markings are nice (: but er... 5 markings are a bit too much.

tmr muddy will embark on an ambitious plan. haha, when it's completed then say.

today is the day after biathlon=aching like crap all over, darinne and bel don't laugh, thanks (: haha, maybe the playing yesterday killed muddy, but how could muddy resist a whole row of pullup bars? ahhhh, too tempting.

yep, so muddy's upper body is super stiff now, but can feel the imba muscles getting more imba! YES! and since the calf muscles are tight too, the best thing to do is...

go cycling!

muahahahhaha, yep, met guangyan while cycling, he is super imba, longest cycling trip was 18 hours (2am-8pm), 200+km (hm.. geog student tells you singapore is max 40 by 20km without getting on the smaller islands, that is you travel end to end)

wheeeee, my longest was a 3 hour, 36km ride. ok, i got lost, haha. my first cycling trip with darinne i think, somewhere sec 4, took an evil turn, so i landed in clementi. and found myself on the expressway (:

yay, muddy feels super accomplished over the last few days. can't believe it's only 3 days since promos ended on friday.

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

only 1 month 2 days to muddy's birthday!

btw, watch Fight Science on National Geographic channel if you have, it's good. the mechanics of martial arts. a boxer can deliver 500kg into your face, a taekwando spinning kick does 800kg worth of damage. but muay thai knee is the most lethal part of the body, yep, can compress your chest by 5cm. the art of ninjitsu (ninja) and the samurai sword is supposed to be the most deadly art/weapon. one hit K.O. oh yarh, it's possible to deliver knockout punches and kicks. and the samurai sword can easily chop you up into a million pieces. check out the cool technology they use to measure and how physics comes alive here!