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Monday, June 30, 2008
Its been a dusty week. The repairmen came to the house to repair the damage done to the wall by the car accelerating down a rather steep slope from across the road as mentioned a few posts ago. Also, more workmen came to paint my sister's room. With all the furniture going around the house, it was inevitable that the dust would come.
As the eldest son, it was also inevitable that I had to help out in the work, even though it, for the most part, had nothing to do with me =D
So it happened on Saturday afternoon, between coming back from fencing and going out with my JC class, I had to help my father assemble my sister's bookcases. The process kicked off with the two of us maneuvering the long parcels of wood up the staircase. The landing made it a little difficult cos we had to tilt the thing vertical so that it could fit, me making a lot of heaving and whoosing noises, my father making derisive comments on the physical quality of "our ex-officer cadet", and my sister cackling every time we made a loud thump.
It was kinda like the description in H.J. Riker's Los Angeles Class of the torpedoes being loaded into the submarine.
Still, it was pretty fun assembling the thing, finding the pieces and screwing everything together (like a giant lego puzzle). Except for the part when we were trying to slide in the backboard of the bookcase and the thing wouldn't fit exactly in all the required grooves (like it would go into one, and fall out of the other at the other side) and in the end I started laughing while I was doing it, which made my hands shake and my very-patient father who was holding the whole thing up for me to fit in the thing ending up expending more energy oops..
In the end we solved the whole thing by turning the bookcase upside down and hammering everything into place heh.
The JC class gathering was also pretty fun though maybe there weren't that many people... Trina and ChuaH are also coming back soon, so that will be another opportunity to meet up haha. We watched "Wanted" which was very hmmm... interesting and graphic, shall we say, but kinda unreal. I mean its the kind of show which you watch and say "Yeaaaa riiiight" to yourself at the same time
Anyway, OGL precamp beckons tomorrow... Wondering how it'll be like. I know a lot of effort has gone into it but its gonna be different from medicamp... There won't be the air of discovering the new qualities in your OGmates with every game that goes by... Discovering WeiLun can scream higher than a girl, that Glen would allow himself to be dressed up as a model, that Alfred and Charlene could cook or that Ju was good in decor, that kinda thing.
Still, we'll see how it goes, and I hope I survive the shiong shiong Wednesday schedule heh
As the eldest son, it was also inevitable that I had to help out in the work, even though it, for the most part, had nothing to do with me =D
So it happened on Saturday afternoon, between coming back from fencing and going out with my JC class, I had to help my father assemble my sister's bookcases. The process kicked off with the two of us maneuvering the long parcels of wood up the staircase. The landing made it a little difficult cos we had to tilt the thing vertical so that it could fit, me making a lot of heaving and whoosing noises, my father making derisive comments on the physical quality of "our ex-officer cadet", and my sister cackling every time we made a loud thump.
It was kinda like the description in H.J. Riker's Los Angeles Class of the torpedoes being loaded into the submarine.
Still, it was pretty fun assembling the thing, finding the pieces and screwing everything together (like a giant lego puzzle). Except for the part when we were trying to slide in the backboard of the bookcase and the thing wouldn't fit exactly in all the required grooves (like it would go into one, and fall out of the other at the other side) and in the end I started laughing while I was doing it, which made my hands shake and my very-patient father who was holding the whole thing up for me to fit in the thing ending up expending more energy oops..
In the end we solved the whole thing by turning the bookcase upside down and hammering everything into place heh.
The JC class gathering was also pretty fun though maybe there weren't that many people... Trina and ChuaH are also coming back soon, so that will be another opportunity to meet up haha. We watched "Wanted" which was very hmmm... interesting and graphic, shall we say, but kinda unreal. I mean its the kind of show which you watch and say "Yeaaaa riiiight" to yourself at the same time
Anyway, OGL precamp beckons tomorrow... Wondering how it'll be like. I know a lot of effort has gone into it but its gonna be different from medicamp... There won't be the air of discovering the new qualities in your OGmates with every game that goes by... Discovering WeiLun can scream higher than a girl, that Glen would allow himself to be dressed up as a model, that Alfred and Charlene could cook or that Ju was good in decor, that kinda thing.
