There's gotta be more to studies!!
After 6 months of haitus.. it's time to blog back again.. New semester was stressful as a whole (approaching exam time soon), did tri races and volunteered them too...
O Levels for my youth at this point, and well it seemed that it really 'grind' them well over the past weeks.. But one thing i question: What if they don't get to where they want to go? I see their blogs, and I am so worried for them, that if they did not do well, it's like the 'end of the world' for some... Guess O level is another 'test' for them. Pray that they will be able to see deeper than just gaining the grades..
Oh well, they will still do better than me anyway: Getting a D7 for English destroyed all hopes of going into JCs, and L1R5=20 then is like going to JCs that are far away from my home. Poly did wrong course (in a sense, wanted to do Chem stuff, but got Biotech!), stayed for another 1 semester, due to fail Engg. Math. Got a chance to study in NIE (to teach of course!), and was blessed with the dream of every Dip. Ed holder: Crossover to do degree prog. Now 6 more months to complete another sem before going into the working world...
In retrospect, He worked it all out for me.. Good grades in Science (and overall) allowed me to do Biotech, which was essential to teach Science at primary school level. Though I stayed in Poly longer, I managed to help a peer of mine who was drifting away from God in his studies (He's a Christian minister now, ministering in the East). Met my juniors in Poly, whom I attended 1 of their weddings recently.
Redo O Level English as a private student in 2004 and got B3, which means no English Proficiency Test and chance to apply to NIE to teach... At NIE,I was supposed to teach 3 subjects (Eng, Math, Sci) and I did something rare: I dropped English for Art (??). By grace, did well enough (4.04/5 GPA) to do degree prog and my Uni major? English Language...
Hmm..hmm.. At the end of the day, He has a plan for all of us. Sound cliche, but as I see my past and now reflecting upon it, I can only say that God is working throughout my journey at this point. All glory to Him.. To all who are preparing for exams, continue to prepare and work hard, but trust in the One who leads the way for you and go for His plan.. Enjoy...
Yeo
2 weeks after Sundown..
Aiyo.. It's been 2 weekends since I have put in something.. Have been busy with the planning for a mission event for the youths, and preparing for the upcoming youth camp in my church!
See ya and do look out for my upcoming logs! Heehee.
Adidas Sundown Marathon 2009..
For more information, go to
www.sundownmarathon.com.
No la. What they provide in the webbie is technical information pertaining to the details. My experience are as follows:
I left my home on Sat night at 9pm and reached at the venue (Changi Coast Park) at around 1030pm. After digging out my essentials from my bag, I deposited my bag and proceeded to the open field, where they were presenting prizes for the women's 10k, team and corporate challenge (4x10.5k). What are my essentials? 2 knee sleeves, 1 ankle guard, 4 packets of McDonalds salt, 8 packs of GU energy gels, 4 plasters and an empty bottle, which proved critical in the whole race. Also not forgeting the race belt and tag..heehee.
Went to the toilet twice prior to the race start and started to warm myself up for the race. My next pee time? 7 and a half hours later, which means throughout the race I did not go to the pee room. Anyways, imagine the time line prior to the start: 2320hrs: Warm up, 2340hrs: Gulp up 1 energy gel (Mint Chocolate! Thanks Sarah!), 2350hrs: Gobbled up one pack of McD salt! (Lowers down possibility of cramps) 2359hrs: Airhorn!!
At the start of the run, we had the change to see a jumbo jet flying past us as we start. Was really excited to run at night. Most of the time, there will be distance markers indicating to the runners the distance they travelled. Some of the runners took out their mobile phones and started clicking at every marker. Some even took photos with their friends with cameras! Really a great time to cherish and click with peers!
Back to the race. My race strategy was one scary one: Run throughout the race, taking energy gels starting from the 8km mark, and after which every 5km after. Water to be taken from the water points and 100plus to substain electrolyte levels. At 21km, gulp up a pack of McD salt and run till the end. At the first water point, I knew that my plan cannot work out, as there were too many people at the water points, which may slow me down (I'm slow anyway). The first few water points were like 'ants running to honey' and I had to skip many of the stations. The empty bottle was my saviour, providing me with water to complement my gel absorption. Phew!
My race pace was 8.30-9.30min per km for the first 17km, then I could not take it anymore and i decided to walk, and I realized that a run-walk strategy was the best solution to complete the race. I decided to walk and walk quickly, trying to keep pace with my running time. I walked for 25km, each km slower and slower..Sigh. Should have trained more to cope with the stress of marathon running. At the 21k mark, I reached out for my pockets and guess what? My salt packets were gone! Due to the sweat and abrasions produced in the pockets, they were wet and broke in the pockets.. Aiya! Gotta continue on the race and replenish my salt from my gels.
Gel time! I took the gels at 7, 12, 17, 22, 26, 31, 36, 41km. Was really hard to eat them, as 7 of them were Mint chocolate flavor (not available in Singapore), and the others were strawberry banana and lime. I think I will not eat chocolate for a week!!
Back to the sharing: 5km towards the finish, I felt something funny on my crotch area -Abrasions! I had plasters on my nipples (!!) to prevent abrasions while running, but never did I expect it to happen there! Walking becomes harder and I had to spread my legs while walking to minimise the pain. Towards the end of the race, I ran slow to the finish! The legs were heavy and the body was tired, but for the finish, I ran through and completed the race in 7:00:20. Ah! The euphoria, the pain was worth it!
Throughout the race, I saw alot of things. From volunteers cheering the runners on, to people stopping to stretch their muscles, to runners taking off their clothes to ward off the heat (women too!), nothing is impossible or surprising in a race! The aid stations were always filled with people, till when I started walking, then the runners were more spread out and I was able to get my drinks and fill up my bottle at the stations.
Running at night poses a completely different scenario for all: Though it is cooler in the night (still humid though), many people running at night cause a drastic decrease of oxygen and it can be a struggle competing with people for oxygen. Night running also forces your bio. clock to shift and some people may tend to be lethargic at certain times of the night.. Throughout the walking phase of the marathon, I had to breathe in hard to provide my body with the oxygen, as I am anaemic, and sometimes I do it with my head hung low, like a triathlete on the aerobars of his bike!
I learnt a few things through the race: First, I learnt to respect the race and distance. The lack of training (30km at night over 2 weeks) and assumption that I was able to run throughout the race was the killer blow and I was humbled by the experience. Secondly, I can endure! I thank God that I can run and walk throughout the race without stopping (other than in aid stations). There were times when I wanted to DNF (did not finish), but I tell myself that I will not, even if I have to walk or roll or crawl, I will not DNF. Persevere on and you will be rewarded.
There are many people that I want to thank in this race! The volunteers were great, preparing the drinks, cheering the runners on a time where they could have slept at home or doing other things, kudos to them! Thanks Sarah for her GU gels from US! For those who had prayed for the runners and myself, thank you. The empty bottle was also something to thank, without the bottle I would have no water to dilute the gels, causing GI distress and possibility stop my race!
Thank God that I finished the race. For without God, this is impossible for me to attain.
The morning of Changi Coast Park was beautiful... I hope to see it again next year...
D-Day, 30th May 2009, 2359hrs...
The title sounds like cut off time for NS guys to go back to camp huh? No la.. It's the start time for 42.2km runners for the Sundown Marathon 2009. After 3 days of homecooked pasta and slackness at home, it's time to run the race!
Stress? Excited? I guess I have both and more. It's never easy completing a marathon, furthermore with 4 bridges and the night ahead of you, it's going to be a mental challenge completing it.
To all runners that I know (Justin, Chee Weng, Eric, David, Aloysius), all the best for the race and break your PBs! I don't have any for this distance so I set up my PB tonight!
My rebellious years.. (P4-6)
Describing the next 3 years of my life as rebellious and cocky was suitable, as these were the qualities that I possessed..
I remembered that when I was in P3, I was able to answer a difficult math question in one of the assembly period in school, in which one of my schoolmate, Alan got the answer. But i went out to answer. Because of that answering of question, I was known in school as a clever person. I got attention, but I was not content by it. I think that incident triggered a series of things that caused me to be moving to the 'dark side'. Anyway, I was already in the dark side in the eyes of God then, for I did not know God and was a sinner in His Eyes..
Pri 4 was a time of rebellion for me: Incomplete work and corrections, my grades went down and I was always punished by my FT, Mr Leong CW as a result of my unfinished work. Primary 5 was worse: I remembered being caned by my teacher for not completing my homework and still go for hockey competition. I was caned in front of the class and I was very ashamed of myself.
There was an incident which displayed my cockiness in front of the whole school, and I think i lost the respect of my peers in school. I remembered that it was a environment competition, and I did a lot of research prior to it, as such I was quite knowledgable about it. On the day itself, there was a question that was posed to my opponent's team. They answered wrongly, and immediately I laughed loudly at them, not knowing after a while that people were looking at me. My laughter was like of "Aiyo so easy to answer, how can they got it wrong!!" that kind of mentality.. That's it...
