onward!

interhouse throws today! got er.. let's just say top 15 for shot put, and 8th for javelin. wheeeee (: was quite cool seeing all the canoeists around, mostly in the track events though except for van, ky, chinks and me.

hm.. what chinks said did make sense 'canoeists cannot throw'

been thinking about it for a few days already, that plus the numerous revelations at the playground, and also the scouting around for potential universities that's on most people's minds (did i mention w/o chem, like half the undergrad studies options are gone... and bio just happens to form the other half (: haha, at least michigan U recognises high school subjects. anw, was surfing for universities, then saw one, their school team is called sprtans! how cool (: yea, well, but perhaps this is meant to be.

Use what talent you possess:
the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang
except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke

This quote sounds sad, but the gist (in my opinion), is for there to be the sounds of the forest, it'll need all the different talents.

If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

kinesiology, the study of movement. movement science. athletic training. sports management. physical education... wouldn't even have thought of this 2 years back. University of Michigan. yea (:

mugging is hyper intensive now, but it's good i guess, onward prelims and A levels! things i'm looking forward to after As till uni:

• i thought i wanted to go backpacking, but then again, maybe not
• continue training, row decently in a good boat
• get accredition as swimming coach, life guard! (means must take lifesaving + first aid, cpr courses) and kayaking instructor
• coach part time under my ex swimming coach
• i still want to take that train ride up malaysia and back (: do it on christmas/ hari raya since everyone's off celebrating
  
• standard chartered marathon

yea, and of course all the endless possibilities that await out there!

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.
Abraham Lincoln

Will you

wheeeee (:

One sensational night for Iraq

what a good way to start the day

One sensational night for Iraq

Dream run to Asian Cup final ends with victory over three-time champions Saudi Arabia

By Terrence Voon

THE JOY OF SCORING: Iraq captain Younis Mahmoud cannot contain his emotions after scoring the winning goal in the Asian Cup final. -- PHOTO: REUTERS IN ONE magical night, Iraq's football exiles have brought to their countrymen what guns and bombs never could - sheer joy and pride. Their 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in last night's Asian Cup final was the fairy-tale ending the whole world was waiting for. Yet, no one was expecting the Iraqis to beat their wealthier and more reputable Gulf neighbours. The Saudis had contested the final a staggering six times in the last seven editions. They had won it three times and were heavily tipped to make it an unprecedented four. But nobody told Iraqi skipper Younis Mahmoud, whose match-winning goal will be written into his country's folklore for generations to come. Nobody told the rest of the Iraqi team, who have now showed their fractured homeland that great things can be achieved with unity. Their goal in the 71st minute was created by Hawar Mohammed, a Kurd. His perfectly weighted corner floated above a static Saudi defence and found Mahmoud, a Sunni Muslim, at the far post. He was unmarked, and needed no invitation to plant his header beyond a stranded Saudi goalkeeper Yaser Al-Mosailem. Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, filled with 60,000 people who were mostly cheering the underdogs, erupted in relief. For it was the Iraqis who looked like they deserved the lead. From the first whistle, they poured forward in waves. They snapped at the Saudis' heels, giving their breathless opponents little time on the ball. On the offensive, the first-time finalists also looked the better side, with swift passing and direct attacks down the middle that thrilled neutral observers. In the end, the team with the tournament's best attack of 12 goals were blunted by the resolute Iraqis, whose backline was the most miserly in the competition, leaking just two goals. Led by the indomitable Bassim Abbas, the Iraqi defence refused to yield. Abbas' fiery tackles and agile clearances characterised the fighting spirit of his side. Saudi striker Yasser Al-Qahtani, with four goals to his name, was expected to rip the Iraqi side apart. Instead, the man nicknamed 'The Sniper' misfired. Each time he burst forward, he found himself cornered. Each time he shot, he was blocked. Meanwhile, the industry of Nashat Akram ran the Iraqi midfield. He lost the ball at one point, and sprinted a full 50 metres to win it back. Up front, Mahmoud's trickery and agility frustrated the Saudis, whose goalkeeper Al-Mosailem was the busier of the two custodians on the night. The 23-year-old was called into action in the 28th minute, turning aside a stinging shot from Iraq's Karrar Jassim. He was severely tested on the hour mark, when he had to make a double save from Mahmoud and Akram. In the 76th minute, Mahmoud wasted a chance to settle the match when he beat the offside trap, but not Al-Mosailem. He was nearly made to pay in the dying moments of the game. With Iraqi goalkeeper Noor Sabri Abbas beaten, Mohammed Naser's downward header could only bounce agonisingly above the Iraqi crossbar. That summed up the night for the Saudis, who each received a bonus of US$100,000 (S$150,000) for reaching the final. The Iraqi players will reportedly receive only a tenth of that sum - for winning the trophy. But, by igniting hope for an entire nation, their reward will go beyond mere dollars.

radon gas

more interesting stuff

always keep a gentle draught through your house. Sealing up a room so that it is virtually airtight allows radon gas, which is radioactive, to collect in the room. The radon comes from the ground and from very slightly radioactive gypsum in the plaster on the walls. By itself this is no great strength, but you are likely to be in your house for a very long time, and a weak exposure for a long time gives rise to increased risk.

AC vs DC round 2

so Edison was right after all.

