3,2,1...a split nanosecond, and somehow, unbeknowst to all, a new year supplants the old, defunct one.

What a phenomena.


I was thinking, a new year engenders new things and events. The list is endless:

A new year (obviously)
A new bag
A new pen
A new day
A new shoe
A new bed
A new game
A new environment
A new friend
A new experience
A new encounter
A new opportunity
A new love
A new union (well i've got cousin jeslin's wedding later!!)
A new face-lift
A new possibility
A new surprise
A new achievement
A new (or renewed) desire
A new dream
A new hope
A new life
A new respect
A new feeling
A new outlook
A new attitude
A new subject
A new book
A new nostalgia
A new emotion
A new tenacity
A new challenge
A new determination
A new resilience
A new journey
A new adventure
A new camaraderie
.
.
.
.
.
.
A new 2010!


Evidently, 'new' has several personal, positive connotations. 'New' implies freshness, rejuvenation and an absolute respite. What will be new remains unseen, but we can anticipate this newness in renewed spirit.

Cheers to a NEW YEAR!

So long.



I was only quite surprised when I discovered that the last entry was posted at approximately 27 weeks ago. Given my commitment to continual posting, sustenance of this interest seems quite implausible. Sometimes when I get bored this slips my mind.


Time is flying past. Christmas is over, boxing day is over, and soon the holidays are going to be over as well. It seems that as events draw to an end, nostalgia emerges as the primary, consuming emotion. Maybe I am just like that, but I guess it is normal for anyone to feel this way. With time, I have had discovered new music, new friends and new bonds. Suddenly, Coldplay has become my all-time favourite song band! My OIP trip to India as remarkably fantastic- the absolutely and strikingly foreign environment was an astounding eye-opener. The true experience dismissed every stereotype, confirmed a pound of friendship and set in stone an everlasting memory which will be revered forever. I love the land and the people; perhaps not so much for the mosquitoes and traffic conditions though given the noise pollution that purportedly conveyed a sense of hubris i.e. who can generate the loudest noise? I CAN! To us, it was unbearable, therefore the essence of the trip lay ultimately in cultural acceptance and mutual tolerance. I made tremendous friends!- my host Ishaan, Shruti and Varun....the list is probably endless, as they are welcomingly hospitable consistently. Every now and then, I still will miss the country.

Right now, I have a brimming, nascent suspicion that I have run dry of stuff to type about. So many things are happening at once, so much so that people will have their misgivings predicated upon this stifling pace of life and go onto (often) a boring diatribe about it. Of course, one thing to look forward to next year is being a Peer Support Leader a.k.a  PSL! It is when one attains the opportunity to exemplify what a leader one is, and then attempt to inspire the younger Secondary Ones inducted into the school. A reasonable task, but one must always put himself into the shoes of others.  Certainly something to distinctly anticipate! Now moving on to only a few days ago on Saturday, it was a superb movie that I went to watch: AVATAR! The plot was neat, the visuals were amazing and the emotions well-placed. 5 stars from me, really. It was a flawless presentation; keeping the audience at the edge of their seats at the heart-stopping, moribund moment. The best of movies I have ever watched so far. Phenomenal job, James Cameron. I think that the movie is bringing across messages of inexorable human destruction and selfishness, and it was exceptionally crafted. We had a barbecue at kc's house as well, which was equally entertaining, aided by his PS and cards. Heh.

I should have a 'goal list' for '10: besides academics, what is imperative to me is of course by no doubt gym. There is a certain element of stress and expectation to deliver with only two people holding leadership positions. It might be weird, but my aim is to secure something glorifying: the gold. Being coveted by many, one may doubt the realism of this goal, but I believe it is possible. I think that belief is the first step to victory, followed by resilience and hard work. I hold this close as ever.

So long.

The halcyon days of slackness will end soon. The vagaries of time stretch away, endlessly. With a new year, I hope for the best. Thanks to everyone for this year- consolation in times of distress, celebration in times of happiness. With each passing day, I can only cherish and treasure it.

2010, here I come.

Life has three aspects.

1. Paradox

Life is a mystery-don't waste time figuring it out.


2. Humour

Keep a sense of humour, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.


3. Change

Know that nothing stays the same.



These inspirational and sagacious words! I recommend Peaceful Warrior.

What struck me about today was a realisation about human interactions with one another. I think one basic mistake committed by almost everyone is that they tend to jump to conclusions too easily. As a result, emotions turn sour, as the scene becomes relatively unpleasant. When kwuntong told me to retrieve the goodie bag (complementary gift from Acres) today, I met him as he was walking away from class and he told me to get the thing which was placed on his table. There were two guys, his classmates, standing by the door. I entered the class, just to get the thing and one of the guys yelled, "Oi, Fuck you la!" or something like that. Firstly, they probably misconceptualised that I was some intruder into the class. I just wanted to take the bag and go. Secondly, I think that it would just be nice and courteous for the guy to probably ask me what was I going to do in a nicer tone, instead of adopting such a harsh approach. If we were to exchange roles, I will do that. Alternatively, to prevent such misunderstandings, kwuntong should have passed it to me personally. Whatever. Or maybe I was in the wrong for not telling him? But since kwuntong already told me that it is ok, then I take it that way since it is his class. I am not blaming anyone here, but probably both hands are needed to generate a clap. I explained to that guy, and he just walked away with his other friend who didn't say anything. Still, I felt quite lousy for about 20 mins or so.

Whatever. Just hope that this won't happen again and that people can understand each other better.


-Athz

Saturday...I was feeling damn sleepy when I woke up like at 6:30 in the morning. I remember someone saying, was it Basil in histra? "Saturday is the sacred day for resting and recuperation" or something along those lines. But anyway,since it was open house, I went for both shifts, as more importantly, michael called me a few days ago to enlist my help for being a mascot for the acres gala dinner thing. Some organisation like SPCA- some wildlife protection welfare org. Anyway, shifting the stuff to and fro the gym was difficult. And the new mini tramp was heavy. lol. The gym booth was okay,but as time passes, no one really approached our booth to enquire, except a few parents here and there as they were more interested about the mini tramp, whereby we will do simple front tucks and stuff. (almost got front tuck 180!) As usual, the pros did their stuff, as the entire hall practically went silent as asnawi did the double front and kwuntong did some crazy stuff like the front gainer and attempted a double front. loll. anyway we might propose bringing in the trampoline nxt yr! haha see how xD A few kids were potential DSAs...the open house was okay and quite fun where we decided to qiankong continuously.otherwise I wouldn't say much.

At around 4 plus, kwuntong and I went to shower before proceeding to furama riverfront hotel. I was to replace wei xuan (kwuntong's friend) as a MASCOT. My first time as a MASCOT! on the taxi everyone (michael, kwuntong especially. maybe yee shing too) was damn tired, but i took the time to study lol xD anyway, we went to the waiting room after talking to the coordinator and we met a couple of older guys who were also performing and they were body-painted (very reminiscent of tribal ppl haha). initially, we were a bit uncomfortable, but eventually we found out that they were really nice people :) Dinner was not provided and so we had chicken rice with yee shing's kind parents buying them for us. note the irony LOL. and we chilled around, and then we ha dto go down to the reception in our costumes before the dinner commenced. It was damn hot and stuffy inside (i was the tiger at first, yee shing the orangutan and kwuntong the elephant). I almost bumped into someone, who gave a short scream (lol a lady i think). But we got more comfortable, interacted and took a few photos with kids and guests. A guy (was it the UTT guy?) shook my hand and commented, "You are very warm." Pun lol. yeah but we had much fun. after that we went back to the nice room and kwuntong wanted a change of costumes and so we drew lots. I was thinking that it would be fair if everyone had a change, so I just took the elephant to get a feel of how it is like.  1) heavy and bulky 2) can't really see through the eye holes. But the sole benefit was that the elephant was usually the favourite animals amongst the guests and kwuntong and yee shing kept patting me and saying"so cute!!" lol and I got a nice photo! if i got the chance I'll upload it soon :D well we had to wait for the guest-of-honour speech to be over and then go in to just stand on stage while the anniversary cake is being cut. (some of those nice guys who left hi-fived us. It was really nice :) ) I was sort of "blind" and had to be guided along ( I certainly didnt want to break anything -.-) and then another respite was that the elephant head got good ventilation. So it was generally okay, except the vision and weight. heh. Anyway, after the cutting of the cake, we returned to the waiting room and revised a bit of work while talking quite a bit as michael contd taking photos. Michael was so pro. He had to "evaluate the lightings" xD before the dinner. Traits of a pro photographer xD. Haha the acres thingy was really a great experience for me, considering that it was my debut being a mascot. It was fun and I had a good time with friends and those guests were also very supportive of us, I would say? Haha. And it's back to school and work after a great weekend.


