just found out that this year's shape run will be in september. which is 2 weeks after ahm. don't know if this is good or bad, seeing that i want to set a 10k pb.
2 days left to the end. this semester was horrible really despite me trying so hard to psycho myself since the beginning that i cannot let it be so. now with only one module left, i can't even do it properly. i'm hugely distracted by everything and anything, studying is a chore, i sleep at 3 but force myself to wake up at 8 or 9, time in the library passes unbearably slowly and my whole life is centered around thinking abt / planning for lunch or dinner or the next coffee break at thinking corner. blah. and i've just kindly been reminded that there's so much graduation stuff to settle, not to mention plc to apply for.
damn everyone and everything.
"Dear law students, My apologies for this belated message as I was away. I want to wish all of you the very best in your exams. Don't get overly stressed as good grades, while helpful, are neither a necessary nor a sufficient measure for future success. With best wishes, xxx possibly the sweetest and most enlightened dean ever. how can anyone not love him?
Tan CH"
you're really a master at this game aren't you?
depressed and lethargic and irritable and xian
this sums up my last week? or so
when i'm supposed to be having the time of my life
now
when i'm not out having fun
all i want to do is crawl into bed and sleeeeeep
i think i'm suffering from some chronic ailment
this sounds suspiciously like me
"many 'mainstream' real runners run so they can eat anything they want. And they often do. These 'garbage-disposal' runners typically have only about three things they live for (running and eating are two of them). Eat and run. Run and eat. Regular running burns tons of calories, and as long as they are consistent (and real runners are always consistent) they can maintain some state of fitness and health"- Real Runners don't Jog by Mark B Nelson
all hail the new heroes robert cheruiyot [2:14:13] and lidiya grigoryeva [2:29:18]! cheruiyot is simply amazing. this is his 3rd win at boston, and comes after he took a bad fall and suffered head injuries at finish line of the chicago marathon last year (which he also won). he set the fastest boston timing ever in 110 years with his win last year (think it was 2:07:something) and is also the first and only person to have won both the prestigious boston and chicago marathons in the same year. yay. my idol =)
anyway more amazing statistics to come. the top 4 male finishers were ALL Kenyans. and there were 7 Kenyans in the top 10! they must be doing something right.
ok off for supper .. more stats later! haha.
update: just read that boston marathon is experiencing the worst weather in its 111 year history. wow. 11 minutes to the elite women's start. go deena kastor! =)
actually, GO all 22,000 of you out there.. who today come together to celebrate the oldest and most prestigious marathon, and the common passion that transcends all borders and unites us all. no matter how well trained well prepared and well tapered one is, running 42.195km is never an easy task.. but this only makes crossing the finish line all the more sweeter. run the race of your life and enjoy the experience!
(ok i've decided .. like .. here and now.. that this dec i'm going to do it all over again)
excited! boston takes place today and for the first time i'll be following the live coverage on the BAA website and on runners world. it'd be even better if it were telecast on tv but i guess long-distance running is not that popular a sport here yet. nonetheless i'm all hyped up and excited already .. just as if i were running it myself (but fat hope of course) .. live coverage starts at 9pm .. can't wait! would love to see Cheruiyot successfully defend his title =)
i have been informed that one of my friends who has planned his final semester such that he has zero exams is going off on his 3 week vacation this weekend! arrrgh. *envious*
and so here i am on a saturday afternoon sitting in my room attempting to get some work done, and wearing my contact lenses despite not having ventured out the entire day except to get breakfast at clementi market. yes i'm hopelessly dependent on them. i invariably get a huge-ass headache whenever i try doing work with my glasses on. maybe its the effort of trying to prevent them from gradually sliding down my nose, maybe its coz i have to constantly squint at the screen when they are on.. i dunno. all i know is that this may be a big problem in the future.
have been running consistently again for about 3 weeks now. i'm back! and ready for AHM in august. will be doing it with the groo (if his legs don't break from all that i've been putting him thru) and maybe hopefully gy and truddy. the weirdest thing happened on thursday night. was just beginning my 6x400 fartleks on the track when i saw THE guy. yes the same prc guy who runs like a chicken with his hands flapping by his sides, wears the same pale peach pair of shorts all the time, whom i almost always see on the track, and whom i can almost always outrun. thing is, his ego is so goddamn huge that when we both happen to be running at the same time, he always turns it into a competition of sorts. he will speed up excessively just to prevent me (and sometimes ej) from passing him when i'm just trying to mind my own business. and when it turns out that i can very well hold my own against him and even pass him whilst he goes at that excessive speed, he loses everything after 1-2 rounds - physically, mentally whatever, and just gives up. and stops. now i have nothing against a little friendly competition on the track - in fact it is, imo, beneficial to both involved because it spurs you to push yourself more than you'd otherwise do if you're running alone. many a time i've left the track hugely satisfied after one of these pacing sessions with a total stranger whom i'm sure was equally satisfied too because of the enhanced workout that the competition brought. but i've always believed also that you should never ever compromise on the quality of your workout because of pride, and remembering this, i've backed out of several 'competitions' simply because i knew that i wouldn't be able to sustain that kind of pace for the distance i was planning to do or because i knew that kind of pace would not give me a quality workout that day (i.e. leaving me literally half dead at the end) or would compromise my workout the next day (i.e. if i was planning to do serious fartleks or a super long run). But i digress. ok this guy seems to have no common sense at all. what's the point of going at a pace which you can only sustain for 3-4 rounds and then drop out after that? i honestly dont think this does a lot for your fitness or endurance. and true, he doesn't seem to have gotten a lot fitter. or faster. or slimmer for that matter despite being on the track almost everyday. i've always wanted to tell him that hey if you want to do your 6 rounds (he almost always runs 6 rounds) faster, don't just be content with doing the same 2.4 over and over and over again. that can only get you so far. put down your pride and try some 5Ks or 10Ks at a slower pace and you'll find that you end up much stronger and faster. even for your 2.4. but i've never mustered up enough courage to speak to him .. so well.
oh yes anyway the whole point of this was that i saw him walking to the track just when i had started on my first 400. he then proceeded to walk 1 round around the track. i waited for the competition to come. and waited. and waited. then i saw him walking off. er .... huh? it did cross my mind that perhaps he'd already finished his run but i really don't think so. he wasn't perspiring at all and besides i never saw him when i was doing my 3 rounds of warmup. told the groo about this and he postulates that the guy must have seen me going at the 400s with such a vengeance that he didn't want to run there and be seen losing to the same girl again. which may be true given his huge ego. i'm still skeptical about this but omg think about it .. if this were true it would mean i'd have scared a guy away from running at the track! how absolutely awesome :)
i have already set a goal for myself for this AHM but i shan't announce it coz there's a very very high possibility that i'll fail to meet it. we shall see how the training goes.
ice cream at sunset way later! yay! :)
alrighty suddenly i'm all excited about grad trip again, especially the Paris leg of it which i was previously feeling -blah- about, for obvious reasons. terence and i have made plans to meet up when i'm in Paris! and he's suggested visiting the catacombs :) which i've never been to before. double yayness! maybe if there's time i'd want to go back to montmartre as well.. coz it's one place i really fell for, even though memories of it are dim now.
i suddenly feel much loathing for tours like the one i'm gonna go on. we spend only 1 night and maybe 3/4 of a day in Paris. and the itinary goes something like
- excursion cruise on the Seine
- and a Paris city tour where i'll get to 'take in the sight of ... Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde' and 'view' Eiffel Tower and 'visit' Notre Dame
(all of which i've ALREADY done btw)
and if i know what tour companies are like, it probably means that the italicized words must be interpreted literally. no going up la tour eiffel, no walking down the champs elysees. see only from the bus windows! take photos from a distance! coz we must follow a strict itinary and therefore must rush rush rush everywhere! no time to even see anything apart from the customary touristy stuff! ARGH.
suddenly i miss france so much. waking up in the morning with annelise and taking the train to school. the singaporeans hiding at the back of the classroom and playing cards. cycling in the woods behind A's house. the numerous house parties we had in our short 3 weeks there. taking the RER and metro around Paris and meeting all sorts of weird characters. taking the huge ferris wheel on our last night there. and the eiffel tower. we were there in dec 1999 and there was this huge lighted signboard on the tower counting down the number of days to the new millenium. we had lunch at some restaurant on the 2nd level of the tower which had particularly nice desserts (shit i keep forgetting that i'm writing in english and keep spelling 'tower' as 'tour') before going all the way up for that breathtaking view. One of our infamous jokes originated here too - when J slipped and fell while helping hanan i and adeline take a photo. While we, with much amusement, attempted to recount the incident to our teacher in charge, she was horrified because she thought J had fallen OFF the tower / fallen from the tower (tombe de la tour) instead of falling while he was in the tower (tombe a la tour?). Ah, memories, such lovely sweet memories of idyllic, lazy and fun-filled days. i can't get over the fact that this time when i go i'll only be able to SEE the tower from afar. wwwttttffff.
also.
i wish we had more time. i wish i had one full day there to hang out with terence (hopefully!) without having to worry abt how to meet the rest of the group to catch the flight back, seeing how far Paris CDG is from the city centre. OHMYGOD. just blogging abt this made me realize that since Paris is our last stop, technically i can extend my stay in Paris! OMGOMGOMG. OHMYGOD. i'm happy again. okay. will settle this ASAP. yay!
insurance can go to hell for all i care. in 44 days i will be back in my long-lost lover's warm embrace. =)
of course .. just thinking about how i used to be so passionate about france and french and how i chose to give all of that up also sparks off a whole string of regrets that will probably make me cry myself to sleep later on.. but .. that's another story.
monday, 9 april 2007 at 14:58 hours.
the msn-nick trend started by ME <炜婷> ... woozy - coffee IS still the solution to everything!
has grown to:
1) [James] i need a solution: it obviously isn't coffee
2) Celeste: [6900/8000] coffee is not the solution to everything: still spawning a whole new range of coffee-related nicks
AND
3) A weekend of Tioman and Phantom!! And coffee is certainly not the solution to everything - Anybody wanna help me finish up my paper?
haha yay .. not many but i'm happy and proud of myself :)
but why are they all dissenting?
coffee REALLY IS the solution to everything! drink and get enlightened!
yay! found a tub of peach-apricot ice cream at home =) it's been waaay too long since i last lived with a working fridge and freezer.
another thing. holland v's xo beehoon is no longer as good as it used to be. stop using the xo so liberally! it makes the soup overly bitter. the clementi central now wins hands down imho.
ok off to blog-whore ..
no more cat-on-the-road scares near plaza sing this time, but i DID see a real dead cat on the road this time .. near tiong bahru. too bad i couldn't stop to take a closer look and satisfy my morbid curiosity. saw an obviously drunk driver too who very nearly weaved right into my lane before zooming off unsteadily and proceeding to nonchalantly beat a red light. he didn't even pause to check if there were other cars crossing the junction! i guess he either really has balls or was very very drunk. saw about 3-4 roadblocks too but thankfully they were on the opposite side of the road. wouldn't have wanted to be caught for the expired road tax.
never knew there could be so many goings-on on the roads the night before a PH. hmm.
ok back to insurance! after some 10 days i am STILL only at insurable interest, believe it or not.
oh did i mention that i love people who love kenny rogers? which means i love YOU! and you. hahaha.
we now suck at the arcade game we used to love so much.. despite spending $6 on it we couldn't even break level 19 when 2 years ago we could complete the entire game (meaning level 100!). blah blah blah. and it doesn't help that the arcade at tiong bahru plaza is like the ONLY one left in SG that still has the game. the game machine is screwed up somemore ... the controls on the left somehow control the stuff on the RIGHT side of the screen and vice versa.. how to play properly lydat with the resulting confusion and parallax error huh?! does anyone know where we can buy arcade games? meaning the whole huge machine ... because we are seriously considering it.
april the second.
in exactly a month's time i will have sat for my last ever law school exam and one of the last exams in my life.
this is it. the end is near.
i feel like this is the beginning of the end of my life
or rather this is the last month of my life where i can be truly happy
i'd give anything to be able to go back to the past ... rg, rj, wherever. when i was happy and without a care in the world. when my friends were my life. when canoeing was my life. now i'm just waiting to graduate. waiting to slog my life away. waiting for retirement. waiting to die.
i dont want to grow up so soon =(
candice
danette
danielle
diana
fang
hanshuo
james
jieyun
joanne
mavis
melissa
ru
shan
sharon
sylvia
xiuling
xiuying
just found out that this year's shape run will be in september. which is 2 weeks after ahm. don't know if this is good or bad, seeing that i want to set a 10k pb.
2 days left to the end. this semester was horrible really despite me trying so hard to psycho myself since the beginning that i cannot let it be so. now with only one module left, i can't even do it properly. i'm hugely distracted by everything and anything, studying is a chore, i sleep at 3 but force myself to wake up at 8 or 9, time in the library passes unbearably slowly and my whole life is centered around thinking abt / planning for lunch or dinner or the next coffee break at thinking corner. blah. and i've just kindly been reminded that there's so much graduation stuff to settle, not to mention plc to apply for.
damn everyone and everything.
"Dear law students, My apologies for this belated message as I was away. I want to wish all of you the very best in your exams. Don't get overly stressed as good grades, while helpful, are neither a necessary nor a sufficient measure for future success. With best wishes, xxx possibly the sweetest and most enlightened dean ever. how can anyone not love him?
Tan CH"
you're really a master at this game aren't you?
depressed and lethargic and irritable and xian
this sums up my last week? or so
when i'm supposed to be having the time of my life
now
when i'm not out having fun
all i want to do is crawl into bed and sleeeeeep
i think i'm suffering from some chronic ailment
this sounds suspiciously like me
"many 'mainstream' real runners run so they can eat anything they want. And they often do. These 'garbage-disposal' runners typically have only about three things they live for (running and eating are two of them). Eat and run. Run and eat. Regular running burns tons of calories, and as long as they are consistent (and real runners are always consistent) they can maintain some state of fitness and health"- Real Runners don't Jog by Mark B Nelson
all hail the new heroes robert cheruiyot [2:14:13] and lidiya grigoryeva [2:29:18]! cheruiyot is simply amazing. this is his 3rd win at boston, and comes after he took a bad fall and suffered head injuries at finish line of the chicago marathon last year (which he also won). he set the fastest boston timing ever in 110 years with his win last year (think it was 2:07:something) and is also the first and only person to have won both the prestigious boston and chicago marathons in the same year. yay. my idol =)
anyway more amazing statistics to come. the top 4 male finishers were ALL Kenyans. and there were 7 Kenyans in the top 10! they must be doing something right.
ok off for supper .. more stats later! haha.
update: just read that boston marathon is experiencing the worst weather in its 111 year history. wow. 11 minutes to the elite women's start. go deena kastor! =)
actually, GO all 22,000 of you out there.. who today come together to celebrate the oldest and most prestigious marathon, and the common passion that transcends all borders and unites us all. no matter how well trained well prepared and well tapered one is, running 42.195km is never an easy task.. but this only makes crossing the finish line all the more sweeter. run the race of your life and enjoy the experience!
(ok i've decided .. like .. here and now.. that this dec i'm going to do it all over again)
excited! boston takes place today and for the first time i'll be following the live coverage on the BAA website and on runners world. it'd be even better if it were telecast on tv but i guess long-distance running is not that popular a sport here yet. nonetheless i'm all hyped up and excited already .. just as if i were running it myself (but fat hope of course) .. live coverage starts at 9pm .. can't wait! would love to see Cheruiyot successfully defend his title =)
i have been informed that one of my friends who has planned his final semester such that he has zero exams is going off on his 3 week vacation this weekend! arrrgh. *envious*
and so here i am on a saturday afternoon sitting in my room attempting to get some work done, and wearing my contact lenses despite not having ventured out the entire day except to get breakfast at clementi market. yes i'm hopelessly dependent on them. i invariably get a huge-ass headache whenever i try doing work with my glasses on. maybe its the effort of trying to prevent them from gradually sliding down my nose, maybe its coz i have to constantly squint at the screen when they are on.. i dunno. all i know is that this may be a big problem in the future.
have been running consistently again for about 3 weeks now. i'm back! and ready for AHM in august. will be doing it with the groo (if his legs don't break from all that i've been putting him thru) and maybe hopefully gy and truddy. the weirdest thing happened on thursday night. was just beginning my 6x400 fartleks on the track when i saw THE guy. yes the same prc guy who runs like a chicken with his hands flapping by his sides, wears the same pale peach pair of shorts all the time, whom i almost always see on the track, and whom i can almost always outrun. thing is, his ego is so goddamn huge that when we both happen to be running at the same time, he always turns it into a competition of sorts. he will speed up excessively just to prevent me (and sometimes ej) from passing him when i'm just trying to mind my own business. and when it turns out that i can very well hold my own against him and even pass him whilst he goes at that excessive speed, he loses everything after 1-2 rounds - physically, mentally whatever, and just gives up. and stops. now i have nothing against a little friendly competition on the track - in fact it is, imo, beneficial to both involved because it spurs you to push yourself more than you'd otherwise do if you're running alone. many a time i've left the track hugely satisfied after one of these pacing sessions with a total stranger whom i'm sure was equally satisfied too because of the enhanced workout that the competition brought. but i've always believed also that you should never ever compromise on the quality of your workout because of pride, and remembering this, i've backed out of several 'competitions' simply because i knew that i wouldn't be able to sustain that kind of pace for the distance i was planning to do or because i knew that kind of pace would not give me a quality workout that day (i.e. leaving me literally half dead at the end) or would compromise my workout the next day (i.e. if i was planning to do serious fartleks or a super long run). But i digress. ok this guy seems to have no common sense at all. what's the point of going at a pace which you can only sustain for 3-4 rounds and then drop out after that? i honestly dont think this does a lot for your fitness or endurance. and true, he doesn't seem to have gotten a lot fitter. or faster. or slimmer for that matter despite being on the track almost everyday. i've always wanted to tell him that hey if you want to do your 6 rounds (he almost always runs 6 rounds) faster, don't just be content with doing the same 2.4 over and over and over again. that can only get you so far. put down your pride and try some 5Ks or 10Ks at a slower pace and you'll find that you end up much stronger and faster. even for your 2.4. but i've never mustered up enough courage to speak to him .. so well.
oh yes anyway the whole point of this was that i saw him walking to the track just when i had started on my first 400. he then proceeded to walk 1 round around the track. i waited for the competition to come. and waited. and waited. then i saw him walking off. er .... huh? it did cross my mind that perhaps he'd already finished his run but i really don't think so. he wasn't perspiring at all and besides i never saw him when i was doing my 3 rounds of warmup. told the groo about this and he postulates that the guy must have seen me going at the 400s with such a vengeance that he didn't want to run there and be seen losing to the same girl again. which may be true given his huge ego. i'm still skeptical about this but omg think about it .. if this were true it would mean i'd have scared a guy away from running at the track! how absolutely awesome :)
i have already set a goal for myself for this AHM but i shan't announce it coz there's a very very high possibility that i'll fail to meet it. we shall see how the training goes.
ice cream at sunset way later! yay! :)
alrighty suddenly i'm all excited about grad trip again, especially the Paris leg of it which i was previously feeling -blah- about, for obvious reasons. terence and i have made plans to meet up when i'm in Paris! and he's suggested visiting the catacombs :) which i've never been to before. double yayness! maybe if there's time i'd want to go back to montmartre as well.. coz it's one place i really fell for, even though memories of it are dim now.
i suddenly feel much loathing for tours like the one i'm gonna go on. we spend only 1 night and maybe 3/4 of a day in Paris. and the itinary goes something like
- excursion cruise on the Seine
- and a Paris city tour where i'll get to 'take in the sight of ... Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde' and 'view' Eiffel Tower and 'visit' Notre Dame
(all of which i've ALREADY done btw)
and if i know what tour companies are like, it probably means that the italicized words must be interpreted literally. no going up la tour eiffel, no walking down the champs elysees. see only from the bus windows! take photos from a distance! coz we must follow a strict itinary and therefore must rush rush rush everywhere! no time to even see anything apart from the customary touristy stuff! ARGH.
