Shrek

Yeah well... the thing is, they've cancelled the Contingency techniques.

"By order of his royal highness, Mr Commander of TRACOM (Training Command), trainees shall no longer be performing the Contingency techniques during the Police Day Parade but rather the Gurkha's."

I say this with much disappointment because, yup, I managed to get into the Contingency group only to have it cancelled. Cancelled in the sense that trainees will not be doing it.

But despite my disappointment, I guess I could be happier in knowing that the Contingency techniques will be handled by a better group of trained people who will definitely do it a hundred times better than if we trainees had done it. I only hope that I will be able to watch them perform when they do it - provided I'm not backstage because of the lack of seats or something. Actually, I would be devastated if they held us backstage for the duration of the entire parade because I wouldn't be able to watch the events that will take place in the stadium. Let's just hope they give us some seats to sit and watch =D

On the whole, I'll say that I'd like to quit NS and just leave for Australia because I think I've had enough. The whole boring routine and mundane lifestyle - I can't stand. Not to mention all the pumping and running we have to do each day as a result of this 'life'.

Sadly, it's only been 7 weeks and I already feel like 'ORD-ing'. Actually, that's pretty pathetic because I have 22 months of service (not including my leave) and I've only completed 1 month and 3 weeks. So that leaves me with 20 months and 1 week left. Yay.

Well, I don't really have much of a choice. As male Singaporeans, we are forced to go through the same torture for 2 years to have this joy of 'memory'. Yes... I think I'd rather not have this memory. lol

Also, people have commented that I have once again, lost weight. My cheeks are a lot more defined and my body is much slimmer - irregardless of whatever 'packs' I may have XP

So today, I saw to it that I hopped onto a weighing machine and lo and behold, I had lost approximately 3kg. Currently, I weigh in at 67kg.

To be honest, I am sad I lost weight :P I like my 70kg status and would much rather remain at that weight. Why? I'm not too sure but to weigh a bit more and not look overweight at all is nice. Perhaps if people attempted to carry you, it would be much more difficult. I dunno. lol. Why bother trying to figure out how this mind works. Just accept it. It's just very 'specially' designed. hehe

Next weekend, it will be burnt. Burnt meaning I shall have no weekend because of the parade. Friday night we will be confined and I hope Saturday evening, they will release us before we return back in early Sunday morning.

In the mean time, I hope these short updates on my Police life is sufficient for you guys. It's really nothing much because I don't feel like blogging about what happens in there. Living it is enough, yet alone re-living it in my head to have it typed out. Yuck.

Anyway, for the first time in 7 weeks, I played for church again. It was good to touch the drum sticks again and I'm glad I haven't lost any of my new drumming techniques and now, I've learnt even more. In two weeks time, I will have to play again - so there goes another weekend XP

But it's all for God and that's all that matters!

Collateral Damage

Well, just to quickly update on the situation - me getting into STAR unit is completely out of my reach. The only possible way to get in is if I signed on after my NS training which is 99% not gonna happen. So right now, I am not aiming to get into STAR unit but I am still however, still aiming for the SOC. This time, the posting will probably be the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) instead of STAR.

On Wednesday, we had a SOC road show where the SOCs came down to our place to present to us the things they do in the force. There were a lot of interesting things that they showed but at the same time, I was a bit 'reserved' as well because one of the instructors told us that comparing the SOC camp and the police academy here, the people at the SOC camp would consider the academy a holiday resort. There will be a lot of swearing, cursing, shouting, yelling, the whole lot. That was the part that really got to me. That was the part that I really didn't want. I wanted everything else, but not that. So that's why I'm just a bit cautious now because I will have to prepare myself mentally if I do manage to get in.

One of the main 'requirements' that they suggested one should possess is mental resilience. Personally, I know that I have that. I know I can really force myself to push further which is why usually I'll be one step ahead of other people when it comes to physical challenges. During training, I have the determination to push myself to the limit. But then of course, I know my limitations.
On Wednesday and Thursday, they really had it at us. They were physically pushing us by making us do easily at least 100 push ups in one session. On Thursday, we had PT and our dojo lesson. During those two lessons, we were punished multiple times as we were forced to do all sorts of pushups. Two of which comes to mind; diamond power pushup and finger interlock pushup. Actually, we are not allowed to do finger interlock pushups because one of our instructors told us that it is dangerous. Reason being when we do it, our elbow is restricted from bending freely so it is really dangerous. Take note of this pushup.
As for the diamond power pushup, for those who don't know how it is done, basically you have your hands together forming a shape of a diamond with your thumbs and index fingers. And to do the 'power' part, you basically have to leap off the ground everytime you push up. But that's not it. The starting position is when your body is near the ground; in other words, when your arms are suspending your body as you approach the ground. Everytime we did one pushup, we would have to return to this starting position before they called out 'Go' again. This was one pushup I couldn't properly do. There was no way I had the strength to suspend my body with my arms so low to the ground with my hands in that position. That was the only pushup I followed the rest of the crowd as I laid on the ground on my hands.

So anyway, on Wednesday, they had us do at least 100 pushups and 160 Jumping Jacks because of one idiot's mistake. If someone were to move unnecessarily, they would shout out 'Everyone to your right/left palms down' and now, those few words are what I hate the most and should be treated with the utmost respect.
On that day, after having been 'pumped' to the extreme, they then told us, 'Ok everybody! Raise your arms to your shoulder level.' I never knew I could experience such fatigue before! My shoulders were extremely tired and heavy that I was barely able to raise it 90 degrees from my body. It was as if all my strength was drained out of me and I had to rely on self-will and fear of getting everyone else in trouble for my weakness.

"Now, we are gonna start from this end. Start with '1' and the person behind you '2' and the person behind '3' and so on. Continue all the way back and then the next row until the end." There were at least half a dozen squads, if not more. Note that in my squad, there are 40 of us, so yeah, do the maths.

"1! 2! 3! 4! 5! .... " It kept going till I shouted something like 86 or something. I really can't remember. The pain was too immense for me to realise what I was yelling.

"Raise your arms higher! If you guys don't raise it up, we will do more pumping!"
AhhhH!!!! I forced myself to hold it up there. I tensed up my face to endure the pain that was surging through my shoulder and across my arms. I think I was trembling to a certain extent because it was so painful.

I tried to hold it there but the pain was simply unbearable. My shoulders was so heavy. they were like gonna fall apart if I didn't do anything about it. They keep dropping down lower and lower till it was at a 45 degree angle.

"Ok everyone! Put your arms in front of you! But do not hold your hands!" In some small way, it helped a bit. Moving it into a different position soothed my shoulders a slight bit. However, the pain was still there. I held it there for as long as I could without letting my hands hold itself or allowing it to drop. By this time, the number was somewhere around 130.

After another 100 people, the instructors shouted, "Everyone! Life your arms above your head!" People started to pull their arms up whereas there I was, still in that position without any strength to pull it up. So I allowed my arms to sling down and as it swinged back, I used the momentum to pull it up above my head. But somehow, my arms seem to wanna drop back down. I then had to lean backwards to allow my arms to tilt to the back as I locked my elbows into place. Now, not so much pain was on my shoulders but now, they were all on my abs.

By 250 something, they had lost count and that was when the instructors called out, "Enough! Since you cannot count properly, we shall start at 1 again!" Everyone moaned and groaned as the count began, "1! 2! 3! 4! 5!..." Somewhere through the midst of the counting, the instructor gave up hope and yelled out, "Squat Sadeya!" (not too sure about the spelling but meh) Basically, that means to stand in attention with your heels together and your arms on your sides. It was a taste of paradise. To be able to relax your arms like that, it was so wonderful.

