wheeeeeeeee (:

happy (:

looking back, 1 year since

wheeeeee

woke up this morning on the sofa, can't remember what happened after i watched fairly odd parents (7.30pm)

anw, the time now is 6.22pm. and muddy's got a new watch. yep, slightly bigger face so muddy can test how long it takes for the existing orange/bronze tan to fade. ahahhahahah, ok, fact is muddy gei kiang and tried to replace the previous watch's battery. and er... somehow screwed up, haha. the uncle at the shop said the watch spoil, and since the light function wasn't working properly, got a nice and (hopefully) durable one.

went for the sln november gm yesterday. must say i'm impressed with them; then again, their last gm was so much different from the one we had. yea... but well, this way they get more exposure, do it's good too. the atmosphere was... different too. yep, must say i was quite disheartened (is that the word?) when ms lim said some new applicant commented on sln being a slacker network with free food. that aside, sln is a pretty new kid on the block after all, haha, remember all the mind numbing meetings we sat through thrashing out our mission, our aims and stuff. haha, and muddy loves to say this all the time, our batch is powerful (:

here's wishing all the sec 4s a happy J1 year (: wheeeeeeee

today's prom for them. coincidentally, our last gm was held one day before prom, but muddy seems to recall it being held at night. haha, visual learner, yay.

had a good time chatting with some of the sln-ers, and er... promoting canoeing at the same time, thanks. muddy was being nice, so mentioned the other ccas that rg doesn't have, like lion dance, touch, floorball, soccer, archery and ultimate frisbee! ahahahahah. haha, one thing i picked up from sln, perticularly from mrs loh, was the importance of reflecting. yep, after something goes well, after something screws up, after... everything lah. so it was a good session, having to try and answer questions like "how's the leadership out there different from rgs?" "on average, what time do you get home every day (night!)". then the questions get harder "do people change when they get to rj?" and dear bernice had to interject (do they get skinnier?) hahhahaha, good question (: and the hardest 2 by far, can't decide which is more unanswerable "so is rg or rj better?" "do you like rj?"

good questions rite (: rgs... was a comfort zone, everyone had their little corner and you more or less know everyone in your batch, everyone in school. familiar faces everywhere you go, be it canteen, pe blocks, bus stops, even far east. and of course, sec 4s own the school, thanks. to top it off, rg is built such that on a normal day, if you close your eyes and walk randomly in any direction for 30 seconds, chances are you'll walk into something. yep, and personally, i am still very thankful for all the opportunities rgs offered me. got a chance to be involved in sln, pioneer year trying to network the 'leaders' and connect everyone in school. to Share, to Learn, to N-hance. psb, brought out the nicer side of muddy, haha, having fun at orientation, convention, carnival, learning what it means to be a role model and putting words into action, and our promise- "riding the waves with you". then there was tarbet house comm, under leadership of belinda (: farhanis (: getting to know the juniors in the house, interacting with the sec 1s, trying to ignite a passion for the house "Tarbetians, are you ready?", doing the hoo-ha cheer, success, dui mian de wu zi, and the all-time favouritest tarbet is a wonderful house. yep, then all the classmates i've had in 4 years (: haha, we survived rgs and got the raffles rings! yay, and most importantly, the one thing that defined my rg life the most, rgsncc. yep, 4 years of the widest range of experiences, happiest times, toughest moments, to serve with pride and dedication. platoonmates, heart to heart we will prevail. yep, and there was the pride of being an rgs girl. everything the school stood for. our beautiful school song (which unfortunately is pitched at some imba tone (: ) the diversity of people in pursuit of excellence in their chosen fields. people around you who believe that we are the best, yet at the same time posess empathy. noblesse oblige. so richly received, so willingly give. to aspire, strive and dare to be active creators of a better age for all. filiae melioris aevi.

