The Week Thus Far.

Its been a great week. My bike mileage is looking good and I am feeling rather excited about my up-coming trip. My social life has taken a turn for the worse and to all those marginalized by my recent lack of social contact... I should be back soon... I hope :) 

Its amazing how training accelerates and strengthens the bonds between friends. Something one has to see and do to believe. 

This entry is going to be rather disjoint and abrupt because its just a quick update I am logging in between stuff. 

The bike ride today ended off spectacularly... thankfully all's well and my hero came out none worse for the wear. 

The planning for the upcoming trip is coming along rather fine... let's hope the prices continue falling as D-Day draws near. 

I'll update again soon but for now I am off to support the crazy asses running in tonight's sundown marathon :) Till the next entry!

PS: Just got back from the Sundown Marathon with JJ, Lala and Mich. We managed to chill out, have a good time, get caught in a jam and catch most of our friends on their quest to complete a marathon (for some sick ones... an ultra-marathon) before the next sunrise. I feel really bad for not staying on and catching the rest of you but... the tired mind can only take so much! HAHA... Anyway... congrats on a good run and kudos to the selfless volunteers (Mr Liew from East Coast GRC) and aggressive security guards for making this race a success! Meet up soon!!

Bintan Tri: Pre-Report.

Yes everyone. I am back. Burnt, dehydrated but thoroughly rejuvenated. Proper write-up on the race coming soon!! :P It must be late cause I just had a terribly random thought... 

Bintan

I am pretty excited about my inaugural trip to Bintan. Happy Birthday Sis :) 

Wednesday Updates

I am going to make this a really short entry, cause I need to hit the sack really soon if I want to be up and on the bike by 3 in the morning tomorrow (and I really want to finish Star Trek: First Contact...). I spent the morning and greater part of the afternoon with JJ and Mich attempting to look for bikes and swimming at SSC. After a quick recess at provence, the three of us headed back to NUS SRC for our evening swim. The turnout was superb. There were many new faces and that definitely added much to the laughter and fun in the pool. Even our Pageant King made it back to join for a teeny while:) After the short yet throughly enjoyable swim, Nic, Norms, JJ, Ben and I headed down to the Mountbatten Chicken and Char Siew store for a quick dinner. And that was that... for today anyway. 

The feeling of wanting something so much, so badly yet knowing that it will always remain beyond your reach... can be rather frustrating at times. :) Till the next entry :)

Jason goes to the hospital :(

And that above was the sight that greeted me as soon as I pulled the brake cable out of the rubber sheath that covered it :( I had started my afternoon earlier by making a resolution to make better use of my new found freedom. I decided to kick off the day by taking apart the old Raleigh which had stood there in the dust and rain for the last 12 years. The hands on session began very well till I reached the brake cables. I didn't have the right tools at that point in time (If I had looked 0.25 percent harder, I would have found the damn wire cutters under my coveralls...) so I was basically pulling and sawing away rather recklessly at the cables. As I was trying to remove the cable that was attached to the rear derailuer, I guessed I pulled it a tinge too hard, snapped the damn cable and sent a fragment of it THROUGH my thumb. Trust me... it hurt like hell.

I proceeded to leave a note on Facebook, informing the world of my terrible plight, and rushed off with my mum in tow to CGH to get the stupid thumb attended too. The nurses seem pretty amused at how I got my injury (or perhaps at my injury...). Its probably (in my opinion), refreshing to see a true and honest A&E case in the A&E ward after going through tons of NSFs with phantom fevers, construction workers with invisible injuries etc... A supporting observation would be that I was the only one in the A&E ward with an open wound!