suddenly i miss france so much. waking up in the morning with annelise and taking the train to school. the singaporeans hiding at the back of the classroom and playing cards. cycling in the woods behind A's house. the numerous house parties we had in our short 3 weeks there. taking the RER and metro around Paris and meeting all sorts of weird characters. taking the huge ferris wheel on our last night there. and the eiffel tower. we were there in dec 1999 and there was this huge lighted signboard on the tower counting down the number of days to the new millenium. we had lunch at some restaurant on the 2nd level of the tower which had particularly nice desserts (shit i keep forgetting that i'm writing in english and keep spelling 'tower' as 'tour') before going all the way up for that breathtaking view. One of our infamous jokes originated here too - when J slipped and fell while helping hanan i and adeline take a photo. While we, with much amusement, attempted to recount the incident to our teacher in charge, she was horrified because she thought J had fallen OFF the tower / fallen from the tower (tombe de la tour) instead of falling while he was in the tower (tombe a la tour?). Ah, memories, such lovely sweet memories of idyllic, lazy and fun-filled days. i can't get over the fact that this time when i go i'll only be able to SEE the tower from afar. wwwttttffff.
also.
i wish we had more time. i wish i had one full day there to hang out with terence (hopefully!) without having to worry abt how to meet the rest of the group to catch the flight back, seeing how far Paris CDG is from the city centre. OHMYGOD. just blogging abt this made me realize that since Paris is our last stop, technically i can extend my stay in Paris! OMGOMGOMG. OHMYGOD. i'm happy again. okay. will settle this ASAP. yay!
insurance can go to hell for all i care. in 44 days i will be back in my long-lost lover's warm embrace. =)
of course .. just thinking about how i used to be so passionate about france and french and how i chose to give all of that up also sparks off a whole string of regrets that will probably make me cry myself to sleep later on.. but .. that's another story.
monday, 9 april 2007 at 14:58 hours.
the msn-nick trend started by ME <炜婷> ... woozy - coffee IS still the solution to everything!
has grown to:
1) [James] i need a solution: it obviously isn't coffee
2) Celeste: [6900/8000] coffee is not the solution to everything: still spawning a whole new range of coffee-related nicks
AND
3) A weekend of Tioman and Phantom!! And coffee is certainly not the solution to everything - Anybody wanna help me finish up my paper?
haha yay .. not many but i'm happy and proud of myself :)
but why are they all dissenting?
coffee REALLY IS the solution to everything! drink and get enlightened!
yay! found a tub of peach-apricot ice cream at home =) it's been waaay too long since i last lived with a working fridge and freezer.
another thing. holland v's xo beehoon is no longer as good as it used to be. stop using the xo so liberally! it makes the soup overly bitter. the clementi central now wins hands down imho.
ok off to blog-whore ..
no more cat-on-the-road scares near plaza sing this time, but i DID see a real dead cat on the road this time .. near tiong bahru. too bad i couldn't stop to take a closer look and satisfy my morbid curiosity. saw an obviously drunk driver too who very nearly weaved right into my lane before zooming off unsteadily and proceeding to nonchalantly beat a red light. he didn't even pause to check if there were other cars crossing the junction! i guess he either really has balls or was very very drunk. saw about 3-4 roadblocks too but thankfully they were on the opposite side of the road. wouldn't have wanted to be caught for the expired road tax.
never knew there could be so many goings-on on the roads the night before a PH. hmm.
ok back to insurance! after some 10 days i am STILL only at insurable interest, believe it or not.
oh did i mention that i love people who love kenny rogers? which means i love YOU! and you. hahaha.
we now suck at the arcade game we used to love so much.. despite spending $6 on it we couldn't even break level 19 when 2 years ago we could complete the entire game (meaning level 100!). blah blah blah. and it doesn't help that the arcade at tiong bahru plaza is like the ONLY one left in SG that still has the game. the game machine is screwed up somemore ... the controls on the left somehow control the stuff on the RIGHT side of the screen and vice versa.. how to play properly lydat with the resulting confusion and parallax error huh?! does anyone know where we can buy arcade games? meaning the whole huge machine ... because we are seriously considering it.
april the second.
in exactly a month's time i will have sat for my last ever law school exam and one of the last exams in my life.
this is it. the end is near.
i feel like this is the beginning of the end of my life
or rather this is the last month of my life where i can be truly happy
i'd give anything to be able to go back to the past ... rg, rj, wherever. when i was happy and without a care in the world. when my friends were my life. when canoeing was my life. now i'm just waiting to graduate. waiting to slog my life away. waiting for retirement. waiting to die.
i dont want to grow up so soon =(