As a whole, primary school was great for me. I remembered having quite a few CCAs such as choir, prefectorial board, audio-resource club and a bit of hockey. After PSLE, it was really sad for me to leave school, but life still had to go on and what's ahead would be more challenging and exciting.
Next blog section, my secondary school years.. A time where many youth go through to search for their identity...
My Primay School Years (P 1-3)
Back to blogging stuff about my life.. Guess it's another way that I can remember things, just in case I get Alzhemier's Disease later in my life (must play more mahjong!)...
From Redhill, my family moved house to Margaret Drive, which my parents bought 2nd-hand in 1987. I stayed there for around 12 years, before moving to my present home in Stirling Road. It was a great place to stay then , with a food centre, library, polyclinic, 2 churches, a secondary school (Queensway) and a shopping centre within walking distance. My primary school was 2 bus stops away. Sadly things change, and the shopping centre was demolished, the polyclinic was shifted and the primary school renovated...
Back to my little life. I was in Queenstown Pri from 1988-1993, with Mrs Yeo (P1/1) and Ms Maria Choy (P2/1, 3/1) as my FTs. Life then was simple: 30 cents for a small bowl of mee or mee rebus, and snacks at cheap prices. Learning was simple and free from stress.. The first 2 years of my school life was simple, but at P2, my FT made a deep impression in my life. Her presence in my life for 2 years was critical in where I wanted to go today - teaching profession. It's been almost 20 years since we lost contact though, wonder how she is now...
It was in P3 where I experienced 'puppy love' (heehee). There was this Indonesian girl who was in my class for a period of time, 1 month I think. Her name was Rosemary (still can remember!!) and she was a cute and beautiful girl (blush). Though there were no obvious signs or actions that I did then to express my 'love', I remembered crying in secret (Put an open book up on the table and cry behind) when my FT shared with us that she would be leaving our class to go back to Indonesia. I thinked Ms Choy knew about something, but did not elaborate... So embarassing!
On a side note, there was something happening then, that in a sense paved my way to know the Lord. For a period of time, I would saw a middle aged guy, sitting down in a coffee shop near my home and whenever I walked passed him after school, he will stop me and talked to me. Interestingly, i was comfortable talking to him for a while. This continued for a while, till I did not see him there anymore..To be continued..
Anyways, my life as a pre-teen then was far much better compared to now, where kids got so many work to complete.. Sigh. Next blog, i will talk about life in P4-6, where I changed for the worse!!
Take care and rest well!
My Life: Life as a toddler...
Another day has passed. Today is my 2nd nephew's birthday! 1yr old, so whole family went out to walk around and have fun. Peace at home for today!
Back to my series, heehee. I lived with my maternal granny for almost 6 years (as a toddler), and I stayed in her one-room rented flat in Bukit Merah View. The flat is still there, but it will be returned to the government soon, as my 3rd auntie has found a new home and this old flat will be vacated for others to live. I would stay with her during weekdays and will return to my parents on weekends, and I would always cry when I was brought to my parents' home and she left off..Guess this is what happens when we are close knit with someone whom we know and stayed for a long time.
One thing that i liked to do then was to move around. I was eager to look around my neighbourhood and even out of it, to see what was interesting 'out there'. One of the toys that I has was a red plastic car, which I found in a rubbish chute. The car was able to fit a toddler and had feet pedals that could make the car move when it is pressed to and fro. It also had a 'real' steering wheel to turn the car around. Boy was I excited when I took it out of the home to ride, getting the feel of riding at a young age! Sadly, the car was thrown away, caused it did not fit me anymore. I was really sad when I heard from my granny that it was thrown away...
I remembered one vivid incident at the age of 4-5, which shocked my grandma and my mom. Up till now, I really marvelled my ability to do that: I went out of home! My granny was doing her things in the kitchen and the front door was open. So I went out, took a lift down, walked to the main street, hailed a cab and went to Taman Ho Swee, where my 4th Auntie was staying then. When I got there, I was really one crying boy and my parents? One worried pair of adults. I was thinking: If not for the nice taxi driver who really brought me to THS, I would have no idea where I would be today!!
Up till the age of 6, I was living with my granny. After 6, my parents decided to stop putting me at my granny's home and move house to Margaret Drive, where I would spend my next 12 years in...The next section of my blog: My primary school days (Yr 1-3)..
Take care and thanks for reading!