Still, we'll see how it goes, and I hope I survive the shiong shiong Wednesday schedule heh
~JcZw~ at 11:56 pm
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The digital camera and articulated tripod are finding a new lease of life being used to video tape the bouts on foil nights. Video analysis of the bouts on tuesday have proved to be quite useful... My parry 4 and parry 1 have become more economical but have a lot more to work on, especially footwork building up to the fleche and lunge. But the camera's very sensitive to changes in light so some clips are as good quality as a full blown video cam, while others are pooooor.
And of course, everyone in FM laughed and oohed and aahed over the cute little tripod again. When Mark, the little boy, excitedly told Coach that "Look at Jon's tripod" then Coach thought Mark was joking... until I attached the camera to the top heh..
We also joked that we could attach the tripod/camera to our left hands, then if we held our left hands perfectly still while fencing, we could have a fencer's eye-view of the match, like in Formula 1 =D Only thing is that while doing a lunge you'll have a moment of blurness, with the camera coming to rest facing backwards and upside down (only fencers will understand why).
Am very annoyed that I succeeded in my first back flick in FM, but it happened that I didn't have priority at that time so it wasn't valid though the red light was very rewarding.
Incidentally, I discovered what I thought was termed a "parry cut", which I took to be synonymous for "parry 4", was actually spelt "parry quarte" which MEANS "parry 4", except that in the french pronunciation, quarte = "kart" so I kinda got the answer right and the concept wrong at the same time... Speaking of which I must bring the magic pen to fencing tonight to annoy the fencers heh.
Anyway we celebrated another birthday in the OG (or wedding, depending how you look at), before going to watch "Serendipity" at Charlene's house. Our OG seems to have a tendency to watch shows about two lovers trying desperately to find each other against all the odds (See also, "The Lake House"). Though I find such shows quite entertaining, but entirely improbable.
Found the film adaptation of Roald Dahl's "Matilda" on Youtube as well. It had some significantly different parts which I shall not mention... Think the book was nicer, but the movie was pretty cute as well though it contained a few scary bits (Shows will dolls always end up freaking me out here and there). Still, good enough I guess...
JC class gathering is the last thing in the immediate future before medicamp. FM's off to Hong Kong for a week (wish I could have gone with them, but precamp calls) so no fencing for a while... See how it goes =)
And of course, everyone in FM laughed and oohed and aahed over the cute little tripod again. When Mark, the little boy, excitedly told Coach that "Look at Jon's tripod" then Coach thought Mark was joking... until I attached the camera to the top heh..
We also joked that we could attach the tripod/camera to our left hands, then if we held our left hands perfectly still while fencing, we could have a fencer's eye-view of the match, like in Formula 1 =D Only thing is that while doing a lunge you'll have a moment of blurness, with the camera coming to rest facing backwards and upside down (only fencers will understand why).
Am very annoyed that I succeeded in my first back flick in FM, but it happened that I didn't have priority at that time so it wasn't valid though the red light was very rewarding.
Incidentally, I discovered what I thought was termed a "parry cut", which I took to be synonymous for "parry 4", was actually spelt "parry quarte" which MEANS "parry 4", except that in the french pronunciation, quarte = "kart" so I kinda got the answer right and the concept wrong at the same time... Speaking of which I must bring the magic pen to fencing tonight to annoy the fencers heh.
Anyway we celebrated another birthday in the OG (or wedding, depending how you look at), before going to watch "Serendipity" at Charlene's house. Our OG seems to have a tendency to watch shows about two lovers trying desperately to find each other against all the odds (See also, "The Lake House"). Though I find such shows quite entertaining, but entirely improbable.
Found the film adaptation of Roald Dahl's "Matilda" on Youtube as well. It had some significantly different parts which I shall not mention... Think the book was nicer, but the movie was pretty cute as well though it contained a few scary bits (Shows will dolls always end up freaking me out here and there). Still, good enough I guess...
JC class gathering is the last thing in the immediate future before medicamp. FM's off to Hong Kong for a week (wish I could have gone with them, but precamp calls) so no fencing for a while... See how it goes =)
~JcZw~ at 2:08 pm
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Today I just discovered that during parallel parking I'm supposed to watch the pole align with the car body in the wing mirror before straighting, not just making sure I could see it. Which effectively meant that I parked the car by fluke during the last session -_-"' but I got it in the end... Am very happy with reverse parking and slope, which my instructor called "beautiful" heh. All 3 attempts went very well. If i fail any of those during the test I shall be annoyed.