In the 1880s, George Westinghouse challenged Thomas Edison to produce commercial electricity. Westinghouse backed Alternating Current, in which electrons vibrate back and forth, while Edison supported Direct Current, in which electrons flow in one direction around in a circuit; Westinghouse won.

The reason was that over the short distances spanned by early power grids, AC transmission suffers lower losses than DC. It thus became the industry standard...

(In recent years, scientists in the EU are studying the feasibility of harvesting wind energy. The biggest constraint is bringing the power to the consumers, as it involved large distances which would mean high power loss even for AC)

Edison was right, however, to argue that DC is the best way to transmit electricity of any given voltage. That is because the shifting current of AC runs to earth more easily than DC does. To avoid earthing, AC lines have to be built a long way from the ground- and the higher the voltage, the farther away they need to be. At 400 kilovolts, a standard value for long distance transmission, an AC 30 metres from the ground has 1/40 of the loss of a similar cable at ground level. But even at this height an overhead DC line will beat an AC line at distances more than 1000km, while ground-level DC will beat AC at distances as short as 30km.

woohoo

Is it true that the more we have, the less happy we are?

Is it true that the more we have, the less happy we are?

The saying goes, 'too much of a good thing can be a bad thing'. Perhaps that is timely advice in the context of the modern world where the fast pace of life dictates that one has many more decisions to make, less time to consider the options, and consequently more dilemmas to face. Furthermore, the pursuit of material wants might lead to temporal happiness, which soon evaporates upon finding oneself stuck in the never-ending rat race. However, a distinction between the two broad classes of tangible material wants and non-material spiritual should be made, as they have different impacts on a person's happiness. Still, the extent of happiness is dependent on the individual. Also, having more in times of shortage is surely welcomed and maybe more optimism would certainly make one happier.

The satisfying of needs ties in closely with the concept of happiness. Aristotle stated that happiness is the only emotion that humans desire for its own sake. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health, not for their own sake but in order to be happy. By the same logic, having more would make one more happy and this is evident in our everyday lives, as people strive for money, name and well-being to attain greater levels of happiness.

Nonetheless as the Eastern ideology philosopher Lao Zi contemplated, having wealth invites theft and one has to constantly worry about security. If one would examine the current world situation, it is the rich who live in gated communities with high security fences and bodyguards, all to protect their money and properties. In comparison, the poor are more akin to living in larger, yet close-knot communities, though this would be an over generalization, but the general idea is that the poor having nothing to lose, hence nothing to worry about. Also, problems such as internal conflict tend to arise when one has too much. For example, the countries blessed with abundance of natural resources seem to become targets of exploitation and strife. Iraq's oil fields and Rwanda's gold and diamond mines have resulted in years of ongoing civil unrest, which lowers the happiness of their people, if there is any happiness so to speak.

Nonetheless, it would be unrealistic to paint a picture of the poor being contented with what they have, speaking in terms of their standard of living. Many people in the developing world would certainly benefit from more income, more health care and more education, amongst numerous other things that they would like to have more of. Not surprisingly, this concept of increasing wants is reflected in Maslow's hierarchy of needs; basic needs have to be satisfied before moving on to higher order needs.

Finally, the last consideration is that the idea of happiness is an abstract and relative concept. Even if two people were hypothetically tossed into a similar situation, their levels of happiness could differ, simply based on their outlook to life. Should one's priority in life be about accumulating material possessions, then perhaps more money or luxury items would enable one to be happier in the short run.

If one seeks to avoid either extremities of this argument, then a more viable approach would be to consider the Buddhism philosophy. As in accordance to the laws of Nature, all things, good and bad, should be kept in moderation. Even happiness must be balanced with unhappiness, for one may not experience happiness if one has not known its nemesis.

ok, think i've lost of train of thought. hm... if you think there's a logical flaw anywhere, please tell me. yep thanks. this be gp homework.

wheeeeeee

i'm back super early

today 7/23 of my econs class didn't come for econs test

so the other 16 of us brave souls attempted the 25 mark questions

rowing has been good (can't call it training, different meaning). monday was 10km, yesterday 14.5km. i'm coping, yea, don't worry if you are. planning to up frequency once i get the chance.

mr hodge + lots of teachers keep reminding us to study. anw rj library will open till 9pm, plus there's snacks at 7pm by the parents association.

national day is coming! best day ever (: wheeeeeee, can't wait to watch the parade! yep, rj is trying another mega celebration, to get ~3000 of us together. tuesday-sunday holiday! oh yeah! and did i mention next monday is a holiday as well?

did the school quality survey, every year i do it and i feel super pumped up (:

yesterday RJ was mentioned thrice in the home section of straits times alone. first was for launch of middle east program, second for winning temasek seminar with the tagline 'no people, no nation, no singapore' and third for winning gold award for educational institutes for sporting inspiration (provide opportunities for students to join sports)

rj came up with some cool dean's list outside the photocopying shop. ky and looloo got 2 each (lit econs and chem maths respectively) jo got gp (: wheeeeeee haha, mine quite tyco, must be for this common test's decent gp grades.

michael quite pro and meera too (: canoeists= brawn plus brains

anw this is a long weekend= must do work. got my study plan out, 30 hours till tuesday!

wheeeeee

From Statistics Singapore,

The consumer price index (CPI) is one of the most useful indicators of inflation. It measures the change in the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by the majority of households. The type and specifications of goods and services in the CPI basket as well as their weightage are kept constant to ensure that any changes in the index reflect pure price changes.