no matter how time flies, some things simply won't be forgotten. then suddenly it's off to rjc, big, new, sprawling campus at bishan. suddenly hanging out after school option(s) became J8. and there are a gabillion people in school and it's mega big. yep, first few months trudged around a little confused, so you mean rj life isn't fun? of course not, rj life is good, but what you get out of it is what you put into it. most important thing for me at least was to find a passion, someplace where i know i want to be. and i guess i found it, in raffles canoeing. haha, if you're looking for a bunch of very special and multi talented people, it's here in canoeing. for those who want a challenge or simply a new experience, we're waiting for you too (: let's do some advert here, no prior experience needed, no selections; as long as you stay in canoeing, you're in. yep, if you're super super interested and happen to chance upon this, can tag my blog. we'll be sending out invitation emails from december onwards so look out for that. yep, and if you need to ask questions, just shoot them here! yay, can't wait for another promising batch to join the team (:

yay, haha, but here's the cool part (back to the question). treat the whole thing as one rp journey. yep, that's why raffles programme was started for us rite? maybe not, but it's nice to see it this way.

yea, but i know that no matter how far i go, rg will be a part of me. tradition of excellence. and for things muddy really believe in, muddy will do what muddy can for it. that's why muddy came back. simple as that, because muddy believes it's a good thing that should be continued. speaking of which, mrs loh still owes us our shield. it's something we each drew at our last gm, sealed in an envelope addressed to ourselves. something about 4 quadrants, who i am, my interests, the future and some other thing that i can't remember. but i know for the motto, i wrote 'no challenge no kick' haha, and i was looking for something in canoeing terms to substitute kick, then i long knew i wanted to join.


...and of course muddy loves rj. live the life you love, love the life you live (:

happy

argh, the house just blacked out again

haha, anw, in the short span of time, got an invitation to join the nov gm. hm.. it's tomorrow (:

anw, what do you think are the chances of seeing someone (just an ordinary person on the street) with the same t-shirt as you?

wahahha,was on the bus today, then this person boarded the bus and she was wearing the same "PADDLE OR DIE!" whitewater rafting t-shirt from malaysia river bug! haha, coincidence or what?

wheeee, leaving for laos on friday (: muddy loves packing for these kind of stuf (: yay

time to go sleep, guess i've sorted out my thoughts, feeling quite at peace with everything now. last training tmr till we come back from laos, here's to a good one (:

from jo's blog:

reason no.3: to train

i may not remember why i joined canoeing, but i think all that matters is i know why i stayed. to know what it's like to overcome barriers and fight for something you feel for and to do it together. which is what makes reason number three a valid reason.

jo, muddy's inspired (: was packing my table and guess what i had to come across? the H3 physics course outline, haha. yep, looking back, must agree with jo.

reason no.1: was falling asleep in lessons half the time. spent 16 hours of my life there already but was dozing off through most of it.

reason no.2: more free time, to study, to rest.

reason no.3: to train. thinking long term, muddy wanted to be training with the team; next year when the J1s come in, how would their twice weekly land training be like? I think it makes alot of difference whether you come for training. captain, exco member, team member, anything, one person missing from training doesn't feel right (for muddy at least) shows how much each of us matter.

and this is where muddy will delve into deeper thoughts

muddy's commitment is to the team. muddy would like to say everytime, but in reality it's as often as possible, the team comes first. well, for one the team take priority over schoolwork, family, most friends, and the non-existent social life. that's how muddy sees it as least, that the team is of that much importance to muddy.

that's why muddy can't understand how some people/systems/things work. maybe it's just the way it is. maybe there are some things, or many many things that muddy doesn't understand. luckily muddy is in a good mood today. haha. ahhhhh, isn't the point in being dependable? muddy can't stand leaving things hanging and waiting... ahhhh that's evil, waiting and waiting for something (nothing) to happen? just waiting. confused, undirected, clueless; well, whatever it is muddy sincerely hopes they know what they're doing.

and before you start thinking muddy is some psycho slavedriver (wait, muddy IS one, no doubt) muddy still believes it is a personal choice. and you know what? for people who have other passions/interests like er... higher academic pursuits, or art, or maybe church stuff, but still show their commitment to the team, one word, respect. show their commitment? by thinking of training, by sacrificing tv time to "make time" to study, or rest for the next day's training/ to muddy, these little stuff say alot about one's sense of responsibility to the team maybe?

another good reminder

rank is what you wear, respect is what you earn.