On the other hand my instructor said that my progress through the S-course was "too slow", which I agree cos I feel really claustrophobic in there. It was pretty funny now that I think of it... It happens that in ubi there's a drain that runs across all the crank and S-courses, so the car will thump across and I would jump, jam the clutch and brake down for a split second before I realise I have NOT in fact hit a kerb and continue with trepidation.
After one round he was pretty annoyed and said something to the extent of "You know GIRLS dare to take the S-course at speed! Go round and do it again and DON'T brake!" So at half clutch and thumping the wheel from lock to lock (and my heart thumping too) I swooped through the S-course without so much as a caress of the kerb heheh. I know I didn't breathe for the entire time I was inside... So I had this really huge toxic CO2 rich lungful of breath to release by the time I emerged from the other end, and took great pains to let it out slowwwwwly so that he wouldn't notice how tight-lipped and white-knucked I was =D
On the other hand, saw the driver in front of me, bearing the double L-plate of a driver on test, hit the kerb at the crank course, reverse, and hit it again. 2 X 10 points means that I saw him (her?) fail in front of my eyes, which was a pretty depressing sight =(
Also saw a driver on the slope who swooped up and applied his brakes. The indicator came on so I anticipated him accelerating off and clearing the way for me. Instead, the brake lights went off and the car came flying back down -_-"' Of course, I was in no danger, but all these sights just serve as a reminder of what can go wrong during an actual test!!!
I think before I go for my test (whenever that will be) I shall go up to FM and get Coach to psyche me up heh.
Anyway my right deltoid or supraspinatus is aching. Either I have been tossing a lot in my sleep or I really used too many close quarters during training on Saturday. While I'm on the subject may I thank Daniel and Maurice for perfecting the "escape-from-close-quarters" drills which I am now using a lot in foil...
Flu's almost gone. Hope I can go fence tomorrow in the foil league.
On the other hand my instructor said that my progress through the S-course was "too slow", which I agree cos I feel really claustrophobic in there. It was pretty funny now that I think of it... It happens that in ubi there's a drain that runs across all the crank and S-courses, so the car will thump across and I would jump, jam the clutch and brake down for a split second before I realise I have NOT in fact hit a kerb and continue with trepidation.
After one round he was pretty annoyed and said something to the extent of "You know GIRLS dare to take the S-course at speed! Go round and do it again and DON'T brake!" So at half clutch and thumping the wheel from lock to lock (and my heart thumping too) I swooped through the S-course without so much as a caress of the kerb heheh. I know I didn't breathe for the entire time I was inside... So I had this really huge toxic CO2 rich lungful of breath to release by the time I emerged from the other end, and took great pains to let it out slowwwwwly so that he wouldn't notice how tight-lipped and white-knucked I was =D
On the other hand, saw the driver in front of me, bearing the double L-plate of a driver on test, hit the kerb at the crank course, reverse, and hit it again. 2 X 10 points means that I saw him (her?) fail in front of my eyes, which was a pretty depressing sight =(
Also saw a driver on the slope who swooped up and applied his brakes. The indicator came on so I anticipated him accelerating off and clearing the way for me. Instead, the brake lights went off and the car came flying back down -_-"' Of course, I was in no danger, but all these sights just serve as a reminder of what can go wrong during an actual test!!!
I think before I go for my test (whenever that will be) I shall go up to FM and get Coach to psyche me up heh.
Anyway my right deltoid or supraspinatus is aching. Either I have been tossing a lot in my sleep or I really used too many close quarters during training on Saturday. While I'm on the subject may I thank Daniel and Maurice for perfecting the "escape-from-close-quarters" drills which I am now using a lot in foil...
Flu's almost gone. Hope I can go fence tomorrow in the foil league.
~JcZw~ at 1:18 am
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Headache and sore throat. Irritation. I think I caught a bug from somewhere. I thought it was Minds which did it, but apparently not.