The weights for the new CPI series are compiled based on the results of the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) conducted from October 2002 to September 2003 and further updated to 2004...

The expenditure records of some 5,400 households were used to derive the weighting pattern for the new CPI series for the general population. These index households constituted the middle 90 per cent of all households with two or more persons by expenditure distribution. The remaining 10 per cent of the households in the two extreme ends were excluded for this purpose as their expenditure patterns differed significantly from the general households.

The 2004-based CPI basket covers a total of 5,170 brands and varieties.

Compared to 2004, inflation is 2% as of June 2007

and check out what the cool people at Singstat have done:

• Do you know.....

  that more Singaporeans were born in the month of October than any other months? Some 232,000 Singaporeans aged below 50, or one in ten of the resident population in this age group, celebrate their birthdays in October. November is the next most common month of birth, followed by September. Generally, more Singaporeans were born in the second half of the year

• Do you know…

  that baby boomers make up almost one-third of the population? Born during 1947 to 1964, they numbered 995,900 in 1999. Over the next thirty years, the population ageing will accelerate. As shown in Chart 1, the crest of the age profile representing the baby boomers would surge progressively towards the older ages. In twenty years’ time, the baby boomers would be either near or in the retirement age groups.

• Do you know...

  ... that Singapore had a total population of only 230,000 a century ago? Since 1901, the population had grown by 16 times to 4 million at the beginning of the new millennium in the year 2000.

  Population growth peaked at 4.4 per cent per annum during 1947–1957, largely due to the post-war baby boom. The growth rate subsequently declined to 1.5 per cent per annum during 1970-1980. Since then, the average annual growth rate for the population had been increasing, reaching a rate of 2.8 per cent for the period 1990–2000.

• In June 2007, Singapore welcomed 848,000 visitors, representing a growth of 7.5% as compared to the corresponding period year ago. Visitor days were estimated to reach 3.3 million days, an increase of 16.9% in comparison to June 2006. These are record high figures for visitor arrivals and visitor days for the month of June.
• 6396 population density

more info about singapore, national day is coming up!

singapore consists of 1 main island 58 islets

total land area: 699km2 total water: 10km2

went for a swim today, 1 solid hour, around 2.368km, temasek pool is 32m.

1.920km, arms only (:

feeling super good (:

went to watch the 10,000m races today

was some real man race cos it rained halfway

and to row for ~50 minutes, wow

yes, mega pia revision, prelims coming up in 5 weeks

can't believe we'll be leaving RJ soon

~and a voice keeps saying, this is where i'm meant to be~

post nats dinner

wheeeeeee

post-nats dinner

the once-a-year-must-wear-skirt affair

team dinner, all 12 of us zam into that 7 pple seater. thanks for all the spongebob stickers! for the flowers, and shawna for the note (: we rowed with our hearts and we flew

school's been busy, 2 lecture tests coming up and prelims in 5 weeks

time's passing slowly, every day seems like it's friday=going to be weekend

and guess what? tomorrow is friday! yay (: annual/ few times a year platoonmates' bbq

2 december

Hi people, do save your next of kin's contact under "ICE" In case of emergency. yep, read it from some email, will help paramedics.

yes, this is a sign, guess what the first email i saw was?

2 december 2007

Standard chartered marathon!

42.195km. flag-0ff 5.30am. $55

target: 6 hours. get the finisher's tee and medal (:

Olympic dream run

wheeeeeeeeee

it's funny how the weekend suddenly seems extra long

and the weeks have been passing by very slowly

i spent my sunday doing something useful: I went for the Olympic Dream project at Toa Payoh Stadium. Much thanks to the JJC people for organising and looloo for inviting us.

When we went there, we heard they were giving medals (gold medals!) if you run/wheelchair 50 rounds or bike 100 rounds. according to hannah, the medal looked 'pretty'...

and before you know it, hannah and i were de-registering for 50 and 53 rounds respectively (:

haha, actually it was a painful 3 hours under the blazing sun. was running/walking from 10.30-1.30pm. hm.. must have emptied at least 8 bottle of new water along the way.

saw weiming there 'nan hua primary school 2001 6G' what an interesting way of saying hi (:

probably the craziest thing i've done in awhile. can't say my whole life cos i've done many weird things, like climb over the gate (to my house on a regular basis), walk 3 hours from home to school, got lost while biking and did 40km++.. you get the point

Came home, dad asked 'so how many rounds did you do? ten?'
me: something like that... 53!

yep, i run because i can. olympic dream. now, that's something big (:

Now, onward to Standard chartered marathon. If i can run 21.2km++ (had to run around lane 3 in 3 hours, what's double of that? nothing? haha, more pain! wheeeeeeeee

well, they fell short of the target. only 22 000 out of the original 100,000 rounds (equivalent to circumnavigating the globe) but it's a really noble project

yes, that's the way, i'm going to keep myself busy

The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart

Raffles Canoeing

"what happened?"

why did we lose? good question, tell me if you have an answer cos i'm still looking for one

National Schools Canoeing Championship 2007 results:
1st NJC 50++ points
2nd HCI 15
3rd PJC 13/14
4th ACJC 12

we were 5th with 12 points. girls at least. guys got a total of 6 points, unplaced.

