asian junior and merlion 2006

i wrote an entry a few hours ago but i was in a rush so i found it a little insincere which is unfair because i want to tell the world what great fun i had for the past 10 days. yep. last week could have been the greatest week in 2006. nothing can beat my week. wanna bet?

for the past 10 days,

• i have been waking up every morning smiling at the tot that i dont have to drag my way to school. i know its not good to not like school but really, i dont like school at all.
• i wake up smiling also because i think about the guys i get to see for the day. haha. i know its stupid, but true. imagine waking up one morning KNOWING that u get to see the hottest asian guys right before your eyes and that u know everyone of them and they know you and they're like your friends and like u just want your friends to know them too. hey, i lived with that for the past 10 days. :)
• i have been travelling to and fro my training centre without complaining. and actually i enjoyed going to the rowing centre everyday.

for the past 10 days, i realised,

• life is so damn bloody good without school.
• i can still get sun burnt. despite my already almost black skin. its 99.91238% black now. and my shoulders are peeling. ouch.
• i look like im from any other country except singapore. HAH.
• some guy #1 thought i was from indonesia.
• another guy #2 thought i was from sri lanka. thanks ahhh.
• michael wong, the hk team manager, (u get to see his pict below!) thought i was from pakistan.
• the indon team manager thought i was from malaysia.
• kazakhstan rowers cant speak english for nuts. and they're the most unfriendliest rowers among the rest.
• north korean rowers like to use my body foam and shampoo without my permission. i caught them red-handed. but they're still using my stuff. and now my shampoo is missing.
• singapore junior team only has 2 members. me and my brother. woohoo. we did spore proud, babeh.
• hongkong guys are cute in average, according to steph and eileen (who were incharge of tshirt selling drg the competition). and their legs are big and chunky and they have nice lean bods to look at. but they like to stare at girls like, really stare.
• chinese taipei girls are omg-ly so handsome! syahir said im turning lesbian. oh no! but they're REALLY hot stuff. hehe.
• the indons and malaysian rowers became my closest friends. and they're the ones i miss the most. :)
• korea always produces the tallest and biggest guys. and they cant talk english either. so its not fun. haha.
• i met tall jap guys which is quite rare cuz jap guys are usually not so tall. and jap girls are known for being short but bloody strong. the jap girl in my race is almost half my height but her legs are as big (even bigger!!) than mine and she came in 3rd for my race. WHOA.
• kiran's from pakistan and she's like the most gorgeous rower ive ever seen (check out her pict below!) and *gasp* she's only 14. i beat her in 2 of my races but then again she's only 14. and we chat alot. hehe. :)
• srilankans are okay ppl. they're a big group so usually they spent most of their time together.
• im way behind school work.
• im so dead.
• prelims is in 4 weeks. OMG.

so the Asian Junior and Merlion Rowing Championships are over. and i wanna do it all over again already. hmph. im so sad cuz its back to my normal life. baah. anyway, i had LOADS of fun, LOADS of souvenirs and made LOADS of friends from all around asia! wee.

ok. so my races weren't so bad. i was in junior women singles (JW1X). the race is 2000m long. thats why my senior once told me that rowing is one of the craziest sport cuz it makes u have a taste of how it feels like to be on the verge of dying. and i know she's not exaggerating. lemme give u a breakdown of a 2000m rowing race:

• before the race, u get to meet your opponents. if they look big strong and scary. then good luck to you. haha.
• at the starting point, if u know the boat holder then thats good cuz u get to have a little chat with them which makes u feel less tension and they might help u with your boat direction.
• the starting part is always the scariest cuz its the most important. scary opponents like those from north korea and thailand tend to shout before the race. u try to ignore them but u cant cuz they're right next to you! and u shouldnt ask me shy they shout. cuz i dont do it myself. hah. yea. the start determines who gets a head start.
• the first 250m is okay. u wont feel tired cuz all u'll be thinking about is sprinting and getting the boat moving.
• after 250m, u'll feel a little tired. and thinking that u have another 1750m more to go makes it worse.
• 500m to 1000m is when lethargy starts to creep in. its only 500m but on water it feels like forever. bad water conditions makes it worse.
• once u reach 1000m, u have 1000m more to go. but usually u tell urself u only have 1000m more instead of oh no, 1000m. get it? hah.
• 1000m to 15000m is the WORST part of the race cuz thats when ur mind starts to go numb, ur legs start to feel like SHIT and u think of nothing but to want the race to end. this is the part when u start to think of things like, why the hell u joined rowing and this is when i say i feel like DYING, i really mean it. but then again, this is the part where u mustn't give up cuz if u do, u're finished.
• the last 500m has to be do or die.
• at the final 250m, my coach always tells me to look down and count 30 strokes. and when u hear the finishing horn u know u're saved from death.
• ahhh. the bliss of rowing. 8 to 10 mins of pleasure. if u know of a crazier sport, do tell me. i'll let u try rowing. :)

my first heat was with pakistan, srilanka and chinese taipei. i came in 2nd which made me end up in the repercharge with japan, srilanka and indonesia. i came in 2nd again. but i qualified to be in final A which means im in top 5 in asia! woohoo. for the finals, i knew i didnt had any chance to win anything and that thought was my biggest mistake. it was the worst race among all my races for the competition. and not only was i last, i was way last, like almost 20 to 30seconds away from the 2nd last. im very disappointed with myself cuz many people had faith in me that i could actually beat a boat or 2. but i dint had any faith in myself and thats where i was so so wrong. sigh.

oh, btw thanks to liyana for helping me prepare for my races. she gave me loads of advice on how to get prepared and stay focus and yea, u know the usuals. yea. it helped me ALOT cuz im that type who gets really nervous before the race and i'll cock everything up and regret so this time i was more confident and look where it had brought me to. 5th in asia leyyy. haha. thanks babe. love u loads.

thanks to raihan (my 2nd coach) who's only useful during competitions because he gives me the BEST prep talks before my races. and he asks for money after every advice he gives. bloody hell. but he had been a great help and moral booster. but thats abt all he's useful for. haha. kidding. :)

thanks to arina and ama and hashim and hassa who came all the way to pandan to support me! but i dint do well for the race they watched so i was quite paiseh. and i cried in front of them. eh, so malu la can. anyway, im really happy that they were there. love u babes and ur hunks. haha.

then, Asian Junior ended and the next competition was Merlion 2006. which was only 1000m long. i participated in the lightweight women category. my opponents were hongkong, thailand, kazakhstan and malaysia. and this is when i lost to kazakhstan and beat the rest and clinched the silver medal. yay. im proud of myself. thats why today, i trated myself to ben and jerry's chunky monkey and maple pecan cereal crunch. wee.

check out the picts kay.

welcome to my 3rd home :)

singapore junior team: my brother and i.



ms. oh-so-beautiful-pakistan-rower (kiran) and me
and extra malaysian guy at the back.

my ex-rowing partner, shuying.
she looks hot and sexy. :)



i came in second for the lightweight women singles category!
all those dieting and training was worth the while.

1st: kazakhstan 2nd: singapore 3rd:hongkong
and thats my rowing president in black and kazakhstan coach in red.

indon junior rowers. damn fun people.
(check out the hot one on the far left.)
booyah!

the babes and their hunks who came and supported me.
they wanted to hug me even tho i was drenched with sweat.

thats me and my darling.
his name is empacher. he's long, smooth and fast.

and this is how i row on him. wee!

top from left: my romanian coach, my senior rower (elsie) and 2nd coach (raihan).
bottom: syahir, me and nina (raihan's girlfriend)!

michael wong- the hot hongkong team manager with eileen and steph.

mimin on the katamaran.

in case you're wondering how a 4- boat looks like.
thats the hong kong girls in their quads.

thats me at the starting pontoon. minutes before the race.
and check out the waves.
rowing is not as easy as u think ;)

eh, more pics at www.sara.org.sg there's like 300 picts there and more to be uploaded.
im gonna turn on my mug mood to full power now. thats it, i guess. no more rowing until next year. WAH. i miss everyone already. oh no! im suffering from rowing withdrawal syndrome! no more waking up smiling in the morning. no more weekend trainings. no more hot guys to look at. haha. but u know what me, steph and eileen concluded? after seeing all those asian rowers, we think that singapore guys cannot make it and we're sad. khehe. c'mon guys, prove to us that we're wrong. :)

now i know why i dint quit rowing and now i know why i wouldn't. :)

singapore boleh, babeh!!!