Went out with JinRong and HIS councilor, Shawn (Sean? Shaun?) yesterday. Shawn's councilor was supposed to come as well, but he said the latter was "not yet back from India". Turned out that the said person was David, my sister's classmate from VJ!! and one of the 7 people in that oh-so-smart 02S18 to get into Medicine. JinRong (04S17) and my class (05S15) had only 3 people apiece getting to NUS Med in comparison. Its a small world in the medical community indeed.
We were all from VJ so we could reminice about all the things which happened there. Soccer finals, half days, playing bridge (and getting caught). When Shawn heard that that S1 had become A1 he looked very scandalized too heh. We walked past Z-fencing and he asked me to give them a quick run down on it too.
Oh went shopping too. Yes, GUY shopping. Went into Royal Sporting House, asked where everything was, bought and left haha... A quick entry, strike and exfiltration hoho.
Went with Jin Rong to Dhoby Ghaut to meet the OG for Minds' Cafe. VERY stimulating experience as always. Am amused that my OG holds me in such high esteem in the hypothetical situation that I run over my neighbour's cat... Oh and thanks, Ruth for the chewing gum! I've yet to try it cos I don't feel like eating anything, but am sure it'll be nice. Bones was very damaging and traumatic, not the least cos it comes with a lot of screaming on the part of various females heh... Jiayi, JinRong and I preferred to stay quiet and concentrate all energy on getting a bone.
Fencing again today. Tiring as usual. Made a point to fence everyone who was there at least once... And one person asked me about FM and said he was interested in joining. Haha interesting. Wonder how that would develop. But till then, need to recover so that I can drive on Monday.
Went out with JinRong and HIS councilor, Shawn (Sean? Shaun?) yesterday. Shawn's councilor was supposed to come as well, but he said the latter was "not yet back from India". Turned out that the said person was David, my sister's classmate from VJ!! and one of the 7 people in that oh-so-smart 02S18 to get into Medicine. JinRong (04S17) and my class (05S15) had only 3 people apiece getting to NUS Med in comparison. Its a small world in the medical community indeed.
We were all from VJ so we could reminice about all the things which happened there. Soccer finals, half days, playing bridge (and getting caught). When Shawn heard that that S1 had become A1 he looked very scandalized too heh. We walked past Z-fencing and he asked me to give them a quick run down on it too.
Oh went shopping too. Yes, GUY shopping. Went into Royal Sporting House, asked where everything was, bought and left haha... A quick entry, strike and exfiltration hoho.
Went with Jin Rong to Dhoby Ghaut to meet the OG for Minds' Cafe. VERY stimulating experience as always. Am amused that my OG holds me in such high esteem in the hypothetical situation that I run over my neighbour's cat... Oh and thanks, Ruth for the chewing gum! I've yet to try it cos I don't feel like eating anything, but am sure it'll be nice. Bones was very damaging and traumatic, not the least cos it comes with a lot of screaming on the part of various females heh... Jiayi, JinRong and I preferred to stay quiet and concentrate all energy on getting a bone.
Fencing again today. Tiring as usual. Made a point to fence everyone who was there at least once... And one person asked me about FM and said he was interested in joining. Haha interesting. Wonder how that would develop. But till then, need to recover so that I can drive on Monday.
~JcZw~ at 5:49 pm
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
I've been beaten by JC for 3 WEEKS in a row now at the tuesday foil league. Urghhh though the score is always cut very close at the start, but I don't have the energy to go all 3 segments at full speed.. The gap always opens up in the last 2 minutes sighh... Still, he and Shaun-Paul say that my fleche is "damn accurate" so that's something. But its difficult in its own right to fence against tall foilists.
Went onto the circuit for the first time too as mentioned haha... My hands were grabbing the steering wheel so tightly. Nervous, cos it was the first time but oh well... Parallel and reverse parking was pretty easy with the poles as visual reference and I didn't hit anything, but that was with the instructor giving instructions. Could do it by myself on the 2nd to 3rd tries once I was sure that I had his *chinese* instructions interpreted correctly haha...
But still I think he's more of teaching me how to pass the test in the car I'm using, cos everything's by the book, turn the steering wheel how many turns when the pole reaches a certain visual reference etc and all... So after I qualify, I'll be able to park a Mitsubishi Lancer and not much else haha...