If there are unanswered questions on your mind... read on

Nationals was a huge rollercoaster ride of emotions. All the ups and downs, celebrations and heartbreaks. One word: unexpected

Day 1: All our k1s (Xinmiao, amanda, siaurui, selene) and k4 (bernice, jianrong, soolin, michelle) made it to straight finals. Van and Shawna, Deb and meera, Jolene, Joohui, Yang and Geneve for semis. They fought their races and did the school proud (: Been a long time since so many of our boats qualified for finals 5/13 to straight finals, another 6 to semis.

2 boats from our girls team crashed out. Elisa and Hannah in the k2 1000m event. All of us on shore felt the... pain. It just didn't seem fair, they've really overcome so much to be rowing together in this nationals. All the 2kms our three k2s did together, all the 500s and starting bursts, and this was only the water training aspect. The first thing hannah said was i'm sorry cheryl. But there is nothing to be sorry about, you all trained like champions and fought like champions. another plan...

Funny how it's always easier to tell people "it's okay" when things don't go well for them, but the test comes when it happens to you. We crashed out. spectacularly. going in as women's open champions, we crashed out. I know at that point of time i gave all i could, no regrets. But it just didn't seem right. Hard work and determination get you results? didn't seem like the case. After the race... tough. took more than an hour to regain enough composure to tell jiaolian, we did out best, wo3 men2 jin4 li4 le4. i think jiaolian was shocked too? i don't know, cos he didn't show it, and that's why he's our jiaolian, strong at heart. he just said, never mind, competition is like that. Nonetheless, I concede defeat, NJC, VJC, ACJC, when crunch time came, you all proved you were the better boats and all of you deserved your victory.

Initially i couldn't accept it at all. So much anger and pain. Not just the race, not just about our boat. it was the team dream. joo's dream to get all of us into finals. how now? then i figured, and this is not just a consolation to myself, but perhaps a lesson... during women's open we caused possibly the biggest upset ever. beating the advantages, nj and nelo boat. broke some hearts there, shattered some dreams. if all sports represent the collision of wills, then this was it.

Earlier in the day, boon and jingcong crashed out. Boon is someone i respect alot, cos in canoeing size does give you an advantage but despite all that, he trains super hard. at one point of time he was juggling canoeing with gym. He's my playground buddy (: all the extra pullups during break, after school, and his own running/ stair-climbing, didn't seem right for it to happen.

Later, bernard and selwyn. fellow spartans. this really wasn't right. they came for morning spartan training, had such good chemistry as t2 partners. we trained together, i know how much they both put in. They were good and they were humble. why?

Notice i'm not mentioning the guys, just those i feel i know and seen enough to paint a fair and accurate picture about their performance, and not just give some cursory remarks. why just the guys who lost? cos for day 1 at least, i really felt they deserved something more.

and the last race of the day, 7.15pm after a 2hour delay accumulated. eugene and shawn. they crashed out too. you know what hurts? first your dream gets shattered. then you see it happen to someone you care (in the platonic sense) have their dream shattered the exact same way. what's this, really. fastest rj boat, imba stamina frontman, big, black and strong backman... captain. the similarities were haunting. i wouldn't have wished that pain i felt onto anyone, anyone at all. and here it was happening right in front of me, i knew how they felt, and i meant it.

took me awhile to reconcile my thoughts

If you're feeling sorry for us. don't. please don't. For one, we know that the better boats won. and everyone likes to believe that their journey was the hardest, that their struggle was the toughest. everyone struggles, that is a fact. we all went through a lot just to be here rowing at nationals 2007, and that includes all our competitors.

you know what? When we made that decision to pour our lives into Raffles Canoeing, we knew this was one huge gamble we were taking. Something that demanded EVERYTHING we had, our time, our minds, and not to mention blood, sweat and tears. Something that promised NOTHING. We made this choice and we should not have regrets. There is no one to blame but perhaps the crazy you at the point of time who set your heart on joining the team.

At night got an sms from mr go. "Your fighting spirit has indeed rubbed off the team. Stand up proud for you have nothing left to prove... lead your team tomorrow, they need you"

picked myself up that's what i need. nationals wasn't over. my teammates were still in it... and i'm glad eugene showed his capacity to be a great leader when he took it in his stride too.

I realised the analogy of 300 is very apt. All 300 spartans fought gravely, to the end... all 300 died. I know we're not as heroic as them, fighting for your country and all, but what we have in common is that we fought for what we believed in.

Day 2: semi finals day. want to guess what happened in the morning? The wind blew so hard, and it hit the outer sheds (if you can call those racks sheds) so badly, then our boat flew off the rack. freak accident. shawna and van's boat sustained a crack on the bow. They had a race. perhaps this was meant to be? we crashed out, so steamy was available.

joo's classmates came to support. From samuel to joo: What if you believed? It might turn out to be something really fantastic (hope i got it right) she fought her race, i'm proud of her (: no regrets joo, that's the difference between the last time and now. no regrets. all of us know how much you wanted this, and how hard you've worked for it. nothing to be ashamed of and i respect you for holding true to your dreams even when things didn't seem like they were going well. you are right, it doesn't cost anything to dream, and the future does belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

james got a DQ. his boat was underweight. the packet of weight was removed from his boat. my initial impression of james was that he's some super buaya kid, but yea.. he just likes to have fun. and he knows what he's doing, putting in that extra effort to get the results. got my respect there james the guy. You should see how focused he is during trainings. another incident...

