Some of my friends have been reading my blog in secret. Tsk. Naughty naughty.
But it's perfectly fine for me. Because, I am a serial blog
stalker too! Lol. The wonders of technology. I love readingb
blogs; they provide you with a queer sense of warmth and closeness to that writer, sometimes whom, you may not even be close to. When someone posted a happy event, it makes you feel
glad for them. When something sad happened, you feel grateful for your life. Or simply, maybe sometimes I'm just a kaypo who wants to peek into someone else's life. Haha.

How come everyone thought my dream is to be a teacher and that that, is the path I'll be pursuing after my graduation? Haha.. No no. You guys got it all wrong. True that I mentioned my intention to enter NIE. But I never said I'm dying to. It's just a natural or rather, obvious progression for me after I grad since I don't see
myself working in a lab day in day out. It's an option. But definitely not my passion.

Exciting events coming up!
Kiyah-Splashh! Dragonboat Team BBQ this saturday. I openly proclaim that I am not a fan of BBQ though - all the saturated fats and
carcinogens entering my body ahh! But the fellowship manage to make me actually look forward to it. To a health-nut, it's horrific really, to see people slap on the butter on every single piece of digestible matter. It's like asking a cleanliness freak to just stare at the rims of the table number tags at the hawker centre's tables. :)

Beast's arrival from Malaysia. Funny I'm so excited. Whatever for? Also not my bf.

Kyan's birthday cum family dinner. Haven't seen him for so long. Can't wait to play with him.

Counting down to my end of holidays. SIGHHHHH...

Everyone's asking me to open my doors. (referring to meeting and getting to know guys)
Argh. So irritating! It's not like if I want it will happen. I might as well find any Tom
Dick or Harry on the street.

Stress!

I'm amazed. How 2 persons with such stark contrast in their personalities are able to live together. It's amusing too, to see how one accepts the other's untidiness. And likewise, the messball endures the neat freak's systematic lifestyle.
That's cool.

My youngest sis is infatuated. Funny, but I can't wait to meet the next bf that she'll bring home. Which is quite ridiculous of me because it'll mean me being 200bucks poorer if I dont buck up by christmas. Last night a good friend of mine asked me what are the qualities I look for in a guy. Hmmm. Yea, what? x)

"Chemistry. :) "
"But you're a chem major, it should be easy!"

haha. What rubbish.

I'm person of habit. Though I do try to move out of my comfort zone at times, every bit of
change, I'll set myself in auto mode to try to
turn that change into routine as fast as possible. I live such a regimented
life, but I like it. :)

As I was packing my desk, I flipped through some old school handbooks. My handwriting changed
so much. The memories of the mad mugger lifestyle I forced upon myself in the past resurfaced - after I read
through my goals for the term, what I need to study, homework, tests, assignments blah, all written in the handbooks. Though I was never a bright student and I seldom did well, but being where I am now, was all due to pure hardwork.
Then I realized how slack I was in Uni. I didnt even give my best.

Time to buck up. Along this journey, I realized that I have other plans in my destination.. But, I need to finish what I started.

Discipline. I live by it.
With dscipline comes dilligence, determination,effort, persistence, perseverance, consistency.

I will work hard to finish my final year of studies at kampong nanyang.
Then pursue the path I love. :)

My holidays won't last long. Gotta enjoy it best as
I can!
Woot. The Beast's coming soon.
Wud be interesting to watch a showdown. Wahaha.

"Dear Lord, help me to remove from my mind every thought or opinion which You would not sanction; every feeling from my heart which You would not approve. Grant that I may spend the hours of the day gladly working with You according to Your will. Help me just for today and be with me in it. In the long hours of work, that I many not grow weary or slack in serving You. In conversations, that they may not be to me occasions of uncharitableness. In the days worries and disappointments that I may be patient with myself and with those around me. In the moments of fatigue and illness, that I may be mindful of others rather than of myself. In temptations, that I may be loyal, so that when the day is over I may lay it at Your feet, with its successes which are all Yours, and its failures which are all my own, and feel that life is real and peaceful, and blessed when spent with You as the Guest of my soul..

Amen."

I did my usual rounds of reading articles online when I chanced upon this article entitled 'The 5 Things You Can't Live Without'.

I have no intention of posting the entire article, but I'll just put more extracts of it that made me really think through what I want for my life. Yes, MY LIFE.