Anyway, the wait to be attended was expected and for a short period of time, I was worried that I might die of a tetanus infection whilst waiting for someone to attend to me. My turn soon came and after a preliminary examination and a "before" x-ray, the doctor soon proceeded to yank the damn wire out of my poor miserable aching thumb. After 3 yanks, the wire slid right out and that's where the pain jumped a notch up (I have a rather low pain threshold... FYI). The feeling of having the wire slide out THROUGH ones thumb... priceless... After a secondary examination and another X-ray to make sure nothing got left inside, I proceeded to get my tetanus toxoid vaccination. After much deliberation on which arm or buttcheek (kidding) to jab, we finally got the jab done and I was soon homeward bound :)

The rest of the day proceeded rather uneventfully and ended with a nice seafood dinner with Mum and Dad at ECP. With this little report on my poor thumb out of the way, I can now retire peacefully to bed in preparation for tomorrow's ride:) Till the next entry...

Freedom

I almost always complain about the lack of free time. Now that I have it, I tend to waste it away. Not anymore. One Raleigh... coming right up!

Finally...

I finally did it. After much deliberation and procrastination, I have finally logged in a 180+ km bike ride. It wasn't as easy I had expected it to be and as Nic and I agreed somewhere between the 80 to 85 km mark, today's ride was certainly blog-worthy material for me. 

The morning began unofficially at 4.50 am. I proceeded to hit the snooze button so... officially the morning began at 5.35 am for me. Nic and JJ didn't fare much better either with the Z so... we proceeded to shift the rendezvous time to about 6.50 am. Nic started out first and finished about 2/3 of a coastal loop before joining up with JJ and I. With the addition of Nic, the fellowship of the May 17th 180km ride was complete, and the ride of the week (for me...) began. The first two loops went pretty fine although I must say that we maintained a slightly higher pace then we should have. I would have done pretty fine keeping my average bike speed on the first two loops at about 31.2- 32 but we finished the two loops at about a 33 - 34 km/h pacing. That did have an effect on me later in the ride... but I guess if you don't push you'll never know aye?

We took a pit stop at the 60 km mark. I wasn't too keen on stopping so early in the ride especially after we did take two or three very short breaks (Nic had a puncture earlier... haha Nic 0 Random Thumbtack/ sharp object by roadside 2) prior to this pit stop. But the three of us were in this together so... its all for one and one for all. It turns out that I was starting to dehydrate already judging by the volume of H20 consumed. After a 10-15 min pit stop, tons of liquid and random nuts and snacks, we headed out for the next leg of our bike ride. The next leg lasted about 80 km and took the most out of me. The sun was out by then and the headwinds along coastal had started to pick up. JJ and Nic were doing fine... and I just looked fine. My legs were aching and I was starting to loose focus. The heat works wonders when you're not prepared for it. JJ was without a doubt the pillar of strength on this ride. Without him and Nic, I doubt I would have been able to successfully complete the ride (or at least complete it before nightfall) Anyway, the rest of this 80 km leg did eventually come to an end and we took our final pitstop before finishing up the rest of the ride.

I pretty glad I accomplished what I had set out to do today (the other item on the to do list was to mow the lawn... which I did too). So here's my training sum-up for this week.

Monday: 3 (800m Swim + 4 X 50m Fast stroking) + 1500m Swim 

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 8 km Run + (??) Swim 

Thursday:  1 hour 5 min run + 10 mins cooldown

Friday: 55 km Bike Ride

Saturday: 9 km Run

Sunday: 183.3 km Bike Ride

All in all, the week has been a rather good one. Let's hope the upcoming week would be better.... now to get started on that training program :)

The (Never-Ending) Pursuit of Happiness

Human wants can never be satisfied. That is a fact. The moment a want is satisfied, "puff" appears another item on the list. Those with everything or at least everything they think they need will then embark on the age-old quest of finding Happiness. They'll work hard, amasses huge amounts of wealth (the successful ones that is...), purchase ridiculous amounts of properties etc; anything to find that ever-elusive spark of happiness. What many fail to realize, until its too late, is that this little thing called happiness isn't found. It can't be discovered in some diamond mine or dug up from under the leather car seat of a Bentley or Rolls Royce; it has to be made. Incidentally, the raw materials needed to make this tiny thing called happiness aren't costly in anyway whatsoever. These materials are found in the little things we do everyday; in the smiles we see in strangers, in the sweat droplets which appear after a long bike ride; in the cheery conversations we make with friends and family about the weather and in the hopes we have for a better future. Once you're able to find all these tiny, seemingly insignificant joys in our everyday lives and internalize it all, viola, you've got yourself a lifetime's worth of Happiness right in front of you. :) I hope you realize one day that you've got everything you have right in front of you all this time :)

Latest Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

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This is "da bomb"... June 24th seems like a lifetime away!!