Yang got a DQ. from the 500m mark to 300m, she went too close to another boat and cause it to take 'evasive action'. rules are rules, but honestly, what happened to the good old work ethics of hard work=results? She went through alot of crap from people balancing school and canoe, she overcame all those, just to be let down by this? it really seemed like a nightmare. was this how nationals is suppose to be?

We came together in a tight circle. stone wall. the strength radiating from the unity of all 12 of us made us stronger. Nationals is suppose to be the one big thing that we've been working towards, the fullstop to canoeing for most of us. It was suppose to be spectacular, to see all the canoeists fight it out with all the training they've accumulated over the past years. To see everyone struggle in the fight until an eventual winner is declared, a champion that everyone will salute. Realisation dawned upon us... it was always about the journey.

So what if all these things happen? Those who are still in it will fight even harder to show that they will not be taken. and fight even braver cos they're fighting for us. Jo said "I didn't make it... we made it"

Day 3 came and went. Jo got 3rd (: Our k1s got 5th, 5th 6th and k4 5th. selene got dq, another freak incident, going into the wrong lane. true there wasn't near collision, but apparently 2 buoys was too long to be considered immediate action. at the prize presentation, we stood there, cheering for jo and looloo, and sji.

mr koh, i have to disagree with you about us showing a lack of sportsmanship. If you had been at the disembarking pontoon, you would have seen us congratulate our opponents for a good race. You would have seen the handshakes, you would have heard the words of encouragement/support. You would have acknowledged that we fought bravely, as true Rafflesians do. Winning with humility, losing with grace. I know cos i was there. I lost my race, i watched the final that i should have been in. i watch my heat winners come in 1st, 2nd and 4th. I wasn't rowing a heat, i was already rowing a final. Before the race, i wished yi hang and rimmel all the best cos i know they've worked so hard for this. Everyone, jiaolian included, said hci girls had to chance this year. and look, they proved everyone wrong. rimmel was in k1, made the switch somewhere in may. (heard a bit about how she came to where she was today, but that's her story, wouldn't be nice if i told it w/o her permission) she wanted this. she worked for it. and because of all this i'll rather they win then any other boat in that race. after that final, despite the k4 race coming right up, went up to congratulate all the winners, including nj.

I have utmost respect for the hwachong girls team. 2nd. No one gave them a chance, but they gave themselves a chance. They dreamed, the believed, they trained and they achieved. that same fire and passion. From my personal capacity, i'm glad they won, it is a sweet victory for them (: Yim tong, after rike we said we'll never touch a paddle again, haha (: Rimmel and Yi hang, good race (: would love to race you all again (:

pj canoeists once again stormed the races with 2 gold medals (if i recall correctly). a very respectable team of canoeists.

NJ has certainly earned the respect of everyone in the canoeing fraternity for their commitment to the sport. Saying they train hard is an understatement. but still i feel a team shouldn't be held together by one person, but the dynamism of the team members should define it. my opinion, either way, their victory was commendable. if any nj people get offended from the repeated mention of nj in my post, really, it's because i see you all as the benchmark for excellence in terms of nationals results.

We cheered the sji boats coming in, having had the opportunity to train alongside them. Stacey, the cjc captain, received some thunderous cheers from us. cj reciprocated during the k4 race. funny rite? for us to cheer 'go sji!' 'burst stacey burst!' and for them to shout raffles!.

at the end of nationals, joo and i shook hands with the other captains. It was a tough competition simply because of all the fighting spirit from the 12 schools. It was a good one, and the handshakes symbolise the closure of our season. Now it's up to the entire pool of j1 girls canoeist to continue the hard work left by their seniors. Girls in canoeing. a proud refusal to buy into traditional stereotypes of beauty, and if i may add, a defiance against convention dictating that girls are just girls. though we row for different schools, the dreams are all the same. Thank you for the camaraderie i feel within the canoeing fraternity.

am i hoping mr koh will read this? so that he knows we have sportsmanship. am i hoping nj or hci, pjc or acjc will read this? maybe they'll see how all the 'sway' things happened to us.

no, that's not what this is for. Today was our first day back in school. All the curious stares, all the 'are you okay?"s, all the shifty looks that say 'yea, this wasn't suppose to be the case. i knew you guys trained hard' but yet don't and won't know what it was like. This entry is for those who seek to understand what happened. Who will appreciate not us, but our j1s. their strength in bouncing back, in continuing the fight... it was easy for us in the sense that we saw our seniors. we knew if we worked hard we would improve our chances. but for our juniors to look at us train, dream and fight, yet lose it all in the end. it sort of took away a reason to believe, cos what if these same stupid things were to happen next year?

perhaps after reading this an outsider would worry if our j1s would be able to continue the fight with passion and determination. but i'm not worrying. cos they have what it takes. that potential waiting to be... unleashed. My challenge to you all was 'Give them a taste of what it's going to be like next year" and you all did it. all the j1s progressed to the next round. our 4 j1 k4 beat j2 boats to get into the finals. Believe in your dreams, that's something no one can ever take away from you. they have the right to say what they want and you have the right to dream all you want. Thank you for going through this season with us. As much as you think we've inspired you all, you all were inspiration for us to fight, cos we know that here is a team that looks up to us, and we cannot let you down either. dream believe train achieve. Somewhere down the last word it went wrong for us. we broke perhaps every rule there was in the rulebook (except for false start) and even mother nature was against us, but what happens this year stays in this year. The potential you girls have is amazing, you current standard is at least 6 months ahead of where we were then. I know next year you girls will go far, and... it sounds damn morbid, but i'll rather all this crap happen this year, in our season, then yours. You all will fly faster and further then we did. believe