"1. A Career You Love -

Last Saturday my best friend and I were walking around Discover Mills Mall in Lawrenceville, GA. It's a nice family mall in an Atlanta suburb. It was a spur of the moment agreement between bored friends.As we walked around the mall I noticed a disturbing trend. Only 1 in about 10 faces had a smile on it and that same number of people even acknowledged my "Hellos", "How you doing?", or "Good Morning". I thought I was in a zombie movie for a minute. The more attention I paid to it the more depressing it became.
90% of the people in the place looked like they were beat down by being alive. Most of the people were middle aged families who appeared to be quite successful based on the cars in the parking lot (I know that's not saying much but what else do I have). An overwhelming aura of sadness seemed to float through the building. Needless to say, I was happy to leave when we did.

I don't care what ANYBODY says. As an adult your career defines you. It determines everything about you.
Who you hang out with.
Who you marry.
Where you live.
What you eat.
Your income.
Your outlook on life.
How society views you.
How you view society.
How you spend your time.
Have you ever heard a description of an adult that doesn't involve how that person makes a living? 9 times out of 10 the career will be brought up in some shape, form, or fashion.

With that being said why spend your days somewhere that makes you unhappy? Why get up and let out a HUGE sigh as you start the daily routine? If you're going to be there 75-80 percent of your waking hours shouldn't you at least like it?
I can hear what you're saying as you read this. I can't make a decent living following my passion.

2 questions for you:
-What's a decent living?
-Why not? "

Hmmm.. I may have discovered what I love doing - very much. But, like any normal Singaporean, I have my doubts and my fears. Maybe I've been trying too hard to convince myself of that something, that I may eventually love doing. My mom, however, has been trying to make me uncover what I seriously do like doing. The mama is secretly trying to psycho me to rethink my decision of signing a bond with MOE i guess. Haha. It makes sense. What if I realize teaching ain't what I thought it to be? Then I will have to live (and waste) 4 years of life in agony.. Sigh. I'm entering into my final year of studies in NTU soon. You cannot blame me for worrying and thinking about such issues. It is never too early to plan for your future.

It takes much courage, to do the things you love and to pursue them. To have passion in your job is not unheard of, but realistically, it's indeed rare.

Hope for the best!

Competed in the Singapore Dragonboat Festival over the weekends at the Marina Barrage. Will post up some pictures tomorrow. Stupid blogger giving me problems again.

I'm proud to say that we won 2nd placing in the Minor Finals for the 20 Crew Men's Open.

Another 2 of our teams got into the Plate Finals but didn't manage to get into podium finish. Our ladies team still have a long way to go - being still a relatively young team - but, I'm pretty hopeful for the future. We will definitely train harder. Some day, we'll be bringing in the medals too. :)

An interesting read to share -

Team Kiyah-Splashh President's Note:

" Kiyah-splashh! takes on Singapore Dragon Boat Festival 2009 – A Race Report

Hi friends and long-lost Kiyah Fan Club (KFC) members,Over the last weekend of June, Kiyah-splashh! took part in the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival 2009 with a huge contingent of over 70 team members. The overall increment in numbers is solid proof of Kiyah-splashh!'s prominence in the dragon boat community as well as its accepting open door policy. We also see an unprecedented number of females (nineteen). Amongst us are two fifteen-year olds, Bryan Tan and Jorinda Hsu as well as Gladys Ang at her sweet sixteen. With 4 racing events under her belt just this year alone, Gladys is surely miles ahead of her peers.

The long-distance races have long been Kiyah-splashh!'s Achilles Heels. While having one single training per week may be a contributing factor, we have been making steady progress in previous editions of the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival. This year armed with lofty ambition, we registered for two 20-crew Men’s Open events, four 10-crew Inter-Business Houses and Clubs, one 20-crew mixed and one 10-crew Women’s Open. This year’s Singapore Dragon Boat Festival was held at the Marina Barrage for the first time. All the heats were held in searing heat (no pun intended) on the Saturday, so all of us were grateful for the shade under the tentage sponsored by Seatec CEO, Mr Kho Hao Yuan. F&N, Nestle and Shark sponsored drinks for our fast-dehydrating bodies. Edward Nathan borrowed two of his school canteen’s drink dispensers to allow us to make creative mocktails out of diluted milo in Go!, Gatorade, Shark Energy drinks and perhaps some other additives I rather not know. Under doctor’s advice, Centrum vitamins were dutifully taken everyday for a week to set the metabolic cycles racing in hyper mode. Thanks Doc Ivan Shim!

We installed 7 captains (Han Chin Kwong, Heng Kok Leng, Tan Kar Wing, Wilson Ng, Jonathan Heng, Hooi Tick Hoong and yours truly) to be in charge of their respective boats with clear instructions to get the best out of the paddlers. The day started ominously with one rower breaking a paddle in a practice start on the way to the starting platform – the spare paddle came in handy. For the first time in the history of Kiyah-splashh!, three 10-crew Inter-Biz teams went into semi-finals with one boat clearly blazing the field and two boats coming in 3rd in the heats. It was later known that one Kiyah-splashh! rower puked nearing the finish – the excuse was that he rowed too hard for his guts to stomach any further. To protect him from further embarrassment, his name will not be revealed here.

