Saturday, June 28, 2008
i thought this is hilarious. it's an extract from today's (28/6/2008) straits times, a report in the sports section on sharapova's reknowned "grunt".
"but the 2004 champion did not go down (she lost) with a whimper. using a digital sound level meter, the telegraph recorded maximum decibels of 103.2, louder than a motorcycle or lawnmower."
"last year, sharapova broke her previous record of 102.7 - equivalent to an ambulance siren - by yelling at 103.7, greater than the noise of a small aircraft landing."i was trying hard to contain my laugther when i read it in my living room. i always knew the tennis match officials measure the player's serve speeds, but what the heck? i never knew they actually measure the volume of the grunts from the players. in singaporean context, this is what we call "boliao". no wonder federer always keeps his cool.
ok so it's been another week. it's only 2 weeks left to hellweek now. and there's "hellday" this coming week, something to look forward to. guess i better start preparing for it, and find a way to get
that problem off my back. now, i'm not exactly sure if i can even make it to the starting line, let alone go through it. oh well, we'll see what the specialist have to say on monday...
aaron | 7:31 PM
Sunday, June 22, 2008
it was the quarter finals of the Euro08 clash between Croatia and Turkey. With the score tied at 0-0, Croatia managed to break the deadlock in the dying minutes of the game to take the lead. the game looked to have ended by then. everyone thought so.
"i saw some of our players lying on the pitch. i told them to pick the ball out of the net. i wasn't ready to give up"
that was what the turkey team's coach said. and like him, his players fought on, for that seemingly impossible revival in that span of time. and moments after, in the dying seconds, they managed, with sheer determination, to find that equaliser.
they later went on to win the match on penalty shootouts.
i guess it just goes to show one thing:
it's never over 'till it's over
aaron | 7:53 PM
Saturday, June 14, 2008
i didn't know what to feel when we received news that there'll be no training on thursday and friday. normally, i'll be feeling elated, finally getting that much needed break from all that crazy physical trainings. but on thursday morning, it was all different.
they were no different from us, roughly 20 years of age, putting their dreams on hold in order to serve and defend their country as a a soldier. as a person, they still have so much to accomplish in life, so many things to do, so many goals to achieve. now, it has all been shattered.
at our tender age, there's so many things we want to try, yet we can't because we have so many other commitments, sometimes we can only tell ourselves, "i'll do this and that when i grow older." they were not given that choice.
if death gods exists, i can only say that they're really unfair.
we're so fragile
so fragile...
aaron | 8:42 AM
Sunday, June 8, 2008
i was reading ho jin kit shaun's blog and it kinda struck home. after all, what he talked about sounded like me - a pessimist.
i remember, sometime ago, someone told me that she was envious of me, how i was always optimistic about things, not worrying much and all that. well, truth is, i'm not always optimistic about things. rather most of the time, i'm more of a pessimist. i've learnt not to expect much from things in life, from others, from anything. i've said this before - expectating too much only result in disappointment, and that is definitely the last thing i want. i guess by having that thought, i always seem to appear carefree.
kinda ironic isn't it? what you appear to be and what you actually are are two complete opposites.
ironic, and at times, scary.
i guess i've been rather worn out for the past few weeks. i seem to be behaving... unlike myself at times. oh well, i need more sleep.
anyway, it's the roland garros men's singles finals tonight and i have to book in (DAMN). just hope that nadal will be able to retain his crown against world no. 1. it'll be a pretty exciting rematch, though it's kind of expected. and yup i'm glad (pretty) ivanonic manage to win the woman singles title, but at the same time still sore about the fact that henin retired. argh.
5 weeks more to go. i don't have a good feeling about it.
hope for the best, expect the worst
aaron | 5:30 PM
Friday, June 6, 2008
whew. i'm back, from the first week of pcp. thankfully there was no boat pt this week (whew x1000) so i guess that explains why i'm only more than half dead.
but for the entire week we have been doing something which i really suck at - swimming. drown proofing lessons for me turn out to be quite drowning after all. i'm still stuck at the first stage (along with a few others) while the others have already moved on quite far ahead. it's seriously adding a lot of stress on me, no matter how much the instructors try to reassure us that we'll definitely make it. oh well, i shall tell myself i can make it too, maybe drinking lots of chlorine water along the way.
it's probably going to take me a long time before i can get all that water activities right and pass all the tests. but the only problem is that we don't have much time. this sucks. bleh.
oh well, for now, i shall focus on enjoying my weekend =)
aaron | 10:46 PM
Sunday, June 1, 2008
i'm glad i managed to enjoy myself over the weekend, for this might probably be the last weekend that i can indulge myself to such an extent.
yesterday was spent, once again, with the same bunch of track guys having lunch and watching sex and the city after that (dont ask me why, that was the only movie with a decent timeslot and that is not selling out like hotcakes). but yea i don't understand why it's m18 since there were hardly any pornographic scenes, i thought a nc16 rating would be enough. the theme mainly focused on relationships, love and marriage, but since it's called 'sex and the city', i supposed it's giving us a clear signal that 'love' and 'marriage' equals (or almost equals to) 'sex', no matter how some people deny it.
back in camp, i was reading this book entitled "
why men don't have a clue and women always need more shoes" basically it talks about why men and women always fail to understand each other, and how we always end up in conflicts because of our differences. there's a reason why we're called the "opposite" sex. for example, most women(note the word 'most', nothing is absolute, haha) like to whine on and on to people about their problems just to relieve stress, and sometimes the last thing they need is for the one listening to interrupt them by giving solutions. men on the other hand, tend to offer solutions because since the primitive age, men are born to be problem solvers, and by offering solutions it makes them feel needed. but of course sometimes men fail to realise that all the women need is a pair of listening ears, and not someone to interrupt them. and at the same time women fail to realise that men need to feel needed, they tend to feel useless if nobody approaches them to ask them for their help.
pardon me, i forgot the exact words written by the author and i can only use my lousy english to rewrite what i can roughly recall. but you roughly get what i mean, i hope. since i've entered NS my
engrish have deproved by leaps and bounds.
here's a joke i picked out from the book, a different version from the one i've heard sometime ago:
a man once found a old lamp and when he rubbed it, he accidentally summoned the genie from his deep slumber.
genie: you have freed me, i will grant you a wish. wish for anything you like.
man: can you build a bridge with a highway that connects France to England?
genie: are you crazy? that's engineering impossibility! do you know how many miles it is between the two places? make another wish.
man: erm... ok. i wish i can understand woman.
genie: one lane or two?________________________________________________
ok i should be booking in in a few hours time. i never fail to feel emo everything i'm about to book in. oh well, at least this time i can finally bring my phone and my dearest mp3 player into camp. some life has finally returned to block 29A of dive school.
goodbye BMT, hello PCP. 6 weeks of physical conditioning, 6 weeks of muscle aches, but most importantly - 6 weeks to Hell Week. Let's do this.
aaron | 6:09 PM