"Now, I'm going to count to 100. When I do, I don't want to see any movements. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... " He lost count around 33 when he talked with someone who approached him. He asked us what number he stopped at and we told him 33.

"Doesn't matter. I'll start again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... " He could count again as many times for all I cared. Never had I wished someone would lose count when counting to 100 before. Every second was precious. Every second meant a chance to recover from any damage done to us.

When he finished counting, we were formed back into our squads again as we headed off for breakfast. At breakfast, everyone was dead. I could barely eat because I didn't have to strength to lift up my own spoon to feed myself. I had to fling the spoon into my mouth each time I took a bite.

On Thursday, it was the same. Just without the arm part. We were forced to do more pumping and that was when we did the diamond power pushup. By the time we started to do the diamond power pushup, I had no more strength to do it anymore. I was tired and had very little strength left in my arms. Everytime we went down, I would take a few seconds of rest on the ground.

Also, we had to do Jumping Jacks too. We did in total 160 Jumping Jacks. We started with 20 first. Then 50. Then 40. Then 30. Then 20 again. Everytime we finished doing them, he would start by saying "Jumping Jacks". That was when I would cry inside because he would ask us to do another obscene number of Jumping Jacks in our weakened state. And to finish up the PT session, we did 4 counts of 20 normal pushups. Which is basically doing normal push ups but stopping half way each time.

That afternoon, we had dojo. There we were punished because basically of us didn't practice the moves. I knew the moves but I didn't practice either. But unlike my other friends, I actually knew what to do when the instructor would shout out a command. Anyway, we were punished because of that and had to do all sorts of push ups; including the finger interlock one. That was probably what happened to me the next day.

When I woke up yesterday, Friday, I couldn't bend my right arm. This meant I couldn't do any push ups because I couldn't go down. It didn't help when we had PT that morning. And quite inevitably, we had to go right palms down. When they shouted that, I was the only person standing in the crowd and the instructor looked at me. He asked me why I was still standing and I explained to him that I couldn't bend my arm but I could do everything else. He then asked me why I didn't report to him when he asked if people were not feeling well. Then I told him that I could do everything else again. Then he goes, 'but isn't push ups included in everything else?' Actually, just thinking about it, I did mention that I said I could do everything else which excluded push ups, so I don't think I was wrong.

Anyway, he just told me to do squats and asked me if I knew what it was. I told him I knew how to do it and showed it to him.

In all, I had to do 100 squats during that session because we kept getting punished for one idiot's mistake.

Later he goes, "ok! We shall now do Infinity counts of 4 of Jumping Jacks. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

"No sir!"

"Infinity counts of 4, exercise begin! 1! ... 2! ... 3! ... ... 54! ... Last count and still! You! Oi! You! You want to be lazy is it? You don't want to lift your arms all the way up is it? Ok. Fine. Everyone but you to your right palms down! ... Take a look! Because of him, all of you shall do 50 push ups." This meant I had to do 100 squats! I focused my sight on one dot in front of me to focus myself to be ready for the 100 squats. It was just a way for me to focus without getting distracted or thoughts of quitting. I was getting ready. Despite all the beating I took already on my legs, I was ready.

"Everyone on your feets up!" I think the guy managed to give a sound explanation to his doing which is why we avoided those push ups/squats. Phew.

"Ok! Now, we will do it again. infinity counts of 4 of Jumping Jacks. Ready! Exercise begin! 1! ... 2! ... 3! ... "

By the time we reached 100 he goes, "C'mon guys! Another 50! Go go!" At this stage, some people were dropping out. They would stop for a moment and come back in as soon as they were ready. One of my friends said that he felt his calf muscle pull on him and he still continued to jump. The instructors later asked him why he continued and my friend said that he thought he could continue. The instructor gave him a good scolding because if anything were to happen to us, they would be in deep trouble. Extremely deep trouble.

After the 150 Jumping Jacks, we had to run the parade square 5 times following the instructor ahead. The instructor had a load of fun running in all sorts of directions. It was like those games where the snake gets longer and longer and you had to get the 'dot' on the screen except this time, the snake was 6 squads long with roughly 30-40 people in each squad.

So yeah, after all that squatting, jumping and running, you could say that my legs took a beating. A very bad beating. This morning when I woke up, I could barely stand. My arms were still sore and my legs, well, you get the point.

Just before I finish up, I will say this. On Wednesday in the afternoon, we had our first live shooting frame. There are 6 shooting frames and to get marksman, we have to get 80% or above. So anyway, on Wednesday we did our shooting and I'll just say I was so very nervous. My heart was beating hard and I could feel my hands shaking.
During our dry practice, I was fine. But like our instructor told us, we will tense up and shake because we're too tensed up. Just breathe in deep and relax.

So anyway, I was the last 'detail' to go in. Oh yeah, FYI, I am serial number 40. Meaning I am the youngest. That means I am always the last to do things in the squad. But I like the saying in the bible, "First will be last and last will be first." In this case, I like the concept of this saying XP hehehe
Anyhow, when it was my turn, I took note of the safety precautions and tried to be as calm as I could. I holstered my revolver and stood ready.

"Detail, watch your front!" That was when we had to hold the gun in the holster and have the other hand on our belt.

"1 round fire!" I pulled the revolver up and aimed. As I slowly pulled the trigger back, I heard the gunshots of my other friends and that was when my heart pumped harder! My hand began to shake and I thought I would never fire at the target 9m away. In the midst of all my shaking, I fired my first bullet and it shook me awake. The recoil was interesting. I knew there would be recoil, so to experience it for the first time was cool. I think the next time I grab hold of that revolver, I will be more ready.

Anyway, at the end of the first cycle, ie. 5 rounds, they brought the target up close for us to have a look at the damage we had done. I looked at my target and noticed only 4 hits. This indicates that I had missed one shot. Not too important. One miss is not too bad.
Then the targets went back 9metres again. We shot another 4 cycles at it but this time, 5 rounds at one command. That is, when the instructor said 'fire', we would shoot all 5 bullets in our cylinder.

After the 5th cycle, we reloaded our revolver again as they brought the target out 25m. The concept was the same. We aimed, we fire. After that cycle, they asked us to reload once more and fire at the target from our kneeling position. I fired the bullets and that was it.
The targets came towards us and we had a look at the culprit who was decimated. My target looked really nice. All my bullets struck the heart region. My bullets hardly flew upwards or downwards which was good cause you are meant to aim for the chest.
We brought our targets out and counted the bullets that hit the 'In' region. I noticed this cluster of bullets together so I asked one of the instructors how to count the number of bullets that hit that area. He showed me how to count the bullets and decided that he would count for me. He counted the bullets and said '35 in'. In case you haven't realised, there were 7 cycles where 1 cycle consists of 5 rounds. If you do the maths, that's 35 bullets in total which meant I got them all in.

Quite honestly, I didn't know how in the world I got them all in. I was shaking like crazy and I was sure I missed a whole lot. This was my first time I shot a gun with real bullets so there was no way I had prior experience to this. This was truly God's work in my trembling hands. There was no way I could have done anything like this by myself. So it was great.

The Parent Trap

If you are feeling bored/adventurous/curious/naive/nothing, have a look at my friends on youtube.com. They did a short clip of a lightsaber fight in their backyard and I reckon it's pretty cool. No idea how they did it though. lol Nevertheless, awesome stuff. Link

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Don't you just hate the times when you jump into the pool, and you realise that it is warmer than usual, and on top of which, it tastes saltier than what you are normally accustomed to. It really doesn't help when the little girl in the lane next to you with her father is so busy giggling away about you don't wanna know what.