Parking, directional change, crank and S-courses were pretty ok. Only that the slope was more sloping than all the other slopes cunningly planted around Ubi by the LTA. The car slid back on the first go even though I applied exactly the same tactics as I did on the road. So on the next two attempts I had to rev the engine to slightly more than 3000 to prevent the same. I hope I'm one of those students who can pass with only 5 circuit trainings cos for private students circuit training seems very hard to come by =(
Well shall stop here then
Went onto the circuit for the first time too as mentioned haha... My hands were grabbing the steering wheel so tightly. Nervous, cos it was the first time but oh well... Parallel and reverse parking was pretty easy with the poles as visual reference and I didn't hit anything, but that was with the instructor giving instructions. Could do it by myself on the 2nd to 3rd tries once I was sure that I had his *chinese* instructions interpreted correctly haha...
But still I think he's more of teaching me how to pass the test in the car I'm using, cos everything's by the book, turn the steering wheel how many turns when the pole reaches a certain visual reference etc and all... So after I qualify, I'll be able to park a Mitsubishi Lancer and not much else haha...
Parking, directional change, crank and S-courses were pretty ok. Only that the slope was more sloping than all the other slopes cunningly planted around Ubi by the LTA. The car slid back on the first go even though I applied exactly the same tactics as I did on the road. So on the next two attempts I had to rev the engine to slightly more than 3000 to prevent the same. I hope I'm one of those students who can pass with only 5 circuit trainings cos for private students circuit training seems very hard to come by =(
Well shall stop here then
~JcZw~ at 2:33 pm
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Last saturday my parents and I were having dinner at home cos my sister was still in India and my brother was out studying. I, of course, was still raving about Japan when an almighty series of crunching noises came from outside. The three of us leapt out of our chairs and headed for the door.
Meanwhile, behind, the three cats leapt away from their dinner plate and headed for the nearest hiding place.
After squinting through the darkness for a while, it turned out that the neighbour had forgotten to engage his "park" and his handbrake, whereupon the car slid down the rather sharp gradient, shot across the road, over the drain and planted its posterior firmly in the flowerbed which lines the outside of the wall of our house. The wall (made of brick) itself and its fence (made of wood) got stove in to form an extended V.
Still, that's one of the interesting things which have happened this week.
First, MY SISTER'S BACK so the house has gotten a bit noisier haha... The light in the adjoining room to mine now goes on during funny times of the day... there's an odd clank, bang or bonk sound from there emitted by the banging together of things being spring-cleaned in her room... The Great M5 is about to go back to the battlefield... and in slightly more than one month, I'm gonna join her as a M2 urgh...
MY BROTHER'S going for his C M P B medical checkup... Shades of my own (2nd June 2006, the morning before a certain string concert) with ChuaH... Haha its not something I would happily go through again cos it wasn't all that efficient (read the post under June 2006 for more).
Been going out with OG quite a bit... Went baking (my goodness, can you imagine ME baking hahahah), movies, LAN etc... Been pretty fun... I thank God for sticking me into such a bonded OG which unceasingly keeps cooking up new things to do haha...
Tomorrow am going to the driving circuit for the first time... After hearing that all my contemporaries have gotten their driving test dates, I quite anxious to complete my driving course... I mean, besides parking, I'm sure I can handle a car on an EMPTY road haha... Not to say I'm overconfident, cos I've have had many an ear-blistering lesson on the quickly changing road conditions on Ubi. Plus things which have been happening to other acquaintences of mine which remind me of how careful one must be on the road... But hey I'd like to get it over and done with so that I don't have to keep going back and burn money on lessons and EZlink cards
Wednesday will be a KE M1 dinner (hope more people come, so KE M1s who don't know about this / are not on the yahoo group, please turn up!) to round off a very eventful half-week.
Till the next time, cheers!
Meanwhile, behind, the three cats leapt away from their dinner plate and headed for the nearest hiding place.
After squinting through the darkness for a while, it turned out that the neighbour had forgotten to engage his "park" and his handbrake, whereupon the car slid down the rather sharp gradient, shot across the road, over the drain and planted its posterior firmly in the flowerbed which lines the outside of the wall of our house. The wall (made of brick) itself and its fence (made of wood) got stove in to form an extended V.
Still, that's one of the interesting things which have happened this week.
