home is where the humidity is

its been 6 days now since i landed in spore. finally got out of my lazy spell and decided to blog.
i find it funny... blogging is one of those things that when you dont do it for a while, you keep procrastinating adding another entry day after day...but when you finally get down to typing that entry, you feel better and want to blog MORE. i was gonna say "in that way, its kinda like studying"...but then again after i study a little, i dont feel like doing more. so i guess its different. haha.

A short recap of whats been happening:

sat - went to collect marathon race packet with satiish. jalan-jalan ard suntec for a bit, then went home.

sun - went to east coast and met with khal and danielle. we rented blades. FUN! went to NTU afterwards to run with satiish. it was the most PAINFUL run EVEEEERRRRRRRR. we did a 2hr run in prep for the marathon. but it only made us realise how NOT ready we are. at the 1hr30mins mark, both of us "hit the wall" and the last half an hour was just pure torture. if not for the finisher's tee, i think i wouldnt be running this sun. hahaha. we were so dehydrated afterwards that we whacked 4 drinks back to back to back to back. went to suresh's place to watch man u chelsea that night. once again, i realise that i NEED to get foxtel in australia.

mon - woke up in PAIN. rest of the day was sluggish...feeling the muscles aching all over. cant remember what i did on monday....hmmm..... must be the post-2hr-run memory lapse.

tues - watched movie with satiish then went to bukit batok to have POWER BRIYANI!!! and MILO GODZILLA!!! hahahaha. damn nice.

wed - met satiish at NTU at 7-frickin-am in the morning. havent woken up so early in a loooong time. but no choice....cos we were going for a 10km run, and by 8am its pretty hot already. afterwards, we went to this new swimming complex in jurong. not bad....had onc nice long slide. no wave pool tho =(

thurs - collected my new specs! but my degree went up =(.... too much photoshopping in front of my small laptop screen. my mom says its too much psp....but we all know thats NOT TRUE!

going to NUS to visit suresh tmr. his exams are over on monday. cant wait!! we got lotsa FIFA and PASTA to catch up on!

NICE

im a FREEEEEEE man~!!
yeaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

went to watch the prestige yest after my LAST PAPER.
its a kick ass show... if u havent watched it yet, you should! i mean, a show where wolverine takes on batman...how could u possibly go wrong!? haha.

im still high.
bought FIFA 07 yesterday!!!! was playing all nite long.
cant wait to watch man u vs chelsea this wkend back in spore!

well, im at uni now of all places. need to collect my work from the studio, but the darn room is locked. and the faculty office doesnt open for another 10 mins...arrgggg.....

gonna watch BORAT later!
NICE.
haha.

the slide test kinda sucked.

didnt know about 15 out of 60 questions...and several more that i got wrong. looks like im gonna get about 60%. shit. was really hoping the slide test was gonna pull up my marks.

needed to unwind after the test.... so decided to run to williamstown (part of my hopeful attempt to get my marathon training back on track). took about an hour to run there...and an hour back. thats the longest ive run since last year's marathon....and man did i feel it! suuuuuper pain after 1hr30min mark. muscles hurting left, right, centre. and thats only about 28km...still got another 12km more to go. sigh...die lah. that PLUS the hot n humid spore weather will ensure that i WILL suffer a lot. will aim for a 2.5hr run later this wk.... i think thats as far as im gonna train. The knee is still holding up well, thank goodness.

got a lot of mugging to do today. the written exam tmr, which initally i planned to be my weakest link, now looks like it HAS to be the one thing that pulls up my grade. thats not a good thing.

back to the books! ta

i fell off my bike today.
in broad daylight at a very busy intersection. damn pai seh.

i bought new pedals (the clip kind that secure your shoe to the pedal) from Cam for real cheap.
I practiced a bit in the car park clipping them on and off...and after about 10 mins i thought i was ready to hit the road.

WRONG!

at the FIRST traffic light, on an upslope, i had already clipped in my left shoe and was in the midst of pushing off and trying to clip in the right shoe...BUT i missed the clip and so i tried to gain my balance by putting my left leg on the ground...BUT of course, my left leg was already tied to the bike... so i feel flat on my side. sigh...

but that was it. just fell once. so not too bad. haha.
had a nice ride....cycled to williamstown, which is about 45mins from the city.
i DO have my first paper tmr, but needed to get outside and let off some steam.

oh shit... my first paper is tmr??!?
uh oh.

where are those lecture slides!!???!??

lookie! building! lookie! building!

AHHHHHHH
so many buildings! so many buildings!
omg omg omg
i can feel my brain beginning to expand, and surely enought it will soon explode!!
shit shit
i havent used this much memorising power since JC.
but theres a difference...
i suck at it now!

AHHHHHHHHHH
dying dying. damn visual test.... only 15% of my grade also. but i need every single mark i can get, cos i got my essay comments yesterday and they werent too good. im thinking i'll get btw 60-70....hmm......ok maybe 60-65. hahaha hoooo hooo hehehe. oh no im delirious shit i shld stop taking so much sweets and tea oh no now my punctutation marks have gone missing too crap dammit help help

im going crazy!

all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy
all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy
all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy all work and no play makes iylia a dull boy

remember, remember the fifth of november
the gunpowder, treason and plot
i know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

brain dead

not that ive been studying VERY hard lately....in fact i havent been studying too hard at all.
average about 4hrs a day. thats bad.
after final submission last wk, i have no will, no drive to study.
the fact that my hist exam isnt for almost another 2 wks doesnt help. im in the "zone" now. and no, its not the study 'zone'.

at uni now trying to compile a list of important buildings to study for the visual exam. theres just so frickin MANY. ahhhhhh! been sitting here for the past 3 hrs doing nothing but going thru a list of buildings and deciding which ones are important enough to memorise for the exam.

and my brain is dead. cant think straight. need a break. hence the blogging.

supposed to go for training today, but they were doing hills intervals, which wouldnt benefit my marathon training in any way so i decided not to go. that and because i LUUURRRVE being a slave to my history paper.

i need sugar.

i need coffee.

i need to watch Harold n Kumar.

will prob go home soon. cant take much more of this. hungry too.

back to training...oh so bad

after a month (possibly more), i finally made my return to training yesterday. daylight savings has started since then, and now finally training is in daylight! i got to break out the sunnies which, lets face it, makes you run faster! (right satiish? haha)
training session was freakin tough! we did 4 x 1200 reps.... the rest time was measured by whenever your heartrate drops to 140, which isnt much time at all. It works out to about 1 to 1.5mins between each rep.
ok...so this prob isnt the worst session we've done, but i found it so so so hard. was struggling after the 2nd set. my speedwork is gone now. sigh. i guess its a tradeoff....been doing too many long, easy runs preparing for the marathon. will start my speed training again once its over.

studying for exams arent going too good. i went to rowden white library yesterday and borrowed a hardcover x-men comic. ive already read half of it and its almost as thick as my history reader. ah, if only i could read my reader at that pace. why? why? why? oh and i borrowed the xmen dvd too. haha. shit... i need somebody to give me a kick up the arse and get me studying, cos its just now happening now.

hmmm....guess i'll go finish that xmen boook now.

the AD aftermath brunch

Had a nice brunch today with some of my archi frens.
Most of them i only got to know this semester. Altho we've been in the same year all this while, we've never been in the same tute grp. They're a really nice bunch. Hopefully we'll be in the same studio classes again next sem!

Anyways...im totally overloaded on SUGAR now!!!
had a very large brekkie at a cafe with ICE CHOCOLATE. then proceeded to have CAKE and ICE CREAM at another cafe. We only ordered 4 cakes to share among the 8 of us...but the portions were so HUGE that we couldnt finish it. I thought 4 wouldnt be enuf....how wrong i was. hahaha.

sigh....my parents are leaving tmr... so soon. well, i'll see them again in about a month's time.
gonna take a nice break this wkend and catch up on some tv shows and psp games. come monday its back to (sigh) mugging for history paper. holidays, come faster!!

ah! the light! bright! bright!

yes, tats how i felt walking out of the architecture building yesterday afternoon, having spent 2 nights there working on my final project. (ah the sad life of me...)
Ok, to be honest, it was more like one night, cos the first night i went home at about 3am to sleep a little. But last nite was an all-nighter. Havent done one for almost a year now. (see construction-friggin-technology 1B model)
Well, ITS DONE! ITS SUBMITTED! and now i can rest for the weekend. Gonna spend some more time with my parents before they leave on sunday. I've been neglecting them and spending most of my time at uni this past wk.... feel bad. Now we've only got 2 more days together so gotta make the most of it.

in other news.....marathon training has started again after a one wk haitus, i havent bought FIFA07 yet, im still single, and man u beat liverpool over the wkend!!!!!

on the right track..

check this out!!
i was reading comics in between my lessons, and i found this gem!
read it... its my life's plan exactly...heh heh.

presentation over! mummy's here! new racers!

Today is a goooood day!
my mom got here in the morning. i was still very much asleep, having slept at 4.30am preparing for the presentation today. Had a horrid weekend cramming for it....but it was all worth it in the end. i got a good grade! yippie! now its only another 9 days to the final submission. i hereby designate tonite 'REST NITE'. archi work shall resume tmr.....or maybe the day after. haha.

oooh. and my mom brought my new racers! they cost AUD$180 here, but only S$120 from queensway!!! anyways, they're neon blue and they look awesome! cant wait to try them out...but gotta wait till after the fasting month.

off to get krispy kream doughnuts now with mummy. ciao!

ps : khal, i'll post it soon! hee. lazy lah. haha

esther's grad

Went to Esther's graduation yesterday.
Cant believe my ACJC friends are graduating!!! It really feels like just yesterday we finished A levels.....but 'wow' its actually almost 4 yrs ago... omg we're old!
The ceremony was at the Clayton campus. Yongsi met me at the train station and gave me a ride to the campus. We met Denise there. And so....the four 2SB3 melbournites were together yet again! haha.
Had dinner with esther's family afterwards (felt a bit pai seh)...but the food was really good...seafood claypot rice! Then we took the train back to the city and there was this dodgy, loud, had-too-much-vodka-for-dessert aussie punk on the train making trouble. He didnt hurt anyone...just making a lot of noise. idiot.

I meant to do work today...but i went shopping instead! hahaha. bought 3 giordano tops for 20 bucks total! so happy! i got home just before dinner, and it suddenly hit me that i have only 3 days to my final submission. aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. good thing i havent bought FIFA07 yet.

so true its scary

i'll be one of the first people to slam the idea that "our destiny is controlled by the stars", or "because u were born on so-and-so day, your life will turn out as such...blah...blah".
But i took one of these random tests where u input your birthday and the computer generates all manner of information about that date, like your star sign, birth stone, zodiac....etc. One in particular was so true about me its actually kinda creepy...

Your birth tree is:

Chestnut Tree, the Honesty
Of unusual beauty, does not want to impress, well-developed sense of justice, vivacious, interested, a born diplomat, but irritable and sensitive in company, often due to a lack of self-confidence, acts sometimes superior, feels not understood, loves only once, has difficulties in finding a partner.

try it out.
http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

UNIGAMES!

alice, allison, cam, me, elaine

Day 1:
i met up with elaine at her place and we both got a ride with allison to the airport. I had to walk about 1km with a big backpackers-style bag....and it totally drained me! so not combat fit now. oh how i dread reservice...
anyways...moving on. we got the airport and met alice and cam there and surprise, surprise, found that they were on the same flight as us. just as well, bcos one of cam's frens had rented a car in adelaide, so when we touched down we got a free ride to the hotel!
the hotel was nice...BUT! cam and i got put into the smallest room. (or at least thats what it seemed) everyone else's room appeared bigger than ours. there was only one queen-sized bed, but luckily the hotel soon provided us with another single bed so we didnt have to sleep brokeback-style. nothing much happened on day 1. we went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies and had an early night.


alice, elaine, sofie, allison, bry


me, hamish, cam

Day 2:
Woke up at 9am and went for a walk. there are really nice parks in adelaide! but the birds are evil. one attacked me and landed on my head.
We all met up at 12pm and caugt a bus to the race venue at flinders university.
The race? 12km cross country. The course? the most boring-arse course u could imagine... 6 x 2km. super sian. and part of the course was on very uneven terrain which made it that much more annoying.
ran a 48min...not too good. thats 4min per km....
It was a horrible race... there are only a few times in my life that ive felt more shag after a race. But we got a team silver medal, so it wasnt all for nothing. Went back to the hotel and got a massage. (my first ever massage...seriously) Then we went out for dinner to this supposedly nearby place that ended up being 45 mins walk!!! and the food wasnt too great either. i had a pasta that was too creamy and too salty. bleah.


before

after

Day 3:
The day of the dreaded 10000m.
woke up feeling SORE from the 12km the day before. the massage helped...but not much.
I was feeling very reluctant to do the 10km....but cam was doing it too, so i figured what the heck, why not.
10000m on the track is boring boring boring multiplied to the power of infinity.
i had to stop a couple of times and stretch my ITB which was beginning to hurt, prob from running on too much uneven terrain the day earlier.
ran a 39.20....again not so good. just under 4min per km pace, which for 10000m is not fast enough. Cant quite remember what i did the rest of the day. haha. i think we stayed at the track and watched some other races before going out to dinner. oh ya! now i remember...haha. we went to another pasta place. much closer to the hotel this time, and better food too.


tram to the beach!

Day 4:
rest day! no races for me!
went to the beach with cam, sofie and elaine in the morning. unfortunately i was fasting, and coundnt eat the fish n chips by the beach.
we went to support some other people who were racing in the afternoon, and i managed to sneak in a bit of shopping into the day too.
at night we went to this ice cream place called Cold Rock that sofie was going on and on about. i must say, its the best damn ice cream ive ever had. EVER! what happens is u choose a flavour of ice cream and a topping (for example, an oreo cookie), and they actually mash and beat the two together on the counter top in front of u. haha. its great! and it tastes oh so yummy. needless to say, that wasnt my last trip to cold rock.


COLD ROCK ROCKS!


Day 5:
steeplechase!
looking back, the steeplechase was fun. but running it....NOT FUN. haha. why do they have to make to steeples so $%#& high?? i was like the second shortest person in the race, and at some points i had to use my hands and literally CLIMB over the steeple. so not pro. haha. but i definitely want to try it again. im sure i can do a better time. oh yea, i did a 11.28 btw....
poor cam injured his leg on one of the jumps. nothing major thank goodness...he should be back training in a week or so.
again...cant quite recall what we did at night. hmm...




Day 6:
We had to get up early and meet up at 9am in the lobby to head down to the road relay. We showed up at the race course, and there was only one other team there!! hahaha. apparently, the other teams had gotten too boozed the night before and couldnt wake up. hahaha.
the course was 5km, and once again, it was a boring 6 laps of a horse racing track. it was a fast course, though, and i got a good time...17.59. i suspect its a little under 5km, but i dont care! i'll take what i can get! haha.
we got back to the city at around 12 and had lunch at this really nice italian cafe. i had a seafood pizza...and it was WOOO!!! nothing like a good pizza after a hard run.
spent the rest of the afternoon walking ard and shopping. haha. but in the end i only bought a couple of plain tees for 27 bucks. (the thought of saving for my road bike was ever-present in my mind)
i've got so much to write about friday night! we had a HUGE clubbing session!!
but i gotta go break fast now, so i'll dedicate an entire post to friday night soon!