Sunday, January 31, 2010

French School

Virgin experience at the French School Climbing Competition today. They had really nice challenging routes that I didn't expect. At least I didn't expect it to be up a couple of levels from the trainings we do in school. Guess we'll need to start upping the standards again eh. Especially those boulder routes that start with no footholds. HA... Ultimate fail. I really feel super retarded staring at Philip while I was attempting to start from a sit in to a hand foot match start. He kept shouting at me to think but apparently I'm not from Mazarin so I couldn't think. Or maybe bouldering is just not my thing la hor. The qualifying round I thought I tried my best but after sitting down and letting everything soak in I felt a little thrown off by the unexpected difficulty.

It was a really good experience today, I like Ang Mohs, and I wish I had the chance to study at an International School.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Orientation X 2010

Orientation has started and the 2nd day of it is really a GREAT improvement from the first day. I guess we all just need some time to warm up with people eh. I wonder how long my voice will last for the whole of next week. Xiao Wee is apparently very crazy and horny and that's a good thing because he lifts the mood. It's nice to know that I miss a couple of lessons for damn a lot of fun. Being an OGL is definitely one of the better choices I've made since in TJ alongside climbing. I can't wait for the juniors to come in so that I can say "J1s LAY THE MATS" while the rest of us snigger behind. We(yes Jo & Calvin go ahead yell at me for not laying the mats) have all become very tired laying that mats.

French School competition is tomorrow. I have barely any nerves and it's a good thing because that means no bad tummyaches or feel-like-shitting moments. Hopefully I've learn to master the art of conditioning the mind to tune everything out and listen to my own breathing and pace, Bouldermania had been a good journey without any freaking out, probably due to the small scale comp style. Let's see how it goes tomorrow. I'm excited with seeing how far I can push myself again after these 2 weeks of improvement in my bouldering and climbing.

Oh how can i forget this man, one of the best things I've heard in some long years.
La told me really sincerely during dinner last night that she thought I was really prettier these days, like very pleasant to look at. I wonder how she felt last time, in any case, this is definitely a good morale booster. My ego always gets digged at, it needs some lifting some time too ye know ;)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Myriad

What does it mean one day to find out your child is autistic?
Ahead is a long and hard journey that shows only more uncertainties.

During this journey, do we press on or give up?

If I ever had a child suffering from autism, I wonder how and where I will find the strength to press on.

Parents are the greatest gifts the world would ever have.
And what do we children do? Take them for granted.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Training

Climbing isn't all about physical strength and endurance, I have embarked upon a self-discovery of mental strength as well. Each training is a test of will power alongside the physical strength. I feel a great sense of accomplishment week after week, especially right after a hard climb when the breathing goes right deep into the soul followed by a massive exhale with all the fatigue flowing out.

Today is one of those special days where I feel really motivated to break my limits.
I think a lot of people only feel very good when they manage to complete the climb, but I'm more than satisfied when my sequence and technique on each and every move allow me to reach for the next hold, just the next hold. With that in mind, I just keep going and pushing the limits.

Till date, I still haven't found a sport as accomplishing as climbing. It's like a nutritious diet for the body and soul.

Of course, I'm not a god... my body is yelling for a good rub-down from this whole week of strenuous training. Any takers?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Frolicking

The champion of Novice Women for Bouldermania a.k.a Rah had 5 frolick vouchers and she decided -- no wait, more like Calvin asked for it and she agreed -- to treat us with 1 voucher! Ok la hor, we not very greedy right? :P
Then after frolicking around at Frolick, we decided to head to Teadot to start our studying. Calvin, being the man of all men, decided to treat us girls this time.
Tell me am I blessed or am i blessed?

Yesterday's bouldering session made me went through an experience I never want to allow my mind go through again. It was supposed to be an especially harder training session for us, with further holds and more difficulty. The first route that Philip set, I fell repeatedly at the first hand hold. After managing to get past that stage, I couldn't get past to complete the last 1/4 of the route. Then he came along and set a 2nd route, this time it was the last handhold which was so near yet so far. The frustration started compounding and I felt like punching something, anything. I've never felt that way before, especially venting my anger through violence. I was shocked at myself anyway for feeling like that, yet I can't help feeling so lousy. It's a sucky feeling and seriously it was so demoralising. It's so hard to keep telling the mind that it's okay when the mind says you can do it and physically you're not doing it. Finally the 3rd route, more of a morale booster, managed to complete on 2nd try, and the first time i tried, my sequence was alright as well.

I finally understand how frustrating it feels when you just can't seem to get it!!! And the bad feelings all just come flowing through like an open dam. Damnnnnn.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Timeeee

You know you are so tired when you start reading words and they become blurry, and no matter how many times you blink to try to attain that clear vision, it remains fuzzy. It's been happening to me lately, I don't know if it's my eyes or I'm just too tired. The mind tells me to keep on reading but the eyes refuse to cooperate.

Let you guys in on a deep dark secret:
I think I'm falling in love...

with studying.

And no, i'm not kidding at all. The computer or generally any other activity pales in comparison to the amount of books I want to spend a lavish of my time on.
Oh yes, not forgetting, I'm craving to climb. I'm addicted.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Taming of the Shrew

Tell me again why I'm always in this love-hate relationship with Shakespeare's works. I simply can't comprehend the Elizabethan language, yet appreciate the value of his works after reading the critical analysis. Is this how Lit is supposed to be? Knowing but not knowing. It's almost similar to philosophy. There's just too many ways of interpretation and that i guess, is the essence of art.

It feels good to be on par with the J2 workload right now. I've never felt so enlightened in tutorials, especially physics. It's really an improvement, and it all starts with the attitude. I'm glad I've changed for the better.

Only at the age of 18 have I realised the importance of looking back with no regrets, and i trust myself that it's not too late. Some have reached 40 without knowing how much idling they have been doing for the past 30 years. I don't want to look back at my A levels and go like "I could have done better", because nothing will ever change that after it's over.
Dying to go overseas with a scholarship, away from this highly inflexible education system in Singapore. i.e. I still don't see the point in having Econs lectures when the lecturer merely flashes a thousand words on the screen that mirrors every word in the lecture notes and worse, reading word for word on the screen.
It's no wonder so many students' minds shut down after a while, there's simply no brain stimulation in hearing a dull droning in the background.
I wonder when there will be a revamp of this whole system of teaching, and from the way I see it, our generation will continue this robotic way of learning.

It's this kind of education that forces you to accept what is given. We have been force-fed so much that we can hardly decipher truth from lies.
I want to be liberated! But the question is... Can I?

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Mental activity

Bouldermania 2010 is over with amazing results! Rah bags the top place for Novice Women, followed by me finishing in 4th, Ash in 6th, and Val in 11th. It's a pity for Val because she could have been together with Rah. Aside with the could haves, i'm sure it was a good learning point for all of us. We all committed some mistakes here and there, and this is the time where we remember how it had cost some of us. I'm sure those mistakes will never be made again in future competitions, especially Ahmed's complacency. I'm equally proud of the guys as well because the novice men's routes were definitely of way higher standard comparing relative to the guys. Chris's first comp and he finished as top 5. Heartfelt congratulations to all climbers of TJCCC, each of you have fought hard to be at Bouldermania. We are already winners in all our ways.

I woke up at 830am today... considering it's a Sunday, it's definitely one of my earliest. With a never exhaustive to-do list running in my head, I got up pretty energetic to want to start my day off early. Had a good oats breakfast while reading the Sunday papers. Everytime I flip to the Property section, my mind never fail to imagine the possibilities of being able to own one. Thinking of those Good-Class Bungalows make my nerves tingle, especially when they report that more and more late 30s rather than mid 40s are purchasing these land with a lot of potential as good investments. Well, it motivated me to start doing my homework, at least.

Off i went at 12p.m doing up essay plans and reading all those information to substantiate the plans... who knew how time ticked by. I've done 8 essay plans for the whole noon to evening and am still not done. Why do these things take up so much time huh? But I've read up a lot so I guess it adds to the general knowledge. I was just telling Guan Hong how i wished I could just be better off reading the whole day rather than doing homework but this GP homework ain't so bad. At least I did read the whole day... and my eyes are so tired. The brain is fuzzy already. Physical activity ain't that draining. Mental work takes a toll on the body... it's no wonder that it's those professionals who use brain work that earn much more than hard labourers.
I haven't had the luxury of time this weekend to catch up on my past week's lessons and what's worse is that I actually plan to go for Yoga on the weekends.

I really need better time management... or perhaps... lesser work to do.

Monday, January 11, 2010

1st day of school

You know those jitters you get from the first day of school, and you dread it coming.

But god, must i say, this is the best first day of school for the AY 2010. And why is that so?

Because it's the only day today that we get to be dismissed at 1020 with no lessons at all.

The following days of the year will be hellish and tough and full of struggles.... but

WE WILL SURVIVE! *plays Gloria Gaynor's song*

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Dang

It's one of those mornings when you wake up and it hits right in your head that your throat is burning up from deep fried western food the previous night, especially so when you know the day ahead is filled with cheering(or shouting), dancing, and being enthusiastic with the vocal chords. That was Monday, and the disease has evolved through different stages till today.
It has gone on a rollercoaster ride with me battling out during training -- pounding headache, strained finger extensor muscles. It seemed to have gotten better on Thursday, little did I know, the bug might have mutated, it gave me another round of pounding headache during Friday's training. I felt like I was nose-bleeding(which I have actually never before), with the blood rushing to the head and finding an exit from there. It was a really bad feeling especially when we were only halfway into the instructor's training.

Saturday happened to be not any better, the pounding headache seems have to become good friends with my body, putting me through hell throughout the day with the scorching sun. The throat is not burning anymore, but it's so tickly and itchy that it's crying for me to cough and do something about it! The chest contracts horribly and I feel pain rising through after each bout of coughing. It's one of the FML moments.

We were doing Econs Project and towards the end, Xiao Wee and Brandon were dancing to SNSD videos. I officially declare Brandon a girl. He is a good female dancer. Great cheerleader in fact, the only thing hiding his potential is the school's rule of not allowing cross-dressing. *I hear big sighs everywhere*
Imagine him unleashing his true potential when he cross-dresses and dances with a mini skirt and heels.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Outlier

out·li·er

n.
  1. One whose domicile lies at an appreciable distance from his or her place of business.

  2. A value far from most others in a set of data: "Outliers make statistical analyses difficult" (Harvey Motulsky).

If I didn't have any other commitments, I think I can easily finish one book in a day. Imagine if I had 365 days in the year to read leisurely, I would have accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge. Halfway into Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell and I already have a different perspective on the successes of the successful people in the world. Luck wasn't the mere factor, neither was innate ability of being overtly smarter than peers their age; it was a combination of opportunities available to pursue a certain field of specialization, family background, and the ability to seize these opportunities.

World-class musicians, athletes, tech geeks like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't become famous overnight. They were just like us, with some getting a slight advantage than others when born, but as time progresses, this advantage is what they call the cumulative advantage. It compounded and propelled them into major successes of the 21st century.

Just take a look at climbing. Some have the slight advantage of being more physically built for climbing and ability to learn faster, but when being talent spotted by coaches who spend a large amount of attention and time grooming and polishing these bunch of potential climbers, they advance extremely fast as compared to the rest. The underlying rule to success is actually simple and straightforward - 10000 hours into what you are doing, and when opportunity presents itself, grab it and reap the seeds that you have sowed.
Remember that 10000 hours is not something simple, it's actually doing something 3 hours every day of the week for 10 years.

World-class athletes do not have daytime jobs, they just train and train and train -- and they get paid while training as well. Their brains are so assimilated into these daily trainings that they get so good at it. Why do ordinary athletes not excel as fast? Because they have other commitments. When these world-class athletes have reached the 10000 hours rule, you and I might have just accumulated 1000 hours in training. It's this same theory for all the other highly successful people.

Remember how everyone believe the notion that family background does not matter in a child's success. Actually it does. Middle to upper class families usually have parents who are excelling well in their career. They believe that they should be actively involved in their child's education -- shuttling them to and fro enrichment/tuition classes, asking after their day in school, being the pro-active parent who calls the teacher/school up to find out the activities available and eventually doing the best a parent would for their child. Comparatively, the lower-income parents believe that natural growth is the key. It's not. Children need a role model to follow in social activities and how they present themselves as an individual. The lower-income parents tend to have children that keep to themselves, not knowing when they can assert themselves.

A real life example that I've come to notice is actually the people around me. As a child, I always have the opportunities to follow my mom to social events, mingling with people much older than I am. I've attended various seminars with her as well. I learn the ways of society much faster than most peers my age. The way one presents oneself in speech and mannerisms is not taught in school. It has to be cultivated, and this cultivation actually starts from home. Then, when I take a look at my cousins who are not as well-to-do who did not have as many chances as I had to attend social events, to meet people beyond their social connections, they become more afraid to speak up, not knowing that they can assert themselves, and that they have the right to.