That was my first impression when I jumped into the pool today.

When I sat at the edge of the pool at 4:30pm today, I was pleased to realise that the pool was really nice and warm. I only had to splash the pool water on myself a few times before jumping right in. The only thing I found funny about the water was that it tasted somewhat saltier than usual. That was when I starting thinking about what the little girl could have done!!! ><" ahhhH!

But just like going into a toilet where someone had just taken a dump; you get used to the 'surroundings' eventually. lol The only difference with this example is that I am actually 'touching' whatever 'unwanted substances' there could have been in the pool. Whereas in the toilet, you just smel--, we'll, you get the point.

Strangely, even though I went swimming at 4:30pm today, with the dark clouds clearly blocking out a portion of the sky, I still got darker from swimming! I was so confident I wouldn't get darker this time round because the sun looked so harmless behind those dark clouds. Even while I was in the water, I didn't think I would get darker because there was hardly as sun shining onto the pool floor.

Obviously from my much darker complexion, I was wrong. I fear that if I keep this up, I don't think you could tell me apart from an average Malay guy. Perhaps, I might fit into the Police Force quite nicely! Then again, the tan will probably fade away after a few weeks. hehe

Anyway, my dad is coming to Singapore tomorrow evening so it'll be nice to see him again. It's a bit weird though.

Firstly, I've managed to go without my parents for 3 months before my mum came back to pamper us. It was all nice and everything, till she was about to go. Suddenly I wished I could be pampered like a spoilt brat all over again because it was great! Then, after she left, I managed to find my feet again and now, everything is back to the way it was.

But now, my dad is coming. I don't know what to expect really. Not too sure what will happen during that time but I will try to make the best of it. My mum told me to just enjoy whatever time I have with him and my bro because it won't be like this for very long. It won't be long till we all start moving out and the family won't be so 'exclusive' anymore. There will be other people, other families, other girls in our lives.

Just looking into the future, I see that the next upcoming family reunion will be in 2009 when I return from Singapore to Australia again. Actually, from the look of things, our family hasn't really been a 'whole' family for a very long time since Amoz left. The whole complete family setting with the 5 of us all together hasn't happened for a very long time. As a matter of fact, it didn't happen many times in the past. Maybe it's because we took that for granted and now we realise that without one member of the family, things just isn't the same. There is someone missing. There is an empty chair in the living room. There is an empty void in our conversations.

"You never realise what you've got till you lose it."

I think this quote fits perfectly into this situation. Without one person in the family, the 'family' just isn't complete. There's something missing. Just looking at the things which are happening, our family is currently split into two. One side being where the 'home' has moved to, and the other side being where national duties applies. Our parents and our little sister are in Australia with my brother and myself in our homeland serving our National Service. Two 'homes', one family. It won't be long till we make it one home again! Yay! Till that day, we will just have to do what we have to do to have time fly. Just so long as it doesn't 'skip past us', I think it should be fine.

It's funny how you look back upon all the adventures that took place as a family and you laugh at how everything was so annoying and 'uncomfortable' back then. But when you look at it now, it really was a wonderful time. A time which doesn't happen all too often. Not something we all scream to do all the time, but enjoyable. lol

The last trip that we took as a family was when we went to the Grampians in Victoria back in 2004. Our dad was so adventurous to take us all the way from Melbourne to the Grampians in our very tiny, very squishy, very 'intimate' Hyundai Getz. Imagine that. All 5 of us, squished into that puny car. Driving on the road for 4/6 hours? Not too sure, can't remember anymore. All I know is that it seemed like eternity in there. It wasn't any better when we had to have our pillows on our laps because there wasn't any more room in our trunk. So we were all very very 'compacted'. Good thing it only went for 2 days before begging to return back home. We weren't in a very good mood because everyone was complaining, so I don't think my dad really had much of a choice. Not unless he wanted a riot in his hands. Still, it was nice to see that we managed to pull through together.

But would I do it again? NO! No no no! Please no! I would rather stay home alone, without any one else around where I would have to do all the housework alone than to go on a trip like that again! Not without me driving that is. hehe

Anyway, family is family. Whether you hate them, or you hate them even more, you have to love them. Because like it or not, they are your family and there's nothing you can do about it.
As wacky as they get, they will always be apart of your life. A part of your memory. A part of you. So just enjoy it now before you realise what you've just lost.

Just to add this in and to make sure this doesn't end on an all-too-serious note, yesterday after church we went to watch Mr Bean the movie. It was a pretty funny movie. A good movie for a good laugh. If you haven't seen it, and are planning to watch it, I'll tell you this. Don't expect too much from this movie. Just go in, and have a good time watching it. Just enjoy whatever funny moments come along and have a great time. Once again, don't think too highly of it. You'll spoil it.

Also, go with friends. As many as possible. For this movie, it's great to go and watch the show with your friends (better the ones who haven't seen it yet) because there are many funny and silly moments, if you watched it by yourself, you probably won't be as 'entertained'.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I needed the laugh because things have gotten too serious as of late, so it was good. Go have fun when you watch it too! ^^

================================

Something I'll add here because I feel like it.

Do you guys think this is possible?

A steel ladder breaking in half under the impact of another guy leaping from the ring.
Is it real? Or is it just a gimmick that I found on the internet?

The Marine

I feel like a super tank now.


Kat even said it. I'm like a freak.
My mum said I should go join some Frequet Flyers Club but for swimming for all the 'mileage' I get in the pool.
I said to Kat that I'm hardcore now. That I'm the brother of Superman. Or his son. Or something like that.


The thing is, swimming has made me stronger. Back in Australia, everytime I did the swimming carnival, I would start crying for air and a break everytime I pass the half way mark in the pool while attempting to swim breaststroke or backstroke. If I did freestyle back then, I would sink and drown somewhere past the one quarter mark. Good thing I didn't do it.
But now, I am amazingly fitter and stronger. I enjoy swimming because it's like gliding through another medium without having to cry under the pressure of your own weight. You see, that's what I realised about running while I was swimming in the pool! When I run, all my 70 odd kg is pressing itself down onto my foot and ankle. And every step is just another step of pain and agony. Whereas with swimming, all the weight is distributed in the water and I don't even feel the weight of my own body. My entire body is suspended in the water which makes everything all nice and better.

Anyway, if you're wondering why I'm making a big deal out of this again, I'm just so excited about myself. I've grown stronger so fast, and I'm just proud of what I've accomplished. These are my recordings for the number of laps I do in total, the number of laps I do without stopping, and the time taken to do them. The recordings are for the highest number during that month.

Wow, just looking at that, there is such a big improvement from February to March. I didn't realise I managed to improve like that in such a short period of time. Wonder if I can push myself a bit more... It'll be nice if I can.

But I fear that when I go into the Police, my statistics will drop dramatically and I won't be able to maintain this increase in number of laps. Of course I am aware that there will come a point where I won't be able to increase the number of laps anymore, but it's so sad to see me stop soon after improving so much.

Anyway, one thing's for sure. All this swimming has definintely made me stronger. I know I've said it like three times already, but I'm just shocked about it myself. I wonder how strong I've grown. Never tried exerting my strength on anything for a while, so I don't know. I think the opportunity will come when I'm in the Police Academy. Hopefully I'll surprise myself with whatever new abilities I have acquired. But then again, it might be the opposite. I could be disappointed with my puny strength when I'm comparing with others on the force. I guess we'll just have to wait and see then.

In the mean time, my back is killing me! I got a bit of sun burn on my back because I was swimming breaststroke most of the time and I think because I didn't stop during my 24 lap swim, that the sun got the best of me. Even though it's nice and dark now, it's nice and hot and prickly too. Yikes!