it's that easy for someone to lose trust in you; and it's equally hard to regain that trust. sometimes muddy's just waiting for things to get better (it's one big window of opportunity to make timely corrections) but things don't. and muddy gets disillusioned and wonder if all that waiting is worth it after all. muddy, you know how even heroes have the right to bleed? i'm sounding a little confused here. i can't express my discontentment (wait, no such thing in muddy's vocab); i get more reply talking to bear. well muddy, have you ever considered, what if one day you found out superman isn't really superman? haha, then he can bleed all he want, heck. right. anw, came across this phrase in my powerful book. noblesse oblige. rgs founder's day theme. so willingly received, so willingly give. the call of duty... "to those whom much is given, much is expected"-Mary Gates (Bill Gates' mum)

haha, being reflective. a good round of intellectual thought.

anw, training today was good. the rowing part was tough no doubt, but muddy learnt alot today. muddy decided that the best way to learn and improve was to go with a positive attitude. yep (: and i hope it made that difference for you too (: today muddy did not let evil thoughts enter muddy's head, as what has been happening for the past 2 trainings. muddy... went in with a more open mind i guess, yep, good experience today.

muddy believes that if you're serious about getting it right, you will eventually. if you want to train, if you want to do something, you'll find a way no matter what. haha, that's why excuses don't cut it for muddy. admitting a fault and saying sorry's tough and that's precisely what muddy thinks is something every good leader, friend, or just a person as he/she is ought to possess, that courage to step out and say i'm wrong. putting it into the canoeing perspective, i guess it does help by firstly listening to others and realising my common faults/ bad habits; that's a sure way to improve.

hm.. getting late now.. oh, one more thing! the phobia of the pullup bar is gone (: yay!

Ironman

the ironman story...

During the awards ceremony for a Hawaii running race, a debate ensues among competitors about who is more fit -- swimmers, runners or other athletes. One of the participants, Navy Commander John Collins and his wife Judy, dream up a race to settle the argument. They propose combining three existing races together, to be completed in succession: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112 miles, originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). "Whoever finishes first we’ll call the Ironman," said Collins.

Astrid Benöhr (born 8 October 1957 in Bergisch Gladbach) is a German endurance athlete, multiple world champion and world record holder in various multiple Ironman (also known as ultra-triathlon) disciplines.
Her 1997 world record in the quintuple ironman (about 74 hours for some 19 km swimming, 900 km bicycling, 210 km running) is more than 2 hours less than the men's world record; her 1999 world record in the deca (ten-fold) ironman (about 187 hours for 38 km swimming, 1800 km bicycling, 420 km running) is about 5 hours less than the men's world record. In this event, her total time of 187 hours included some 8.5 hours of sleep.

She also holds the women's world records in the double, triple and quadruple ironman. In 2001, at age 44, she became world champion in the triple ironman, finishing before the male world champion. She has also won women's world championships in the double, quintuple and deca ironman.

She began to run in her twenties, to aid her efforts to stop smoking She started collecting ironman titles in 1987, working without a coach to this day. She is a housewife and has three children, born in 1980, 1981 and 1985.

Prior to racing, each athlete received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Handwritten on the last page was this exhortation: "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life", now a registered trademark

muddy will take part in an ironman race.

one day muddy will finish the original Hawaii one under 9 hours, but Langkawi first. 4km swim 180km cycle 42.195 run. anyone wants to come?

then at age 70+++, start an Ironwoman race (:

2nd link run

happy (:

before muddy attempts an 18-hr nap...

woke up early to go for the 2nd link bridge run! yep, reached the mrt station so early that there was no train to jurong east. haha, waited 15 minutes.

then it's off to the run! wheeeeeee

shawna, joo, xinmiao, java, loo, timchow and muddy finished the run! yay, 10km! wheeeee, saw kelly and some odacians and mr siva! haha

56:18:14. more than 15 minutes improvement from standard chartered last year. yay (:

anw, the winner for women's open super cool, besides her imba 38minutes run, she looks more like a gym trainer than a runner. wah, respect.

going towards johor was harder somehow, took 36minutes+++, but coming back was easier! just run and run and run (:

ahhhh, reason 193843827 to run: so i can eat macdonald's without guilt

muahahahhaha

wave across the expressway! wheeeeee, it's super fun (:

holidays is a good time for trying out new stuff (:

live to be your best

hi blog! muddy's back.