Even the 10-crew Women’s Open gave a good account of themselves, pacing well with a full-time Singapore Polytechnic school team despite a nail-biting oh-so-damn-it last placed finish. Despite joining midseason in April, Natalie Noelle Koh formed a formidable pacing pair with Eugenia Chung to set a consistent pace need to outlast the race. The ladies should be proud of their achievement. With these results, all of us knew we had surpassed our coach, Hao Yuan’s expectations and were licking our lips with full anticipation of what laid ahead of us on Sunday.

A first placed finish in the Inter-Biz semi-finals would mean a place in the Grand Final, a second placed finish Minor Final and a third placed finish Plate Final. One Kiyah-splashh! boat started the day with a bang – a place in the Plate Final was in the bag. The second Kiyah-splashh! boat was unable to replicate that success and was gutted to be bundled out of any Finals. The third and last Kiyah-splashh! boat aimed to do it even better in its semi-final. The official starter at the starting platform announced that he had never seen a drummer sitting sideways in his last 20 years and warned that the possibility of falling into the water would be real. Clearly he was in for a surprise. The Kiyah-splashh! boat with a drummer sitting in an unorthodox position finished in 2nd place, in style.

With back-to-back races for the 10-crew Inter-Biz Finals, we did a little reshuffling with the drummers and coxswains. In the Plate Finals, we fell just short of a podium finish. However this was still cause for celebration. Based on merit, Daniel Tan Dan Yi, a newbie who joined us for this season, was in this Plate Final and I’m sure he will treasure this experience rowing with the likes of veterans such as Hooi Tick Hoong, Han Chin Kwong, Law Kim Chuan, Desmond Ho and Ho Koon Chyuan in such an important race. In his first role as a left pacer for all races, Ng Hui Liang did a creditable job pairing with Tick Hoong.

The last highlight of the day for Kiyah-splashh! belonged to the Inter-Biz Minor Final. Immediately following the Plate Final, the Minor Final was a test of nerves and will against the afternoon heat, muscle fatigue and after-lunch lethargy. Banking on good starts in true Kiyah-splashh! fashion, we burst out from the blocks. These old hands were experienced and composed, quietly confident in their strokes. 500m went past and Raymond announced to the boat, “Guys, we are still leading!”. As the race drew to a close, the boat came in a fantastic 2nd place behind eventual winners of the Minor Final, Singapore Paddle Club. One boat-length behind us in third place was Sunday Dragons. So one more additional saucer has been earned with blood and sweat for the display cabinet of Kiyah-splashh! Exhilaration all round and congratulatory screaming from our supporters even got the race commentator excited. In truth, I heard them shouting on top of their lungs too, when we charged for the last burst.

As usual we stayed behind to watch the Prime Minister Cup. In truth, the Prime Minister has more things on his mind in air-conditioned comfort than watch some badly tanned, Oakleys-clad university dragon boat teams rowing some 1000m under scorching sun. So he has been quietly sending his not-so-lovely assistant. Henceforth I propose this race be renamed as Deputy Prime Minister Cup. Which is unfortunately still a misnomer, since it really isn’t a cup up for grabs, just some metal twisted in the form of a stylized dragon as a trophy. Goodness gracious me, it was announced over the air that the Singapore Management of University team needed a spare coxswain with all the boats already lined up at the starting line, much to the crowd’s amusement. We volunteered Raymond Ho Ching Wen, our long-serving championship-winning coxswain with degrees from National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University for the job, but alas foolish courage eluded him at this moment. Just for your information, Nanyang Technological University whipped National University of Singapore, sweeping both men’s and women’s races. Somehow quite yawn-inducing in my opinion.

As this race ends, we will be gunning for more achievements next half of the year. And it is gonna be an exciting half of the year, I assure you ladies and gentlemen. Friends, watch out for an email announcing the first training in August. Those lads who haven’t been in the training team for this year and are itching to get back to the team, please email me. Even if you are coming down just to ogle at our nineteen lovely girls.

Cheers,

Peichuan "

Long post, phew, NIGHTS!

I'm restless. Frustrated. But I know that what happened, was probably the best for me.

Lord, why..

Can I not find peace.

"I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.."

(Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam:27, 1850)


Beautiful.

What a WOW WOW weekend!
The past week was woot! Lotsa activities and stuff to keep my lazy arse busy. :)

Thurs 4th June 09 - Headed to Wing Tai office at Kovan with Nigel boy boy for an interview for a part time job at Adidas. So far, have not gotten any calls from them. I blerdy need a job! I've been spending way too much money. Need to refill my 'tank' heh. But then, what if I really got the job? Should I accept it? It's a measly 5.50bucks per hour by the way..

Fri 5th June 09- Gym in the morning then went home to wash up and get all my barang barang. Met my darling Ben for lunch before we took bus 16 to Marine Parade. Checked in at the Chalet - Goldkist Resort at east coast park. I napped while the mad guy danced to his Jai Ho blasted downstairs from his ipod. He and his tam-bi nonsense. Soon after, the cutesy couple appeared! Samantha and Shaun. The 2 guys then went to parkway to get drinks while Sam and I went to rent the bbq bit from a super fierce looking indian lady. She looked ready to swallow us I swear.

The rest of the gang will be late. And rather late too. So again, I napped, (always super tired after gym) upstairs in the bedroom. Sam and Ben played Raving Rabbits on our rented Wii. Poor shaun started the fire. Thus, Fri was BBQ night with the Toof Fairies!

But I had a pleasant surprise. That though I didn't look surprised, indeed I truly was. Ben once again called my family and yup, friends and his family celebrated the 22nd year of my life. Thanks dude!

After all the chatting, bbq-ing, and drinking, the rest of us staying over at the chalet showered, played cards and guitar hero. As for bed time, Sam thoughtfully planned out the sleeping arrangement as best as possible for the comfort of the majority of us. We were supposed to sleep before Ben sleeps. BUT, that idiot, plugging and engrossed with his ipod, started singing all the tamil songs in his most horrendous voice. We couldn't sleep. Soon, the true nightmare began. Ben fell asleep before us, and the ceaseless snoring began. We were seriously rendered helpless. And surprise surprise, some unsuspecting peeps joined in the Snoring Symphony. Gareth and shaun. Hahaha omg.

Sat 6th June 09 - Without a doubt, the 3 of them woke up super early the next morning and bought MacDonald breakfast for us. I went down to join them for breakfast with the other pigs still lazing in bed. It was a lazy saturday. With the bright hot sun, most went back to bed after breakfast (brunch rather) and some Wii-playing time. I went for a walk alone at ECP to have some fresh air and to clear my thoughts. All of us went cycling for 2 hrs with the exception of Shan and Penny who had to leave. I cycled like a tortoise due to my weakened ankles and knees. Have not fully recovered from Sundown. The deadly impact of running a marathon haha. Was famished after cycling and we went for dinner at 85 Bedok Market. Had Oyster egg, black carrot cake, satay, chick wings, and a bowl of Soup Ba Chor Mee each. Yummilious!

Desert was at some ice cream cafe place at east coast rd or something. Had my favorite cookies n creme ice cream. Love Oreo to bits!

Gareth dropped us back at the chalet before he left. Poor bro gotta work on Sunday. Everyone was pretty tired and went to sleep leaving me with Hugo to watch Fight Club. However, due to technical problems, we were unable to complete the show and therefore went to bed too. It was freezing cold and I couldn't sleep. Woke up at 6plus and stoned downstairs before washing up around 7plus and left the chalet for Kallang. Had training that day so gotta leave earlier.
I'm amazed I didn't die during training despite the lack of sleep and proper breakfast.

Sun 7th June 09 - Training, lunch then knocked out at home. We wore our Finisher's Tee and took pictures together since we were too tired to do so on the actual marathon day.

Mon 8th June 09- My actual birthday! Went out with some of the Kiyah-Splashhies (my dragonboat mates) for dinner at some Zi Char place at killiney road. Received a warm muffin and a Nike Tee with my name printed on. Thanks guys!

Something to share:
I actually got a Birthday msg from Brother Paul in facebook! For those who dont know Bro Paul, he's my principal back in cjc. What a surprise! :D

This coming weekend will be filled with fun and laughters again... Will be staying over at Intercontinental Hotel with dragonboat mates to celebrate ah heng's birthday. It will be interesting to see how all the drunkends can pull through their hangover to go for saturday's extra training considering they will be drowning themselves with alcohol at Phuture on fri night. Hehe. For me, I'd prefer to be sober anytime. :)

Thanks everyone for the smses, calls, and scribblings on facebook!

You guys made me a happy 22nd year old girl. :) Tata!

Sundown 2009 Timings

Alison

0Km - 10km - 1:25:17.54
10Km - 20km - 1:43:46.24
20Km - 30Km - 1:25:44.77
30Km - 42km - 2:09:28.49

Total Time : 6:44:17.04