Anyway, in case you're wondering what I look like now, this is the most recent picture of me after swimming and tanning so much in the pool. As most of you can tell, I've changed a lot since the last time, and I owe it all to the swimming.

Damn I look good!

Those biceps, the chest, the face. Wow. I never knew I could look like that.
I've grown so much I've even joined the WWE and have been enlisted into the ECW roster where I've become the EWC Champion under the alias 'Bobby Lashley'. See how much you can accomplish in just 4 months!? Every night, I would fly back from the US and come back to sleep in Singapore before flying back to the US for another title defense. I'm so cool. And to imagine I can swim in between my hectic roster. I don't know how I'm gonna juggle my Police job and my wrestling career. Wow. I rock!

No no, those were all lies. That's obviously not me at all. For one, I can't even do that face. At least I don't think I can. My jaw would hurt after a few minutes of that. But it'll be nice if I had that body; but I think many people will protest against me in getting that kinda body. I think.

Which reminds me! Why is it that many girls don't like guys with tanky bodies? I don't see the problem. They claim to say that it's too 'scary'. Like yeah. That's up with that? It's like muscles. Everyone's got them. I don't see it being scary - I mean afterall, we can use it to protect you! How are we supposed to protect you girls if we don't have any muscles? Terrible! Also lemme add that girls with bulky muscles is a no go zone. No offence to girls with large muscles, but I dislike the sight of it because I don't think they go with girls. Men are supposed to have bulky muscles, not girls. It's like girls with boobs. You don't wanna see guys with man-boobs because it's just a no go zone. Simple. ><" Yuck. Anyway!

In the same way, if you don't like the idea of us getting our muscles, it's like us not allowing girls to have boobs; which may I add would be terrible. But let's not talk too much about that XP If you take away the muscle factor, what are we? The muscles are what defines us. Well, I know it does to me at least. It shows the manly side of who we are.

Of course, yeah, I'm not talking about building muscles to the point where it is simply sticking out everywhere like those bodybuilders-Mr. Universe kinda guys. They've over did it. Now that's scary and disgusting. But I'm referring to more a wrestler's body figure. I don't think they've over done it and I reckon they have a very nice muscular build (In a good sense people! In a good sense!).

Now, just looking at WWE's John Cena, I don't think he's over done it at all. As a matter of fact, he was a bodybuilder and I reckon he's got a very nice build. Not too crazy. Now is that really so scary and horrific, ladies? Wouldn't it be nice to touch those very slimy, very slippery, very large biceps that he has there? Mmmmm, biceps ...

LoL, ok, I'll stop. ahaha, but what's so bad about muscles anyway? I think it's a beautiful creation that God has created along with many great and wonderful things. Would it be bad if I was determined to get that body shape? I wouldn't mind it at all but there are so many protests against it, I really have to ask! Seriously, if there aren't any objections, I really wanna try to get it! But not unless there are a lot of objections. ><"

hehe, let's see how many ladies respond to this! XP

Are We There Yet?

Yes!

I've done it!

Sorry everyone about me bragging again, but I have to say it!

I've managed to get not only 32 laps during my swim today, but I also broke that record with another 8 more; I managed to swim 40 laps in 1 hour 5 minutes (with an additional 5 minute break in there somewhere).

Despite me shaking all over, I feel great! There's this great feeling inside me every time I accomplish something like this. There's this great feeling about myself that I don't feel so guilty for not doing nothing or for eating too much and not doing anything about the excess fats.
In a way, this is how I gather a bit of self-esteem about myself. By accomplishing something like this, which also prepares myself for the future, I find that I feel a lot better about myself. I don't feel so useless. I don't feel mindless. And I don't feel so dead.

The best part about exercising like this is the feeling afterwards. The exercising itself is the worse. I don't think many people really enjoy or really wanna do the exercising bit. It's an absolute torture to push yourself to complete the exercise. The pain and agony of struggling to breathe and to force your concentrated lactic acid muscles to push further can be excruciating. Sometimes I find it so demanding and routine-like that I start wondering why I do this for. In all honesty, I don't like to exercise. I find it a pain and very tedious to maintain. All this repetitiveness gets to me. Sadly, this has to be done if I am to remain fit so I sometimes force myself to do it. It's hard to see the results immediately, but eventually, the results will show itself sooner or later. Above all the pain, the joy and satisfaction at the end will have to do.

I think in this 'go' today in the pool, I managed to get that far because of the break I had from the pool from doing a large number of laps; especially the one I did on Monday. With that in mind, I think I will give myself a few days before I jump back into the pool - just so I can recover from whatever repercussion I encountered on my body during the swim today.


Anyway, with swimming and exercising aside, lemme talk about something else.
Lemme talk about my mum's departure. Actually, not so much my mum leaving but rather, the effects of it. The effects of what has occurred when she left with my grandma to go back to Australia.

I think I was just about to get used to the whole living alone away from the family-home situation after staying here for over 3 months, but when my mum was about to leave, I realised that I had been pampered without me knowing. I realised that my mum had been nurturing, spoiling and loving me without me even noticing until she was going to leave me for two years.

It was scary. I'll say that. Leaving my mum for a good two years till I can see her again is a scary thought; especially after having been here for a few weeks. I think the effects of her motherly comforting made me wish I wouldn't be on my own like this again. Even though I know my mum and dad are reading this, I find it hard muster up the strength to admit but we have really been loved by our parents. As strange as that might sound for me to admit this, I have to say that no matter what we've been through, they have been there for us. They've been there to help us through whatever obstacles came our way and with their experience and wisdom, we as kids take on whatever advice they give for our benefit. Sometimes we don't like what our parents are telling us and also, we don't like to tell our parents what has been happening with us because they are with us all the time. But now that I'm away from home, it becomes a little bit harder because everything they've taught in the past comes into play. Now I have to use whatever knowledge they have bestowed upon me to do what is right by myself without their watchful eye upon me.
So when we compare this with other kids around the world, there's a whole lotta difference. When I hear of things that happen else where with friends of different countries in different lives, I can't help but feel so fortunate and blessed that I am in this life and not in another.


Anyway, when my mum was gonna leave, I discovered that not only did she treat me like a spoilt child, but also I had become one myself. Having my way in most things, screaming like a little sissy girl demanding to be heard, or just wetting my pants just so I could have someone bring me to the toilet-- Well, no not really. None of those things are really real. None of them happened.
But the point is, it was great to be pampered by my mum again - for one last time for a very very long time. One 'very' for each year to go.

But that wasn't the worse part. The worse part was the thought of them going back to Australia. 'Them' being my mum and grandma together. I envied my grandma so much that I even contemplated dressing up like her so I could take her place on the plane. If I looked like her in the passport, I think I could have pulled it off. It'd be one scary lady though. Tall, firm skinned, broad shouldered, short haired, flat chested old 'lady'. Oh dear.
Anyway, what I was saying was, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if she just stayed here like usual. It's not like there's this great need for her to see Australia now.

Unfortunately, I didn't really have a choice. If I did take her place on that plane, it wouldn't have made a difference because I had to come back to do my NS. It was either sneaking on board and facing the consequences of running away from the Singaporean NS, or staying here for a good two years serving my time and not being able to leave the country. There wasn't really much else I could do. I guess I am stuck here for a very very long time.


As they were getting ready to leave, I started thinking about Australia. I started to think of the friends, the house, the cars, the air, the roads, the flies, everything. I thought about it all. That was when I began to feel sad and homesick again. To have in your head the fact that someone was going back to all that made me envious. I wanted it. I really really wanted it. One 'really' for each year to go.