We didn't win the race, or team trophies, or the gold, so what does that make us? losers? how can we say we have lost, when we've won ourselves this team, respect from the people around us, and the battle against ourselves. Every training was a test of how much we wanted to conquer our greatest fear, that we are powerful beyond measure. were we willing to have.. blind faith? just take it from there, go all out, give it your best shot cos you never know what you can achieve until you start. and to face our biggest enemy, ourselves. it is the victory over ourselves, the betterment each time that we can truly stand tall, and stand proud of. We came in with nothing to our name in terms of canoeing. maybe it seems like most of us will be leaving without something tangible and glorious enough to justify all the sacrifices we've made, but that doesn't matter to me, neither should it to you. From 9 ipus to hogging the ipu bar still at 70, 80 and counting. 15 or even 0 standard pushups to 50, 100? lasting through monster training, check the records and smile (: pullups, the dream to gain that extra height off the ground. all the runs where we pushed ourselves till we thought our hearts were going to jump out, perhaps in the process spilling some guts and busting our lungs. it was all worth it. no where will i ever find a bunch of people like you who would agree to do all the 'wonderful' training programs that muddy thought of while watching spongebob, or in a sudden burst of inspiration. the no. of pullup concentration is the highest here, i bet our average owns most guys. this is our team... we won the respect of our schoolmates and teachers and the people around us, or at least those who care. they have seen us struggle (though they'll never know what it's really like)... mr go said that our results do not reflect the resources we were given in terms of money and equipment. I can safely say that the equaliser was us. Ask anyone. We gave ourselves a chance. We fought.

Went back home. home is macritchie. After our address, 2 rows, j1s and j2s. went down the line, symbolic of the end of our canoeing journey. think about it, the ROW you were standing in.. that was raffles row for you. college anthem. and one last time, 3-2-1- have you got the spirit?

if you realised, i keep talking about the girls and guys team as if we were from separate schools. true, we are one big raffles canoeing team. but this year at least, i know we didn't walk into nationals as a united team of 72. still, unity is subjective. the cj j2s who rowed the k4 were waiting for our j1s to take photos, and when they saw us doing our closure, later on they told our j1s they teared a little. cos they've never had a team like that. nonetheless, all of the 0607 batch that gave the last 1.5 years your best shot, i respect you. it's an important reminder for the j1s, cos it's evident how a small group of people who just slack off can affect the reputation of the team. Being a canoeist, and a raffles canoeist, is more than just a title. the jersey and windbreaker are powerful; we wear them with pride. with great power come great responsibility, uphold the name of raffles canoeing. one thing from ncc days, rank is what you wear, respect is what you earn. People come to respect the crest not because of what it is, but for the wearer of the crest.

The guys and girls team trained differently, that's okay cos the guys are suppose to be stronger. but the mentality was different. I know the team that elected me to be captain, the 11 people i've spent my last 1.5 years with, was a fighting team. We weren't here to get whacked. we were here to fight. It's easy for me to say 'oh yarh, well done anw, i think we gave the other schools a good run for their money' but that's true. there was fear in the races, and it wasn't in our hearts. yesterday was my last day as captain, and for ky as well. he said they rowed fearless. but i saw so much fear in their eyes. remember our stone wall? all 12 of us, we knew we had poured our lives into this, and did our best to uphold the promise we made. to bring home to gold. we didn't manage to, heck, we didn't even improve from the 3rd our seniors got. but there... i sincerely believe that the other schools out there knew that if there was a team to challenge nj for the championship, it was us.

(Every single Spartan warrior has to be strong. His shield did not just protect himself, it defended the warrior on his left and on his right. One lapse in the formation and the army became vulnerable.)

i don't want to cheat ourselves and say medals and trophies just collect dust. everyone wants to win. was talking to shawn back on the bus, winning and losing both have lessons to teach you, it's how you look at it that determines what you learn from it. for me women's open was really the pinnacle of winning and nationals the trough of losing. yang, you're right. perhaps this was meant to happen so we could get the full experience of what it means to be a canoeist. a raffles canoeist. to take winning and losing in our stride.

Before nationals, i would have given anything, (and yes we did give everything we had) for us to bring home the gold. Looking back i would still have given anything and everything, but post-nationals i look at the other teams out there, and i know the only college i would ever want to row for is Raffles Junior College.

Now to answer the question, why did we lose?
We trained, we fought, we went all out and gave our best. It's not like we're some super underdog team this year, we won a bronze medal at njcc, 2 golds at women's open. for the k2s especially, we smashed all previous timings records from our seniors. all 3 of us sub-ed 10 and i'm super proud of that (: We've done more pullups than any other girls team out there. We did all those monster trainings and trilogy post water training program and weights, we ran those rounds. we had that burning desire to win. On the scf website, it says what you need to win is
To win, you need more than just a good boat. Willpower, high power to weight ratio and training are key factors to winning.
so what happened? I really don't know. jiaolian doesn't either. this year he said we should go for silver, and he doesn't say such things for fun. After this... disastrous campaign, saw him rise to the occasion, all that strength. he has never screamed at us unreasonably, never forced us to do psycho trainings. his rationale is that if we want to, we will push ourselves. if we ask for advice, he will give. jiaolian throughly prepared us for competition. the sha qi, aggression, yet helping us to accept it when we lost. This nationals isn't an accurate reflection of his efforts either. no matter what people say, he's the best jiaolian ever

It wasn't exactly a fairytale ending, remember coach carter? At least now the j1s can just go out there and row their hearts out. There is nothing to lose.

one day perhaps the answer might come.

All 300 Spartans died. all 300. destroyed. The last thing the king said 'remember us, the 300 Spartans.' they fought for something they believed in, something (sovereignty) that all the Greek nations wanted but didn't dare to stand up for. do you remember how 300 ended? The single warrior that went home built an army of 10,000 to return and fight, for the battle isn't over.

Legacy of the Canoobs
crazy enough to join Raffles Canoeing
(i can't find a word) enough to respect our seniors, teachers, Jiaolian and the sport.
daring enough to believe in dreams
proud enough to refuse to accept nj's dominance
passionate enough to pour our lives into canoeing
stupid enough (in rj terms) to prioritise canoeing over studies
*fe(male) enough to train like siao (an understatement)
innocent enough to think hard work and determination confirm equals results
strong enough to wear the school colours and row with pride
humble enough to take winning in our stride
graceful enough to take losing in our stride
united enough to stand together as a team at the end of the day
Someone wonders 'What if your best is never enough?'
We say 'No fear, our best is enough for the people that matter.'
Someone asks 'You dream, you believe, you train but you didn't achieve?'
We answer 'No regrets, we did our best.'
Someone concludes 'you girls lost'
Silence.
There is no defence
There is no need to prove ourselves any longer.
In your eyes we may have lost... the race
but in our hearts we have won the battle of life
and that is enough (:
Twelve of us. One for all, all for one.

*more than man. fe(male) iron women

It's been my honour to serve as captain. the end of our journey as canoeists rowing for the college, but not the end of our journey as a team.

Raffles, prepare for glory!

Nationals tomorrow

We've waited...

Raffles, prepare for glory!

bedok

Went to macritchie at 7am yesterday, super dark, overcast sky.

Reached bedok at 7.45, sky was also dark. Started drizzling, then pouring. Waited at the grandstand and watched the waters in front churn. was rather unusual weather on all counts.

Rain delayed the boat transporting, but managed to get the boats around 10.30. Went down for a row.

Water was choppy, winds were strong and buoys were unfamiliar, but we took comfort in knowing that it's the same ketupat javine/muddy, same paddles joshua/mudzi, same lifejackets 53/27 and same steamy (: Fighting this 'away' competition in a new, strange environment will only show how strong the trainings have stuck, how ingrained the rowing techniques are and how determined the will to row our best, to row with pride and row like champions.

46 But if there is something of Ben Johnson in every great champion, in terms of the readiness to go the full route, then there is rather more of Steve Redgrave. I was there for the final race: the one in Sydney when he and the coxless four won the gold medal, and Redgrave collected his fifth gold at his fifth Olympics Games. I remember the dreadful shaft of pain I felt when I was convinced that the Italians had beaten them to the line, the incomprehension I felt at the eruption of British cheers, and the extraordinary joy when I realise my error.

...the tale of the fifth gold medal, the final perfect chapter in that 16-year-long quest of perfection.

... it was an epic, I wrote, it was the fifth book of the Redgraviad, and it was an extraordinary privilege to be allowed to write it. It was not the greatest piece of sport I had ever seen. It was the greatest piece of sport that anybody had seen.

Greatness, then, requires an aspect of longevity. It is not about one perfect performance or one perfect tournament, a single masterpiece. No: it is about the accumulation of an oeuvre. A life. A CV. A biography. An epic, yes, I like that term very much.

Redgrave is not only a person. Redgrave is also a quality. You look for someone who might achieve great things in sport. Napoleon would ask of his generals:

Has he luck?’ I ask of athletes: ’has he Redgrave?’ Redgrave is the ability to go beyond yourself. It is the ability to go the full distance, Johnson-like, and more. It is the ability to commit, day after day, to the one goal of winning. It is the ability to achieve the ultimate goal: and to be unsatisfied. To want more. To demand more, to seek more, and to get more.

Redgrave constantly sought security, and he found it in the knowledge that he had done more than anyone else who opposed him. He had rowed more miles, lifted more weights, erged more ergos. He had suffered more. He had cared more. He had overcome more setbacks. When Redgrave went into battle, he knew that all the others had had the choice to work just as hard as he had done, and that they had chosen not to do so. From this comes the tiniest scruple of contempt. These people had stinted themselves in their desire to be the best. Redgrave knew he had not done so. And so, as he approached the final stages in 1996 with everything as it should be, his constantly repeated instruction to Matthew Pinsent was:’let’s not f it up.’ That same year, I was at the press conference before the final. Pinsent was full of good cheer and good lines. Redgrave was silent, distant, staring ahead, eyes focused on some spot half an infinity away. And my colleague, Alan Fraser of the Daily Mail, broke press conference protocol with a surprising outburst: ‘Steve, are you all right? Are you pissed off with us or something?’ Redgrave refocused with a tart. ‘No,’ he said. I’m all right. Mind’s on the race, that’s all. An infinitesimal pause. ‘Sorry’ It was a little vignette- about the most that Redgrave ever allowed –into the matter of possessing the quality of Redgrave. For in that presser, Redgrave the man was almost entirely absent. All his strength, all his self, was already committed to the events that would unfold over 2,000 metres of water.