had the weirdest dream just now. somehow it was ncc day parade, and one of my juniors was the parade commander. yea... another ncc friend and her platoonmate were the guards or something, with an extra t-shirt slung over their backs. I was in this row of nice comfy chairs, and tracy was in front of me. Then i saw beatrice and some more seniors. some of the people marching were wearing a complicated uniform, dark blue and with traces of red, and they weren't ready. like the collar not buttoned properly, headgear off.

the next thing i knew, this guy was handing out envelopes containing $$ for good performance. yep, and i dream in colour, there was a gold envelope, a white one (actually they all looked more like long, ROD-like invitation cards) and mine was green and inside contained a $285 (exact amount) cheque. and someone passed me this stack of papers, which turned out to be my cca records from primary 4 till now, the first sheet was pink, with the most recent being completed CIP card, whatever that is.

that was damn random. but it was a good rest, and muddy's still alive after ingesting some green/white slimy looking cabbage! wheeeee, it wasn't too bad, haha. random impulse made muddy order the cabbage side.

anw, had lots of fun sitting in the middle of the canteen with sau, xinying, xiumin and shawna after pw yesterday. it's over anyway, last 2 excrutiating hours stuck in the com lab piaing group submission file. wheeeeee, ggxx super fun! haha, just sat there laughing and laughing while eating lunch at 5pm (: it's nice to have good company around (: moments like this make school life fun (: and one must be thankful for what one has, yep, can't wait for another whole year!

back to this morning, reached school at 7.05. nothign to do so just walked around, yep, then... the air smelt quite good so was the weather. went for a short run, really short, wanted to do 6 rounds max. then mr koh came on the 5th round, lol, without my specs, he looked like some tracker. er... that should give you an idea of my eye power. haha. did 7 or 8 in the end. yep, teaching pe at rj sounds like a really good idea now (:

then training, wasn't too tiring, but was productive somewhat. yay, special secret training strategy.

back to yesterday, morning went to macritchie to meet darinne. and even before i left the house, javine msg me, muddy, sorry i'll be late. huh? training was at 10.15am... and it was 7.15am. haha, so we all went for a nice slow slow jog. both of them are good running partners, loads of entertainment and nagging along the way, haha. and muddy's really thankful for them (:

darinne thinks jiaolian is damn cool, haha.

javine and muddy carried 2 boats at a time, thrice! winner! muahahha, super efficient, thanks.



well, not everyone is like you.

wheeeeee

wheeee

wheeeeee

popped by saa to submit the 2nd link run forms. wheeeee, guess what muddy saw there? these huge billboards of local sporting heroes (: still uncompleted, the display wasn't fixed up nicely yet. muddy wonders if there's a hall of fame.

anw, muddy can't find the tagboard link so it's still dead. yep.

and rj is recruiting pe teachers! ahhhhh, if only muddy was one year older!

had training today. was good, yep (:

fairly odd parents now!

9.44pm! yay, do you know your time of birth?

wheeeeeeeeeeee

muddy's seventeen now! yay (:
let's see, the day started out normal, decided to sleep in (until 8am!), then read the papers and national geog. then somehow knocked out till late afternoon.

(ahhh, tiny font size, k, wasn't really feeling well today so wanted to stay home)

bro's at a friend's house, dad's at work though he promised dinner tmr. yep, so was getting dinner ready and was ready to spend a nice and quiet day...

guess what?

the canoobs came! (:

omg, totally unexpected and very very sneaky (: super contented now, spending my birthday with my teammates (: yep, thank you for making today extra special (:

after all that's happen in the past few days... this means alot to me (: thanks team, all 11 of you.

yep thank you everyone for today, for all the well wishes for muddy to do more pullups (: sabby! my classmate of 7 years! sau, Kindergarten classmate, pingni, xinying, jerryca, miao, boon, seetoh, joel (: yay, trix! yishan and kelly (: lulu! wheeeeeeeee

and joo, you high C person, heard about how you went hunting for the shirt (: it be my new favouritest shirt! thanks for going through all that trouble (:

and van's lending me "learning to sing" by clay aiken (:

(:

wheeeeeeeeee, have a good weekend everyone (:

wheeee

ran 6 rounds in the morning... ahhhhh, super good. must control, resist the temptation to siao and run and run. been one whole month since the last time. yep, lesson learnt.

btw, happy farewell assembly sec 4s (:

yay (: