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Sunday, July 30, 2006
History: It's the first time I haven't updated my blog for more than a week... Anyway, I was too busy / stressed to...
What can I say... this week I've owed God a lot... Winning the Indiv Epee wasn't that much of a thing for me, cos the victory was considerably dampened by the fact that the semi with Brandon was won through a double yellow... Kudos to him though.. he was on his way to thrashing me by 3 points when somehow I changed the ROE and came back.. and also even more so for Cephas... and I hardly consider the fight fair...
It's the first time the fencer-side of me and the first aider-side of me clashed. Being a sportsman would have meant just fencing all out, going for the jugular... But for a first aider, when I was on the piste, the words that echoed in my brain were "First do no harm...". Well too bad, I've fenced for only a year and a half, but I've held a first aid cert since sec. 1. Still do in fact, until 31st August. It wasn't a good way to win, but I don't consider myself "lucky" either, because in neither situation was the judge outside his jurisdiction - everything followed the FIE rules. It's just that the game was like that... It's the same way Argentina lost to Germany... It goes either way.
Team event.... I have nothing to say for myself really... Fencing short style really subjects yourself to a lot of injuries... After I got hit in the same-place-that-Brandon-hit-me-two-days-ago, my capability to octave was gone. When the judge happily said "Oh, I don't give yellow cards for this kinda thing", and I got hit there 5 more times, I knew my performance was going to change... It's akin to your soccer opponent cutting you down via sliding tackles and no yellow card is awarded, while you're accumulating bruises on your anatomy. And to those who think "if you're good enough, then the judge shouldn't be a problem", hey, even the olympic fencers have enough dodging their opponent's blade. We should not have to be parrying flying body parts either.
But that said, I guess I also made a wrong tactical decision throwing Chermin in... Should have just continued... But no use for recrimations now... It's something like "It's my fault again", just like at U17 a year ago... Also, consider that CJC was really on form... and they were really hungry for the medal, more so than us, maybe... And Cephas and team fenced really well, more than we've ever seen them... They, as well as their supporters (who were really good, before I forget to mention that) deserve the team win =)
Stupid judge... then in the RJ match, I think we were all kinda rattled... Thanks Cephas again for coming and encouraging me.. We trailed for most of the match.. And again, the gigantic RJ guy who liked to sweep people off the piste, plus our *beep* judge's no-yellow-card policy resulted in the former twisting my wrist in an angle God had not designed it to go. I felt the muscle strain and realised I was in deeper trouble (I was bracing for the "snap"). And then when I was playing a very rapid catchup in my last bout, I could hardly feel my wrist, and was just willing myself to compound parry when my simple sixte stopped working... And the judge still had the nerve to ask me "what's wrong" when I stalled on the en garde line cradling my wrist.... Well, everyone knows how that story ended....
Anyway, as I mentioned, thank God for:
Safety. Despite twisting my wrist, getting a large contusion on my second rib, I was spared serious injury. Brandon didn't do a follow up stroke after my mask got knocked off during the semi otherwise I could have been typing this in hospital... I've now got more bruises, cuts, a strained leg muscle and a fragile wrist, but it could have been much much worst.... At least I didn't tear anything (As mentioned before, having too much first aid knowledge is not good for the peace of mind).
Strength. After fencing Daniel, I was praying and praying for energy cos I had expended a lot fighting Daniel's height with double and triple parries and I was super exhausted, and everyone knows that my counterattacks are disgusting. God gave me energy to continue =)
Wisdom. I don't know why. My fencing style was so different on wednesday... I didn't do fleches or pull myself into CQC as I usually did, but that saved me a lot of energy I needed later. And somehow when Brandon was leading me by 3 points with one minute, I didn't panic like I used to... In fact I felt more emotionless and detached.
Friends. So many of them. The VJ team and Mrs Chan for coming and supporting us. Maurice and Daniel for continual advice. Cephas and his CJC people who gave encouragement. Cynthia who was cheering us during our RJ bout. I dunno... too many to count I guess...
Healing. So I went to church today, and guess what? After prayer, my wrist can now do a pull rotation!!! Well even though the muscle aches are still there, but I won't be having to use the bandage anymore =) Yayness! Thank God!
Well, that kinda rounds it out for now... pictures in the near future maybe... But we have too many nice pics to choose from actually =) Anyway cheers, and feel free to comment on the tagboard (people always have choice comments when I post about my competitions)
What can I say... this week I've owed God a lot... Winning the Indiv Epee wasn't that much of a thing for me, cos the victory was considerably dampened by the fact that the semi with Brandon was won through a double yellow... Kudos to him though.. he was on his way to thrashing me by 3 points when somehow I changed the ROE and came back.. and also even more so for Cephas... and I hardly consider the fight fair...
It's the first time the fencer-side of me and the first aider-side of me clashed. Being a sportsman would have meant just fencing all out, going for the jugular... But for a first aider, when I was on the piste, the words that echoed in my brain were "First do no harm...". Well too bad, I've fenced for only a year and a half, but I've held a first aid cert since sec. 1. Still do in fact, until 31st August. It wasn't a good way to win, but I don't consider myself "lucky" either, because in neither situation was the judge outside his jurisdiction - everything followed the FIE rules. It's just that the game was like that... It's the same way Argentina lost to Germany... It goes either way.
Team event.... I have nothing to say for myself really... Fencing short style really subjects yourself to a lot of injuries... After I got hit in the same-place-that-Brandon-hit-me-two-days-ago, my capability to octave was gone. When the judge happily said "Oh, I don't give yellow cards for this kinda thing", and I got hit there 5 more times, I knew my performance was going to change... It's akin to your soccer opponent cutting you down via sliding tackles and no yellow card is awarded, while you're accumulating bruises on your anatomy. And to those who think "if you're good enough, then the judge shouldn't be a problem", hey, even the olympic fencers have enough dodging their opponent's blade. We should not have to be parrying flying body parts either.
But that said, I guess I also made a wrong tactical decision throwing Chermin in... Should have just continued... But no use for recrimations now... It's something like "It's my fault again", just like at U17 a year ago... Also, consider that CJC was really on form... and they were really hungry for the medal, more so than us, maybe... And Cephas and team fenced really well, more than we've ever seen them... They, as well as their supporters (who were really good, before I forget to mention that) deserve the team win =)
Stupid judge... then in the RJ match, I think we were all kinda rattled... Thanks Cephas again for coming and encouraging me.. We trailed for most of the match.. And again, the gigantic RJ guy who liked to sweep people off the piste, plus our *beep* judge's no-yellow-card policy resulted in the former twisting my wrist in an angle God had not designed it to go. I felt the muscle strain and realised I was in deeper trouble (I was bracing for the "snap"). And then when I was playing a very rapid catchup in my last bout, I could hardly feel my wrist, and was just willing myself to compound parry when my simple sixte stopped working... And the judge still had the nerve to ask me "what's wrong" when I stalled on the en garde line cradling my wrist.... Well, everyone knows how that story ended....
Anyway, as I mentioned, thank God for:
Safety. Despite twisting my wrist, getting a large contusion on my second rib, I was spared serious injury. Brandon didn't do a follow up stroke after my mask got knocked off during the semi otherwise I could have been typing this in hospital... I've now got more bruises, cuts, a strained leg muscle and a fragile wrist, but it could have been much much worst.... At least I didn't tear anything (As mentioned before, having too much first aid knowledge is not good for the peace of mind).
Strength. After fencing Daniel, I was praying and praying for energy cos I had expended a lot fighting Daniel's height with double and triple parries and I was super exhausted, and everyone knows that my counterattacks are disgusting. God gave me energy to continue =)
Wisdom. I don't know why. My fencing style was so different on wednesday... I didn't do fleches or pull myself into CQC as I usually did, but that saved me a lot of energy I needed later. And somehow when Brandon was leading me by 3 points with one minute, I didn't panic like I used to... In fact I felt more emotionless and detached.
Friends. So many of them. The VJ team and Mrs Chan for coming and supporting us. Maurice and Daniel for continual advice. Cephas and his CJC people who gave encouragement. Cynthia who was cheering us during our RJ bout. I dunno... too many to count I guess...
Healing. So I went to church today, and guess what? After prayer, my wrist can now do a pull rotation!!! Well even though the muscle aches are still there, but I won't be having to use the bandage anymore =) Yayness! Thank God!
Well, that kinda rounds it out for now... pictures in the near future maybe... But we have too many nice pics to choose from actually =) Anyway cheers, and feel free to comment on the tagboard (people always have choice comments when I post about my competitions)
~JcZw~ at 7:55 pm
Saturday, July 22, 2006
I don't believe it
Here we students are, working our fingers into carpal tunnel syndrome, melting our brains under Temperature, Joule Heating, Exothermic reactions (not to mention the odd differential equation), sleeping an average of 6 hours a day (I doubt its only me) and barely have enough time to go out anymore, let alone go on a proper class outing
and yet, some nut, some incredibly free, nothing-to-do, i-have-all-the-time-in-the-world organism, presumably someone who's meant to be in Singapore's vaunted workforce actually has time to walk along orchard road taking pictures of VJ students.. well, ain't that jest too dandy... Really, the feller has seriously nothing better to do, and one does not need to go on to what one's feels about his mental state of mind... And hey, even the media doesn't go around taking pictures of potentially-volatile material covertly and then post it around overtly, so what gives this feller the right too? Though I agree that the present day is far from my sister's era (when skirts were longer and more people tucked in their PE shirts... But the latter makes sense since it cuts down on air resistance while 2.4-ing), there's something distinctly unchivalrous about this poor chap's actions...
I say the high-up-guy he went to should have said "what're you doing taking pictures! get back to work!"
And no gentleman would judge a girl by her attire so decisively and irreversibly. He must have been using some other vision to think until like that *eyeball*
Somehow, during that assembly, my mind flashed back to all the Uniform Inspections in St. John (goodness knows why... cos it didn't concern me, and cos I was super sleepy), which I had the pleasure to nearly-pass only once... A belt which was half-a-degree crooked deprived me of a pass... heheh... And how even guys had restrictions on the length of their pants in those days ("The hem touching the third lace hole from the top") But then again, it wasn't all that hard, cos
a) our uniforms were tailor made
b) everyone had the same uniform
plus all the other high standards (where have they gone to now?).... black epaulettes... a hard shoulder flash... shiny boots ALL AROUND... A belt buckle in which you could use it's reflection to tidy your hair (after removing your beret, and getting an instant perm)... seasoned beret with a razor crease blarblarblar...
By the way, the black-thing-on-the-shoulder is spelt e-p-a-u-l-e-t-t-e NOT amulet. An "amulet" is a talisman, a good luck charm... It gives me the creeps to see people spell it like that... just like it makes me "fringe" to see people try to use cheem english words when they can't...
Oh well
Anyway, two miracles by God has happened...
First, I was super blur this whole week, and the lack of sleep was really taking it's toll and today I was falling asleep all over the place had couldn't talk coherently... but after going to cell group I really feel much more energized, hence i'm updating now...
Also, after Hsia Pin prayed for my nose bleed two weeks back, all the bleeding from the left nostril has stopped completely and now I can happily sneeze without having to go through a painful cauterization process again =)
Alright I shall stop here....
Less than a week to Inter-School...
Here we students are, working our fingers into carpal tunnel syndrome, melting our brains under Temperature, Joule Heating, Exothermic reactions (not to mention the odd differential equation), sleeping an average of 6 hours a day (I doubt its only me) and barely have enough time to go out anymore, let alone go on a proper class outing
and yet, some nut, some incredibly free, nothing-to-do, i-have-all-the-time-in-the-world organism, presumably someone who's meant to be in Singapore's vaunted workforce actually has time to walk along orchard road taking pictures of VJ students.. well, ain't that jest too dandy... Really, the feller has seriously nothing better to do, and one does not need to go on to what one's feels about his mental state of mind... And hey, even the media doesn't go around taking pictures of potentially-volatile material covertly and then post it around overtly, so what gives this feller the right too? Though I agree that the present day is far from my sister's era (when skirts were longer and more people tucked in their PE shirts... But the latter makes sense since it cuts down on air resistance while 2.4-ing), there's something distinctly unchivalrous about this poor chap's actions...
I say the high-up-guy he went to should have said "what're you doing taking pictures! get back to work!"
And no gentleman would judge a girl by her attire so decisively and irreversibly. He must have been using some other vision to think until like that *eyeball*
Somehow, during that assembly, my mind flashed back to all the Uniform Inspections in St. John (goodness knows why... cos it didn't concern me, and cos I was super sleepy), which I had the pleasure to nearly-pass only once... A belt which was half-a-degree crooked deprived me of a pass... heheh... And how even guys had restrictions on the length of their pants in those days ("The hem touching the third lace hole from the top") But then again, it wasn't all that hard, cos
a) our uniforms were tailor made
b) everyone had the same uniform
plus all the other high standards (where have they gone to now?).... black epaulettes... a hard shoulder flash... shiny boots ALL AROUND... A belt buckle in which you could use it's reflection to tidy your hair (after removing your beret, and getting an instant perm)... seasoned beret with a razor crease blarblarblar...
By the way, the black-thing-on-the-shoulder is spelt e-p-a-u-l-e-t-t-e NOT amulet. An "amulet" is a talisman, a good luck charm... It gives me the creeps to see people spell it like that... just like it makes me "fringe" to see people try to use cheem english words when they can't...
Oh well
Anyway, two miracles by God has happened...
First, I was super blur this whole week, and the lack of sleep was really taking it's toll and today I was falling asleep all over the place had couldn't talk coherently... but after going to cell group I really feel much more energized, hence i'm updating now...
Also, after Hsia Pin prayed for my nose bleed two weeks back, all the bleeding from the left nostril has stopped completely and now I can happily sneeze without having to go through a painful cauterization process again =)
Alright I shall stop here....
Less than a week to Inter-School...
~JcZw~ at 12:01 am
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I've been thinking... Some study conducted in some overseas country says that the average working citizen of that-country has one hour less on average than the prescribed 7 hours sleep that everyone needs...
I thought, if they have 6 hours or so sleep, and WE have 6 hours or so of sleep, then how come local students are doing as much stuff as a working adult in that-country?
Reading futher on, I grew steadily more alarmed when I read that lack of sleep compromises the immune system and can eventually lead to cancer... So, is our risking cancer due to a lack of sleep the ultimate solution to the ageing population? I think it would be less overkill to use the Death Star to assasinate an individual on a planet... Blah.
I would think it is me, but for the fact that about half at least of my classmates are doing the same thing...
So I'm accumulating a sleep debt (did I mention, "HEAVY sleep debt"?), as well as an increasing amount of bruises, bangs, dings and pits on my body, most notably, the right arm, the left arm and the right knee... Oh, and the left collarbone, due to someone who thought he could flick when actually he was wielding his foil like a sabre... Speaking of which, I went back to foil night yesterday, and using my foil against another guy for the first time in 5 or so months, I got thrashed upside down 15-2, 15-3 by a couple of individuals and won a narrow 15-14 against someone else... If anyone is watching the indiv. foil on thursday next week, I think it's going to be quite embarrassing...
Anyway, FM is closed for the next week, so we have to do our own training, but someone-in-authority-of-the-PE-department said that
a) we cannot free fence in school
b) year 2s cannot train
when the year 2s are the one's who specifically know how to carry out trainings, because we do not have a school coach per se... THEN, before the suggestion comes out,
c) it is illegal to train in public, or in fact, carry an exposed blade in a threatening manner e.g. by the handle
so we can't even go to the ECP, or any nearby void deck for that matter, to train. So for now, guess Maurice and I will stick to our houses...
But I find that quite ridiculous, considering that all other sports have higher risk of injury except fencing. The fact is that, in softball, hockey or soccer, you do not have 3 layers of protection between you and the external environment (4 layers, for girls), and yes, I believe it is possible to kill a person with a hockey stick or softball bat in a far less elegant way than an epee... Sure, we get banged about also, but it's an occupational hazard that most CCAs go through anyway... God made our epithelial cells tough and hydrophobic for a reason..
Ooh surprise... I just wrote another DNR post...
Anyway I shall stop here... Where's my ice pack...
I thought, if they have 6 hours or so sleep, and WE have 6 hours or so of sleep, then how come local students are doing as much stuff as a working adult in that-country?
Reading futher on, I grew steadily more alarmed when I read that lack of sleep compromises the immune system and can eventually lead to cancer... So, is our risking cancer due to a lack of sleep the ultimate solution to the ageing population? I think it would be less overkill to use the Death Star to assasinate an individual on a planet... Blah.
I would think it is me, but for the fact that about half at least of my classmates are doing the same thing...
So I'm accumulating a sleep debt (did I mention, "HEAVY sleep debt"?), as well as an increasing amount of bruises, bangs, dings and pits on my body, most notably, the right arm, the left arm and the right knee... Oh, and the left collarbone, due to someone who thought he could flick when actually he was wielding his foil like a sabre... Speaking of which, I went back to foil night yesterday, and using my foil against another guy for the first time in 5 or so months, I got thrashed upside down 15-2, 15-3 by a couple of individuals and won a narrow 15-14 against someone else... If anyone is watching the indiv. foil on thursday next week, I think it's going to be quite embarrassing...
Anyway, FM is closed for the next week, so we have to do our own training, but someone-in-authority-of-the-PE-department said that
a) we cannot free fence in school
b) year 2s cannot train
when the year 2s are the one's who specifically know how to carry out trainings, because we do not have a school coach per se... THEN, before the suggestion comes out,
c) it is illegal to train in public, or in fact, carry an exposed blade in a threatening manner e.g. by the handle
so we can't even go to the ECP, or any nearby void deck for that matter, to train. So for now, guess Maurice and I will stick to our houses...
But I find that quite ridiculous, considering that all other sports have higher risk of injury except fencing. The fact is that, in softball, hockey or soccer, you do not have 3 layers of protection between you and the external environment (4 layers, for girls), and yes, I believe it is possible to kill a person with a hockey stick or softball bat in a far less elegant way than an epee... Sure, we get banged about also, but it's an occupational hazard that most CCAs go through anyway... God made our epithelial cells tough and hydrophobic for a reason..
Ooh surprise... I just wrote another DNR post...
Anyway I shall stop here... Where's my ice pack...
~JcZw~ at 10:21 pm
Friday, July 14, 2006
On fighter pilots who have to fly long distances..
If you need a pee - and inevitably you do on a long flight - you have to make sure that the [ejector seat] pins are in your seat, so the seat does not go off while you are relieving yourself. This actually happened to an American F-16 pilot over Bosnia; one minute he was relieving himself into his plastic bag, the next he was dangling from a parachute, still with his pee bag firmly attached to the relevant portion of his anatomy, while 20 million pounds worth of American military hardware plummeted nose-first into the ground
- from "Team Tornado", by John Peters and John Nichol.
When I read this while lounging about in CMPB waiting for the doctor to call me, I nearly laughed myself to death, but besides that it was long and boring wait... I only realised an hour had elapsed when the book fell from my hand and I nearly followed it out of my seat, having taken a microsleep... Anyway I got PES B... whether that's good or bad.... True, I'll have to do a full BMT, and probably cop a lot of the proverbial hell I've heard so much about, but we'll see... I guess it depends on the individual person eh? At least my NAPFA didn't go to waste
Anyway... I was reading a Readers' Digest article about how in movies people get to say a lot of cool stuff, but in reality you don't.. For example, very few people in real life get to say stuff like "Cover meeeee!" or "Fire torpedo!" or something, as stated by the article... heh... Hmmm, I think the coolest thing I've said is "Number 1, casualty suffering from right punctured lung, pink foam from casualty's mouth, hissing sound from injury site, irregular and paradoxical breathing".
Or maybe it's when someone says "I can't stand it" and I reply... well, you know... that's probably not just cool.... it's cold, freezing... and I get a lot of rolled eyeballs...
Of course, if you want to attract attention, the best thing to say is "AAATTCHOOO!!"
But it's just a marketing ploy... Make the armed forces look cool and all that... Looking through the handbook I got from CMPB, there is not a single picture of people getting punished, running around, or crawling in the mud (which is probably infested with spiders and stuff)...
Anyway, some pictures at the airport before my sister went to Spain, as well as of my little birthday celebration (which I had to come home after N-comp for)
Airport. Looks like only the two females knew that the photo was going to be taken... My brother and I are in a stage of "huh"
Airport. The three of us
At home... Hey, my brother smiled! heheh
And the three of us again... After all these years, I'm still the tallest of the three of us, but in a few years time, I bet my brother was catch up n overtake... And yes, i always wear white... I'm wearing white now in fact... blame it on all the st. john camps... =D
Well, that's it for now... Cheerio!
~JcZw~ at 11:44 pm
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Haha...
Firstly, thanks to all who gave or wished me one thing or another for my birthday... and for the belated wishers, well, better late than never, thanks very much also =) and to my cadets who wanted to introduce me to Anglican High's flagpole, well, too bad heh
Among things that I received were a shirt from my classmates (which through fluke or through skill, fits just just right heheh), an MP3 player plus a study Bible from my parents (the former being more expensive than my last player which is now spoilt.... considering that my last one was a gift from Grad Night =D), an ice cream from Auntie Jocelyn, my domestic helper (that's FDW to my PW group, and thanks to her also for our PW results partly!), and a birthday song from several SJ members! Thanks so much!
Also, thank God for answering my [rather frivolous] birthday wish of having a reduced day on Monday, and to the Italian team for avenging Spain... okok, although I concede that France (to me) was the better team of the two... Soccer... seems such a complicated politics-ridden game... not unlike fencing actually... But I admire the ability of people that can actually score points [or goals, as its called in soccer] from 30 meters... Wow, if I could score points at 30 meters for fencing... *mouth waters*
Well, important stuff is coming up!
1st National Inter-School Fencing Tournament: 26th to 28th July!!
Yes, it got pushed back from the time the school stated... gotta go tell TYH soon... But I really hope we can do well, and even more hope that we don't have to fence each other before the finals! That would be really sad.... Oh man I'm so excited that I cannot even do my tuitorials properly! But the next 2 weeks will be preparation, and avoiding she-who-always-gets-me-demoralized.. I want my blade back!!! Victoria's blade is not bad, but it's gonna burn a hole through my hand soon... The rules of this tournament are quite funny, not like the one's we're used to... But the chance is always there...
And there's always chinese... Stayed back a couple of hours to take my Listening Compre prelim today... the trial run was easy (I got 10/10) but the actual one was **&%## hard... So many inference questions... Lucky it's only 5 marks... Oral on friday... let's hope I don't lose my nerve...
Well, I shall stop here for now... I'll be back in the near future =)
Cheerio!
Firstly, thanks to all who gave or wished me one thing or another for my birthday... and for the belated wishers, well, better late than never, thanks very much also =) and to my cadets who wanted to introduce me to Anglican High's flagpole, well, too bad heh
Among things that I received were a shirt from my classmates (which through fluke or through skill, fits just just right heheh), an MP3 player plus a study Bible from my parents (the former being more expensive than my last player which is now spoilt.... considering that my last one was a gift from Grad Night =D), an ice cream from Auntie Jocelyn, my domestic helper (that's FDW to my PW group, and thanks to her also for our PW results partly!), and a birthday song from several SJ members! Thanks so much!
Also, thank God for answering my [rather frivolous] birthday wish of having a reduced day on Monday, and to the Italian team for avenging Spain... okok, although I concede that France (to me) was the better team of the two... Soccer... seems such a complicated politics-ridden game... not unlike fencing actually... But I admire the ability of people that can actually score points [or goals, as its called in soccer] from 30 meters... Wow, if I could score points at 30 meters for fencing... *mouth waters*
Well, important stuff is coming up!
1st National Inter-School Fencing Tournament: 26th to 28th July!!
Yes, it got pushed back from the time the school stated... gotta go tell TYH soon... But I really hope we can do well, and even more hope that we don't have to fence each other before the finals! That would be really sad.... Oh man I'm so excited that I cannot even do my tuitorials properly! But the next 2 weeks will be preparation, and avoiding she-who-always-gets-me-demoralized.. I want my blade back!!! Victoria's blade is not bad, but it's gonna burn a hole through my hand soon... The rules of this tournament are quite funny, not like the one's we're used to... But the chance is always there...
And there's always chinese... Stayed back a couple of hours to take my Listening Compre prelim today... the trial run was easy (I got 10/10) but the actual one was **&%## hard... So many inference questions... Lucky it's only 5 marks... Oral on friday... let's hope I don't lose my nerve...
Well, I shall stop here for now... I'll be back in the near future =)
Cheerio!
~JcZw~ at 10:39 pm
Sunday, July 09, 2006
9th July
What was I doing at 6.04 pm? I think I was walking along Bishan Street 11 with Crystal and the other SJ people.... And it's at that exact time 18 years back that I went from foetus to infant, to put it unromantically, after starting out as a puny zygote and building up from there...
Quite old eh... 18... Allows one to do many more things, as the church people pointed out although given that MOE chews up most of my time (and I spend the remainder sleeping or on the comp) I won't be learning how to drive or anything soon.. heheh... And of course, many things to thank God for over the years.
For allowing me to emerge from delievery in one piece (for those who are unaware, I had a near fatal experience in my first couple of seconds after birth heheh ask me about it if you want to know more)
For allowing me to emerge from the above mentioned incident with all my faculties intact
For a couple of siblings and a couple of parents, with which I didn't manage to irritate myself (or them) to death, although it was a near thing in early primary, as my sister would tell you =Pp Although needless to say everyone gets along much better nowadays
For sticking me in Kong Hwa and being traumatised by a variety of teachers into becoming someone with a semblence of responsibility and awe of authority (flying books!)