At every great moment in sport, the athlete who faces that moment must locate the Redgrave within. Do I choose to win, or do I choose not to win? That quality of Redgrave is the part of yourself that holds no compromise: that part that drags you over the line first, when you have already given all you thought you had. You find the quality of Redgrave at the end of 2,000 metres of water, after 26 miles and 385 yards of Athenian tarmac, in the final showjumping round at Badminton, or as you prepare to throw the last dart of the night at the double-top. It is not something to do with body, it is something to do with mind.

When any athlete anywhere in the world wins anything at any sport, he should give Redgrave royalties. Or she should. Redgrave is the quintessence. That is to say, the fifth essence – which originally meant the essence that is beyond the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. It is the substance of which the heavenly bodies themselves were composed. The idea of the quintessence of both Platonic and alchemical. And no, Redgrave is not the quintessence of race in Sydney, the one that put me through such agonies, Redgrave explained everything. Absolutely. He said: ‘It was never in doubt from 250 metres.’

Thinking back on all the sacrifices (actually, it doesn't really count as a sacrifice since you're doing it for yourself) and trainings and basically life since canoeing, I know that when we return home to Macritchie on Thursday and RJC on Friday, we go back as champions.

from redsports: We remember what it feels like to put on the school jersey. Whatever the sport, the feeling is the same: a sense of pride, purpose and pleasure. You aren’t just a student in a school, you are also a school athlete. You walk a little taller, run a little faster and laugh a little louder.

If what we reap is what we sow, I know for certain we will bring home the gold. But like all sports, nothing is set in stone until the finishing line, and that's what makes it fun and exciting... and that, is my reason to row (:

Raffles Row!

force twelve

yesterday was our last water training at macritchie

did i ever tell you my favourite non-training moment is the time on weekdays, especially Wednesdays, when we're all in the canteen busy getting ready for training? Filling our bottles, putting on sunblock, and the tapes and plasters...

As we trooped out of the canteen one last time, as a team, felt extremely proud to be part of this team. Every water training, we would faithfully make our way to macritchie... and this was it, the last one.

Lane conditions were windy and blazing hot, perhaps that's the last test macritchie has for us, before we go out there and fight at Bedok. Divine intervention (: Been a long time since we had winds this strong.

Force 12 on the Beaufort wind force scale corresponds to the maximum wind speed of a hurricane. Force twelve (:

Szegad (:

wheeeeee (:

when i was eighteen

hm.. thanks elisa, you just triggered some deep thoughts... but before that

well, i've survived a total of 2h 15min on 65 and 143 from bedok. wheeeeeeee, anw, thanks hannah amanda javine shawna bernice and selene for walking (: owe you all lunch

was expecting bedok to be some raging thunderstorm-y place and imba monster waves, yep, but it looked pretty decent.

This year, we're fighting an away match!

yay, watching the best moments of szegad for the gabillion time (:

i leave myself deep in thought, "When i was eighteen (seventeen half)...

under control

NS special today (:

random quote (translated): How can you say you've lost? The you today has already beaten the you of yesterday

As Nationals approach, I think that's one thing i would like all of us to tell ourselves, that through the 1 and a half years in Raffles Canoeing, we have challenged ourselves and emerged as better people.

At this point of time, it's normal to think about the 'what ifs'... but i figured what's important is not to avoid such thoughts, but to keep fighting these battles in your head, over and over again. If you can convince yourself each time, then come Nationals, there will be no fear because your mental state is strong.

What does it mean to be in control? There are certain things beyond our control. We can't control the rowing conditions. We can't choose our lane draws are. We can't decide how hard our competitors train. We can't determine how fast or how good they are.... and we don't know if the team dream will come true.

But what are those compared to what is within our means, within our power? We control how well we adapt to the sun and wind and water. We choose to go all out and fight our races regardless the odds. We decide how hard we want to train, how much we want to push ourselves and how much we want to better ourselves each time we row. We determine how fast or good we are; If we want something that is currently beyond our reach, then we work towards it.

then one thing still remains, what about the dream?

Perhaps the special thing about a dream is its element of uncertainty. If all dreams come true, then dreams won't be fun and exciting (: Yea... ultimately (I like this word) , no one can stop us from doing our best

happy 18th comrade!

wheeeeeeeeee (:

I haven't done such a crazy thing in a long time (:

At 10.20pm, pingni called "eh, do you have xinying's address? Was thinking of surprising her tonight, it's her birthday tmr!"

Yep, so chiong-ed around the house looking for the dilbert book but couldn't find it, settled for a box of chocolates instead (see, luckily my house is a provision shop! but need to stock up soon (: )

Took a taxi to buona, then mrt. tio owned lah, wanted to transfer to North south line then i just zham some train, which went BACK to boonlay! ggxx, heng i got off after a stop.

Met sau and pingni at somerset then wah, pingni super pro, managed to get us a cab amidst all the 32596425964289265 people at orchard road.

Went to xinying's house, yep, pingni called her 'eh, i think outside your house the swimming pool not bad ah... still got potted plants outside your door..."

sau got to play with her favourite matchsticks, yea, then the candle we lighted dropped into the cake! cheesecake that pingni baked, super pro! was laughing like siao and trying to keep quiet, wheeeeeeeee

yup, then surprise! WHEEEEEEEEEE, happy 18th comrade (:

super chill out, finally felt like after common tests (:

yay (: