life in the corner of the world

whats next..

2010-07-02T20:14:00.001+09:30

well, tomorrow night flying off to Scotland! yay! after a very tumultuous week where MINDEF says no to my trip a day before I was due to leave, I'm finally going. 20 hours by myself. ohh how i dread the solitude...

Day 2-5 Laser Trophy

2010-07-02T19:30:00.003+09:30

Continuing from before, Day 2 of Laser Trophy was perhaps a complete opposite of Day 1, it started pretty much the same, with myself taking the morning bus down with Vic to NSC before rigging up with the sea as becalmed as ever and for the umpteenth time in Singapore, we waited for the wind. By about 2+, there was a light and steady breeze filling in from the SW that the RO deemed sufficient to race in, and hence, we launched. Whilst launching, I had stepped into oil that was leftover from the oil spill the week before, not a good omen but I tried to remain undistracted. Rather confused by the breeze, I went to Brett to ask for advice and he said, if in doubt head right. A piece of info I should have heeded. With a 2-5 knots breeze, I opted for a clean start down the line which worked out pretty well. I then headed left hoping for a small left hander that could take me back to the right. Unfortunately, it never came. After waiting what was definitely too long, I tacked back but by the time I had been deep out in the outgoing current. Nevertheless, I tried my best to make left work and at times, I had angles that made me seem in the lead. But by the top mark, I was deep in 7th and could never recover throughout the race.

After Day 2, I was in 2nd overall:

Keerati- 2, 1, 3, 3, 3 12pts

Scott- 4, 2, 1, 1, 7 15pts

Rajesh- 3, 10, 6, 2, 2 23pts

Victoria- 6, 4, 2, 12, 5 29pts

SL- 1, 12, 5, 7, 6 31pts

Day 3 was pretty similar to Day 2 in the sense that we waited pretty long and only had one race by the end of the day. In slightly more breeze than Day 2, I had a reasonable start with a clear lane almost immediately, with a small left hander, I tacked away onto port and had a pretty nice gust that helped me sail into the top 3 by the last third of the beat. Playing the shifts pretty well at the top, I then managed to lead at the top mark by about a boat length from Rajesh. On the reach, he closed up a little but on the downwind, I got into the new breeze first allowing me to open up a 4 boat length lead by the bottom mark. Good, but not enough. The second work saw both of us sail pretty much the same course but at the end, I got into a gust that he didn't allowing me to open my lead significantly and finish the race in 1st.

End of Day 3:

Scott- 4, 2, 1, 1, 7, 1 16pts

Keerati- 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, 8 20pts

Rajesh- 3, 10, 6, 2, 2, 2 25pts

Victoria- 6, 4, 2, 12, 5, 4 33pts

Natthawut- 10, 6, 4, 4, 9, 5 38pts

Day 4 finally saw good solid breeze return to the event with us launching almost immediately and a 8-14 knot breeze settling over the course. The 1st race of the day saw SL lead from start to finish and pretty much unbeatable, whilst I fought throughout the race with Rajesh for 2nd, eventually loosing out to him. Race 2 of the day was one of my best comebacks, and after having to do a penalty at the start i sailed an okay first two legs, before getting a good left hander on the 2nd upwind and sailing a really good downwind to win! The last 2 races of the day was held in slightly less wind about 8-12 knots and apart from loosing to SL by very little in race 3 of the day, nothing much really happened.

After Day 4:

Scott- 4, 2, 1, 1, (7), 1, 3, 1, 2, 3 18pts

Keerati- 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, (8), 4, 5, 3, 1 25pts

Rajesh- 3, 10, 6, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, (15) 35pts

Victoria- 6, 4, 2, (12), 5, 4, 7, 2, 6, 2 38pts

SL- 1, 12, 5, 7, 6, 11, 1, (ocs), 1, 5 49pts

Day 5 was pretty much the same as Day 4, sailed pretty solidly throughout the day and had a great last race, winning from start to finish by quite a distance in solid breeze.

Final results:

Scott: (4)-2-1-1-(7)-1-3-1-2-3-2-1-2-1 20pts

Keerati: 2-1-3-3-(8)-4-(5)-3-1-4-2-1-3 30pts

Rajesh: 3-(10)-6-2-2-2-2-4-4-(15)-3-3-5-8 44pts

Victoria: 6-4-2-(12)-5-4-7-2-6-2-7-(10)-3-2 50pts

SL: 1-(12)-5-7-6-11-1-(ocs)-1-5-1-4-6-6 54pts

Laser Trophy and Beyond

2010-06-25T00:34:00.003+09:30

Hey guys,

Since I'm stuck doing duty in camp, I thought I might as well use my "free" time to update on the second of the two events I did during my lull period.

Laser Trophy began on a good note the week before with MINDEF finally giving me FPUL (Full Pay Unrecorded Leave) for the event, hence signalling my official induction into the sportsman scheme.

Buoyed by the possibility of taking more leave in the future, I headed into the event with high spirits and the first day reflected that mood. In about 8-13 knots, which is by many standards beyond Singapore's typical conditions, I started the first race poorly, unable to get a clear lane of the start forcing me to compromise tactics in return for clear air. Eventually, I only could find clear air on the left of the fleet and to my dismay, the wind clocked right slowly. By the top mark I was 9th which is pretty deep considering that it was only a fleet of 30 boats. However, the reach saw me catch up to the stern of Mark Wong's boat and an average downwind saw me overtake him and I started the next upwind at the rear end of the top 8. Determined that the right side was in phase for the time being, I took my chances and hiked my ass off as I headed to the right of the fleet and was rewarded with a slow persistent right shift that saw me round the top mark in 5th. With a fairly difficult chop, I hardly made any gain on the downwind with only a small and short good in-phase period near the bottom that saw me overtake Vic and round just behind Rajesh from India. Again I was fortunate on the last reach as whilst Vic overtook me, she and Rajesh collided allowing me to gain back to 4th with Vic's penalty. In the end, I was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and saw the result as a rather solid start to the event.

Race 2 saw deteriorating conditions with the race started in 5-9 knots and with me rounding the committee boat after poor judgement 30 seconds before the start. In hindsight though, this proved to be beneficial as the poor start made me immediately tack out to the right for clear air and 30 seconds later I found myself in a good lane with 4 knots more wind than the rest of the fleet allowing me to get back into contention and into the top 3. A rather conservative remainder of the upwind saw me round the top mark in 2nd and I quickly worked on catching Keerati (Thailand) who was in front by about 5 boat lengths. Though my first downwind was pretty solid and better than the previous race, Keerati matched my speed and still rounded ahead before the following work. Again rather conservatively, I protected my 2nd place instead of attacking and was punished with Keerati opening an unassailable gap whilst another Thai girl and Vic caught up right to my rear. The following downwind was also stressful as they were right on my tail and the lighter winds made it difficult to catch waves properly. This was also followed with the Thai girl getting stronger more consistent wind on the right during the last work that saw her overtake both me and Vic dropping me to 3rd at the top mark. However, a good solid downwind in which I chose broad reach over by-the-lee, allowed me to regain and finish in 2nd with the thai girl and vic close behind.

Race 3 saw the wind pick back up to conditions similar to Race 1. The start was perhaps the best of my day thus far and a solid first work that saw a distinct line of gust benefit the left side of the fleet saw me and Benedict open up a clear lead at the top mark with Benedict leading. The remainder of the race was pretty straightforward with myself overtaking Benedict on the reach and extending my lead every subsequent leg to win the race by half a leg from Vic and Keerati.

Race 4 with 7-9 knots, saw me experiencing cramps and muscle aches from both the long day and the lack of food I had throughout the day. But nonetheless, I was determined to end the day on a good note and started the race fairly well, and again head left to get into the better line of pressure. By the end of the first work, I was within the top few of the fleet, rounding the top mark in 3rd behind Rajesh and Keerati. The first downwind saw the three of us pull up a big lead on the group behind led by natthawut also from thailand. the next three legs proceeded without much incident with myself overtaking Rajesh and Keerati still leading the race. However, on the final work, Keerati's vang snapped and during the 20 seconds he spent trying to fix it, both me and Rajesh overtook him and the race finished in that order.

By the end of day 1, I lead the standings by 1 point from Keerati and felt pretty confident considering this was the first of my two Asian Games Trials

Scott 4-2-1-1 8pts

Keerati 2-1-3-3 9pts

Rajesh 3-10-6-2 21pts

Victoria 6-4-2-12 24pts

Seng Leong 1-12-5-7 25pts

revival

2010-06-19T01:40:00.004+09:30

hey guys,

since this blog has been dead for a while, i dont expect many to see it but well, i plan to use it as a sailing journal for my journey to an OLYMPIC MEDAL. yes, I realize the goal is quite far-fetched and unattainable at the moment, but i'm determined to get there. other than sailing i only have a few issues to raise. university is becoming a slight pain, i got accepted by warwick and sydney university and both are very far apart. so prob gonna take the next few months to think about which one i want.

anyway back to sailing.

since my last update i have only taken part in 2 competitions:

Sail Sydney (SIRs) 5-8 December 2009

Laser Trophy 2-6 June 2010

For SIRs, it was a tale of many ups and downs. what was a last minute decision to fly down to sydney and participate turned out to be a great 3 days, ruined by a HORRIBLE last day. the first day saw 2 races held in between watson's bay and rose bay with a shifty and gusty 5-9 knots easterly. having not sailed the laser for 3 months prior to that. i started the first race horribly, being completely out of phase on the first beat and forced to compromise tactics to find myself a clear lane. ended up at the top mark in about 25th (out of 50+ boats). to make matters worse, i had to do a penalty a the top mark for a rule infringement, dropping me back another few boats. an average downwind saw me catch a few before sailing a very solid second upwind on the left side whilst 90% of the top 20 played the right. i ended up 4th at the top mark and pretty satisfied with the catch up. by the second downwind, i got back into the groove and overtook 2 boats whilst extending the gap to the boats behind. had a solid last upwind and downwind to finish 2nd behind vic who sailed a brilliant race.

the second race started similarly, with our fleet clashing with the usual sydney harbour saturday traffic. this caused me to make many unnecessary tacks on the first beat forcing me left when i needed to head right. i ended up just outside the top 10 at the top mark in about 15th after catching a few with a good left shift. the first downwind was pretty solid and caught a few gusts that took me into the top 10 rounding the bottom gate in 9th. on the 2nd upwind, i tried to take a small risk by heading left of the fleet and it payed off significantly with a good strong left shift persistently developing through the beat, ended up 4th at the top mark about 15 boat lengths behind the top 3 and just leading a group of about 7 boats behind me. the second downwind was the making leg in my race, by sailing low, i caught wave after wave at excellent angles and reasonable pressure that saw me catch up to the tail of chris jones who was 3rd and opening up a 20 boat length lead on the guys behind giving me an allowance for more risk on the last upwind. the final beat saw the wind pick up slightly to about 12 knots and oscillating regularly, i got into phase and with a final good right hander, i reached the top in 3rd just behind chris jones and about 5 boat lengths ahead of vanessa dudley who was 4th. the final downwind again saw me regain my groove and sailing one of the best downwinds i've had in sydney to make up a 10 boat length gap, overtaking and winning the race from megan de lange. ended up with a 2-1 scoreline and an outstanding start to the event with the 2nd boat overall about 7 points back.

day 2 of SIRs saw an afternoon schedule for the radials and with a steadily building breeze that ended up about 15 knots by the start of the first race. with choppy conditions and a geographical left shift of the shoreline, i had a reasonable start heading left and playing the shifts before taking a big left shift all the way into the center of the course. however, the left shift i was on persistently went further left and by the top mark i had lost a lot of boats and ended up in about 11th. good downwinds saw me, vic and elizabeth catch boats to round the bottom gate in the top 10 and back onto the upwind. this time, i played left more but suffered a little due to lack of sailing fitness causing me to loose boat speed. i did make a bit though and ended up 8th at the top behind liz who was 6th but ahead of vic who had dropped to about 12th. the second downwind was again good and by the bottom mark i had caught up with liz and another boat to round 6th but far behind the top 5. knowing that i had to maintain my position, i was quite defensive and with the building breeze i decided to just bang left and do a "one-tacker" to the mark, it didn't turn out too good with liz heading further left than me and overtaking me causing me to end up 7th in the race.

the second race of the day had a similar start with an average upwind rounding the top in 9th before sailing a blinder of a downwind with vic to round the bottom mark 2nd and her in 3rd behind chris jones who was pretty fast and solid the whole day. the rest of the race was pretty straightforward with shaky upwinds and solid downwinds and i ended the race in 2nd, pretty shacked and worn out.

the final race of the day was sailed in about 18 knots, and i had another average start heading left before getting stuck in the fleet. unfortunately, a whole row of starboard boats kept forcing me back towards the shoreline and with the little space left, i intended to duck a boat to no avail as a gust hit simultaneously causing me to capsize and upon uprighting, i was left in the bottom 5. i tried to redeem the upwind by heading right and managed to get back to the top mark in a dismal 30th. i then went on to catch about 10 boats on the downwind and another 10 on the following two upwinds after playing the right side and ended the race in 9th.

hence after day 2 i had a 2-1-7-2-9 scoreline and was 2nd overall 7 points behind chris jones who had a 6-3-1-1-3.

the third day saw similar conditions to day 1 but with the forecast for an afternoon sea breeze, i was keen on getting as many races in the light stuff as possible. after a small delay, the first race got under way with the right shoreline providing many right shifts all the way up the course up till the top mark which for the first time was layed quite deep into watson's bay. after a very long beat being mostly in phase i got round the top in 7th, with the top 10 quite closely bunched up. the first downwind saw a dying breeze and with that liz surged forward rounding the bottom mark in 2nd and myself in 4th. the final upwind then saw both of us playing the right hand side of the course and making boats with liz leading at the top mark and myself in 3rd. however the final downwind saw liz getting yellow flagged and dropping to 2nd as i still remained in 3rd.

the last race of the day saw the wind swing far left and build up to a 12-14 knot start with a very long port tack to the top mark. choosing to start in the middle and to tack away early, i succeeded and tried to hike my butt off the port tack but with slight knee pain, faltered in speed towards the end. this ended up as a crucial factor as i lost a few boats when i got back onto starboard tack and rounded the top in 5th. a very poor downwind (that turned into a reach) saw me try to go low but ended up being rolled by about 4 boats who had gotten into the new breeze first, rounding the bottom mark in 9th behind vic and liz who were both in the top 5. the last upwind then saw the breeze die quite a bit, and remembering a similar situation in the previous year's SIRs, I chose to head left of the fleet near the coast and got rewarded by a line of gust that only me and another boat got. this caused us to just sail past most of the fleet into the top 3. the wind then stabalised again causing me to finish 3rd in front of vic in 4th and a poor liz who had lost alot by heading right and finishing in 37th.

by the end of the day i had regained the event lead by 2 points with my scoreboard reading:

2-1-7-2-9-3-3 and chris jones with 6-3-1-1-3-9-6. we were in turn about 20 points ahead of 3rd placed ben franklin.

despite my strong performances on the first three days, a delayed start on the final day meant that i had to forgo it to catch my flight back to singapore. a consequence of MINDEF not approving me another day's worth of leave to come back a day later. i ended up with a DNC in the final three races and 14th overall.

One and a half years on...

2009-12-18T15:07:00.003+10:30

Haha. Can't believe i'm actually doing this but ya... one and a half years on and my life has changed dramatically! and even that's an understatement. reading my old posts made me feel so naive for thinking NS was just another phase of my life to pass.. ITS NOT. its HELL! but ya, not allowed to really say that but to enlighten you further on my realization of this, here's a brief update on my life the past 18 months..

July 2008: Get note from Singapore Sailing that I was gonna go to 4.7 worlds in Croatia!!!!!

August 2008: Immediately upon my last prelim exam, I flew via Singapore to Croatia for worlds. needless to say, it was an excellent experience. the beaming sun. the crystal-clear waters. the refreshing breezes. the hot babes. the immense culture of the adriatic coast. and the food, oh, hmmm. the food... there was this one day where we took our power boat round to the other end of the island we're on, parked our boat near shore, jumped into the lukewarm waters and swam to shore before indulging ourselves in a Mediterranean feast whilst drying ourselves off.. the view then was amazing and my only regret was the lack of any image capturing devices :( but moving on, croatia was amazing in more than one way, for example it was the first world class event where i didn't completely screw up. after finishing 182nd in spain (2003) and 125th in switzerland (2005), i actually came close to winning! haha but it was not meant to be and i guess i was and am still pumped about getting the silver medal...

September-Decmeber 2008: 3 months of intense (ok maybe not really) studying for my HSC (A level equivalent for all you singaporeans out there and a month of waiting for results), i was pretty complacent in the sense i spent almost half my time playing PS2 as a way to "de-stress" as my mom would angrily testify to.. eventually the 2 subjects i studied hardest for (english and math ext 2) turned out pretty well (89 and 92 respectively) whereas the subjects i thought i would ace didn't (89-physics, 87-chemistry) and the rest were alrite 99 for math ext 1 and 90 for modern history. my parents were pretty disappointed that i didn't get the all rounders award (>90 in 5 subjects or more) and ended up with a 98.65 UAI (rank equivalent to top 1.35% in state :) ) which according to my parents were "not up to the potential of what could've been 99". but its fine with me...

November 2008/December 2008/January 2009: On the sailing scene, things really started to pick up after the exams, I began training almost everyday and running alot (which i absolutely detest) and it yielded pretty alrite results. 4th in brisbane, 2nd in sydney, 10th at nationals and 2nd at youths. i was relatively happy with it as well as the constant assurance that my enlistment could be deferred to allow me to participate in the ISAF Youth worlds in Brazil that very july. the pinnacle event of my year and my youth...

March 2009: After 2 weeks of intense physical and on-water training for youth worlds i gained the confidence i needed to actually head into youth worlds with optimism and confidence. however, it was not meant to be as the singapore govt booted me back to army to enlist on april 15. d-day in my opinion.

April 14 2009: sobbing and crying my hearts out (joking).. i lamented the lack of family support as well as the impending outcome of the following day, fortunately sheena's birthday was the same day and my problems were solved by a gathering cum celebration we had.

April 15 2009: i enlisted. the 2 (or 1 word) i detest the most and till this very day. bmtc wasn't that bad although the first 2 weeks felt like 6 months, everyday was long tiresome and outright miserable. if it wasn't for the "angels" or "garang soldiers" that shared this misery with me (Raven Coy Platoon 3!!!) life would have been unbearable. downright horrible...

(part 2 to be continued after i finish my army-related (sigh!) errands...

... chess season over

2008-06-20T21:53:00.003+09:30

hey... i finally found time, actually, not really, i'm just lazy to do work..
chess season is finally over, for u guys who do not know, i joined my chess team earlier this year, it went well... i had only one loss in 8 games, so i guess thats good. however, we had a draw and a narrow win against other teams earlier on, this put us 1/2 a point behind the top team going into the final round. ps, the top team advances to the finals... ya, so we went to normnahurst, some school north... me, leslie, joseph and alex... we did ok... joseph and i won our boards but in the end we had to settle for a 2-2 draw, hence, we DIDN'T make the finals, abit upsetting but well... other than that my life has been pretty dissatisfying, nothing much on besides the continous rampage of exams and assessments, like my physics project on superconductors, it was given three weeks ago, i started three weeks ago, and i'm far from finish... plus its due monday.. life ain't that flash.. today it was raining, hence our much anticipated athletics carnival has been postponed. school wise, i got my math test back, 27/30... ok i guess... in english we're starting a new topic, our last topic was king lear, now we're doing frontine... its an aussie tv series which is our media study.. its ok... as are most aussie series except neighbours... socially, my life's a mess.... but it'll come together, hopefully before graduation...
ciao... studying tomorrow. need to sleep early.

update for val's sake

2008-04-14T08:56:00.002+09:30

hello again...
since coming back from singapore in march, nothing much has happened, i reckoned that since i didn't qualify, there was not much point in putting so much time into sailing when i can study, studying did help as a week later i had my exams, did alrite, 75 for english, 88 for extension math, 94 for math, 82 for history, 86 for physics and 93 for chemistry. now its the holidays and my family and i are planning to go to gold coast. sailing wise, i went down to the club during the weekend to watch/coach my brother in his optimist state championships, there were 20 optis, a stark contrast to singapore for sure, the first day was light shifty wind and he got 7-14-6, the following day was about 10-13 knots, and he got 10-10-15, so ya... yesterday, a large storm came through sydney and the rain was really heavy, there was lightning everywhere and just off the club, 2 men got struck by lighting, they survived though quite shaken. later, alex, phil, adam and i went out in search for 2 missing 420s from the club, they were safe but in the search for them we saw a keelboat that was sinking, apparently, the keel fell off in the storm and they were frantically bailing out water. well thats it... i'll try to update again soon

science vs god

2008-02-27T20:55:00.004+10:30

Hello, just something for all of you to read, it is an interesting article, let me know what you think after reading it:

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students,
"Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist
professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes sir," the student says.

So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I' m evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment.
"Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can
cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could.
Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't."

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. "He doesn't, does
he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to
Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

The student remains silent.

"No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a
glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?"

"Er...yes," the student says.

"Is Satan good?"

The studen t doesn't hesitate on this one. "No."

"Then where does Satan come from?"

The student falters. "From God"

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in
this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?"

"Yes."

"So who created evil?" The professor continued, "If God created everything,
then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle
that our works define who we are, then God is evil."

Again, the student has no answer. "Is there sickness? Immorality?
Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"So who created them?"

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question.
"Who created them?" There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks
away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.< BR>
"Tell me," he continues onto another student. "Do you believe in Jesus
Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor, I do."

The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to
identify and observe the world around you.
Have you ever seen Jesus?"

"No sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir, I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that
matter?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

Yet you still believe in him?"

"Yes."

According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,
science says your God doesn't exist.
What do you say to that, son?"

"Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith."

"Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem scien ce has
with God. There is no evidence, only faith."

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His
own.

"Professor, is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"And is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No sir, there isn't."

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room
suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. "You can have
lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white
heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We
can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any
further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be
able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees."

"Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
energy, and heat is what makes a bod y or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is
only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.
Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the
opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding
like a hammer.

"What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes," the professor replies without hesitation. "What is night if it isn't
darkness?"

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of
something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing
light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called
darkness, isn't it?

That's the meaning we use to define the word."

"In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness
darker, wouldn't you?"

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a
good semester.

"So what point are you making, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start
with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed."

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. "Flawed? Can you
explain how?"

"You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains. "You
argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can
measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought."

"It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully
understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be
ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death
is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it."

"N ow tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a
monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes,
of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where
the argument is going.

A very good semester, indeed.

"Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot
even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has
subsided.

"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me
give you an example of what I mean."

The student looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has
ever seen the professor's brain?"

The class breaks out i nto laughter.

"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the
professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to
have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable,
demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due
respect, sir."

"So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face
unreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. "I guess you'll
have to take them on faith."

"Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,"
the student continues.

"Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"

Now uncertain, the professor responds, "Of course, there is. We see it
everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in
the multitude of crime and violenc e everywhere in the world. These
manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does
not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God.

It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe
the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what
happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart.
It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that
comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

back in sydney

2008-01-22T10:46:00.000+10:30

the last 3 days of sail melbourne was not that great. on day 3 we had winds of 18-26 knots with waves 3-4m high, i tried to sail consistently getting 14-14, i ended the day in 12th overall. on day 4 we had lighter winds, launching in 5-10 knots but the wind freshened to 14 knots by the start of the first race, being on a different course area than the three days before, it was interesting to see how everyone else coped, i finished well in the first one and not too good in the second one getting 5-11, after this i was 11th overall 2 points off a medal race spot. the last day of qualifying we had lighter 8-10 knots, and we had AP till about 2.30 when we launched, i had a bad start and was playing catch up from there finishing the race 8. this meant i qualified for the medal race in 9th spot, but being 9 points away from the 8th guy i needed to win him by 5 positions as the medal race was double points. the medal race was held outside sandringham yacht club and the first attempt was held in 3-5 knots of wind, i had a great start, sailed a conservative first beat and rounded in 3rd, the first downwind was bad and i lost 2 boats but gained a boat on the final upwind approaching the top mark in 4th, at this point the guy i needed to beat was in 9th, however, the race was abandoned with one downwind left as it went over the 45 minute time limit. so the next attempt i had an ok start and sailed a poor upwind to round in 7th, i caught 1 boat on the downwind and on the last upwind i decided to risk it all by going far right when everyone else went left, it failed and i rounded the top mark in 9, i caught 2 boats on the final downwind to finish 7 ending the regatta in 9th overall.
so now i'm back in sydney preparing for school. sigh.

day 1 and 2

2008-01-15T19:03:00.000+10:30

yesterday was the worst day in my life. it was blowing 15-20 knots when we launched, forecast said it was gonna be the lightest day of the week. bullshit. by the time the first race started the wind was 17 knots constant with waves of 3-4m high, furthermore the windward leg was took 20+ minutes to sail. since men and women were separated again, the men fleet only had 27 boats. in the first race, i started poorly, tacked and hit a boat that was on starboard, i did my 720 making me half a leg behind the fleet, and he retired?!?... i then sailed the first upwind alrite but still rounded the top mark in 2nd last. it was then i realised my tiller extension was breaking off the tiller as a screw came loose. so i sailed the rest of the race with my hand on the tiller joint to prevent it from breaking. i finished the race 23rd, 4th last. the next race the wind picked up to 22 knots, i started poorly again to round the top mark in 18, i capsized, caught up and finished 15. so day one was a complete disaster, one that almost left me in tears. i was 19th overall after day one. dinner was the only consolation as my uncle brought me to celebrate his friend's (sujen) birthday at a spanish-australian bar, we had paella, the highlight of my day
today was slightly better, i woke up with a new mentality deciding that i should just do my best race by race instead of thinking about the results. so i left the house prepared, took a train to brighton and rigged. the wind at 12 was 4 knots, a brighter outlook than the day before, but as we all know australia is not known for its constant light wind, true enough by the time i launched at 1pm, the wind picked up to a still reasonable 10 knots, but by the time race one started it was 15 knots. sigh... in this race i started poorly at the comittee boat and rounded the top mark a mediocre 12th, i caught up 4 boats on the first downwind to 8th, before losing another few boats rounding the top mark 11th, then the last downwind i caught wave after wave to finish 7th, the finishing committee insisted i was 8th and that was how i was placed. the last race the wind was still 15 knots but the course was extended by another 200m, i started alrite in the middle before heading left, fortunately, the wind shifted left persistently resulting in rounding the top mark 4th, i then maintained on the downwind before picking up another place on the next upwind to finish 3rd. so at the end of day 2 i am 14th overall with 23-15-8-3 on my scoreboard. tomorrow's forecast is 20-25 knots, god please help me.

awaiting the start

2008-01-14T07:47:00.000+10:30

since i have the time, i might as well post. on the 12th, i went out training with the SIN team, and a few other top sailors including the world top 2, it was a good experience as i realised that every wave, every second in the race counts, starting with them was hard but nonetheless a good experience. after the other sailors went back, the SIN team and i trained more for about 45 minutes in the 10-15 knot wind. it was good prepation for the event as i have not sailed here before and the conditions were unlike anything i have been in.
later, i had dinner with my uncle (he's 21, not really a usual age for an uncle) who i am staying with in melbourne, at a greek restaurant, it was a great dinner one that will probably keep me away from food for the next few hours.

the following day, i left the apartment at 10.30 to catch the 11.00 train to sandringham. since my ticket was a zone 1 not a zone 2, i had to alight at brighton beach station sparking a 4km walk to sandringham yacht club where i had to register. i eventually got there tired from the walk. after registration, giba insisted that liz and i go out training to accustom ourselves for the competition, the wind was 20-25 gusting to 30 and we were 2 of only 4 radials on the water. the waves were huge, at abt 3m high, it swallowed our bows as we ploughed thru the waves. it was good training nonetheless, and reminded me that i needed to work on my fitness. we did nearly 2 hours out on the water before returning to another tiring situation; recovering our boats. since there was only liz and i, we couldn't get one person to hold both boats due to the large wave (even though we were surrounded by a breakwater), eventually, we managed to recover liz's boat after 10 minutes, and once one was done, the other was relatively easy. we then helped the ukrainian sailor who was by himself.
since our boats were dirty from the seaweed the waves brought, we had to wash our boats, unfortunately melbourne is under water restrictions and we are not allowed to hose down our boats, so we washed them with witches hats (the large orange cone u see near road works), after a few trips to the tap, we got our boats cleaned.
dinner was spent with my uncle's friends at their apartment, we had nasi lemak and sticky date pudding. i then returned to my apartment before dosing off.
now today, it was planned that i wake up at 7 to catch the 8 train to brighton but giba called and told me that there was a change in the sailing instructions meaning the radials are starting at 2 instead of 12, which means that i am only leaving here in 2 hours time. sigh i hate waiting.

Nationals and Youths

2008-01-12T20:56:00.000+10:30

Hey, Happy New Year to everyone out there.. i am now in melbourne training for Sail Melbourne before returning to Sydney to prepare for school. From the 27th to the 4th of january i was down in blairgowrie for the aussie nationals, we had strong 120 boat fleet in the radials, racing was split into qualifying and final series, it was here i could see where i improved as a result from trng in aus. on day one we had strong 15-25 knot wind which was very gusty and shifty. in the first race i had a good start approaching the top mark in the top 15 then i hit the mark and capsized.. i uprighted only to have hit the mark again, i did my turns before rounding the bottom mark in the mid-30s, i slowly caught up each beat to finish 19. in the second race i had a horrible start before catching up in the dying wind to finish 14.
on day 2 we had 3 races in a 5-15 knot wind from the same gusty and shifty direction as the day before.in the first race i had another bad start rounding the top mark in the late 30s, i caught up to finish 21. the last two races that day was held in 5-10 knots i had a very bad start in the 2nd race after getting tangled at the start with two other boats, i managed to be on the correct side of the course when the wind came in finishing 8. the last race that day saw a good start and a reasonably good first upwind rounding the top mark in 13, i caught up to 11 by the next beat before finishing 8.
on day 3 we had 2 races in 5-10 knots, i had good starts both races rounding the top mark in the top 10 and finishing 7 and 6. going into the rest day i was in 19th, vic was 12th, manyi 17th, elizabeth 30th, siobhan 37th, damian 51st and max 82nd.
the rest day was spent in melbourne, my uncle took damian, shane, liz and i out for lunch in chinatown and desert in lygon street.
the last qualifying race was in 20 knots and i started badly catching up the whole race to finish 13. after qualifying i was 22nd overall and qualified for gold fleet. a special note has to go to damian who broke his lower mast in that race and broke his replacement mast the following day and went on to break the window after his misattempt to kill a fly.
the final series had two windy races and two light races i tried to sail consistently finishing 30-31-4-9. i finished the regatta in 17th overall and 3rd youth.

the day after nationals was spent wishing shane goodbye and unloading the boats at frankston where the youths were going to be held.
for the first day of the youths, we had a very light and shifty first race where i had a brilliant start only to lose it all on the first upwind by going right rounding the top mark in 8. our fleet then clashed with the 420s who were on their last leg. it was chaos with all the spinnakers behind us. i lost alot to round the bottom mark in 16. i then caught up by catching a freak windshift on the left and rounding the top mark in 7. i then caught one boat (alex who got 2 yellow flags that race), and lost two boats on the final 100m upwind to finish 8. the second race was in the seabreeze which was 15 knots, i had a great start to lead the race from start to finish and win by 10 boat lengths. the last race was held in 20 knots and i was 5th the whole race and caught 2 boats on the final downwind to finish 3rd. day 2 saw 2 races in 5-10 knots and the final race in the dying seabreeze. the first race, my start was horrible starting 40 seconds late as liz, damian and i were checking the course while the AP flag was up. weirdly, i was in pressure the whole upwind to round the top mark in 1st by 10 boat lengths, i maintained my position to finish 1st. the next race i had another bad start but caught up rounding the top mark in 6, i then lost alot on the next upwind due to the dying wind to round the mark in 10, i caught up 2 boats on the final upwind to finish 8. the last race saw 15 knots dying to a miserable 5 knots by the end. going into the final upwind in 6, i stayed left and a massive 40 degree shift to the left happened seing me finish 2nd. as a result i went into day 3 wearing the orange jersey to show that i was the leader. the last day saw 5-10 knots with nothing much besides my tiller extension detaching itself from the tiller in the last race, i ended the day with 1-4-3. due to the lack of wind the last day racing was cancelled. so i won my first international event in the laser.... yay... well, today i trained with a range of good sailors and the SIN team.. i'll report after the next regatta

SIRs

2007-12-18T19:30:00.000+10:30

SIRs (Sydney International Regatta) has just finished today bringing an end to a tough four days of hard competition. I have made a few friends as a result of this regatta; Ben and Klade from Australia, Corinne from Switzerland and Keamia from Canada. To my disappointment, men and women were seperated in the radial fleet for this regatta. On Day 1, we had a good 15-18 knots worth of breeze coming from the NE, it was quite choppy and fun to sail in. I made 2 very good starts but failed to maintain my position on the downwinds. I ended up 5th overall with a 4-6. On day 2, we had very light shifty winds of 4-6 knots and started quite late after waiting for the wind on shore. I was leading half way up the last upwind when both ends got a big gust and i dropped to 8. I was still 5th overall though. On day 3, we had very strong 18-28 knots with an irregular chop. I did alrite, capsizing twice and finishing the day with a 8-6, i dropped from 5th to 7th overall. At this point, Richard Bott was leading with 6 points after 1 discard 6-3-1-1-1, Ben Price was second, 1-1-4-6-3, Klade was third, 2-2-5-7-2 and Tristan was fourth, 3-4-3-5-9. Today, we had three shifty 8-12 knots races and i did pretty well getting 4-1-4, on the last race i was leading by 8 boat lengths and lost 3 boats on the final downwind due to a gust they got which i didnt. Finished the regatta 5th overall. Results: 1. Ben Price 1-1-4-6-3-3-5-2, 2. Klade 2-2-5-7-2-1-7-1. 3. Tristan 3-4-3-5-9-6-2-3, 4. Richard Bott 6-3-1-1-1-ocs-6-9 and me 5. 4-6-8-8-6-4-1-4

life in the fast lane

2007-11-17T19:40:00.000+10:30

Hey ppl,
the sin team is back at wsc, in addition a few other international sailors are here, abe and mike leigh from canada, and stian, kristian and oscar from scandinavia and james from ireland. Thursday was good with light winds of 5-8 knots, me alex and kev sailed with krystal weir near vaucluse bay. This was the lightest of the week as today was blowing. Vic, Manyi and I raced radials at double bay in 18-22 knots. The waves were also so irregular. Kevin, Ash and Zhen Hao sailed full rig. We had two races:
Race 1: Start; 16 knots, good start in the middle went all the way out to the port layline before tacking in. By this point, the wind had picked up to 18 knots. I rounded the top mark 4th, a fair distance in front of the pack behind me. In front were Peter, Martin and Manyi. I caught up with manyi on the reach and extended my lead over her on the next reach. By the bottom mark, i was near Martin, on the next upwind, the wind picked up to about 20 knots, i went far left losing my position to manyi who went far right. At the top mark i was 4 boat lengths ahead of vic and 10 boat lengths behind manyi. The same thing happened the next upwind. On the last downwind, manyi capsized and recovered just in front of me, reaching the bottom mark, i gybed and capsized, losing my hat and bottle. i uprighted just in front of ash who was in the full rig start and finished 4th.

Race 2: Start; 20 knots, average start in the middle, i went all the way out before taking midway, at the top mark i was 2nd behind peter and just in front of manyi. Extended my lead by alot, to abt 10 boat lengths at the bottom mark, but 5 minutes into the upwind, i tacked and got stuck in irons, although i was still 2nd i almost lost to martin and manyi... i went up left and tacked, going into irons again in 24 knots. vic, manyi and i stopped after that upwind where manyi was 3rd, i was 4th and vic 7th.

the world is burning to the ground

2007-11-09T16:42:00.000+10:30

sorry for not updating, i'm simply too lazy. well lets start from the last post, in october we had our holidays followed by a regatta at illawarra, known colloquially as the smelliest place on the aussie calander. it was strong wind there abt 15-25 knots throughout the weekend, the first full strong wind regatta i've had in the radial, didn't do that bad, finished 6th, just behind alex.. it was a fun weekend though, alex's mom, alex, ash and i went down together and stayed at the same place, it was good... then, i met lyndall and team canada. we coach together every sunday, optimists, ya, team canada: topher and jaimie, well in a nutshell they bring life to the club.. they sail the 49er and often are quite funny. lyndall is great too, she is mature and adds sense to the conversations, and theres alex who's just fun all around. this month theres has been an influx of many international sailors, this has caused me to come to training more often and as a result, i come every wednesday and thursday. last week, kevin came back from his stint as a doctor, its good to have him back. we went training yesterday and it was tiring. i sailed a full rig due to the perception that it was 'light' wind, however, the wind picked up to about 13 knots and we went offshore, we saw alot of dolphins though. with me were world champion, tom slingsby, 4 canadians including mike and abe, kevin and jye.. i finished last almost every time but it was a good experience... today, i had school... sigh... alrite... until next time... ttfn

the wonders of facebook

2007-10-13T11:07:00.000+09:30

as of last night, i was a much happier man... i was reunited with some primary school friends from malaysia via facebook... haha... well, the last few days have been non stop sailing, vic and manyi are down from singapore and some canadians, estonians and swedes are at the club too... the next few weeks will be busy with many more foreign sailors coming down, it'll be fun... just another shout-out to the o level ppl... may u pass with flying colours...

holidays...

2007-10-09T21:51:00.000+09:30

midway through the hols and its getting pretty boring, i went running in sydney olympic park this morning and i drove there!... after that we went home and basically slacked the rest of the day... tomorrow i am going to the gym followed by a full day on the water... hopefuly there are other sailors... cheers... yours sincerely

you can't stop the beat

2007-10-06T10:11:00.000+09:30

the past week of holidays has been pretty mundane... nothing to do, i watched hairspray on monday and that has probably been the highlight of the week so far... it was pretty good, the songs are so addictive... everyday i stayed at home, eating, playing ps2, sleeping... what a lifestyle!... well... good luck to all those doing their o levels next month.... may you pass with flying colours...

Schools Out'

2007-09-27T21:49:00.000+09:30

today was the last day of school... what a relief.. starting year 12 next yr, so scary!..today was the year 12 graduation mass, it was compulsory for all year 11s to go and it turned out to be pretty fun, i volunteered for the dinner part and gave out drinks and stuff... haha... it wasn't that bad, the year 11s talked and talked and it was a good way to waste time... haha... when i got back i watched so you think you can dance... so cool.. i wish i could do all those tricks.. unfortunately, god gave me a stiff body... sigh... it was so sad to see jesus (pronounced hesus) and jessi go... almost cried... stupid cedric, he should have gone... well... cheers

shake what your mama gave ya

2007-09-20T18:39:00.000+09:30

just got back results today, sob sob... i did HORRIBLE for english, well, whats new?.. i got 7/20 for the part on film and 14/20 (2nd in class.. haha..) for shakespeare's othello... other papers were done much better. in math 2 Unit i got 80/83 taking top honours in my year group... finally, modern history, after swearing the whole week that i was gonna drop history, i got 45/50... haha... talk about a plan backfiring... anyway, besides school life is pretty average, my grandparents are here from malaysia so life has been spiced up abit... holidays start next weekend and i can't wait to start slacking... i joined facebook, so attention: all readers add me... haha, so despo... well, as usual i'm missing singapore but not as much with the late addition of friends, plus, i think i'm getting an accent... joking.. well... shake what your mama gave ya...
cheers

2007-09-17T20:34:00.000+09:30

metropolitan championships day one race one attempt one
big lead, smell las roses regatta race 3

update

2007-09-17T20:19:00.000+09:30

at the request of ppl, i'll update.. life has been really good, i had two comps back to back the last two weekends, and i did well winning both. however, that has a negative impact study wise as the past two weeks have been exams, english was done better then expected, made a few mistakes in math and physics but besides that i am on course for a good week... i started driving more which has both its good and bad sides. i panicked last friday whilst trying to parallel park.. some 470s are here from singapore for a few weeks and their company has made sailing even more enjoyable. i have chemistry exam tomorrow and physics prac on wednesday concluding the exam week. holidays start next week and i can't wait for a break.. below are some pics of the regatta and links to the results:
smell las roses regatta, double bay, 15-16 sept
metropolitan championship, woollahra, 8-9 sept

picture:
i like the first pic the best, with the harbour bridge in the background and role tacking, sigh... the pic of the start is a hidden one, u can try to find me, note: i had a terrible start, thankfully it was general recall...

If

2007-08-23T19:05:00.000+09:30

if the world was perfect, that would be nothing worth living for right?... well... the last week was pretty normal, we had a 'camp' from the 13th to the 15th, it was more spiritual than anything though... since then i haven't drove at all, but i've been playing plenty of table tennis, so watch out ppl... our final exams are coming up soon in 2 weeks and i am so not prepared, we're learning trigonometric differentiation in math, build up to WW1 in history, astrophysics in physics, energy changes in chemistry, islam in religion and poetry in english. this simply means that things have been very busy. in religion, we dont learn anything much, neither do we in history... so that just makes situation worse. but home wise, life has been alrite, i've just joined a gym to get more fit, and i've made alot of friends recently. i've also taken a recent interest in two american sitcoms; life as we know it and what i like about you. so before i go just take a moment to ponder on the question above... comment if u have an answer.

Untitled

2007-08-12T10:26:00.000+09:30

I just got my driving license last saturday. started driving last sunday and it is not easy. its so damn hard to park the car. i mean, how can anyone get reverse parking right on his first attempt?.. well.. the last week has been pretty uneventful. we got back a few assessments, and i passed english.. 15.5/25... haha... well top mark was 17 so i guess it wasn't too shabby.. i also got 32/32 for 3 unit math and 33/35 for 2u math. yesterday was the first day i drove on a road and lets just say i almost hit alot of cars. on the way back home, i almost scraped a car's side mirror, my dad was screaming down my ears... oww.. well.. today i'm going for another drive before heading to the gym and finally packing for my retreat tomorrow.
cheers ppl...

Harry Potter, Brilliant or Ridiculous?

2007-08-02T16:03:00.000+09:30

I've just finished reading the last Harry Potter book last friday and i think its fantastic, the way the plot builds up slowly towards the end was great. however, it was let down by the end, i expected a large fight between harry and voldemort which, in the end turned out to be a short one... plus, it was pretty predictable. i almost cried when i heard that lupin and tonks died... sigh... well... besides that it was probably my favourite book... the last words weren't that great though.. '...all was well.', but i guess j.k. rowling was just trying to end harry potter on a high note..

besides reading harry potter, i had to manage 6 assessment tasks in 2 days, on tuesday, we had 2 english tasks; reading (which i did terrible) and writing (did well, i hope), then we had history oral presentation and math ext test (which i aced), yesterday, we did math 2u and english listening. hence, i am extremely pleased to officialy close my assessment week... raenee's friends are over from singapore this week, the house is slowly getting more crowded, it just reminds me of my friends in singapore... to you all... i miss you...

a surge of sadness

2007-07-21T22:38:00.000+09:30

life is miserable, and being here in australia is not helping. on friday was the athletics carnival, we all had to run the 100m which i came in 4th in my heat; 14.09s.. after that i attempted the long jump which earned me a lifetime of embarassment, the volleyball novelty match which my house lost and to wrap of the day, our house lost to rivals elliott in the final standings.

i just realised that my life is screwed, if i dun get a scholarship for uni, i have to pay $17000 per term for not being an aussie citizen. hence i have the following choices: a) be an aussie citizen, give up singapore citizenship and go to uni
b) stay a singaporean citizen, mug like shit to get a scholarship for med school
c) dun get aussie citizenship, dun get scholarship and dun go to uni
d) move back to sin where i most prob have to repeat a year in jc or something.

hence, my chances are slim, in order to get a scholarship i have to get a university admission index of 100 ( rank top 10 in the state ), sigh....

as of now, i am waiting for a miracle. today was spent studying, i have several assessments the following week, these include: an essay and oral presentation for modern history, an english assignment, math test on calculus, trig ratios and circle geometry.

i can't wait until december when sean, denise and val come down to rescue me from the surging misery i'm sinking in.

p.s. i would like to congrats the youth world team for their efforts and wish the radial worlds and opti worlds team good luck.

update

2007-07-13T20:05:00.000+09:30

on tuesday, wednesday and thursday i trained. the wind was average with it being 5-25 knots throughout the 3 days. it was good trng, i improved my strong wind sailing heaps and i learnt new techniques. besides sailing, i made new friends with grace tweddell, a brit living in melbourne, she came over to train with me nick and alex. on thursday, me grace and alex went to watch harry potter, in a nutshell, it was a good movie but its plot lacked a lot the book had.. so those who are confused, read the book!

birthday shoutout

2007-07-13T19:54:00.000+09:30

i want to wish CAROLINE KAN a very happy birthday
10 things i like about caroline kan:
1. she is always there for you, during the good and bad times
2. even with us being 8000 miles apart, we still communicate and share good times
3. she understands my problems, good and bad
4. she is trustworthy even if she was interogated by osama i know she won't leak
5. she is beautiful, both in and out
6. she has a heart of gold
7. she is always there when needed
8. she has a good sense of humour
9. she has lived a very fulfiling 16 years
10. she fights for what she believes in

so to ms kan, have a very happy 16th birthday, and may many more NC16 movies await your arrival.

blow wind blow

2007-07-08T10:35:00.000+09:30

the last few days have been SO WINDY... last weekend it was 25-30 knots, on wednesday it was 36-40 knots, on thursday it was 30-35 knots and yesterday was the lightest in 3 weeks, 10-17 knots!.... someone save me... i also have so much homework.. my license application was denied.. i didnt have a secondary identification so i have to wait until i have one... besides that nothing much, my uncle is here from melbourne with some friends and we went out on friday night until 3.30 am... talk about lack of sleep, we saw the kitty hawk... some big american ship... besides that we went to eat pancake at the rocks and had some lindt chocolate... life is good... for now..

licensed to drive

2007-07-01T21:19:00.000+09:30

today was more exciting then usual, the day started when i went with my school to see the cross, a wyd thing, we then went to watch fantastic four 2 which i thought had less of a plot then the first but really cool action scenes... this coming week will be busy with my driving license test on friday... as for now, i'm waiting for time to fly by as i await the start of the f1 race.

what goes around comes around

2007-06-23T10:09:00.000+09:30

it has been 20 days since i've last posted, probably because its been 20 days since anything worth reporting has happened. watched bridge to terabithia last night, it was excellent, one of the few movies which i actually cried!... well, from what i understand, it has been released a long time ago in singapore, so for the aussies, if u wanna watch.. go on!.. its worth the price. going to watch fantastic four tonight.. well... another good time i hope... val, sean and denise are coming down! yippee.., i can't wait... life here without u has been less than good... well... besides that, the wind has been srong, 18-30 knots everyday... its also raining almost everyday, making the weather freezing and unbearable, its abt 3-7 degrees in the morning and the warmest is 14 when its sunny, if its raining, its 9... we're going to the blue mountains today, reported snow!...

embracing winter

2007-06-03T14:11:00.000+09:30

brr... its getting cold, the past week saw early morning temperatures as low as 2 degrees... thankfully it increased to abt 20 in the afternoon... it is now the third day of winter and its getting colder and colder... i've got back all my exam papers now and lets just say its satisfactory. for 2u math-95, 3u math-82, religion-60, modern history-75, chemistry-83, physics-83. there... sigh... yesterday we had two more winter series races, i came in 2nd for both after alot of catching up in sub 5 knots wind. but since tom burton won both, i was acredited both 1sts, since he did not register... so cheap...