I know, every one's gonna say something like "Stop complaining, it's only two years", "Take it like a man you girl", "It's not very long. Just enjoy your time there and before you know it, it would be all over", "Can't you see that what you are doing is simply irritating the the hairs on the back of my neck? If we had a particle accelerator to determine the size of an electron, I still wouldn't be able to find any interest in what you're complaining about in the electron."

Hmmm, not too sure if the last one made any sense at all but anyway, I just wanna say this.
I don't care that I whining. I want to whine, and it's great. Complaining about how I long to go back is something I will do once in a while to build this great expectation for Australia when I actually do go back in two years time. Then, when I go back, I will be extremely disappointed because everything there is dry, red and very hot. As a matter of fact, I'm predicting that the whole of Australia will become a desert when I get back. Just like how Nostradamus predicted that Christ would return in 2000, I'm predicting this. What a glorious day it will be when I return.

When I step out from the Melbourne airport and into that warm dry air in February 2009, it will be one moment I will be taking in slowly with my friends beside me. That will be the day when I will be a very happy man. Provided I'm not loaded with diarrhoea and stomach pains from whatever food we ate while travelling prior to our arrival back home. Then I think I'd wanna rush back to unpack; and I don't mean the luggage.

Kung Pow: Enter The Fist

I attempted to complete a double with the swimming earlier today, but it was not to be.

Today, I couldn't even reach twenty laps. My body was still recovering from all the strains of the last swim. The main problem I experienced while I was swimming was my breathing. Somehow, I couldn't get enough air into my system; so I struggled to complete multiple laps. By the end of the 10th lap, I struggled with much difficulty.

Not having much of a choice, I decided to just take it easy and relax in the pool. Maybe help myself to a bit of tanning. I think I'm getting pretty dark now. All that swimming in the afternoon has done wonders for my skin. It feels great to not be as white as I used to be. It must be something here in Singapore. Everyone is darker here compared to people else where. Well, that's what I notice.
Besides how Amoz baked in the sun for this Commissioning Parade, I think people are generally darker around here. Especially the males. I think it's the combination of the heat and the humidity that contributes to the darkening of our skins. Just looking at my arms, I see it so much darker than when I was back in Australia. It's not a big difference, but after staring at my arms for 17 years, I can tell the difference.
It's darker, it's tanner, it's hotter, and girls love it. I think.


At the moment, there are about three weeks of freedom left. It sounds long, but I know it isn't. If there's Frasier on the tele once a week, it means only three more Frasier episodes left before I am sent into the doom of mental and physical torture. Also known as the Police Academy.
Initially, my mindset for these three weeks was to train and prepare myself. But after what happened today in the pool, I have suddenly lost this will to train as intensely. If I am unable to complete my usual twenty laps in two days, I think the training will be harder than I anticipated. My body is not ready for the training I thought I could accomplish. After all, after months of just bumming around in front of a work computer, my body is not as fit as it once was back in January when I did my NAPFA test.
I was insanely capable of doing 51 sit-ups in one minute! I can't even do that now. I can't even get anywhere near the 50 mark. I'm starting to wonder if I really did get 51 because it seems so surreal every time I try each morning. It seems so 'unrealistic' that I was able to get that score during the NAPFA test because now that I'm trying again, I don't know how I managed to pull it off. Maybe the fact that I am 6kg heavier now plays a part in my attempt now. All the flab or muscles, or whatever is in the way, is preventing me from getting the 50 sit ups.
Then again, maybe something I can't get doing alone plays a part in my attempts now - if we compared it to when I did the test that day, there were other sources of motivation. When I did it that day, there were 3 others doing it with me. If I remember correctly, during some stage of that minute, I heard the others calling out the number of sit ups they did and when I compared it with the number that I had done, I was falling behind.
That really kept me pumping. I fed on the thought of not wanting to get the lowest score and pushed myself to go up and down.

With 10 seconds left, I pushed myself even harder. The pain in my abs were excruciating but I had to push harder. Up and down, up and down, until time was up.
What I got was something I thought the other 3 guys would beat easily; but it turned out during that day, I got the highest score. I got the higest score on this test and on basically everything else. Victory was sweet.

But now, I'm beginning to question my fitness. After what I call a disappointing result in my swim today, I'm starting to wonder if I will be as fit as I want to be for the Police force.
My 'aim' for my fitness is to be as fit as I will ever be. I want to be much fitter than when I was back in school because it's time for me to grow. I want to take advantage of what they are going to teach me and put it to full use. This is so easily said than done. Anyone can say this. But what's gonna be different about this is that I really want to try. If I don't try, I will be very disappointed in myself. I have to.

This is my opportunity to learn something not everybody will have a chance to learn, and this is my chance to bulk up to the point where I'm happy.
As a kid, I've always wanted a 'tanky' body. I think this goes back way before we left for America in 1996. There was always something about it that appealed to me and since then, I've had this mindset to get that body during some stage in my life. I was determined to get it sooner or later, and it looks like my opportunity is here.
It seems like I am at that stage where my body will develop rapidly over a short period of time and on top of that, I am not really putting on weight as fat as I eat like a pig. So given that this opportunity to grow is right in front of me, I want to take hold of this and convert that into what I call muscular and height build. My mum is suggesting that I could grow another few more centimetres to hit the six foot mark. At this stage, it's possible, but I think I will need more calcium. Back in Australia, we would drink milk like water which I think played a large role in our development. Here in Singapore, there is less access to the milk because not many people drink milk here. So I think it's time for me to make that move and grab some before it's too late.

Ok ok, for those who are concerned, I am not thinking of a wrestler's body. Even though the prospect of having tanky body parts does seem quite lovely to have, I don't think it will suit me. Very few asians look 'appealing' in a tanky wrestler body. So don't worry about me going overboard. If I can't control myself from going to the gym two times a day, someone will have to take me down. Or at least try to. =P

Castaway

The afternoon was at its prime.

The sun had heated up the humid afternoon air but behind the clouds, it seemed ineffective.

I went through the gates of the stadium and found myself a locker to place my things in. My towel, wallet, keys and mobile were all placed into the small locker. Then the shirt and slippers were removed and placed into the locker as well. I slipped in some money into the coin slot and turned to key lock.

Crossing over out into the open sun, my feet felt a slight sensation of the heat from the tiled floor upon my bare feet. It didn’t really bother me. I just knew that I would cool down soon when I step into the shower.

“Ooo, new shower tap. Upgrades are nice.” The chilly underground water splashed on me as I gradually forced myself to stand completely under the shower – covering me in a refreshing awakening.

Dripping in water, I approached the pool and sat at the edge as I began to cup the pool water onto my body. The water was mildly heated to a comfortable temperature; perfect for diving in and swimming around.
I threw myself in and kicked off the wall of the pool without my goggles. Slowly rising to the surface, I emerged from the warm pool just like how the guys from Bay Watch would do. Pulling my hair back as water trickled down the smooth edges of my skin, I leaped backwards as I backstroked my way to the edge of the pool again. Surprisingly, the water was perfect. I felt like I could go on forever in this pool, so I saw to it that I would make the most of this opportunity to enjoy myself.

Diving back down under, I hovered over the pool bed for as long as my breath can allow. The clearness of the water was amazing. From where I was, I could see the end of the pool 50 metres away. I felt like a little fish innocently munching on the seaweed underwater without a care in the world what is happening up above. But unlike an innocent little fish, I was struck with his suffocating sensation within my body as I am forced to surface back into the world.
Right after that, I swam around underwater for a little while longer before deciding it was time to swim intensely. The swim to the other end of the pool was not strenuous but I stopped at the other end to do some last minute stretches.