However, one more respite: It's the last week of school before the holidays! :) *cheers*


-Athz 

Haha I finally posted. I think I didn't have the motivation to post, or either that- I was simply too lazy to take the effort to post. hahaha.

2009! And I am officially sec 3! An impellingly exalting fact indeed. After the fun but inevitably tiring OBS and getting integrated into my new class 3J, I am getting back in the normally hectic pace of life. Gym, work and school- all culminated into one. And the new subjects are quite interesting as well, with new teachers. duh. Form teacher= Mr Benjamin Chang. He's my bio teacher, and incidentally (or coincidentally), he was Kern Choong (KC)'s bio and form teacher as well last year (4E). lol and kc was his bio rep, and "a pessimistic one". Kc's response:  -.-". loll.

Gym was ok..I think i made some improvements overall. and we got a new coach (jia jiaolian). Well he was coaching the RI team previously before he left, and hu jiaolian had some committments and left, so jia jiaolian took over. He was relatively pro-active and rendered substantial amount of encouragement whilst correcting us here and there, which was good;in my opinion. Comp being 53 days away (from now); training has devolved into a rigorous regime that strives to enable us to comprehend the moves better and be in our best conditions ever. haha. And i had training today! Somehow, strangely, there emerged some prevalent trend of a consistent element of 'randomness' in training and outside of training (during lunch last week and it continued in unfaltering existence). Benlow and ruijie were telling us, first abt fuzzy wuzzy and then the meh-meh game, which was seriously random. loll. And everyone started becoming really 'into' these games (like the MRT game, black magic, magical magic etc.) while the individuals who knew the purported secret behind these games were busily exasperating those who didn't even have a clue about the games (pok was quite a funny example. lol hahaha.) And the discussion regarding these games stretched over lunch haha.

Quote- KT: "one side is the enlightened side, and the other side is the 'stupid' side." Loool. (oh yeah kt is officially and irrevocably the cutest with the predetermination and reaffirmation of my claim with a best-of-3 badminton game in which I won! muhahahahah XDD) 

I learnt a bit, not before exclaming about the extreme degree of randomness associated with these 'games' Well do they even qualify as games? haha zz.

Nice song:

Hero (X-Factor Finalists)

Hey
There's a hero,
If you look inside your heart,
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.
There's an answer,
If you reach into your soul,
And the sorrow that you know will melt away.

And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive.
So when you feel that hope is gone,
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.

It's a long road,
When you face the world along,
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold,
You can find love,
When you search within yourself,
And the emptiness you felt will disappear.

And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive.
So when you feel that hope is gone,
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.

Oohh
Lord knows,
Dreams are hard to follow,
You don't let anyone take them away,
Hold on,
There will be tomorrow,
In time you'll find the way.

And then a hero comes along,
With the strength to carry on,
And you cast your fears aside,
And you know you can survive.
So when you feel that hope is gone,
Look inside you and be strong,
And you'll finally see the truth,
That a hero lies in you.
That a hero lies in you.
Ooh
That a hero lies in you.

Sweetly inspirational, immensely motivational and it permits us to preceive life in a more positive light, thus allowing our perspectives to take a shift- instilling a resilient form of self-belief in face of life's vicissitudes. I think mental strength is a key factor to victory in face of any challenge, especially for the team to work towards a common goal (gold).

53. Placid thoughts. The day of glory.

-ATHZ-

It has been a long time since I lasted accessed lj; and simultaneously updated my stuff. I celebrated Christmas, with some visionary winter with those shimmering and pristine flakes which can be discerned on TV (although I received no presents)- but still went out with KT and pok to catch a movie 'Yesman' that was the perfect epitome of absolute hilarity and the quintessence of subtle humour here and there! I proclaim that my money was indeed well-spent haha. I caught another movie with my sis and her friend, Sabrina- and that was what my sis had wanted to watch for a long time and she was as-a-matter-of-factly pestering me too- 'Bedtime Stories'-some story about a guy (Adam Sandlers as the actor of the protangonist within the movie) who told a bedtime story to his niece and nephew every night- and it seemed more of apparent coincidences that they transformed into incredible reality. Th funny phenomenon is that the two kids sort of- controlled- the realistic part. It was another great movie that I will never regret watching. oh yeah and i managed to get into gym with some other guys. KT, KC, pok and benlow haha. It was unlocked, you see, so perfectly legitimate. lol is that the appropriate word? ah whatever. Maybe legal. haha. So I am typing this right now- 10:45pm- approximately an hour and 15 mins and ? seconds to a brand new year of 2009 ahead. Some aspirations, which are quite confidential in some way xD, include academics (thriving in competition) and gym- to attain a historic double gold for both C div and B div trampoline gymnastics' teams- and the emphatic victories of redemption which impels us on- fervently and relentlessly. The blazing passion is always there- and I can feel it- we accomplish a feat- unsurpassable, phenomenal and remarkable. Haha family guy owns!!

Haha wishing all ya a really happy new year! 2009 is really a good year. Trust me.

-ATHZ 

It is just inexplicable on the extent in which I am feeling so bored. Purportedly, it dawned on me that my list of new songs is rapidly dwindling- and now it has ran dry in a bit. Now I am listening to the identical songs over and over again, with this tired feeling in my chest- when training has been quite tough today- with tao and stuff. The songs are okay, as they will soon appear at the end of every post I complete- but now the boredom is taking its toll abysmally- it's incredible how bored I am when i got about doing things that will apparently be fulfilling- reading up on stuff, library books ecetra. Maybe, fortunately typing continually is a positive avenue of releasing those undesirable exhaustion and kind of "ennui" ( some word that I recall) within me. Somehow, boredom sharpens and heightens the senses and now I am getting epistemological- I notice that I am (lol) these few days- but what's better compared to getting ur perspectives recognised and being deeply cognizant that they are being read? well- maybe rewarding. As usual, Coach debriefed us again and particularly told us that we work towards our goals- we do not just sit there and await the exemplary results- it does not work that way- or reap anything effective from there. We gotta do something- seriously- to get there. It's direct, straightforward as it seems; but the amount of quantified effort, pain and hardwork poured within the course of striving together is immesuarble. Just great- to a considerable extent. I know, we know, the whole team knows about that and we know what to do.

Well, as I have forewarned you, I am bored- extremely- and so browsing through past vids that I have looked up on- and searching for more, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaaBTxxu-yk&feature=channel- Check this out- actually it's relatively recent- but "embedding disabled by request"-so.. Yeah. A tinge of humour in there too.

Anyway, boredom is settling, and I guess I'll do some other stuff.

Till then.

-ATHZ

  A Monday- and dark skies herald the start of another training week- albeit it being the last week of holiday training ( The schedule being : Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat). My life has revolved largely about training in school, and the sweat tough training generated which felt- great. Anyway, as comp. is drawing near- ard 5 months from now ( that's relatively short )- the 'workload' has significantly increased. But still- no pressure- as Coach assured us ( F.Y.I there are two overall coaches in the gym - He & Hu Jiaolians who supervise us and help us with stuff and ecetra)

  Through training- it's a form of consistent engenderment of improvement (lol i think this is the simplest that I can put it) for our own personal being- a checkpoint and to me, it's a platform in which we can constantly and relentlessly ensure that we are heading towards the appropriate direction- which are the goals that we imperatively establish. Before training ended, Coach (Hu) got us ( b-div tramp team ) around for a succinct but meaningful prep talk- I mean- i daresay we were silently shaken deep within- something finally becoming more distinctive than before- We got to set the GOALS as a TEAM - gymnastics- this sport in itself, largely, isn't individualistic- it requires something more that a solo effort- in fact it's a team effort that brings the entire squad- as one- the team to greater and more astounding heights to contend with. Goals: They are the intrinsic start line, which then pave the way to victory. Evidently, we will be definitely more inspired to accomplish them- in any way ( I mean, industrious work) and it comes off better- compared to some listless guys doing their stuff without any goal (s)  in their heads. I guess it's true. It instills the blazing passion- the inspired conflagration of ferocity- to work as a team towards goals. It's always a 'team thing'. "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."-- as Henry Ford rightfully pointed out. It's the mindset too, as Coach- not only coach but past seniors too- have been stressing greatly.

This is inspiring. Had it a long long time ago but I think it sums up what teamwork is- phenomenally and truthfully( Although it's rugby/ American football, I think the gist of the entire concept is identical to what teamwork actually is)...The music fits perfectly anyway haha.


And so. Yeah. It's very- exceptionally touching and inspiring. The inches- they are minimal- but they make a huge, unimaginable difference in the final result- winning and losing, living and dying...


We are working towards a common goal in mind- the fire raging on, and impelling us on. We strive as one, fight as one, and win as one. It will be. Us. As a team.

Always.

P.S  Kwun Tong is most adorable and pro-est EVERRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD

-ATHZ