Then again, when I compare myself to even richer families, it varies as well. I always joked with my mom that had she been even richer, she could have sent me to various enrichment classes that give the children of these days that additional advantage when it comes to starting school in Primary 1. A friend of hers whose son is in Tao Nan and in the Gifted Education Programme did not just born to be smart. He had been attending all those extra classes outside that contribute to his cognitive development as a child. He even thanked his mom for sending him to all those endless classes because when he took the streaming examinations in Primary 4, he recalled the questions they asked were similar to those that he had been doing at his tuition classes at the Learning Lab since he was much younger.
It's this kind of exposure and additional advantage that compounds propelling people into bigger successes.
My mom's friend once sent her son to Mindchamps during the holidays to expose himself further and told him to 'get some knowledge back' for the money she put into sending him there. When he came back from the camp he only feedback that it was a waste of her money because he did not get any knowledge back. Imagine a child, at eleven years of age, being able to speak up confidently and assertively, knowing that he should be treated like an adult because he is capable of reasoning, negotiating and communicating his thoughts effectively without whining and throwing tantrums.

When i was eleven, i was just a little kid, afraid to ask questions in class.
The turning point in my life was Sec 1 during the holidays... but that shall be the next part of my life story.

To sum up, "When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances".

Don't you agree sometimes thoughts are better kept unspoken?
When i went to the school library yesterday, this young chap who was a friend of the school's librarian and was helping me check out the books i wanted to borrow. I asked if the library has Freakonomics. He looked at me and said I don't know and asked me to ask the librarian. So I think she saw and heard me, she came over to the counter and told the guy to type it into the computer search listings. Up came Freakonomics under the American Section, then she went to the shelves and get me the book. On the way there as I followed her, that guy said, what lame book is that?
Wah, my impression of him immediately went down the drain.
If he kept his mouth shut, I wouldn't think of him as being stupid. Haha... okay judgemental much.
Sometimes when you are stupid, you don't have to announce to the world that you are stupid.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

2010

To kickstart this fabulous year, the year that will either make it or break it... I've packed all my notes and filed them for future references. As I looked around the house searching for those arch files... I came across this thick folder of qualifications and other important documents of my mom's. I flipped through and guess what I saw -- her O level results! When i told her about it and took mine out to compare with hers, I was busy mocking her and she kept looking away and ignoring me while saying "我的尊严全部没了". According to her, this was supposed to be some secret that I wasn't supposed to know. Apparently she did amazingly well with the Cs and Ds in grades. She said if I knew how badly she fared back then, I wouldn't study so hard and let myself take the easy way out. But of course that wouldn't be the case.

Oh btw, as you're reading this, take a moment to lift your keyboard upside down and give it a few good shakes. Be surprised at the amount of shit falling out.

I've made loads of mental notes to start studying and not procrastinate. It's always this raring to go study feeling at the start of the year... which always die down when school kicks in few weeks later.
I've not made much big resolutions for this year because of the looming A levels.
The goals are simple and straight forward and easy to guess as well -- straight As. It's easy to say... but I know it's going to take more than just pure determination.
Applies to climbing as well... I want to see the year of 2010 with 2 major breakthroughs - one with my studies, and the second with climbing.

Easy enough for me to keep sight of the big picture... Little distractions will work the magic.

I'm really excited about the upcoming Bouldermania. The last competition seemed so longgggggg ago man. I'm currently reading Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom. Hopefully it gives me that additional edge to trust my present climbing abilities and push it further.

New year's countdown at Calvin's place yesterday was a night of crazy fun. Lucky for those few who stayed late enough to see my amazing singing abilities. Remade on spot the lyrics of Hotel California and we were all laughing till we were out of breath. With the alcoholic freak around, we had some hard liquor. She's mad because she stood at the glass door at the den and started blowing her breath and fogging the glass to draw a smiley face at me. The silly things that people do when they are high. :P Marcus had a shot too much and he was flushed out with his head burning. And i thought guys had more enzymes than girls to break down the alcohol before it gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Well at least he composed a song on the guitar when he was high in that moment.

The highlight of the night was when Marcus and I took a cab back...
I went in the cab and (note that it's quite dark in the cab) said to the uncle...
Me: Uncle, 两个地方...
Taxi driver: Er hello, yes?
Me: *hit me in the face that the driver was an Indian* Shit.. uncle, 2 places ah...
Marcus: *trying to stifle his stupid laughter so hard and rocking back and forth like he had fits or something*
Taxi driver: Eh, what's so funny man? Share the joke la.
Marcus: *still laughing* No la... nothing...
Taxi driver: It's ok la... a lot of people thought I'm chinese also. Hahaha...

Wah i super paiseh okay. I kept a super serious and straight face like I wasn't amused at all and he finally stopped laughing... what a night.


The bigger resolutions I have for the year ahead...
"I'd ask for all the hate to be swept away,
For love to overflow
For peace to mend this world
End all the bitterness and
Put some tenderness in our hearts..."