gratitude

eh, i think these days i deserve some whack in the head or something, seriously.

firstly, i must apologize for forgetting thanking EVERYONE.

which i should have done weeks ago.
sheesh.
im so lousy.

dearest friends and family,

and to whoever out there who have given me all your support, love, care, concern and all your prayers when i was in thailand for the sea games. i wanna say THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart which beats at 49 beats per minute as recorded last in november.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

i cannot be more grateful than to have a bunch of people like YOU around.

(eh i think if i were to die and my heart were to be donated to someone, that person must be damn lucky to have a heart like mine.
HAHAHA.
im serious!
dont u think so?
ANYWAY.)

thank you MAK!

u nag alot, like seriously ALOT, mak, but that what makes u a MUM i think. okay, and sorry im the laziest dauhgter in the world and i dont do housework and i cant bloody cook, i know i know. but thank you anyway for allowing me to go for training every single morning. thats good enough. :) and when i was in thailand i know uve been praying for me everyday. thats why i came back not only in one piece but with a medal. thank you, mak!!!

thank you dad,

for your constant prayers for me. even though ure hardly there for me i know u always care for me and love me. i hope i made u one proud daddy. :)

thank you to my brothers,

for constantly reminding me that u guys have one fat sister. it gives me motivation to lose weight. thank you for calling me fat and always pinching my fats and making me feel offended and FAT. thank you, guys, really.
hahahaha.
the medal's for you guys.
most annoying creatures,
but most loved. :)
omg, isnt ur sister so damn bloody sweet?
and fat?
okay fine.

thank you rowing association,

for giving me this opportunity to represent the nation. for giving me a boat to row on, for giving me a reservoir to row in, and for all the trips everywhere around the world.
but no thank you for the very little allowance i get, and nothing else after the sea games. not even $10 to top up my ezlink.
haha.
oh well.

thank you fahma,

feels good telling the world i have a personal nutritionist/dietician. u are never stingy on giving me free resources from sports council. thank you for all the breeze juices, beroccas, gatorades, chewy bars, weider in jellys, power bars and the liquid diets. i shall see u again soon.
once a lightweight, always a lightweight. :)

thank you hazi,

for being my bitching partner and my shoulder to cry on, even though i have to bend down so low to cry on ur shoulders. i dont know what i'll do without you, seriously.
FASTER COME BACK.
aitez!
HAHAHAHAHA.

thank you shaik,

for always being there for me. thank you for always listening to me whine and complain and whine and complain and whine and complain and yeah, i know i never stop but u never stop listening. thank you for believing in me.

thank you coach,

for scaring the shit out of me the first time u arrived and coached us. haha. seriously u were bloody scary and fierce and ur trainings were tough SHIT HELL TOUGH and i thought u were crazy and i still think u are but THANK YOU THE MOST for making me who i was at the games. without ur shouting and scolding i wouldnt have won that medal. thank you for all those night walks around the hotel. it was the best moments when i was there. thank you for sharing with me so many things. and thank you for believing in me.
and thank you for not allowing me to quit rowing. there goes my plans. huuuhah!
craziest and coolest coach ive ever had. please come back.

thank you saiful,
for being my motivation from across the straits of malacca. thinking of u makes me PULL harder. and of cuz, thank u for always believing in me. ure my most expensive sms buddy still u know. hahaha. :)


thank you friends,
arina, ama, hazri, izzaty, elly, nadd, filzah, nadia, rauf, shahul, khairul, izzat, sha, raf, shuying, haida, walid, amirah, atiqah, mimi, mimin, omg, omg, omg, plenty, EVERYONE!!!

THANK YOU for your prayers and support.
and LOVE.
so much of it.

THANK YOU.

omg im gonna cry.

...

second reason why i deserve a whacking in the head is because i volunteered myself to be the Project Director for the upcoming PBM project.
they say aisyah kan orang laut, this is so not me.
u know what?
i couldnt agree more.
but okay since im already PD, lets prove them that rowers have brains too.

and thirdly,
i was writing this ridiculously long email
and my stupid internet connection just went dead
and everything was gone.
BEST tak?
oh, memang best.

...

next week aisyah gi holiday pat KL.
yay.
PD pergi holiday?
hmph.

sea games 2007

welcome to the year of unexpected events.

HADY MIRZA has just been crowned the first Asian's Idol.

Singaporean, Malay.

Im proud of him. so so proud.

did u see the look on his face?

PRICELESS.

and a few days back,

the singapore flag flew high at mabprachan lake, thailand.

a moment like this,

some people wait a lifetime.

but i waited for only 19 years. booyah.

OMG.

tell me about it.

after a year of training, through all those
shit
pain
blood
hell
masochistic
trainings, every drop of tears shed, every ounce of sweat, the incessant complaining and whining, cursing, swearing, getting shouted at, hated, despised, waking up at 5am every morning. 334 days. 1008 hours. 3600km. 345000 strokes. 668000 litres of water. the dieting, the starving. the meal plans. yogurts. bananas. chewy bars. power bars. boost. resource. weider. gatorade. pocari sweat. centrum. berocca.

omg omg omg.

its over.

and to bloody think of it,

I ALMOST GAVE UP. I ALMOST QUIT. I ALMOST STOPPED ROWING.

OMG.

i still cant get over it, like how much i cant get over the fact that hady mirza won the asian idol.

it was funny, really. i was lying on the couch, watching tv with my brothers, and i was slumberly commenting, "skali hady menang.." SHIT, i swear i did.

and he won.

thanks to minah mulut masin ni.

OKAY.

THERES SO MANY TO TELL YOU.

firstly,

i wasnt at the opening ceremony so if u saw me on tv during the opening ceremony, either something is wrong with ur eyes or ure lying. i was at chonburi somewhere in pattaya. the ceremony was held at korat, in bangkok. and i dint stay in the games village cuz thats at korat. chonburian athletes stayed in this humongous hotel:

Ambassador City, Jomtien. they call it a city, instead of a hotel for one obvious reason. coach said its one of the biggest hotels in the world. check out the Tower Wing. and its only one of the FIVE wings they have. its a whole city in there!

yep, they have 4 swimming pools. and yes, it faces the beach.

elsie tengah jiwang.

the poolside beach.

invaded by fat, heeeeuge! russians with layers and layers of fats and flubber and extra extra babbats in bikinis and g strings. i swear, G STRINGS. male and female, g strings. OH! playing volleyball. gross nak mampos.

the view is simply gorgeous lah.

thats coach.
she became my best friend in thailand.

we went for many adventure walks almost every night after dinner. the hotel was SO HUGE we spent nights exploring the whole area. we walked around the hotel, discovered secret rooms, went into forbidden places and the best was star gazing. we even saw a shooting star once. omg. i swear it was so so pretty, we were so excited about it. damn, it was fun. after my final race, she had to rush off to the airport to catch her flight back to new zealand. we hugged and cried and cried and cried. she can be the fiercest coach ive ever had, she pushed me like crazy, screamed at me, scolded me, made me cry, made me almost quit, gave me the worst time of my life, i hated her guts, cursed her silently, wished she dint exist, but omg, i miss her. she totally changed my life. without her, i dont think the medal would be possible. she said she wouldnt allow me to quit rowing after sea games. oh no.

she almost pulled me out from my single lightweight event cuz she wanted me to focus on my doubles event. omg, SHE ALMOST PULLED ME OUT FROM MY RACE.

okay, i was put into 2 events, the singles lightweight and the doubles open (with elsie). these 2 races happen to fall on the same day, both the heats and the finals. thats why coach thought i had no chance for a medal at all in my singles and wanted me to row in the doubles open only. well, noone thought i would have a chance of winning a medal in my singles, anyway.

this was the results for the Repercharge race where last rower gets eliminated and the rest qualifies for finals. i came in first. before the race, coach said DONT YOU DARE COME IN LAST. noone expected me to get first.

it was a good race, i had a good start. the waters were calm. well, not really flat, but coach called it AISYAH's water. cuz i hate the waves. i cant row in bad water condition. so thank God, Alhamdullilah, during my race, the water was Aisyah's water - almost perfect.

if coach had agreed on pulling me out from my singles race, this wouldnt have been possible:

so Syukur Alhamdullilah. she dint pull me out from my race. and with that, i got a bronze medal. i kept my promise to my friends and family;

i came home a winner. :)

it didnt matter what colour the medal was.

and it didnt matter how awful and oh so selenger i look in that track suit!

does it?

i swear i couldnt stop smiling after the Finals. SO EXCITED.

weeee-ner. hahaha. told u i was so happy nak mampos.

so after i won, everyone wanted to take a photo wimme. or is it the other way round? hahaha. taktau malu.

lightweight singles men bronze medalist.
red and white, HO HO guess what country hes from!

mr gold medalist.

nicholas, the boss.
HEY, he hugged me okay. haha.

i have thai fans, okay. :)

and my favourite people, the Malaysians. :)

okay, so after the races, we went out to town.
we dint do much shopping tho. :(

Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum

and the haunted house,

which made me cry.

i hate haunted houses. :'(

sorry i couldnt bring home my new boyfriend.

then we went to watch the equastrian.
the sport for the filthy rich.

a horse can cost up to ten million USD.

a cacat horse is priceless.

then we went to a balloon fair.

where i saw this disgusting delicacy. they eat these stuff. YUCK.

for dinner we had halal seafood. check out the menu.

CHICKEK!! made me burst out laughing. i swear.

okay kan aisyah lazy to write already. so just enjoy the pictures lah. haha.

mom was proud. :)

elsie, my partner.

and all of us from team singapore.

YAY. :) :) :)

okay, im so sleepy right now, i'll update more soon. taaa.