i noe this is quite late, but there are a load of thoughts abt nats. so im going to type them down here, though my english may suck, i hope it can strike a chord with u guys.
i guess this year just wasnt our year. the whole nationals i saw the j2 team fighting, fighting for Raffles and the team, and see them fall. n it really hurts to see ppl i look up to, like kaiyang and muddy, defeated in their race just like that.
but u noe wad? to me, they r still champs. champs cuz they dint give up, champs cuz they fought to the end, champs cuz they lost with grace and carried themselves like winners. n they all learnt something from this, came out better people, as friends and teammates for life. to chiam, if what u said on the j2 blog really came from ur heart, then im really glad, n really respect u for that.
what makes a champion? even though my shifu, kenneth loo, dint win the gold medal, to me he is still my hero. cuz he holds himself like one. he never boasts, he is humble n he makes the best of what he has. though other rowers may have triumphed over him, he definitely does not need to show off, which is what others may do. n that is the hallmark of a true champion. looloo, i rly salute u, n ill try to beat ur timing next year :)
thanks j2s. thanks to chiam n seetoh n loo n timchow, hu taught me how to row a C from feb till now. i promise, ill win it back. n thanks muddy, for really helping with the jiaolian problem :) n thanks to all the j2 guys n girls hu were teammates n friends, for setting the benchmark for hard work n spirit. its going to be tough to surpass you all, but we will try, for the glory of Raffles.
now i think what we need are more trainings. as selwyn said, its better to train 2 hrs 5 times a week than 5 hrs 2 times a week. its consistency and hard work that work hand in hand to pay off. sadly, the circumstances were not in our favout this year. eugene n bernice, please do all u can for more water time, please.
n to the j1s, thanks for giving ur all too. we fought for Raffles n though this year we dint make it, lets learn from this nats n improve for nxt yr. let us prove that hard work and spirit WILL pay off in the end. let us believe that our moment of glory will come, n that God will reward those hu believe in him for it. n if ever we slacken of start to burn out during trainings, let us not forget that day when the team of 2007 went down fighting. let it be a reminder and in inspiration to us to work hard, train smart, and fight to the end. Raffles for the WIN!!
today i went to hospital to collect shit sample results. then in the end the doc asked some qns, n at least i confirmed theres no piles or cancer or worms. anw it is a stomach ulcer. so its going to b there forever, unless i want to cut it out. but i ham ji so i guess its just going to stay there.
then in the morning i went to church n it was rly gd svc. abt glory for God. yay i felt better.
then later i went home n i slept cuz i was dam tired. oso dunno y maybe cuz its blood loss. yucks. anw i woke up at 8pm n went to gym, n after doing i bit i wanted to die alr. so i went home n feel miserable.
so life is bullshit now. haha n a lot of other stuff is rubbish too. 7 more days to CT, still have 2 more subjects to study. that 1 maybe still can pull off. but yea, theres some stuff i cant do anymore. n it sucks.
now i like disturbed. disturbed is a freaking gd band. it makes me pissed off. n story of the year rox too. it helps me get un-pissed off. so i shall give 1 song from each n go study chem energetics, which is a hell load of crap to remember.
n this is another super emo song that is nice. this 1 makes me emo n makes me think. a lot.
Send someone to love me I need to rest in arms Keep me safe from harm In pouring rain
Give me endless summer Lord I fear the cold Feel Im getting old Before my time
As my soul heals the shame I will grow through this pain Lord Im doing all I can To be a better man
Go easy on my conscience cause its not my fault I know Ive been taught To take the blame
Rest assured my angels Will catch my tears Walk me out of here Im in pain
As my soul heals the shame I will grow through this pain Lord Im doing all I can To be a better man
Once youve found that lover Youre homeward bound Love is all around Love is all around
I know some have fallen On stony ground But love is all around
Send someone to love me I need to rest in arms Keep me safe from harm In pouring rain
Give me endless summer Lord I fear the cold Feel Im getting old Before my time
As my soul heals the shame I will grow through this pain Lord Im doin all I can To be a better man
life really sucks. i dunno la maybe its too bz or too tiring or too dunno wad, but theres a lot of crap to think abt and wen i tink abt it, its quite deepressing. nvm.
o ya chinx just posted abt the rowing comp on 20 may. lets all go! itll b fun n i think we can win sth.
the results arent out yet. i tink its on thursday. whatever happens well still be together anyway, so really guys dun feel so bad if u do not make it k?
my world by sick puppies rox. u all shuld go hear it.
goin to do work. arent i hardworking? haha work shuld burn...
trng was gd. we paddled abt 4km, then paddled with chiam and seetoh. so 1st they challenged us to burst to the pontoon and we did n we beat them, but they said they werent even trying.
then i went with seetoh n chinx with chiam. then we went out, and me n seetoh capped n i felt like a n00b. chiam kept making fun of us. then later we raced them to the pontoon. chiam n chinx burst but they capped. so we won.
then later i went with chiam n chinx with seetoh. n we raced arnd n all that. i learnt alot abthow to make ur strokes better balanced and stronger n more abt J-ing. i think thats the most i learnt in a long time
thats the gd part. the screwed part is that during trng mr go talked to me and said "ya nathan, u another one." then i said "huh? another one?" then he said "ur CT is mr chan rite." then i said "yes" then he said "he tells me u r bad. bad with a capital B. please show me that u can be good not only in canoe but also in class" then i said "huh sir? what did i do? wad did he say?" and he said "confidential"
all i wanna do now is train like a rabid dog n do well in nats. hope everyone can too for e team. and theres that trial test at 5pm tomorrrow.