results, results, results

2007-05-26T20:09:00.000+09:30

this week was a busy one, we got back exam results, first one we got back was physics, i did alrite, could have been better though.. we also got back math 2u, religion, modern hist paper a and chemistry paper a. the results were: physics: 54/65, math 2u: 80/84, religion: 9/15, modern history paper a: 16/20, chemistry paper a: 38/50...

today was a continuation of he winter series, he wind was 3-6 knots and conditions were difficult. in race 1: i had a good start and rounded the top mark 1st, i then extended my lead throughout the race to finish 1st. in race 2: i started well and went out right making me drop behind the top 5... i then caught back up to 1st before losing on the last upwind to alex. in the final race, i started badly but caught up to finish 1st. overall results:
scott 4,1,[7],2,3,1,2,1 14 pts
peter [5],3,1,1,5,3,3,2 18 pts
alex 3,2,3,3,1,[5],1,5 18 pts

winter series

2007-05-20T13:45:00.000+09:30

the last two saturdays have been occupied with the winter series...
12th may:
winds: 4-8 knots NE-SE
current: negligible
race 1: i had a good start leading at mark 1 by abt 4 boat lengths, on the first downwind, i extended my lead to abt 6 boat lengths, on the second upwind i went centre-right and extended my lead to abt 10 boat lengths before the wind died and a freak gust approached on the left, this caused me to drop to 2nd, on the downwind, the wind picked up behind and i dropped further to 4th. the last 2 upwinds was spent trying to catch up, on the last downwind i was leading but forgot to enter thru the gates and lost back to 4th. results: howard 1st, rosemary 2nd, alex 3rd, me 4th, peter 5th.

race 2: the 2nd race saw a bad start but i headed far left to catch the gusts, that helped me catch up to the lead at the top mark by 2 boat lengths. the second upwind saw me maintain my lead and extend it to 5 boat lengths... it finished like that. results: me 1st, alex 2nd, peter 3rd.

at the end of the day i won a bottle of wine for my efforts, i lead the series tied on points with alex.

may 19th
wind: 15-23 knots NW-N
current: weak.
race 3: started horribly, luckily it was 4 short loops, i caught up every upwind and downwind to finish 7th. results: peter 1st, richard 2nd, alex 3rd, me 7th.

race 4: started well, and went further left then everybody else to catch the big gusts, caught up to round the top mark 4th, on the downwind, i caught up by sailing in the gusts and i rounded the bottom mark 3rd, the wind dropped slightly to 12 knots on the second upwind helping me catch up with the top 2. i lost out on the downwind to richard but an incident at the bottom mark helped me to catch up 2 on the final short upwind.results: peter 1st, me 2nd, alex 3rd, richard 4th.

race 5: started very well and controlled the fleet well in the fluctuating winds.. rounded the top mark 1st 6 boat lengths in front of alex. the first downwind saw alex catch up to my tail and she overtook me the following upwind when the wind picked up to 20 knots. i dropped to 3rd although coming close to beating richard at the end: results: alex 1st, richard 2nd, me 3rd

overall:
alex 3 , 2, 3,[3],1 9 pts 1st
peter 5 , 3, 1, 1,[7] 10 pts 2nd
scott 4, 1, [7],2, 3 10 pts 3rd
richard [14],14,2, 4, 2 22 pts 4th
howard 1,[10],8, 10, 4 23 pts 5th

disaster strikes back...

2007-05-17T21:12:00.000+09:30

well, it looks like my hope and excitement of going back to singapore has gone down the drain, because laser trophy is not a selection regatta for radial men, my parents have decided that its a waste of money going.. well, sigh... i'm really really depressed now... and i can only go if i sail full rig?!?... god, send me a miracle... please

exams...

2007-05-15T15:51:00.000+09:30

yesterday was my chem and math 2u paper, chem was alrite i guess, i'll pass but i guess in the end it was a classic case of studying the wrong stuff... the mcq was very easy, but the extended response was not a piece of cake... oh god, pls help me do well... math was on the other hand, very easy, haha... ya... i love math...
well a 2 day break before my next paper, physics... well, time to study...

jobs...

2007-05-11T15:48:00.000+09:30

a career expo was held today at mlc, there were many universities that offered several pamphlets that advertise courses that are available... after 1 hour, i have shortlisted the following course as points of interest:
aeronautical
nanotechnology
genetics
medicine
neuroscience

ya... well... i guess its either physics or medicine for me...
haha... so confused, i really want to do aeronatical but what jobs are there that require such study?...

exams galore

2007-05-09T16:54:00.000+09:30

oh shit...
we were just given our exam timetables yesterday.. and guess what... they've been moved to next week!... so much for notification.. hence my enthusiasm to study... out of the 6 subjects i'm currently taking, i have declared 4 as in an unstable state. the four nominees are... chemistry, modern history, english and religion....
i'm in deep trouble... i reckon... still girlsick.. well my plans will just have to wait till after the exams...

girlsick

2007-05-08T19:32:00.000+09:30

yes... you've not heard me wrongly... kinda weird eh... well.. after watching tons and tons of lovey dovey movies... i have concluded and cemented the need to get a girlfriend... well.. anybody know any person who u may think is to my liking?... well i sound kinda desperate... ya.. well... haha... i am laughing at myself... hope my family doesn't read this...

DISASTER STRIKES

2007-05-04T19:09:00.000+09:30

OH NO...
I'VE JUST RECEIVED NEWS FROM ALEX YESTERDAY THAT WOOLLAHRA AIN'T SENDING A TEAM FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIPS TOMORROW... THIS IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE NEED 4 SAILORS AND HOWARD IS SICK... WELL GET WELL SOON... HOWEVER, ALEX MENTIONED THAT THERE ARE GOING TO BE TEAMS WITH SPARE SAILORS SO ALTHOUGH I'M NOT SAIING FOR WOOLLAHRA, I GUESS ITS BETTER THEN NOTHING...
I'VE LEARNT SOMETHING FROM THIS, WHEN ALL SEEMS HOPEFUL, DISASTER WILL STRIKE... WELL ACCORDING TO MURPHY'S LAW...

amazingly short

2007-05-01T18:48:00.000+09:30

haha... today was photo day... we took class photos and the teacher asked us to line up from shortest to tallest with the shortest being in front, i was number 8!... out of 23... haha... just shows how amazingly short i am compared to these ppl... well... i forgot one thing the other day... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD AND BENITA... may your lives prosper in many ways.

team racing

2007-04-29T17:46:00.000+09:30

i haven't been updating as i don't see a need too... the past week was usual with school restarting on thursday and that was pretty normal, on saturday i basically just bludged, staying at home the whole day doing nothing but watching tv. today was the only time i've sailed this week and the wind was very strong, it was blowing 20-25 knots in the first race, 15-25 knots in the second and 10-15 knots in the third, clearly that pattern was evident in my results, 3,2,1... out of 4!... in the first, we did two laps and in the first i managed to stay near to alex and another sailor... but after the first downwind i fell back until i was about 1/2 a leg behind alex who was second. in the second race, the wind was a bit lighter, and i managed to stay within the vicinity of the top 2 and on the first downwind i overtook both to round the bottom mark 1st, however, the wind picked up the following leg seeing me drop the 2 positions and i only managed to catch up one position to finish right behind the 1st boat. in the final race, the wind was moderate and i was trailing the 1st boat the whole race until the last downwind when i overtook him to finish about 5 boat lengths in front.
the coming week will be exciting as i have a team racing competition on saturday, i'm representing woollahra and i'm very hyped up...
cheers and good luck to the ss ppl taking their mid years...

sailing in the bays

2007-04-22T19:06:00.000+09:30

this weekend was the first in a long time that i've actually sailed on both days, haha... reflects how much i'm training, doesn't it?... but i feel that sailing is like riding a bike, you never forget. on saturday, i arrived late for the double bay racing, i joined in at the back and with one leg to go, i finished 5th.. the second race saw similar winds of 4-7 knots, and i won confortably. today, after arriving late due to the fact that my new house is pretty far from the nearest public transport. we had three races today, in thw first, i joined in from the back to finish 2nd behind alex, in the second, i won by a leg and the third was a shorter course that saw alex take the gun by a second. thats probably it...

new houses... such a fuss.

2007-04-16T20:42:00.000+09:30

i've just moved houses yesterday, we moved from meadowbank to strathfield, not much of a difference, both areas are just as inaccesible as each other. however, the house here is much bigger, but bigger means more to clean. its such a hassle, so many boxes, so little time, plus the house is filled with cobwebs and dust. well, that was pretty much my weekend, on a positive note, i've found the ps2!...

double bay deja vu

2007-04-14T21:38:00.000+09:30

today we sailed at double bay, as usual, the wind was a N/NE. and after a few weeks here, i can safely conclude there are two main directions, N/NE and S/SE. the southerlies are normally stronger and more gustier. well we had two races today, my speed was fairly good and managed to read the wind well, the wind was 8-15 knots. i walked from the sailing club to edgecliff station after sailing, i was kinda tired of waiting 30 minutes for the next ferry, hence i walked and it took me 40 minutes, i met my parents at burwood station and now i am blogging, life's pretty boring these days, the holidays just makes it bearable. the picture above was taken two weeks back in the very strong wind.

holidays

2007-04-13T17:05:00.000+09:30

to cut a long story short

day 1: movie world
good rides: lethal weapon
escape
scooby doo

day 2: sea world
good rides: bermuda triangle
corkscrew

day 3: dreamworld
good rides: giant drop
cyclone
the claw
tower of terror

day 4: go karting
details: the lap record was 53.45s and i did it in 54.58s... the next michael schumacher?

day 5: wet n wild
good rides: terror canyon
jetstream
tornado
aqua racer
pictures will be uploaded to aid visually
from the top: aqua racer, corkscrew, cyclone, escape, giant drop

a tribute to CBC Burwood

2007-03-30T19:36:00.000+09:30

TODAY WAS MY OFFICIAL LAST DAY, CAME AS A SURPRISE AS I DIDN'T EXPECT TO START THE NEW SCHOOL SO SOON BUT WELL, THIS WAY I GET TO SKIP TESTS!.. I'M GOING TO MARIST COLLEGE IN EASTWOOD AND DOING THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS: MATH EXT 1, BIOLOGY, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, ADVANCED ENGLISH AND RELIGION. HAHA ONLY 6 SYBJECTS... WELL I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE OPPURTUNITY TO THANKS MY SCHOOL FOR ALL THEIR SUPPORT AND LEARNING THEY PROVIDED ME WITH...

balanced?