Off I went again and in ten minutes, I was able to complete six laps with every sixth lap doing freestyle. One after another, I pushed myself to complete each lap as I conserve energy at the same time for the following lap. Managing my average time of ten minutes per every six laps, that’s roughly 0.5 metres per second. Maintaining this speed wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I was constantly fighting with myself to conserve and breathe every time I surface. Under the humid air, it did become difficult. To make things a bit more difficult, I had some sort of fluid stuck within my throat. This made breathing a bit more energy consuming because I had to gasp as much as air I can take in during those few seconds above water.

At each ‘pit-stop’ after I had exerted myself to dash across by freestyle, I could feel the heat screaming to escape my body. If I stood above the water, the heat upon my skin could grow quite unpleasant. I felt just like a car that had just overheated and was in need of something refreshing to get rid of the heat. Maybe smothering my naked body with chocolate flavoured ice-cream would have done the trick. Then again, I could catch hypothermia from the immediate change of temperature.
The heat in me was just like standing out in the open sun as the light shines upon your exposed skin - heating it to a point where it becomes uncomfortable. Eventually, the heat from the sun will become irritating as your body captures the heat into your body; and that was how it was like.

Also, on top of the warm humid air, the blood pumping hard in my body from all the swimming made it even warmer because just like exercising out of the water, perspiration takes place to cool the body down. Fortunately for me, I was in a pool which meant lots of water. This allowed me to get as hot as I wanted without worrying about getting drenched too much from my own sweat. If I did get this hot out somewhere else, I might get as wet as I was in the pool because I would get soaked in my own sweat. I’m being serious. I can get so wet my shirt would seem like it was being washed in the laundry.
With the heat surging through my body, the most logical thing to do was to just dive under.

Placing every part of my body except my head underwater, it became better. The coolness of the water removed most of the heat from my body until I started to get worried that I would sleep under the conditions.
I picked myself back up and placed the goggles over my head. Taking a strong breath, I kicked back into the pool, repeating the whole process for another few more times.

Thirty five minutes into the process, I had completed my usual number of laps of twenty. It felt good. I felt good. It was warm, but to know that I was able to complete twenty laps in thirty five minutes with one or two minute breaks in between, I felt good.
My back and chest was feeling pretty warm at that stage, so I quickly took a big breath and dived back underwater, sitting upon the pool floor.

After emerging for another breath, I went back in and laid upon the pool floor facing up the pool watching my air bubbles float to the top in succession. It was great to be able to enjoy this again. My only concern at that time was the water pressure on my ears. I felt the compression of the water on my ears and it was quite obvious that there was a bit of pressure on it. I’m not sure if it was safe to remain underwater for a very long time, so I decided to stop after returning back into the pool bed a few more times.

There was a figure in my head that I wish I could accomplish while in the pool. That number was something I had wanted to do because imagine the bragging rights! How wonderful! It was a very difficult number to reach, but accomplishable the very least.
Without much contemplation, I slipped my goggles back on and leaped off the wall of the pool to begin my journey. One wall after another, I kicked off each end two times before telling myself to stop for a while. In those four laps, I had actually wondered what it would be like doing freestyle laps throughout my swim because there were people next to me who were able to do them one after another. I thought to myself since they were able to do them, I’m sure I could too. Sadly, after the first lap had tired me out by the end of the first 50 metres, I decided to switch back to my usual breaststroke. After another two more laps, I reconsidered doing freestyle again and leaped off the wall in search for two freestyle laps but it was not to be. I had to stop. I was left tired by the 24th lap.

Determined to reach ‘that number’, I fought fatigue to recover as I soon stood again to swim once more.

“Another 6 laps in a row and you’re almost there. Not hard at all. I’ve done it 3 times already; easy.”

That was my mindset. Complete five laps doing breaststroke then finish the last one with freestyle. From there, it shouldn’t be hard.

Off I went.

First lap – No problem. I can do it.

Second lap – I can do it.

Third lap – Oh crap, only the third lap. I’m not even half way!

Fourth lap – What!? Only the fourth!?

Fifth lap – Argh! I still have the freestyle lap after this! I’m gonna die.

Sixth lap – I’m gonna die.

By the end, I was so proud of myself. I managed to get another six laps from out of nothing. I stood at the end of the pool, submerged with only my head exposed above thinking, ‘Wow. Thirty is a nice number. Three-zero. It’s nice. … … but not as nice as thirty two.’

That was the number I wanted to hit. Thirty two. 32 laps was my goal. Those two numbers together means a lot to me. Not because I like the number 32 but rather thirty two would be a very nice number to brag about. ahahaha!

So for the sake of bragging rights, I had to get it. I had to get another two more laps. By then, my body had taken a good beating and at this stage, I was fearful that my body might cramp up or fail on me from some freak incident. However, that was not gonna stop me. I wanted another two. It wasn’t too hard. I knew I could do it.
There I went. Leaping off the wall of the pool for the second last time, I ‘fished’ my way underwater for as long as I could until emerging from under the water and crashing above the surface again. The thoughts that ran through my head went along the lines of, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to blog about me suffering some freak accident and retelling the story of how ridiculous I was to push myself so much to have my body swim another 2 more laps? I think it would be a great blog story to tell about me experiencing some insane accident in the pool but do I really want that?” I mean it was possible. I could have over exerted myself during this swim because I hadn’t swim since the Batam retreat, so to swim a record beating 30 laps was something my body could crash under; yet alone 32. I dunno, would it be more interesting to blog about me managing thirty two laps or would it be more interesting to blog about me overdoing it and having some horrific accident in a public pool. I’ll leave it to you guys. But this was what happened.

A lot of things filled my head as I did my final two laps. I didn’t want to break down in the pool. That was the last thing I wanted. There was a chance that it could happen. Of course there was a possibility that I could overdo it. So I was a bit cautious and made sure I didn’t over exert myself.
At the end of the first lap, I kicked the wall one last time – knowing that this was gonna be the last lap. Stroke after stroke, kick after kick, I got nearer and nearer to the end. It was only a matter of time now. My exhausted body pushed on. It pushed on until I couldn’t push on any further. But I couldn’t stop now. I had to finish it. I kept on pushing myself to swim until I approached the final ten metres when I decided to finish it off with the butterfly stroke.

Tired and exhausted, I pushed. I lifted my arms up above the water before allowing them to crash powerfully back into the liquid medium. One after another, I got closer and closer.
Creating a big scene with all the splashing, I proudly crashed right into the pool wall.

It was finished.

All the pushing, all the exertion, all the determination to do the 32 laps pulled through. I have finally broken my record for the number of laps. It was great. My body felt worked. It felt used. It felt abused.

I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, and as I did, there to my right was a family of five. The father was swimming across my lane as his two older kids swam behind him. The older girl swam well with their Styrofoam board but the younger brother was lingering along the edge of the pool on the Styrofoam board. He approached me and as he did, he asked me, “Excuse please.” Politely, I pushed off the wall, away from the direction of the young boy. I watched them swim by as they reminded me of us as kids when we would be taken to the pool with our inflated floats wrapped around our arms with me wearing them underwear swimming trunks. Those were the days. (FYI, I wear speedo-pants under my swimming pants, so don’t start thinking about me wearing any underwear speedos while I swim now! ><”)

When they had passed, I jumped onto the edge of the pool to drip off any excess pool water. After that, I got up and walked to the shower at the pool. The water from the shower was especially chilly this time but it served well as I cooled down from all the warmth in my body. Scrubbing as much chlorine water as I can, I walked away satisfied. My body had a newly formed shaped. As I walked towards my locker, the shadow of my tired body painted itself onto the tiles of the complex floor. However, I was proud to see the imminent shape of my triangular shaped body as I made my way to my locker. I felt tired but stronger at the same time. My shoulders, my arms, my body, all felt stronger. It was a very good workout.

And to imagine I managed all that without any girls around. Try imagining what I can do if there were girls there. XP

Does 50 sound good?

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment

I guess I'm back to my old ways again.

I couldn't really muster up anything 'interesting' to really blog about. Nothing really struck my head the moment I saw the empty blogging space. I guess I'm back to the point where I will have to squeeze whatever 'something good to blog about' fluids I have in my brains to produce a blog entry for you guys to read. So I ask you guys to bear with me for the next few weeks as I live through the same old repetitive routine until I get into the PA. Also, I believe once I'm in the PA, I won't be able to blog as often anymore - seeing that I will be 'confined' for a few weeks when I first go in, I won't be blogging till I return back to the civilian world that I will be called to protect.

Strangely enough, I'm not too sure whether this is some sort of coincidence or anything of that sort, but as of late, I have been noticing a lot of police vehicles every time I am near or on a road. From the top of my head, I am able to recall at least half a dozen incidences where I have either seen a police car, police jeep, police bus or of course, police officers. I don't remember seeing so many in such a short period of time before in my life. Maybe because in the past I might have been oblivious to their presence but I don't think that is the case. I mean, how can one miss a rolling vehicle with funny red and blue lights on the hood of the vehicle as it strolls past you right before your very eyes? I know when there's a police car flying past me when I see one.
So I'm not too sure what you would call this. Coincidence? Maybe. But every time I see one of these representatives of the law, I always start thinking about how in a very short time, I will become one of those people. I will be in one of those things. How I will have to start arresting random drug dealers, prostitutes, law breaking civilians, elevator peeing boys and boy is it gonna be sweet. Not literally of course. Literally would be bitter; but then again, I'd rather not know if I'm right or not =P (If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, best if we kept it that way)

Along with having thoughts about joining the police force, I have to admit that there were times when the thought of breaking the law did come to my head. haha, ridiculous but true. Hear me out for a second.
There were times when the thought of just breaking the law by creating a major scene so the cops can come and arrest me did cross my mind. I'm not sure why I would do something as stupid and absurd as that. Maybe because I want to see what it would be like if I had a close personal encounter with the law just before I go in. I wonder what they would do to me if they found out that I did something stupid like skinny dipping in the middle of the Singapore River as one section of the police force had to come in and retrieve me while I swam around like a terrified fish.

But more realistically, I have thought about jumping in one of those Police vehicles and taking off. How cool would a police chase be when I'm the one running away in a police car! That would be one interesting breaking news report I reckon!

"A 17 year old boy is running wild in a Police Unit through the busy streets of Orchard Road and has been on the run since 10am this morning. The boy is reported to be pending enlistment for the Home Police Academy next April but now, this boy's future doesn't seem so bright after all after ironically stealing a getaway police car!"

Errr... actually, I don't wanna do that. I'll probably freak out before I can even open the police door to get in. I'd rather be a good boy and get into the PA 'clean'.

Anyway, there's nothing to worry about. You don't have to start worrying about me doing something out of this world like taking my police-issued hand pistol and charging into the airport onto an airplane, demanding that the pilot takes me back to Australia. No no. I wouldn't do that. I'll probably just ask the pilot to leave the plane as I fly it myself. Now that is a possible probability.


In all honesty, I've never really considered joining the police force. There was only one time (which I mentioned in the past) that I briefly considered joining the force, but never seriously considered before. So when I heard that I was gonna be in the PA, my whole world became confused. There were thoughts like 'what? me?', 'why choose me?', 'was it something I said?', 'why did I have to get gold on my NAPFA test?', 'should I have gotten something lower?'. I really didn't actually want the police force. My mind was completely set on the army. I was so ready to go to Pulau Tekong for my torturous training sessions with loudspeaker-mouth instructors. I was all ready to put on those black boots and helmet as I run through the jungle in search for our target point. My brothers' stories of where he would dig holes all night long without sleep was all in the back of my head. Having accepted the fact I will be treated as a worthless piece of poo, I was ready. I had already prepared for the worse.

But when the lady said the words, "You will be enlisted into the Police Academy," my world was completely shaken. Those few eight words completely rocked my world. But now, it will be sooooo cool! It's way better than the army!

Not only will I be able to (hopefully) bulk up, but I will also be able to get an insight of how law enforcement works and how the whole system within those police walls operates! Plus, I will be learning some form of Karate; something Amoz and I wanted to learn at one stage because we had simply watched too many clips of the Karate Kid.
However, my mum has warned me to protect myself spiritually as some of these training has some spiritual background to the acts involved. I will be aware and cautious of what I do. I only hope that the Lord will give me the courage and alertness to stand up against what is wrong; if of course there are any cases when it is blatantly obvious that it is against the word or will of God.

Nevertheless, it will be so cool to learn a bit of Karate. I wonder if they would teach us those kinda Karate seen on television. I know those on television are really over the top, but maybe something similar to that. That would be so cool! hehe

Also, something that I've been thinking lately - and because I'm not in the PA yet - is the thought of having a chance to get into the SWAT team. Not too sure if they will allow NS men to get in but anyway, I love the prospect of raiding random locations in black suits holding very cool sophisticated weapons with cool hand signals. lol I asked my auntie about her thoughts about me getting into the SWAT team and she said, "Oooo, very cool. But you have to be all rounded in all areas of combat, shooting, etc." ^^ But I still think it's very cool! hehe (I feel like a sissy giggling school girl right about now =S)

Anyway, all this talk about getting into the police force is getting very exciting. I only have another 3 weeks of freedom to enjoy; so on top of sleeping late and waking up late, I'm gonna take advantage of this flexibility to train a bit more now. However, I have to admit that I hate running. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. The worse part about running is having to push yourself so much more after your body tells you that you should really be letting me rest now. That is the most irritating part! Argh! And that's why I love swimming. I don't feel much of this pain when I swim. Maybe because not all the weight is on my feet and lower part of my body.

Well, either way, I will have to run sooner or later; although, I would prefer later but sooner will have to be the way to go.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth (Part 3)

I took the top bunk with my mum below and my grandma on the other bed.

The room was sufficently spaced out. There wasn't any moaning or groaning that it was too crammed. There was even room for a 2 seater couch on the left of the room, at the foot/head of my grandma's bed. Then again, we weren't overly concerned about the size of the room. The enormous size of the ship made up for the significantly smaller size room. Plus, I was out most of the time, so it wasn't too bad to have a small room.

It was really dark in our room. Considering that our cabin was in the 'middle' of the ship, there really wasn't any port-holes that they could have given us. Fascinatingly enough, they had placed a picture of the sea at one end of the cabin wall to give us this feel that we were near the window but obviously, no sunlight was gonna shine through there. My grandma was examining the shutter windows beside the picture and asked, "How do we open this window to let some light in?" It wasn't long till she realised it was completely sealed.

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I awoke that morning with the sound of my grandma and mum talking. The lights that they have turned on also contributed to my awakening. Oh wait, I remember now. My mum was actually talking to me. I believe she told me to wake up to get ready for breakfast. I flicked open my mobile to see the time clocked at 8:40am. I specifically remembered setting my alarm at 8:45am, so I guess it was to my benefit that I didn't need to hear the banging sound of my alarm tune. I quickly got changed, and headed off to a restaurant called, the Bella Vista.

We actually ate at the Bella Vista twice that day. Once in the morning, and once in the afternoon for lunch. In the morning, we chose the Chinese set meal. From memory, they gave us 2 different types of dim sums, century egg congee, some sorta pig's meat (I think it was the pig's feet) cooked in some savory red sauce and 2 different deep fried dim sums (I think =S). It was quite ok.

We thought the Chinese meal was ok, but when we went back the second time for lunch, we chose Western. That was a pretty bad decision because my mum and grandma had the saffron seafood main course and I had the lamb steak. They passed a bit of their dish to me, as they always do, and when we ate it, it was horrible. The dish was super plain without much, and I quote, 'excitement' -- Mummy. I think they expected the seafood taste along with the saffron to do all the flavouring, but as chinese, we don't do with just that. We need some delicious flavour to engulf the dish. We were deeply disappointed (even though I was happily eating my lamb). I use the word 'we' because I had to eat their dish ><"

After the breakfast, my mum and grandma went together to the library as I decided to roam the ship. I walked around, and happen to stumble across the Starlight Video Arcade room. I wasn't really aware that they had an arcade on board, but I did glance across it during one of my visits to the StarCruises website at work.

When I saw the room, I decided, "hmmm, let's go have a look." In all honesty, I wasn't planning to play. I went in, looked around, and saw that they had all the standard type of games. Car racing, shooting, arcade button pounding games, and other miscellaneous activity games. Then I walked to the reception to find out how much a token cost.

"$0.50 per token" "hmmm, that's the same price in Singapore. I guess it'll be ok if I just used $5" To cut a long story short, I managed to use $30 throughout the whole trip on arcade tokens. Most of them were used for playing all sorts of shooting games. I think 2 were cop games, 2 were shooting the undead, 1 was sniper shooting, and the other one was Time Crisis. I'm really enjoying all these shooting games. So much fun to mercilessly shoot someone till they disappear from the screen. Classic.

Before lunch, I decided to go take some pictures of the ship. I walked to the front of the ship, and walked to the sides of the ship. I did go upstairs to the top of the ship to take a few shots, but they didn't come out too nicely because of the rain and wind.

These two were the two photos worth posting because you can see the visible water droplets in the photos.

Also in the first photo, it points out one location of the ship I did not venture to. I wished I had gone there, but I somehow didn't manage to find the entrance to that part of the ship.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about that little bit at the end of the front of the ship where you can stand and view the open sea. I really want to go back and stand there now, just for the sake of being able to say that I went everywhere accessible.

Anyway, these are some random shots of the ship that I decided to post because I thought they were cool. The first picture is one of a lifeboat. I was surprised to find out that it could hold 150 persons because I think I watched too many movies where a lifeboat could only hold a handful of people. Also with this life boat, it is completely sealed when the doors are closed. So I guess you could say you'll be safe from the stormy seas in the event that there is one during evacuation.

But then again, when you look at the benches in the boat, you don't want to be 'lost at sea' for too long. Your back and butt might be in a lot of pain from any turbulence.

The only reason why I really took this photo was simply because it had the word "Liverpool" on it. If they didn't have the word "Liverpool" on it, I seriously doubt I would have given this Clintometre a second look. I don't even know what a 'Clintometre' is. lol Strongly biased photographer.

After having lunch at the Bella Vista, I decided that I would go watch the movie, Cars, showing in the cinema, just to kill time till I am able to go exercise. Then, my mum and grandma decided that they wanted to tag along, even though I told them that I would only stay for an hour. After which I would head off. Still, they insisted on coming. Even my grandma, who is not able to follow English programs all that quickly, wanted to come.

So anyway, we watched it, and after a short while, they both started to get sleepy. They told me later that they pretty much dozed off during the show and decided to go back to the room to sleep.

When I left the cinema, I went to get changed to head off to the gym. At the gym, I did some stretches, and I soon noticed that there was a weighing machine. Thinking it was practically harmless, I went to weigh myself. To my surprise, I discovered that I had put on another 6kg from the last time I weighed, which was 3 months back when I did my medical test for the army. I weighed-in at 71kg. A big surprise to me. In some ways, it's good. I appear to be 'bulking up', so most of the muscles contribute to the additional weight, but I couldn't help but wonder if I am any fatter as well.

During my time at the gym, I decided to do chin-ups. It was 2 months since I last did chin-ups, so I jumped on I could easily tell that it was so much harder. Even though I was able to do 10, my usual 12 seemed really difficult to reach. I guess it's something I have to work on when I finish work as I prefer for the Police Academy.

After the gym, I thought I would go and swim in the Aqua Jet Pool. I asked them if there were towels I could use for the Aqua Pool but they told me that I had to pay in order to use it. In addition, I would be given a locker in the changing room to place my stuff in. In the locker, they also provided 2 clean towels and a bottle of water. All I had to pay, was a measly $12.

$12 for a locker and the ability to use the Aqua Jet Pool would be something I wouldn't normally pay for. But after contemplating that this was a holiday, and I should really do it for the experience, I went ahead and did it.

This would be something I wouldn't regret. After all, if I didn't pay for it, I wouldn't have found the changing room. I walked into the changing room, and I was confronted with this comfortable silence as some gentle music played in the background. The floor when entering was carpeted, with this hallway that led into the massage room and the hall that you see below.

You can see the carpeted area in the picture above. And on the right of this picture, where it's very bright and sunny, is the room below.

I was completely shocked when I saw this room. I mean a seating area that they call the "Relaxation Room" in the middle of a changing room!? Isn't it meant to be a ... changing room? I simply had to sit down. It was so lovely. It was quiet, away from all the chaotic screaming outside, with only the view to enjoy.

This picture makes the sun look hot but imagine sitting in a cool quiet room with the hot blazing sun shining outside. Then, several jet boats would stream by your view for a little entertainment. The only thing missing from this scenario was company. Someone to share these breath taking moments with.

In any case, it was lovely. I even saw this! A Japanese Plunge Bath in the middle of the male changing room. Who would have thought? I don't never know what a Japanese Plunge Bath is!

I touched the water in the plunge bath and it was so freezing cold! Who would wanna bath in something like this!? Not me! Brrrr

There was also another one to the right of this plunge bath.

Also in the changing room, there was a steam room and a sauna. I contemplated going into the sauna but it read, "a clean towel and 2 hours". I had the clean towel, but I didn't have the 2 hours.

Wandering around the changing room a little bit more, I came across this. Surely I had to take this!

While someone is taking a whizz, people streaming by on their jet boats could glance in to watch someone do their business. Fascinating.

I reckon they should have placed the urinal towards the glass window so someone taking a whizz could enjoy the view while using it.

Sorry ladies.

After taking a dip in the Aqua pool, I went into the Parthenon Pool outside (pictured below). The Aqua pool was really nice and warm, but when I came to this pool, it was so freezing cold! I think my nipples were numb. I had to swim as hard as I could to get the blood pumping to warm my body. I didn't last very long in the pool because I had used up too much energy trying to create heat.

After the cold swim, I came out of the pool, and happen to see the Jacuzzi right in front of me.

"Meh, since I'm already wet, let's just go in." I placed my foot in, and it was so boiling hot! Ahh! I endured the first few moments of getting used to the temperature, and soon, it was so nice and warm. Bubbles were bubbling up my back and butt, ahhhh. Once again, something which would be so very nice to share with someone else. Well, there was this large old man in the Jacuzzi with me, but I don't think that's what I mean.

My 'enjoyment' was cut short when I desperately needed to use the toilet to do a wiss. I endured it till I decided that I had to go. I enjoyed the last few moments in the warm Jacuzzi and went to dry myself off.

Then, it was off to the changing room again! Whooo!!!

To be continued...