First, MY SISTER'S BACK so the house has gotten a bit noisier haha... The light in the adjoining room to mine now goes on during funny times of the day... there's an odd clank, bang or bonk sound from there emitted by the banging together of things being spring-cleaned in her room... The Great M5 is about to go back to the battlefield... and in slightly more than one month, I'm gonna join her as a M2 urgh...
MY BROTHER'S going for his C M P B medical checkup... Shades of my own (2nd June 2006, the morning before a certain string concert) with ChuaH... Haha its not something I would happily go through again cos it wasn't all that efficient (read the post under June 2006 for more).
Been going out with OG quite a bit... Went baking (my goodness, can you imagine ME baking hahahah), movies, LAN etc... Been pretty fun... I thank God for sticking me into such a bonded OG which unceasingly keeps cooking up new things to do haha...
Tomorrow am going to the driving circuit for the first time... After hearing that all my contemporaries have gotten their driving test dates, I quite anxious to complete my driving course... I mean, besides parking, I'm sure I can handle a car on an EMPTY road haha... Not to say I'm overconfident, cos I've have had many an ear-blistering lesson on the quickly changing road conditions on Ubi. Plus things which have been happening to other acquaintences of mine which remind me of how careful one must be on the road... But hey I'd like to get it over and done with so that I don't have to keep going back and burn money on lessons and EZlink cards
Wednesday will be a KE M1 dinner (hope more people come, so KE M1s who don't know about this / are not on the yahoo group, please turn up!) to round off a very eventful half-week.
Till the next time, cheers!
~JcZw~ at 12:21 am
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Life has settled into the routine of shuttling back and forth from home to Ubi (either for driving or fencing) and back home to sort photos of the Japan trip for printing. Of the latter task, I've finished =D A job which I'm immensely proud of hahah only thing is that I have no album to put them in so printing will be delayed until I do. Of the former, well, its draining my EZlink card especially when on days like today when I go once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
But my driving's improved haha and next week I'm going onto the circuit (finally!)... I probably have enough road training to last me for a long time... But my instructor told me, passing the test is only 70% skill. There's still 10% traffic conditions, 10% your affinity to your instructor and 10% the weather. Curious, cos I had been just contemplating how difficult it was to park in heavy rain. The worst experience I've ever had so far is fighting my way down to the U-turn at Eunos Link past the PIE and back in heavy rain where everything's reduced to vaguely visible blobs of light.
Contrast to today, when I had a green wave from halfway down Eunos Link all the way to the U-turn, and there were no cars within 15 meters of me when I made my lane change, so I stayed in 4th gear all the way down haha... There was no oncoming traffic at the U-turn so didn't even have to stop, just slowed, 2nd gear midway through the turn and accelerate out! I could almost die for such conditions during my test =D
The exciting monotony, shall we say, of driving was also broken last week with a reunion of the Japan Trip people in a japanese restaurant at Bugis Junction haha followed by a visit to Little India (the first time I've gone at night). And I discovered I'm actually pretty good at shopping in terms of quickly finding the required article ("Beginner's LUCK!" said Elli).... The only lucky part of the night was catching the last train home (or rather, missing the second-last train -_-"') but ahh I don't believe in luck anyway hahah both as a christian as well as a fencer...
Alright, I now have half an hour to psycho myself to drag out my jacket, foil and plastron to go fencing at FM haha... Til the next time
But my driving's improved haha and next week I'm going onto the circuit (finally!)... I probably have enough road training to last me for a long time... But my instructor told me, passing the test is only 70% skill. There's still 10% traffic conditions, 10% your affinity to your instructor and 10% the weather. Curious, cos I had been just contemplating how difficult it was to park in heavy rain. The worst experience I've ever had so far is fighting my way down to the U-turn at Eunos Link past the PIE and back in heavy rain where everything's reduced to vaguely visible blobs of light.
Contrast to today, when I had a green wave from halfway down Eunos Link all the way to the U-turn, and there were no cars within 15 meters of me when I made my lane change, so I stayed in 4th gear all the way down haha... There was no oncoming traffic at the U-turn so didn't even have to stop, just slowed, 2nd gear midway through the turn and accelerate out! I could almost die for such conditions during my test =D
The exciting monotony, shall we say, of driving was also broken last week with a reunion of the Japan Trip people in a japanese restaurant at Bugis Junction haha followed by a visit to Little India (the first time I've gone at night). And I discovered I'm actually pretty good at shopping in terms of quickly finding the required article ("Beginner's LUCK!" said Elli).... The only lucky part of the night was catching the last train home (or rather, missing the second-last train -_-"') but ahh I don't believe in luck anyway hahah both as a christian as well as a fencer...
Alright, I now have half an hour to psycho myself to drag out my jacket, foil and plastron to go fencing at FM haha... Til the next time
~JcZw~ at 5:19 pm
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Aftermath from Japan!! Can't stop thinking about it... Guess that's the reason why people say they want to go back to Japan so much hahah... When I was on a bus from church to meet my travel mates to sort photos, I was thinking how in Singapore its warm when you lean against the bus windows whereas in Japan its cold...
But I guess Singapore has its pluses too... Like how the toilet seats never freeze your backside in the morning...
So meanwhile, photos have been mostly sorted, and life has returned to reality. Within 4 hours of returning to Singapore my department IC for medicamp arrowed me to be IC for icebreakers. So if anyone has any incredible ice breaker ideas to be played within OGs please let me know, I have 7 days left to sort things out.
Been back driving. My driving is rusty, no question. Half-clutch, U-turn, slope, even lane change etc is all fine (which I should be considering I'm onto my 12th lesson), but the reaction to changing road situations is not too good, exarcebated by the language barrier (which gets worst when I'm in a tight spot cos then my instructor starts talking faster and more excitedly, with the result that I get even more lost). My instructor also asked me about my trip... And I discovered that its quite hard to remember that Kyoto is called jing du in chinese while doing a lane change...
Been back fencing too... Since the last time I've gone, handover has taken place and all the familiar faces of Changling and gang, XianZheng, KinChi etc have gone, to be replaced by the likes of the new exco. From what I see and hear, though, this new batch is in good hands, with a steady captain and vice-captain. Still, what is needed for the final boost is a spark of craziness heh. The spark which makes people train 4 hours a day, 6 times a week.
That said, I've just collected more bruises in the past 2 days that in the entire run-up to Novices in J2. Maybe my plastron is becoming a bit more loose, but somehow Jiunn Chyau landed a foil hit just below my collarbone, and the VJ epeeists added more on my wrist, my thyroid cartilage, left collarbone and so on. I shall avoid wearing polo shirts / any other V-necked shirt once the bruises start turning yellow... Shall I add that Jon Boon attempted an overambitious flick on my shoulder and now I have a shiny abrasion there that looks more like a burn than anything =D
Funny to be back at fencing haha.... Was super off form at foil night, though I managed to stay very focused and so finished 2nd in the league after losing a great 15-13 match to JC. He, Coach, Jourdan and the rest were watching me fence a newcomer, who's attacks I could pick off very easily, only that none of my ripostes hit him. My blade was dancing all over his jacket, but could never get the 0.5 newtons needed to score! I daresay I was at 0.4999999 N already! But in the end won5-0 after expending a disproportionately large amount of energy grrrr.
Then there was this little boy who couldn't have been out of primary school, who's tactic was so lower his head, stick out his hand and charge like a rhino. His electric jacket was so small I couldn't get a touch and got a fantastic amount of white lights (combined with the fact that my point control wasn't what it was). In the end I cheated and played epee style, lunge from far and counterattack heh. Not often I get the height advantage off someone.
Still, my parry-ripostes were back, for the first time since J2, to the lightning speed that Jon Tay and Matt Lopez hated back when we were sparring partners on Saturday mornings, so hopefully it stays that way. In the meantime, shall continue icing my numerous dings and pits...
But I guess Singapore has its pluses too... Like how the toilet seats never freeze your backside in the morning...
So meanwhile, photos have been mostly sorted, and life has returned to reality. Within 4 hours of returning to Singapore my department IC for medicamp arrowed me to be IC for icebreakers. So if anyone has any incredible ice breaker ideas to be played within OGs please let me know, I have 7 days left to sort things out.
Been back driving. My driving is rusty, no question. Half-clutch, U-turn, slope, even lane change etc is all fine (which I should be considering I'm onto my 12th lesson), but the reaction to changing road situations is not too good, exarcebated by the language barrier (which gets worst when I'm in a tight spot cos then my instructor starts talking faster and more excitedly, with the result that I get even more lost). My instructor also asked me about my trip... And I discovered that its quite hard to remember that Kyoto is called jing du in chinese while doing a lane change...