2007-03-24T23:20:00.000+10:30

today was SUPPOSED to be a good day, i was going to try out my NEW boat. however, my boat was unfortunately DAMAGED!!!... it hit the ramp whilst recovering due to the waves. otherwise today was good, the boat was awesome, i got 1, 1 today with both races held in 8-15 knots. as for the three scratches on my boat, please repair yourself!!!
for a more detailed log:
race 1: start: 2 knots, i started at starboard end and it paid off as the wind came in from the right, i was the 2nd boat to get into the wind (8-10 knots) and stayed on the right hand side the whole leg to maintain my position, rounded about 5 boat lengths ahead of alex. i extended my lead on the reach to be about 12 boat lengths ahead at the bottom mark. i then again protected by staying right and i managed to. finished 1st infront of peter by 7 boat lengths.

race 2: started in the middle with richard, peter and alex, the four of us headed out left in 12-15 knots of breeze, i was the first one to tack as i was lagging behind the other 3, and got a shift on the right that took me to 3rd. at the top mark i was third behind richard and another guy from dbsc who went right. i then overtook to 2nd at the leeward mark, the following upwind i stayed left and managed to catch up with richard, i then overtook him on the downwind before match racing to finish in 14-18 knots!... the wind dropped abit making it easier to maintain my lead, near the finish, i squeezed him out to force him to tack and successfully got water from him to finish 1st, it was lucky as we were going to lose to the third guy.

new sail no.: 189027

2007-03-22T18:51:00.000+10:30

yippee... today i just got a new boat!, it came with all the ropes, a zhik hiking strap, new spars, new brown laser foils, a brand new carbon tiller, a brand new sail, a brilliant boat cover and a sleek trolley... whoah!... ya.. i'm still suffering from awe, so much that i can't even concentrate on my p.e. assignment due tomorrow morning... well what can i say... i can't wait for saturday now... i want to sail!... one more thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

random

2007-03-20T17:34:00.000+10:30

today is very random, classes were cut short by 10 minutes due to the parent teacher meetings, i got back a few of my marks for the first assesment task... some are incomplete though;

english: 24/35
science: 39/40
maths (section a): 21/21
religion: 19/20
commerce: 12/15

i think thats all.. well... i can't wait for thursday, i wish thursday never ends (read my previous post to find out why), congrats again to the winners of the national youth: opti: rachel lee, byte: fendi, laser: seng leong, laser radial: vic, 420: sherm and stine, hobie: jonathon and chun... well done guys and girls...

the golden three

2007-03-18T20:42:00.000+10:30

there are three main outines of this post...
1. saturday training
2. sunday training
3. boat

1. on saturday i had the luxury of being dropped off at the club by my parents (normally i take the ferry), we then rigged up and went to double bay for the race, wind was abt 13-17 knots with lulls as light as 8 knots and gusts up to 20... it was definitely very gusty as the southerly wind was from the hills... we had one race, i started averagely and played a windshift that took me into the top 3, i then was unfortunate as my outhaul uncleeted itself, recovering slowly, i rounded the top mark 17th and last radial. i caught 5 boats on the reach before rounding the top mark 8th the second time, i caught up to 5th then to 4th, the last upwind saw the wind die a little due to the approaching storm and i managed to squeeze into 3rd. as the storm hit, boats were sent back to their clubs as ash, kevin, alex and i stayed out. we did abit more trng before heading back. i took the train back with ash who lived near pennant hills (on the same train line).

2. today, i took the ferry down and reached WSC at 12.10. the wind was unusually light at around 4-8 knots. training was in rose bay itself and we practised starts and racing with kevin, ash, peter, howard, alex and myself. we had mini races and results were somethin like 1,2,1,3,1,1,4,3,3,4,1,1... out of the 4 radials.. many races i was in front and the wind just died and picked up at the other end... thanks to adam (alex's father), i was able to get a lift home with little delay.

3. lastly and most importantly the oat, i'm very excited as this thursday i'm getting a new boat, ya, michael mills is sending it down, the number is 189024 so it is very new... it also comes with a free sail but a very hefty price, $8000... ya... well... at least i save by not spending much on charter fees...

well... to all that qualified as a result of the recent competition... well done, and for those who didn't, don't be disheartened, just pick up yourself and try harder next time..

life goes on

2007-03-15T20:00:00.000+10:30

today was full of ups and downs, firstly, i want to move now, then i won't have to complete any of these useless after useless assignments, i mean how helpful can geography be?... i mean if its physical, i won't mind, but urban growth and decline?... not as though i'm going to be a city council minister... well... i glanced at the results for the nat youths, and all i can say is that i wish i could be there... life here is kinda empty without the usual laughter and jokes from my singapore friends... ya... just here to say i miss ya... sob, sob...

time to move on

2007-03-14T18:32:00.000+10:30

ya... after 6.5 weeks in CBC Burwood, my parents and teachers have given me the green light to move to year 11, lets weigh the pros and cons...
pros: i get to go back to singapore 1 year earlier
i waste less time on year 10
i save 1 year worth of school fees
i eventually do everything 1 year earlier (ns, uni...)
cons: i have to make new friends
i might not top the cohort
i will have to settle to a completely new environment
i will have to pay more school fees

well... i guess pros win... well fyi, i am most probably going to st. patrick's college, another boys school that is also one of the top schools (along with st. marys, sydney grammar, st. andrews, st. joseph)... now i am just slacking my way thru school, whats the point, i can't be bothered anymore, i am leaving in 3 weeks and its time to move on...

volleyball mania

2007-03-11T17:51:00.000+10:30

today we had the metropolitan volleyball championships held in the sports hall in the sydney olympic park, it started at 9 am with a controversial match against rooky hills high school, it turned out that we were not supposed to play them and hence, we had to forfeit even though we had won 2-1. the second match was against the eventual runner ups (i dunno what they're school is called), and i played the first set which we lost 19-25 the other two sets were also losses (9-25, 22-25). we then had lunch before playing against westfield, i played all three sets this game and we won 2-1 (25-17, 25-19, 22-25). the last qualifier was against great lakes and we won that 2-0 (28-26, 25-12). after this, we were certain that we would enter the semi finals (top 2 teams in each pool), unfortunately due to the controversy, we were the third team and hence played the 5th and 6th placing match, we were disappointed and lost 2-1 to great lakes u-15s, (22-25, 25-11, 12-15), great work by everybody though and i am proud to say that i've improved alot due to this experience, well ttfn..

once every 2 days

2007-03-10T14:11:00.000+10:30

haha... i guess i'm now blogging once every two days, well yesterday was a dsiaapointment, after looking forward to receiving my english and science tests, it turned out a failure. for english, my so called good essay only earnt me a 10/15, and the mcq section 14/20, overall i got 24/35 and i was 10th in the level. for science, i got 49/50 and that 1 mark was for not giving the diagram a title!... what the hell!... well i was also looking forward to sports science where we were supposed to do table tennis, but instead, we did more fitness tests!... we did sit and reach but unlike the one in singapore, we placed a ruler at the tip of our feet and tried to stretch as far down the ruler, so it was possible to get a negative score, i got 15 cm, 2nd highest in class. well tomorrow is volleybal... wish me luck

2007-03-08T16:13:00.000+10:30

today was good and bad... first we had math then pass which we did more fitness test... we first did suicides for warm up and then we did as many sit ups as possible in 1 min, i got 3rd highest in class, getting 53. thanks to mark for all those ab lessons. then we did the stout test, we had to tiptoe on one leg and balnce whilst placing our hands on our hips and placing our other leg behind the dominant leg. i got 16 seconds which was the average, then we did standing broad jump, i jumped 211cm... not my best effort. after recess we had history in which we were learning abt communism threat in aus. i got called to the office then where they took my photo to do an article abt my win in gosford... yes, thank you, thank you. haha. we then had sport which wasn't good at all, before ending the day with volleyball trng. tomorrow shld be fun, we are going to play table tennis for p.a.s.s. and we are going to get back our test papers for english and science, pray for me please!.. well i'm going to put in some pictures of gosford...