so nathan has an attitude problem. i was dam emo after that n was pissed for the whole tnrg. im still pissed now. im going to ask mr chan more abt this tml. till then im going to b an emo piece of S***.
i want to thank everyone for supporting me and chin yee out there. i noe we dint race a perfect race, n we dint get into semis, but what the heck, we tried our best for raffles, and thats gd enough for now. we really appreciated it when ppl like jianrong tell us to jiayou b4 the race, and ppl like kaiyang and muddy hu tell us to go out there and do RJ proud, and shenghao n marcus n kenny hu helped us carry e boat, and everyone else who tells us gd job after that. thats the team i have grown to know n love. so yea
but this is also a wake up call. looking at ppl like ming shen and james goh hu r really experts of their craft i wanna say that we r really nowwhere compared to them. and knowing this we r going to work triply hard at every training, because evryone will be working doubly hard for nats, and we are not going to let them take that medal just like that. this year, and next year, are our years. and not oni for C class but T and K as well, today i have seen how stiff the competition is with national rowers and all.
but the strongest part of us is our spirit, and even thought we havent learnt rowing as long as them, so what. i tink if we train really hard, and observe the national rowers technique and learn from our stupid mistakesand their skill, we can really catch up. so lets dun die now, dun de-morale. lets fight. and lets win in july.
this is wad happened today n how i rly feel abt it. i may not b very gd with words but i hope it can help to say sth to all those hu read the blog.
today jiaolian picked 18 ppl out of like 28 guys. that means that 10 guys are not in the team. he sorted us out into 20 ppl, then chose 18 from there. n it rly touched me wen kennedy brian n darren were left n oni 1 culd b taken n kennedy said to jiaolian that brians stronger, take him instead. i think that is really selfless n kennedy i gotta say i wanted to cry then
jiaolian said, the rest have 2 weeks, if u want to get into the team, u must pull someone from the 18 down n get in. this is dam pragmatic n is a realistic system but its shit for the team. we compete against OTHERS, not among OURSELVES.
I rly think that instead of pulling ppl DOWN, y cant we raise them UP to a better standard? as a lot of ppl said today hu gives a shit about the gold if in the end theres no team to celebrate it with. if we are all individualistic pieces of shit then we can go win gold for all we care, but thats y we r not some shit sch, we r RAFFLES.
In this team, girls n guys alike, wad makes raffles row special is the RAFFLES, not the ROW. anyone can bloody row a boat if given time but no other grp of ppl can ever make up the RAFFLES. so lets stick together n not let this competition shit fuk up our spirit, yea?
to the guys hu dint make it, dun mope abt this. theres 2 weeks. well b mentoring n helping u all all the way, so dun give up. in a family, no 1 gets left behind, or forgotten. raffles row forever!
today i am bloody pissed n emotional. because of certain stuff, but mostly becuz of wad the doc said.
yesterday i dint go for training, so i felt like a piece of slack shit again. so i decided to at least burn some calories n did crunches. that was no problem. then i did a few stretches. i did the deltoid stretch n suddely a small stretching sound was heard n my back hurt like shit again.
so after that, i kept leaning forward n it was dam hard to breathe n walk. now its not funny anymore. i culdnt even sit down properly.
later i saw mr V n i asked him wads the problem n he said where does it hurt. n i told him itsn ot the lats its somewhere inside. n he said oh..die. that 1 u cant do anything for dam long. it hurts like shit wen u breathe rite n i was like yea...y?
n he said i strained it b4 during rock climbing n i MIA for 1 wk, n it took 3 weeks to heal properly. then i said harh i got comp nxt wk leh. then he said u better not go..later u cant go for nationals. sacrifice this comp n win the next one.
but i cant do that its pangseh-ing the whole team n then me n chinx will have trained like hell for nothing. so i dun care im going to compete even it i must take 5 painkillers to do so. so after training we cheered n i went home
at nite i tried to sleep. but lying down was dam painful n irritating so in the end i stacked abt 6 pillows against the wall n slept there siting up. pathetic sia. then in the mornin i woke uip n there was no diff. so i went to sch.
after sch n pool i went to c a sports doctor, n he was like press here press there where does it hurt, wad did u do, wad sport r u in..blabla. then he asked me to say wen its pain. then he showed me a chart of the back muscles n said i strained this one.
its called..settarus posterior superior muscle. its supposed to act to pull the upper ribs up during breathing, n aids in rotating the shoulderr blade n back/ so thats y so pain wen i row..ok lor. so he says if it can recover by next wk then can compete. but if injure anymore then forget it.
so im going to rest like hell n recover. but if i dun train ill deprove like hell but anw im going to rest first then hardcore trng wen im bak. but im going down for water trng tml n land trng on thurs...i miss the team n trng too much to go home n rot in hell. pls guys, lets smash NJC.
Luigi
Marcu
Bowser
Kennedy
Willie
Kee Guan
Xiao Bai Cai
Vic
Bong
Greg
Michael
Maggie
Mohan and das
Xing Da
Jerome
Jeremy
Hong Cheng
Powderman
Eugene
Feng Shuo
Nehthan
Beng Hong
Marc
Aaron
LJ
Shawn
AhD
