hanging on

I'm hanging on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I'm hanging on to the words you say
You said I will be okay

- Broken -

to arthur

Looks like no one from Guinness called me today... in reference to this. :(

But to Arthur nevertheless!

pacesetter

At the moment, I feel the fittest in more than a year. Not much by the sound of it. But that was because I was running in many races last year. Mostly 5.0km distances, one half marathon. Yesterday, I ran 5.0km for fun.. in a time of 30:52 minutes. I would give myself a pat on the back for it. However, I can still do better. But sometimes I wonder whether is it possible to push myself further up another notch.

At rest, my heartbeats per minute (bpm) can reach 84. That's actually a bit on the high side. A 'normal' person's bpm is 72. And, athletes' bpm can be as low as 60. It's either I am always restless, (my blood pressure is normal) or I don't have a strong heart. Sometimes it does scare me. But I wouldn't get that to my head. I think I know my body's limit. If I can't set another foot forward, I should recognise it. I should mention that 'should' is a word I hate. It's intimidating, and even condescending.

There are many times in which I tried to test the limits of my barrier, but not necessary punching a hole in it. I will run fast, hard, even though there's a possibility that I can't oxygenate my vitals enough. Usually prior to that, I will feel my body heating up - hence I would be pulling my sleeves up - to cool myself passively. When my body's warnings are still unheeded, I will start to yawn continuously, as I slowly feel light-headed... ... ... ... ... ...

Those are risks and circumstances that I am aware of. But no pain, no gain right? I am ready to go beyond my comfort zone...

Today, I met up with some friends from school. Karoake-ed and watched The Ugly Truth before heading home. I still have lots to do for the orientation. I already feel less committed - still bittered that I had not done enough (apparently - in the eyes of my classmates) - to lead the society... sighs. And yet, I don't want to fail... for my sake... not anybody's else.

err... 4 pointer?

This could be fake....



But the six men – previously high school basketball players, now roommates at Texas A&M – say they will sponsor one child through the charity Compassion International for every 100,000 views of their video.

summer's over

Mood moon has been shining over me at a wrong angle again...

To make things worst, I had less than 5 hours of sleep! Oh wells. Gonna have to get used to that. Semester starting next week. But have to prepare the junior's orientation this Friday onwards.

Sighs.. I have to take one good look at my eyes now... free of eye bags. Okay. Mental picture. I wonder how bad it will be 3 months from now.

Anyway, I had lunch at Yummy Duck at Kuchai Lama. It's one of my dad's client's investment. So, I had to try la. It's something like a chicken/duck rice restaurant. But it was like a high end Hongkie-styled place. Anyway, I had noodles instead of rice. The meat were so-so la. A bit too fatty for my liking, especially the char siew. I prefer Aunty Gina's Yuk Kee at Taman Connaught.

Then, we went to KLCC. I went to Kinokuniya. Practically the only place I would go. First thing I saw was Valerie!! Ex senior back in VI. Now, in food industry course. So, we did some small talk, a bit of catching up. And if we had any business card, we would have definitely exchanged! It was kinda that formal.

Anyway, I promised to help her spread this survey she is doing. It's her Restaurant Management project. She needs about 200 participants. So far she has 70++. Please fill it up ya?? Thank you!! She also said...

1. Please note that you do not have to answer the first page of questions if you answer 'no' for the first question.
2. If you are currently overseas, put current location as your hometown.

After that, we parted ways. Then I went around looking for something to read. I searched through the bestsellers and found the Time Traveler's Wife. I have seen the trailer. Looks really good... I mean original and moving. So, I took it off the shelf. But what really sold me was the review by Evening Standard on top of the front cover. It reads - 'Here's the next The Lovely Bones... A rare book'. And it so happens that I am halfway reading The Lovely Bones!! Very excellent so far!!

I made my purchase, but didn't leave the bookshop yet. I sat there and read Outliers. It's so interesting reading about the statistics of successful people. I read till page 62 :p Don't think I will be buying it. Haha. I will just finish it slowly page by page every time I go to a bookstore.

Then before going back, I went to BEST. They sell tech stuffs. I went browsing, looking for a reasonably priced video camera. All I need is money.

where's the sun?

I woke up at 6pm. Seriously. No joke. Damn sia-suey... embarrassing. A personal worst. No hangover... not that I remember I had any beverage at Hartamas. Oh well. Since I got up to an evening, might as well make the best of it right? So I ate a bowl of cereal, let it mix around somewhere in there *points to belly button* for about 15 minutes and left the house. No warm-ups. So I hit the ground running.

I felt a bit lethargic. I mean my legs felt heavy even on the first 1km. That's pretty unusual. But I managed to push myself to 4km in 25minutes. Not great. Just okay. I struggled in the last few kms. A bit slow. Can be improved. But I was that tired. I felt lightheaded... like hypoxia. Not enough Oxygen. You know, when you are having hypoxia, your decision-making can be quite bad. So that's why when I got home, I got a bit of yelling when I leaned against the sofa to catch my breathe. Yeah... I didn't cool down. Maybe I should... next time la...

It was because I wanted to see the United-City highlights again. HAHA...

magnificent 7

I was up till 6am this morning. Came home straight after 12.30am and watched the highlights of the United-City derby. At Uncle Chow's house, we all watched after 70th min. That time was 2-2. I was honestly not exactly happy. I really wanted to watch the whole game. But we had this family dinner. But I went nevertheless. At least I had the chance to congratulate LunYao for his graduation. Anyway, 2-2... I thought... man... I missed so much. And dinner wasn't even filling at all. I noticed during dinner, everyone at the 'kids' table were patiently waiting for another phantom dish. I also admittedly was still saving 2 scoops of my rice (only first bowl) in anticipation for something else... anything really. But then they started clearing our tables. So I gobbled down my plain rice before the waitresses could get their paws on my bowl and chopsticks. Damn... all of us... ShiVern, LunXiang, Uncle Sian, myself were praying for at least desserts. Lo and behold, when we summoned all our energy into our combined prayers (no holding hands), desserts came.

We left, our stomachs still growling. In the car, I asked my parents how was dinner. They said "good". I said I it wasn't enough. My sis ditto-ed that. My parents were shocked and then started lecturing about the cost of the dinner. Sighs... They said everyone at the 'adults' table were satiated. Anyway, at home after that during the highlights, I had some yam cake, albeit a bit heavy for a midnight snack. My grandma and mom made it.

So sitting at Uncle Chow's sofa, I silent wished the game to have more action. 10 minutes later, Giggs's cross was met by Fletcher. Everybody shouted!! I just punched the air. I was kinda in the silent mode... still. Uncle Khing also talked about the game at Old Trafford a few weeks back. He reminisced about the loud celebrations there at the Theater of Dreams. Anyway, the theater still had enough time for some more drama. Rio gave the ball away to Barry.. we were all like "no... No... NOOOO...". It was like an opera. The reverberating "No (s)" filled the air, each getting louder and louder, as the other grown-ups still chatter-away about something, something. As for us 'kids' around the tv, including Uncle Khing, we were all grumbling, cussing at Rio for his carelessness. At the moment when he had lunged forward, I rather he gave away a penalty. Anyway to preserved the 3-2 lead. But at 89:57, City were back leveled at 3-3. I felt like ripping my hair off. Ok probably we had brought Rio back from injury too soon. He didn't play against Besiktas in midweek. SO.. perhaps he wasn't sharp from his lack of games so far this season.

So, at the Stretford End, of TTDI, we were all silent. Uncle Fook Far came out from the toilet, and was like "WHAT HAPPENED??" Uncle Khing brought him up back up to level, just like the score. We were still all grumbling. Then my mom, 3 minutes late, "Har?? JooLian, 3-3 already ar???" *Grunts*... I went. The guys (LunYao, Xiang, ShiVern, Loong Sheng) were like out the door at 93rd min. They had planned to go Hartamas during dinner. They were talking gibberish to me about 'snake??' or was it 'snape??'... some foosball terms which I don't get. Anyway, my ass was still glued to the chair. I wanted to still stick with the team. Uncle Chow was like "Wei.. they calling you ar". At 94:30, I stood up. The fourth official had indicated 4 mins of injury time. So, I thought it was nearly over. This must be time added on to time added on, I thought. Then, a freekick at 95:00. I was near the door, still feeling upset about the scoreline.

All of them popped their head back in when they heard there was a freekick. But the ball was headed back out. Lousy freekick! Tevez (at City) came rushing out, but Rooney got to it first and launched the ball back into the penalty box. It came back out again, only to come to one man, Giggs. He sent the ball to the left of the penalty box, with a fine long pass, where he found OWEN, who somehow had found some space. Richards had left him there all alone. The second after that (95.28) seemed to be broken into flashes of a movie timeframe, like everything was going in slow motion. Frame by frame, each millisecond was played. I was suddenly looking at it from different points of view, different areas of the stadium itself. It was like the movie series '24'. My vision was broken down into 4 parts. Owen controlled the ball excellently. One of his only touches after coming on as a sub just before Fletcher scored his second. You could hear the beats of our hearts. It was nearly in our mouths. The fans all stood up in a superbly red wave-like fashion. Pupils dilate. Richards came lunging towards the ball. Given the City keeper closed the angle on Owen. Somehow the sun pierced through the clouds at that precise moment on the man with the ball. You could only focus on Owen's right boots. He lifted the ball over the diving keeper, just inches over the sliding tackle of Richards. Eyes of the world were all on the ball. With our pulse nearing 150 beats per second, with each gland in our body all pumping like crazy, with adrenaline coursing through our veins, with dopamine all over in our brain, we all shouted GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!

20/09/2009 after 20:09

Dear noisy neighbours:- Your players make money, Our players make history...

the RC boys

One of the many things I learnt back in VI was perhaps character. 7 years in that school have prepped me to become someone capable of withstanding the mightiest of adversaries. I have learnt that "No" is not an answer I can attune to. To me, it does not carry any meaning whatsortever. When you say "no", you will only be spurring me to another unknown level that I am willing to venture into. When you say "no", I will take it as a challenge. And I can't turn down a challenge...

I love running in the rain. The only problem I have is that I am afraid of getting my shoes all sodden. So for the sake of my shoes, the most ideal rainy-day-runs would be a light drizzle which is enough to completely wet my hair say... after 4 minutes.

Running under the swollen clouds is also so much more cooling. You could be sure that you won't be overheating your 'motors' and muscles excessively and may even run that extra mile. However, without the right warm-ups, you might as well forget about running. It's like starting a car. You got to make sure the engine is hot enough; not too cold.

Anyway, for me, I always find an amazing bliss running in the rain. It reminises me of school. The rain always seem like a reprieve from the blistering sun. It's like the Heavans opening up, sparing us young men from the heat strokes easily suffered from enduring the physical activities our seniors put us through. There were many times which I relented to the unceasing seemingly meaningless torture I put myself through. When I was told to step into the line of fire, I did. When I wasn't, I did as well. Wtf right? But I am so glad I had done all of it. I am so glad that I have been taught this simple life lesson. It's all about unity. Friendship. Sticking together no matter what. You jump, I jump.

I was watching Band of Brothers last week. The first two episodes clearly depict the lifestyle us guys had to manage. It wasn't as tough as those military jocks. But it was hard enough for us 13-15 years olds. Push ups (knuckles with sharp pebbles in our grasps were pretty tough). Jogging in leather shoes. Those were the days. If you ask if I was toughen up by that exposure, I will say absolutely. There's nothing left we can't face.

Jog log: 3.5km in 21 minutes (Pretty much similar to last run. But stopped because it was getting dark - I was stepping into too many puddles. Oh and lesson #83 - Always tie you shoelases tightly. You don't want them to come loose during your runs!)

cute poster