2007-03-06T18:39:00.000+10:30

things have officially changed for the worst, the cbsa swimming carnival yesterday was a disaster... i swam in both the medley and freestyle relays and both times we came in fifth. in the medley relay, i was the freestyle swimmer and i helped by catching up from 6th to 5th. my timing was also a new pb of 29.80 sec... the second relay, we started off badly and i was half a lap behind the 3rd team by the time it was my turn, i swam in abt 30.46 seconds. overall the medley relay timing was 2.39.45 and the freestyle was 2.18.93... well tomorrows reflection day and i'm looking forward to it...

back from gosford

2007-03-04T16:00:00.000+10:30

hey... back from gosford... i can safely conclude that it was a windless weekend, besides the odd gusts that blew up to 12 knots on saturday, we were sitting in our boats most of the time. i went up to hornsby by train in the morning where i met kevin, he gave me a lift to gosford which was a 45 min drive. there, we registered, rigged and waited for the race to start. there were three races on day 1, the first race started lightly at about 5-7 knots and was shifty, the wind picked up later to 12 knots on the reach. i started averagely and tacked after the start to cross the starboard end starters, i then played the shifts well until 3/4 up the upwind where i was 4th... i then took a risk by going right when the top 3 went left, it payed off as i got a gust and crossed by quite a distance, i rounded the top mark 1st, the rest of the singaporeans were close behind, siobhan, 4th, victoria, 5th and manyi, 15th.. the wind got very gusty and i just managed to maintain my lead, second was zac skulander and siobhan finished third. in the second race, the wind was 8-10 knots the whole race until the last upwind to finish where it dropped to 3-5 knots. i started badly in the middle and was not playing the shifts properly, at the top mark i rounded 17th, victoria 18th, siobhan 25th and manyi 26th... the rest of the race was practically catch up and at the second upwind top mark, i was 5th, siobhan 9th, manyi 11th and victoria 14th. i caught up with 2 more boats on the final short upwind taking advantage of the lighter winds. there was alot of weed stuck under the rudder and daggerboard and it was a case of the less the weed, the faster your speed, the third race, all the singaporeans started at the pin and got a large advantage as the wind persistently shifted left. we rounded the top mark, victoria 1st, siobhan 3rd, me 7th and manyi 9th. we all improved throughout the race, i finished 1st, victoria 2nd, siobhan 7th and manyi 8th. there were no races on the second day due to the lack of wind. that was all... well what an awfully long post. results and pics can be accessed thru the link above.

cradling the essence of nature

2007-03-02T16:30:00.000+10:30

cradling the essence of nature... i couldn't believe i wrote those words myself... today we had an english exam... in section a, we had to analyse two poems and answer 20 mcqs... in section b, we had to do a descriptive passage on one of two pictures... the first one was a fantasy like one and the second was a picture of an aged woman. earlier the day, we had a science test which i thought was easy followed by a fitness test in sports science, we did the agility test where we had to run around cones like an obsticle course.. fastest time in my class was 15.99 sec i did it in 16.41 sec... my best attempt... i'm quite happy... but for the coordination test where you had to throw a ball at the wall and catch it with the alternate arm.. i got a best of 57 catches in one minute when the average was about 65-70... boy, i can't catch.. well tomorrow is a regatta, will report it on monday... but for now cradle your essence of life...

yay... new phone!

2007-02-27T19:03:00.000+10:30

haha... my second ever phone in my lifetime so far... i'm so happy... anyway... the rest of the past two days were pretty boring, besides a firedrill we had today and a horrible monday, nothing special. monday was started with a soccer game!... i being the horrible player let the ball in when it was in the air for 10 seconds!.. i feel useless... anyway, things were pretty norm after that...

windy and wet

2007-02-25T18:09:00.000+10:30

today was very tiring, i took the very expensive and slow ferry to rose bay where i rigged my boat for sailing. the wind today was strong and gusty, with the maximum gust of about 25 knots and the lulls as light as 7 knots... two races today... took the train back, it is only $2, compared to $10.50 for a ferry ride... well back to school tomorrow.. god bless me..

day 24 on planet x...

2007-02-24T17:06:00.000+10:30

today was a disaster!... i got to the club and i realised that all my sailing gear was missing!... worst, the boat i was using is damaged!... then when i tried to call my parents, my phone had not enough credit... turns out that my gear and my sail was all in a storeroom and i had to wait 3 hours for the guy with the keys for the room to arrive. i then took the train back from edgecliff. yesterday was better, first i got selected for the school swimming team (what a surprise). then we had p.e. where we played ultimate vortex... this only cemented my disability to catch or throw a ball. the rest of the day was average. after school my bros and sisters plus me, watched heroes on the computer, we got so addicted we watched till episode 7... thats wal all... well hopefully luck goes my way on day 25...

i hate balls

2007-02-22T18:31:00.000+10:30

today was a very bad day, we first had an average math lesson, but that followed with a practical lesson in pass, we had the beep test in which i didnt really get very far, level 7.8, then we played soccer, and everyone who knows me knows that i can't play soccer for NUTS!. nonetheless, i can swear that my team members were cursing whenever i let in a goal, well nobody asked them to put ME goalkeeper!. as soon as class finished i stormed out of the place, we had indoor cricket after lunch and when i was batting, my score was actually negative! well after school was volleyball trng and throughout the game we played i touched the ball twice!... in one set!... consolation that i scored points the both times i touched the ball though.. this actually makes me realise how much i MISS SAILING!... yesterday we had ash wednesday mass which was followed by many average lessons, i miss singapore too... missing you'll always... sincerely the editor..

you win some you lose some

2007-02-20T18:05:00.000+10:30

today was quite exciting, we had the swimming carnival and at school there were many ppl that coloured their hair in their respective colours, my house on the other hand were not as enthusiastic. my first event the division 3 50m freestyle, i came in first by 15 seconds... haha... my timing was 33.06 sec... kinda weird though, the fastest i've ever swam before this was a 40... haha... in the division 2 50m backstroke, i came in 1st too with a time of 44.87 sec, in this one i won by abt 8 seconds... i was kinda shocked too as my timing was a medal contender for the 50m freestyle in the championship division. anyway, my effort earnt me a place in the open 4 x 50 freestyle. my house, delaney came in first, and it sealed of a perfect day. however in the last event, the staff v students, the staff team didn't have enough ppl and hence i joined their team, however, unlike the previous three events, we came in third. nonetheless, it was a succesful outing. we then had war cries before finishing off the day. our house came in last with 508 points, o' neill came in first so well done to them. as for me, i am exhausted from the swimming and i'm looking forward to a good long rest tonight, good night.
oh and beforei forget, credit to my relay team:
agostino, greg and jacob..

Pray for Delaney

2007-02-19T15:31:00.000+10:30

today is the eve of my swimming carnival, i sure am excited considering its something i'm probably going to do badly at... i've been assigned to division 3 for freestyle and division 2 for backstroke. basically the higher your division, the better the swimmers.. there are 8 divisions for freestyle and 4 divisions for backstroke.. i think... today was good, we had science where we got back our pracs, yay i got all As... haha... then we had math, english, religion and geography before ending with a brief cheering session. i'm in delaney which is the blue house. some of the cheers are pretty awkward like:

how funky is your chicken
how loose is your goose
my goose is very loose

imagine saying that in an interschool... the butcher will chop your head!... well the reason for me doing a long post is the unusual fact that today's homework was well.. VERY LITTLE!... haha i'm overjoyed... until next time... sweet dreams... and pray for DELANEY!

2007-02-18T20:35:00.000+10:30

today felt sooo long... we first went to see our potential future home at breakfast point, it was fantastic, with a view of the sydney harbour bridge, it was spectacular! next my family and i went to sydney olympic park, whoah it was big and it was everything an olympic park should be and more, we went there to get some practice for raenee's and my swimming carnivals that were coming up. at the aquatic center we realised it wasn't just olympic pools but there was like a mini water park, there were two water sides and there was a lazy river too. we spent 2 hours there before returning back to the house. we then saw ugly betty, a show that was broadcasted recently, it was something like devils wears prada. well i guess this post has gotten a little long, just like today... haha... once again gong xi fa cai.. and the next time i come to singapore, hong bao na lai... haha...

2007-02-17T18:16:00.000+10:30

day 4... today was full of highs and lows, we (my family and i) took an afternoon train into the city where we changed at the ever big and confusing central station, we then took a train on platform 24 (where in the world do u find that many platforms in a station?)to bondi junction. At bondi junction we spent a long time trying to find a shop that sells trunks for the swimming carnival.. finally we found a grey speedos at Myers. later we found out that just one floor underneath was a speedo shop!!! (with so many more designs)... sigh... well then we took the train back to meadowbank... on the first train we took to town hall we rushed into a very smelly top cabin, it was to our suprise and disgust that we found a lump of shit on the left hand side of the cabin, thankfully none of us stepped on it.. we changed cabins and continued our ride back to meadowbank. as chinese new year custom i now have a family dinner.. once again GONG XI FA CAI to all..
oh and before i forget...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Faris...
may your wishes come true as u fulfil a very properous 15th year

2007-02-16T23:03:00.000+10:30

day 3... today was quite average, i volunteered in english class for the first time today, i was shaking throughout the presentation though... then things took a change for the worst, first it was p.e. theory instead of prac and i got in a little trouble, then i broke my ruler and during p.a.s.s.(physical activity and sports studies), i let in 10 goals as the goalkeeper...
well its chinese new year this weekend and i hope for better luck
things to look out for:
tuesday: swimming carnival- i'm swimming in backstroke and freestyle, imagine me swimming... confirm get last
wednesday: ash wednesday mass...
3rd and 4th march: regatta at gosford (north of sydney)
11th march: my first volleyball match...

GONG XI FA CAI

2007-02-15T17:06:00.000+10:30

hey.. today was like any average thursday and like any other thursday, we had three lessons then sport. the lessons were fine and sport was quite fun, we played indoor cricket, not something usually played in singapore but it was good, a teacher then asked me whether i wanted to join the volleyball team, i gave it a try and it was pretty good. i have a swimming carnival on tuesday and i got no trunks. shoot... anyway i really miss singapore food, i want chicken rice!...

2007-02-14T17:27:00.000+10:30

hey... my first post.. i'm not very sure about blogs, my previous one expired after one post. well. the main aim of this blog will be to inform whoever interested in my progress in sydney. hence, if you're not interested, don't comment. well. so far life's fine, the school's curriculum is abit different but i'm coping well. today i have a hell alot of homework, mostly form commerce which is equivilant to economics in singapore, sailing has been good with the winds exceeding the average in singapore. i miss singapore food, all they have here is steak, fish and more steak. well now i can drive and i'm looking forward to it.. until next time... sweet dreams... and have a happy valentines day...