Been back fencing too... Since the last time I've gone, handover has taken place and all the familiar faces of Changling and gang, XianZheng, KinChi etc have gone, to be replaced by the likes of the new exco. From what I see and hear, though, this new batch is in good hands, with a steady captain and vice-captain. Still, what is needed for the final boost is a spark of craziness heh. The spark which makes people train 4 hours a day, 6 times a week.
That said, I've just collected more bruises in the past 2 days that in the entire run-up to Novices in J2. Maybe my plastron is becoming a bit more loose, but somehow Jiunn Chyau landed a foil hit just below my collarbone, and the VJ epeeists added more on my wrist, my thyroid cartilage, left collarbone and so on. I shall avoid wearing polo shirts / any other V-necked shirt once the bruises start turning yellow... Shall I add that Jon Boon attempted an overambitious flick on my shoulder and now I have a shiny abrasion there that looks more like a burn than anything =D
Funny to be back at fencing haha.... Was super off form at foil night, though I managed to stay very focused and so finished 2nd in the league after losing a great 15-13 match to JC. He, Coach, Jourdan and the rest were watching me fence a newcomer, who's attacks I could pick off very easily, only that none of my ripostes hit him. My blade was dancing all over his jacket, but could never get the 0.5 newtons needed to score! I daresay I was at 0.4999999 N already! But in the end won5-0 after expending a disproportionately large amount of energy grrrr.
Then there was this little boy who couldn't have been out of primary school, who's tactic was so lower his head, stick out his hand and charge like a rhino. His electric jacket was so small I couldn't get a touch and got a fantastic amount of white lights (combined with the fact that my point control wasn't what it was). In the end I cheated and played epee style, lunge from far and counterattack heh. Not often I get the height advantage off someone.
Still, my parry-ripostes were back, for the first time since J2, to the lightning speed that Jon Tay and Matt Lopez hated back when we were sparring partners on Saturday mornings, so hopefully it stays that way. In the meantime, shall continue icing my numerous dings and pits...
~JcZw~ at 12:31 pm
Monday, June 02, 2008
Am back after 12 amazing days. Travelling out of the country never ceases to impress me and make me so happy! Now I know why Stella and Amanda Lim liked Japan so much.
And of course I had 4 great companions to share the trip with! From top left clockwise
Julia
Treasurer of The Common Fund
AMI-causer of the cycling trips
The lark of the morning
Glen
Navigator of the streets
Flasher of the yukata
Companion of the hotspring
Elli
Owner of The Tank
Deep sleeper of the room
Lead bomber in the nuclear strike force =Pp
Charlene
Navigator of the subways
Carrier of water
Owner of the nice hands
Each person really brought in their own contributions to the group, whether material or moral. Throughout the trip we used each other's soap, adaptors, music players, card readers, baggage space considerably, but am so grateful we had a good time and no one came out with a worst relationship than we had going in. There are just too many things about the trip to write for now, maybe another day, or maybe not at all. Somethings are funnier and more memorable when relieved out loud to another friend, than to a blog.
We went
We saw
We came back in one piece
Thank God, and all our parents and other relatives who kept us in prayer =) More another time!
And of course I had 4 great companions to share the trip with! From top left clockwise
Julia
Treasurer of The Common Fund
AMI-causer of the cycling trips
The lark of the morning
Glen
Navigator of the streets
Flasher of the yukata
Companion of the hotspring
Elli
Owner of The Tank
Deep sleeper of the room
Lead bomber in the nuclear strike force =Pp
Charlene
Navigator of the subways
Carrier of water
Owner of the nice hands
Each person really brought in their own contributions to the group, whether material or moral. Throughout the trip we used each other's soap, adaptors, music players, card readers, baggage space considerably, but am so grateful we had a good time and no one came out with a worst relationship than we had going in. There are just too many things about the trip to write for now, maybe another day, or maybe not at all. Somethings are funnier and more memorable when relieved out loud to another friend, than to a blog.
We went
We saw
We came back in one piece
Thank God, and all our parents and other relatives who kept us in prayer =) More another time!
~JcZw~ at 12:39 am