Friday Noon Post

Its almost noon and I have yet to do anything constructive with my time yet. Yesterday however went pretty well. I managed to catch "Angels and Demons" with Mum and Sis, finished grocery shopping for the week and progressed on my much neglected Europe Tour Itinerary Plans (ETIF... just for fun...) 

We caught AnD (Acronyms... what will we do without them...) at E-hub, a somewhat recent addition to the already overcrowded population of shopping centres in Singapore. The mall, despite its small size, boost quite a respectable number of rather interesting stores and useless stuff. These include (interesting...) a Fondue shop, a bowling alley (interesting to ME....) and many of those tiny knick-knack stores selling cute and redundant stuff which only add on to the piles of unwanted stuff at home. However, I felt that (under useless stuff...) the Ferris wheel and the pseudo-play-area/open space sponsored by Maybank on the Third floor to be a waste of space and a rather awkward addition to an otherwise quiet and quaint mall. Alrighty... back to the Cinema. 

The Cinema at E-hub is managed/ owned by the Cathay Organization (The guys who brought you Orchard Cineleisure and the Cathay...). The legroom was good and the interior done up pretty well however... the sound... was terrible... at least for me as I watched AnD yesterday... Whenever the music or the sound got louder, as the movie builds up to a random exciting scene, the speakers just started to crackle and hiss. It happened a couple of times and in someways it did mar an otherwise great day out with the family. 

After the movies and Linner (Lunch/Dinner... similar to brunch if you get my drift...) @ New York, New York, we did a bit of grocery shopping at NTUC before heading home. Again, as mentioned previously... a simple, laid-back yet enjoyable day out.

On a more serious note, I need to start taking my training seriously... 9 more weeks really is not a long time more if you ask me :( 

Sickness

I have very very sick friends. Friends who run around Mount Faber 20 times; Friends who cycle for an almost infinite distance for fun; Friends who think 21 km runs are short; Friends who do a race a week for a month and a half. Thankfully I bring normalcy to our friendships... for now :)

Recovery

My head's been throbbing ever since that "incident" last Sunday. I am not exactly sure what the heck is going on, but I don't think there's much to fear since I have suffered much more severe blows to my cranium in the past and have come out none the worse for wear after those bumps. Besides, it isn't like I had anything important up there in the first place. On top of the sporadic headaches, I am down with a cold and conjunctivitis. The cold coupled with the sinus problem that has been aggravated because of the chill I got during yesterday's swim could be what's adding on to the headaches. The other worrying thing is the tear (Yes Norman... you were right...) which happened on the cornea of my left eye. According to my GP it should take about a week to heal. It is rather sickening that all these ailments start cropping up after the damn exams and just when I need to start upping the tempo. I did manage to get myself out for a supposed long run this morning, but after about 10.2 km, I had to stop cause I really couldn't take the heat and the "exercise induced migraine" which was really starting to hurt. I decided that I ain't going to stop the workouts just yet but I will definitely reduce the intensity that I'll be performing them at. Let's just hope my body and faith in myself don't fail me now... :)

Mother's Day

Mother's day was created/ established by Anna Jarvis about a century ago to commemorate the death of her Mother and to recognize all that her mother has done for her. What began originally as a celebration of good intent has degenerated into another commercialized publicity stunt to generate more money and revenue for the tons of gifts and cards companies out there. To quote a small paragraph from Wikipedia, "Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially-successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States. For example, according to IBISWorld , a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards. Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother's rings." What I believe Wiki fails to acknowledge is the agony and heartache these "days of gratitudes" sometimes brings. Every child out there seeks desperately to produce the best gift possible in hopes of pleasing his or hers  respective parent whilst every parent, more specifically mother in this case, desperately yearns for the gift that outshines those her friend's kids had given her. I have to admit I don't often show my thanks for what I have and the privileges bestowed upon me. However I do try. A coffee in the middle of the night, some bread from provence when I return home from school, a hug and a kiss before bedtime; I always thought that those mattered the most. Should that not be the case, I had believed that 15 (Since I was in P1...)  years of Mother's day gifts and perfect celebrations would count for something at least and my how was I mistaken. I ain't in a habit of airing my dirty linen in public but I just needed an outlet, somewhere to pour out what I am feeling and stating where I am coming from. I ain't perfect and I admit that sometimes I make some of the worse mistakes possible on what was to be one of the happiest days in a year. 

Were there special, extraordinary plans made to commemorate today? No. Were there simple plans? Yes... Simple and Sincere plans were made. Were they perfect? No... most definitely not, if not I won't be writing this post now... but were they real? Yes... 

I believe it's the thought that matters the most somehow. Well to me at least. 

Do I regret whatever that has happened today? Most definitely so. I regret the numerous poor judgment calls and the insensitivity showed. I guess that in so many ways, I have been so caught up in my life that I just lost track of what really mattered most in the end. 

I believe in the power of sleep and in the new beginnings a new day brings. The next major trial in my life is less than 70 days away and I am, in all honesty, not ready for it at all. Am I worried? Hell yeah. Am I going to do something about it? Yes I am. These 70 days are going to be a test of whatever little strength and determination I have in me and I am going to prove to myself that I have what it takes to go that extra mile.

Mental exhaustion takes more out of you as compared to any form of physical exertion. No kidding. Till the next post and better days to come :)

Change

I find it highly improbable that much good will come out of whatever I am doing or attempting to do now. I honestly don't enjoy whatever I am doing in school. It is scary how reality often pales in comparison to the seemingly limitless dreams one has when one is  insolent. It scares me just how fast the world moves. Friends who used to sit right across you during recess now surging forth, embarking on adventures one can only dream off. Schoolmates whom you used to catch a glimpse of as you trudge through school now captured only in photographs taken in far-away places. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is how a long time ago, it was I who thought would be the one who will be that journey of a lifetime; the journey of mental and spiritual transformation. Things obviously have not changed much for me judging from my viewpoint. 

I have been having many sleepless nights. I stay awake till 2 reading, studying and continue to stay up till 5 or 6 most of the time just lying in bed, listening to some old forgotten tune wondering what went wrong and how the heck did I end up in such a mess. Was it the lack of determination, or was it the lack of self-motivation? Were the odds against me right from the start, or did I just not seize whatever opportunities that availed themselves to me? Or perhaps was it because for that short period in time, I tried so damn hard to be someone I wasn't, to walk a path that wasn't meant to be? 

I have to say that the predicament I am in now is a rather interesting one. I am thoroughly happy with the friends I have and the life I am leading yet I am extremely dissatisfied with the current state of affairs I am in. Well... I don't have much time left to figure things out. I have one last paper tomorrow and upon its conclusion comes too the conclusion of my first year. Tragically, I have absolutely nothing to show for it at all, lest some As' and Bs' in courses and modules which I have absolutely no interest in. On the bright side however, this epiphany could not have come at a much better time. Change, in many ways, is like a Sumatran Squall (I thought it only apt to add in some local analogy...), always looming in the distance, seemingly hesitant in its movements but unstoppable when in motion... (Again... its almost midnight so pardon the analogy should it be deemed inappropriate) you only have a general idea of when it might hit but never anything definite. Alright... break's over... back to Econometrics...

One more day

Sometimes all it takes is a miracle... I know for a fact that didn't happen yesterday at approximately 1 p.m. :) Lets see how things go tomorrow :)

AWARE results Vids.

Say it's possible.

Terra Naomi's youtube release of (I think...) her first and very successful single... Just thought it be best to share the good things with everyone... 5 more days :)