For landing me in St. John, the ultimate life changing experience (until I go to NS I think)
For bringing me to CCC, the even-more-ultimate life changing experience
For the people I have met, the annoying ones like **** **** but more importantly, a host of good friends, squadmates, classmates, church people and the like that have given me (a lot )^infinity of enjoyment etcetc
Oh yes, and in case I haven't made this clear enough in previous posts, I really value the friendship, care and concern, laughter, lameness etc which the above mentioned have given me =) and thanks so much to those who talked or SMS-ed your good wishes. My apologies to my SJ-ers, with whom I couldn't go out to dinner with today also...
Alright, that concludes my birthday post... I'll blog about N-comp in the near future too... goodnight! (SLEEP EARLY IF YOU WANT TO CATCH THE WC FINAL!)
What was I doing at 6.04 pm? I think I was walking along Bishan Street 11 with Crystal and the other SJ people.... And it's at that exact time 18 years back that I went from foetus to infant, to put it unromantically, after starting out as a puny zygote and building up from there...
Quite old eh... 18... Allows one to do many more things, as the church people pointed out although given that MOE chews up most of my time (and I spend the remainder sleeping or on the comp) I won't be learning how to drive or anything soon.. heheh... And of course, many things to thank God for over the years.
For allowing me to emerge from delievery in one piece (for those who are unaware, I had a near fatal experience in my first couple of seconds after birth heheh ask me about it if you want to know more)
For allowing me to emerge from the above mentioned incident with all my faculties intact
For a couple of siblings and a couple of parents, with which I didn't manage to irritate myself (or them) to death, although it was a near thing in early primary, as my sister would tell you =Pp Although needless to say everyone gets along much better nowadays
For sticking me in Kong Hwa and being traumatised by a variety of teachers into becoming someone with a semblence of responsibility and awe of authority (flying books!)
For landing me in St. John, the ultimate life changing experience (until I go to NS I think)
For bringing me to CCC, the even-more-ultimate life changing experience
For the people I have met, the annoying ones like **** **** but more importantly, a host of good friends, squadmates, classmates, church people and the like that have given me (a lot )^infinity of enjoyment etcetc
Oh yes, and in case I haven't made this clear enough in previous posts, I really value the friendship, care and concern, laughter, lameness etc which the above mentioned have given me =) and thanks so much to those who talked or SMS-ed your good wishes. My apologies to my SJ-ers, with whom I couldn't go out to dinner with today also...
Alright, that concludes my birthday post... I'll blog about N-comp in the near future too... goodnight! (SLEEP EARLY IF YOU WANT TO CATCH THE WC FINAL!)
~JcZw~ at 8:52 pm
Friday, July 07, 2006
Well, the school week has ended.... It's been pretty ok, except for a severe lack of sleep that is compromising my ability to think straight and to talk coherently.... and that I haven't bought much junk food, so I still have a lot of 5 cent coins from our trip to Swensen's...
That, as well as a whooping great blister that is causing me a slight problem.... My constant companion for the past year when I was still using the blue BF blade with the smaller handle... Anyway, as mentioned earlier, my big-gripped V-blade is in repair because of a worn out tang (have you ever heard of that one??) so I was using Victoria's China blade with a small handle once again, thinking "I have survived blisters before so this should be fine for 2 weeks".
Unfortunately, I forgot that I was moving much faster than I was a year back... It should have been a warning sign that my blister reformed by the time Wednesday's training had concluded (It took me half a year to get it to that stage previously).
So yesterday, the second training day in a row, after my private lesson with Coach, my blister had already turned white with blood on the finger, but I thought it was a trick of light because I couldn't see any open injury.. So I just slapped on a plaster and continued
Then I decided to fence against Chuanyao.. and here many people ask me why I didn't feel anything... Mainly it was because it had been hurting the whole evening anyway, and also when you're tired the arm starts to go numb by the middle of the bout...
Anyway after losing 15-14, I noticed that the centre of the red-and-gray glove had a darker red wet patch which was spreading slowly... Apparently the plaster had fallen off somewhere in my glove, and there was a patch of skin under the little finger hanging loose with blood all over the place....well, not like it was pouring out or what (there are only capillaries there anyway) but it covered a good 2 cm radius around the injury or so... Everyone in FM thought it was quite disgusting with the exception of Gerad the SJI guy who said "hey cool let me see" hehh...
Anyway since it was in such an awkward position to put a plaster, and also as to partially immobilise the hand, my mother had me bandage my hand up for the day.... it looks more normal now though, and no infection occured =) so hopefully I'll be able to fence on wednesday again! But it was a pain to write stuff.... not like I can't write with only 3 fingers, but my handwriting looked like I was asleep or something, cos although I could flex my fingers at the segment nearest the palm, I couldn't move my whole finger (the bandage had stuck it in a permanently crooked position). Maybe I should learn to be ambidextrous...
Anyway one of the ways to get a rush-of-blood-to-the-brain is to get an injury as mentioned above, then go try washing it. The feeling is unforgettable...
Met some of the CJC year 1s... I think some of their girls are taller than me... They fence decently I guess...
Well, anyway I will stop here, may add on in the near future..
That, as well as a whooping great blister that is causing me a slight problem.... My constant companion for the past year when I was still using the blue BF blade with the smaller handle... Anyway, as mentioned earlier, my big-gripped V-blade is in repair because of a worn out tang (have you ever heard of that one??) so I was using Victoria's China blade with a small handle once again, thinking "I have survived blisters before so this should be fine for 2 weeks".
Unfortunately, I forgot that I was moving much faster than I was a year back... It should have been a warning sign that my blister reformed by the time Wednesday's training had concluded (It took me half a year to get it to that stage previously).
So yesterday, the second training day in a row, after my private lesson with Coach, my blister had already turned white with blood on the finger, but I thought it was a trick of light because I couldn't see any open injury.. So I just slapped on a plaster and continued
Then I decided to fence against Chuanyao.. and here many people ask me why I didn't feel anything... Mainly it was because it had been hurting the whole evening anyway, and also when you're tired the arm starts to go numb by the middle of the bout...
Anyway after losing 15-14, I noticed that the centre of the red-and-gray glove had a darker red wet patch which was spreading slowly... Apparently the plaster had fallen off somewhere in my glove, and there was a patch of skin under the little finger hanging loose with blood all over the place....well, not like it was pouring out or what (there are only capillaries there anyway) but it covered a good 2 cm radius around the injury or so... Everyone in FM thought it was quite disgusting with the exception of Gerad the SJI guy who said "hey cool let me see" hehh...
Anyway since it was in such an awkward position to put a plaster, and also as to partially immobilise the hand, my mother had me bandage my hand up for the day.... it looks more normal now though, and no infection occured =) so hopefully I'll be able to fence on wednesday again! But it was a pain to write stuff.... not like I can't write with only 3 fingers, but my handwriting looked like I was asleep or something, cos although I could flex my fingers at the segment nearest the palm, I couldn't move my whole finger (the bandage had stuck it in a permanently crooked position). Maybe I should learn to be ambidextrous...
Anyway one of the ways to get a rush-of-blood-to-the-brain is to get an injury as mentioned above, then go try washing it. The feeling is unforgettable...
Met some of the CJC year 1s... I think some of their girls are taller than me... They fence decently I guess...
Well, anyway I will stop here, may add on in the near future..
~JcZw~ at 6:05 pm
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Love is a song that never ends
Life may be swift and fleeting
Hope may die but love's beautiful music
Comes each day like the dawn
Love is a song that never ends
One simple theme repeating
Like the voice of a heavenly choir
Love's sweet music flows on
Such a nice song. It comes from "Bambi", one of the lesser known disney cartoons... I was shocked when some people I know didn't know about it... Anyway I just finished watching the DVD version that my father got... Think the last time I watched "Bambi" on tape, it was super grainy and probably contributed to my present myopia..
I realised that actually it's mostly a silent movie with a lot of string and wind music, but punctuated by several songs, like the theme song above, and occasional dialogue... Funny that it's supposed to be set in England (In no other place is the deer the king of the forest), but the rabbit speaks like an American...
Training went by as per normal with most of us guys trying to figure out how to carry casualties using an improvised stretcher... It requires an abnormally large amount of power in the fingers for a blanket-and-pole stretcher if you don't have proper composite materials... Played soccer after training... Me, Xuanming and Sihui versus Kokkeng, Weisong and Harris... I think we thrashed them by at least 7 goals =D What with Xuanming virtually scoring a quadruple hatrick, Sihui 1 and myself zero... Heh. Hmm and whoever analyses the street soccer court in the future will once again find my DNA in front of the goalpost on the eastern end... Keeping goal to myself is like being a cat.... you just claw and scratch at anything that comes within your reach.. heh..
Hmmm... I wonder what it would be like sweating through life if I still had the level of Christianity (if you could call it that) when I was in sec. 1... At the moment I'm pretty much like my old pencil case... teeming with rubbish and stress and whatnot and about to come apart at the seams at any time... That I'm trusting that God would see me through is the reason why I'm not going stark staring mad...
It's like being stressed out that the wrong things... People I know are stressed over work and pressure and their future.... The things that keep me up at night are stuff that seem (not tome, but under cold analysis) not that important on a fundamental level... Like my CCAs, relationships etc... Hmmhmm... Sometimes I see the letters "DNR" floating in my head too... heh..
Not long now... Last training tomorrow and the day after (for N-comp... For the hundredth time, I wonder again why I didn't drop Bio S).. hope I can turn up!
Life may be swift and fleeting
Hope may die but love's beautiful music
Comes each day like the dawn
Love is a song that never ends
One simple theme repeating
Like the voice of a heavenly choir
Love's sweet music flows on
Such a nice song. It comes from "Bambi", one of the lesser known disney cartoons... I was shocked when some people I know didn't know about it... Anyway I just finished watching the DVD version that my father got... Think the last time I watched "Bambi" on tape, it was super grainy and probably contributed to my present myopia..
I realised that actually it's mostly a silent movie with a lot of string and wind music, but punctuated by several songs, like the theme song above, and occasional dialogue... Funny that it's supposed to be set in England (In no other place is the deer the king of the forest), but the rabbit speaks like an American...
Training went by as per normal with most of us guys trying to figure out how to carry casualties using an improvised stretcher... It requires an abnormally large amount of power in the fingers for a blanket-and-pole stretcher if you don't have proper composite materials... Played soccer after training... Me, Xuanming and Sihui versus Kokkeng, Weisong and Harris... I think we thrashed them by at least 7 goals =D What with Xuanming virtually scoring a quadruple hatrick, Sihui 1 and myself zero... Heh. Hmm and whoever analyses the street soccer court in the future will once again find my DNA in front of the goalpost on the eastern end... Keeping goal to myself is like being a cat.... you just claw and scratch at anything that comes within your reach.. heh..
Hmmm... I wonder what it would be like sweating through life if I still had the level of Christianity (if you could call it that) when I was in sec. 1... At the moment I'm pretty much like my old pencil case... teeming with rubbish and stress and whatnot and about to come apart at the seams at any time... That I'm trusting that God would see me through is the reason why I'm not going stark staring mad...
It's like being stressed out that the wrong things... People I know are stressed over work and pressure and their future.... The things that keep me up at night are stuff that seem (not tome, but under cold analysis) not that important on a fundamental level... Like my CCAs, relationships etc... Hmmhmm... Sometimes I see the letters "DNR" floating in my head too... heh..
Not long now... Last training tomorrow and the day after (for N-comp... For the hundredth time, I wonder again why I didn't drop Bio S).. hope I can turn up!
~JcZw~ at 6:14 pm
Sunday, July 02, 2006
England is out, like I expected... although not bad that they managed to hold on till a penalty shootout...
On the other hand, my regard for Wayne Rooney just drops and drops... Pushing another player is simply not acceptable even in a playground, let alone the largest arena of world soccer! Its just childish and I really think these soccer players should behave better since so many children / teenagers etc treat them like heroes or something...
Another thing... What kinda person are you that you don't bother to sing your national anthem, just cos you're some soccer superstar... Well, at least most of the rest of the England team does sing..
Well... so we're halfway through the weekend.... Yesterday was Mdm Teo's farewell...
Yup... Sorry Sihui and Bernice for having too big a head... and Xuan Ming for not calling you.. But anyway yea that's the part of the squad that came for the event. And yea... all our thanks for Mdm Teo has been written in our card to her, but nevertheless let me say here that we do appreciate what she's done for AHSJAB, and myself for teaching me how to cook dao suan (although I've forgotten how by now) =D
Then there was the Zone Comissionar that came and was trying to recruit my team (minus Wei Quan, who managed to escape) to join the zone by going to OTC... I wanted to ask him "why not put OTC on Saturday so that I could go cos I have church on Sunday" but decided that may be a trifle impudent...
Anyway training tomorrow, and Xuan Ming and his team want to play soccer after that.... It will be the first time for more than a year for Xuan Ming and I... but anyway training first, given that N-comp is only a week away...
On the fencing side, Ms Tan PH has said that my oral may be able to be changed!!! But that remains to be seen, but still it's better than nothing and I'll hope for the best... My blade will be also out of action until almost the day before comp, so I may have to train with a borrowed blade sighhh... Well, we'll see how it goes... Let's hope the proposal for school training goes through =)
7 days to N-comp, 15 days to Inter-school... Jiayou everyone!
PS: I will now be supporting France heheh
On the other hand, my regard for Wayne Rooney just drops and drops... Pushing another player is simply not acceptable even in a playground, let alone the largest arena of world soccer! Its just childish and I really think these soccer players should behave better since so many children / teenagers etc treat them like heroes or something...
Another thing... What kinda person are you that you don't bother to sing your national anthem, just cos you're some soccer superstar... Well, at least most of the rest of the England team does sing..
Well... so we're halfway through the weekend.... Yesterday was Mdm Teo's farewell...
Yup... Sorry Sihui and Bernice for having too big a head... and Xuan Ming for not calling you.. But anyway yea that's the part of the squad that came for the event. And yea... all our thanks for Mdm Teo has been written in our card to her, but nevertheless let me say here that we do appreciate what she's done for AHSJAB, and myself for teaching me how to cook dao suan (although I've forgotten how by now) =D
Then there was the Zone Comissionar that came and was trying to recruit my team (minus Wei Quan, who managed to escape) to join the zone by going to OTC... I wanted to ask him "why not put OTC on Saturday so that I could go cos I have church on Sunday" but decided that may be a trifle impudent...
Anyway training tomorrow, and Xuan Ming and his team want to play soccer after that.... It will be the first time for more than a year for Xuan Ming and I... but anyway training first, given that N-comp is only a week away...
On the fencing side, Ms Tan PH has said that my oral may be able to be changed!!! But that remains to be seen, but still it's better than nothing and I'll hope for the best... My blade will be also out of action until almost the day before comp, so I may have to train with a borrowed blade sighhh... Well, we'll see how it goes... Let's hope the proposal for school training goes through =)
7 days to N-comp, 15 days to Inter-school... Jiayou everyone!
PS: I will now be supporting France heheh
~JcZw~ at 7:11 pm