Sunday's amazing rides...

:)

My second stay-in weekend of the month, and it was great.. ok, ok.. I really need to get serious about my Ironman training, but hey, you only live once, so... what the heck.

As the previous post, I got my first ever pedicure on Saturday.. and it still looks great. Sunday, the next day, was even more exciting and filled with the ever usual adrenaline rush. It started with rock climbing in the morning at Yishun SAFRA. Man... my arms were dead after that as I have not climbed for what seemed like ages.... (oklar.. last climb was in ?May) Managed to reach the top of two new walls for me, with lotsa rest in between... (thank you, Dean). Tried a bit of bouldering, but was really useless at that... so.. New Year's resolution of 2009 - to climb more and better ... hmm.. also to dive more (in sea and sky) and travel more and find a BF and.... etc etc etc... my non-stop wish list

okay.. before I go on and on and on ... Sunday night was equally exciting.. made a pact with Pris and Kayla to go on the Gmax Reverse Bungee and Xtreme Swing (http://www.gmax.co.nz/). The rides have been out for yrs now, but can never find anybody to go with me. The Reverse Bungee is akin to a Bungee Jump, only the other way round, while the Xtreme Swing is like the Canyon Swing in NZ, where you swing form one ridge to the other side on a canyon.

We met up at 8pm at Clarke Quay MRT and made our way there. Pris's younger bro, Robin, joined us as well. Pris wanted to reward him for the amazing results in the latest exams, and so was treating him to the rides.

We met up with Kayla and gang at the Gmax rides itself, and proceeded to get the tickets. There wasn't a queue there, so we were the next "victims". Okay, started with the Reverse Bungee.. 3 pax, so me, Pris and Robin went first. We were strapped onto the seats as we held our breaths. The attendant prepped the "capsule" and readied to push the launch button....

All tied down to the capsule...

Countdown....
5.....4... (i started counting with her)...3......errr

ARGHHHHHH!!!!! We were OFF!!!! it was fast..real fast... imagine being shot up in the air at 5G's... like a slingshot.. oh man oh man oh man... what goes up must come down... ARGHH!!!!!! here we go again...hahaha.. (ok.. I was pretty much silent.. Pris did the vocal cord practice)... :)...

Did a forward flip

We bounced up and down a few times until finally, no more momentum and the capsule stopped. We were lowered slowly.. slowly until we touched down.. Alright.. that was a few seconds of adrenaline rushing all the way out and up and down and up and down again. It was great!!!
(Reverse Bungee clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY5ZfwiiwfY )

Alright, Kayla was up next with another tourist and.. she is one super gutsy lady... she didn't scream at all, but the guy was hilarious... he screamed and cursed and screamed again.. even when it was all over.. haha... shows that females are after all the stronger sex ;)

Okaaaay... after one ride, it's the Xtreme Swing then. Kayla sat out on this one, so it was me, Pris and Robin. Okay, the attendants strapped us in again.. phew.. this ride is a bit different though. We get to pull the lever itself to release us from one end and Robin was given the honour... So, we were pulled up to one side... (imagine a swing) high high up on one side.. to relieve the tension.. we were singing nursery rhymes (I think the attendants thought we were mad). Finally, after about 20 secs, we were at the highest point. The light turned green, signalling we can release the lever already.. small chat and right when I was in the middle of my thoughts... ARGHHH!!!! We were falling..... !!!! the first fall was about ?7-8G's.. it was whoa.. undescribably fun!!! haha... after that.. the subsequent swings weren't really as exciting anymore :( , as the momentum slowly died-ed away.. but heck, the first rush was enough liao.. :)

Right before we were released

We were lowered again, and got out of our seats.. We were still high and super excited after the ride and went for some makan and minum, ehh.. Brewerkz with great beer nearby ma (but we were at Cafe Iguana, next to Brewerkz) before adjourning around 11pm to home and bed...

It was one great and exciting Sunday... loved loved loved it :). Wish there were more days like this, but err... dun ask me to do it again la... (unless someone spares me 65 bucks for the ride)

Trudge on, and ride on...

Olympics!! 2008!!!

THE OLYMPICS ARE HERE!!!! After a 4 year wait since the last one, the Beijing 2008 has finally arrived.. the opening yesterday, was just sooo amazing.. the way the 5 interlocking rings lit up at the beginnning, and started to lift up towards the sky.. wow.. and the way they made the globe, with ppl running on it.. upside down!!! only China and Zhang Yimou could hace done it.. amazing.

But after all the hurrah of the opening, the part that strike me the most was when all the athletes came out, representing their countries, showing the spirit of the games. This was the part, where a person could see how the people from the other side of the globe looks like (or like how a certain someone puts it, its a good time to revise geography) ; how different we really are, and yet, how we all still look, feel and act the same, when it comes down to something we all can feel proud about. The games to me is about the world comes to an agreement again, after multitudes of war, discrimination, and fear. Its the time when we all come together and say, "heck care about fighting with guns and bullets... i wanna see my country win a medal!" This year is sure going to be one to watch out for.. with Iraq, Afghanistan, Kenya and even the small Timor-Leste, after having their country ravaged by the tides of homeland insecurities, managed to send out athletes to compete against the bigger and secure countries like US, China, Europe..

Hmm... and of course the star athletes to look out for.. Phelps, Hackett, Nadal, Radcliffe... whoa.. sporting wonderland..

Hopefully nothing happens during the Games this year. It's always a shame when something happens... The olympics is to celebrate the sporting spirit and the human will to succeed..So, to end off, I hope it'll always remain so till the end of time... and that we can always look forward to a peaceful world...

Trudge on...

Bike Crash!!!

Hmm... after almost a whole month of the same old stuff.... finally something interesting happened.. :) Had a bad bike crash this morning around 5am.. at somewhere in NUS. Some stupid truck decided to break suddenly in front of me. Was not going very fast at the time, and managed to brake in time, but flew of my bike and landed about a metre away on my head. Helmet broke the fall.. but darn.. the helmet cracked. Now I need to get a new helmet again today, riding out tomorrow to complete what I didn't finish today.

Funnily, wasn't really scared or worried when I was flying. Felt more pissed at the f**king driver who stopped suddenly. He made a turn and came back to see me, but drove away when I got up and shoved my middle finger at him.

Luckily, nothing wrong with the bike.. or I would have taken his license plate down and stalk the driver.. Don't want anything wrong with my bike now that the next race is only a month away. My glasses got crooked... so need to spend money to sigh..get a new pair. More money down the drain again. sigh..

So, picked up my bike, gave a quick look.. no cracks so far... and cycled home. Reealised only in the shower later that I had a deep abrasion over my Right Ankle.. (still bleeding while I'm typing this out) .. so, i'll need to get some antiseptics later on as well.. sigh..

After this crash.. I realised that the things I learnt from it was that...
1. accidents are bad cos they costs money.. Nevermind the injuries... it hurts that I need to go buy another helmet that'll put me back by another SGD70+, or get another pair of glasses. Correction... the helmet costs... SGD 149 :(

2. Accidents also disrupt trainings cos I need to go swim tonight.. but it'll hurt like hell with the open wound now still bleeding.

3. I kinda like the feeling of flying through the air.. hmm... getting ideas in my head now. Maybe I should do some stunt works.. hmm..

4. Accidents are good... they give me sth to blog about..

Oh well... until the next accident, or whatever interesting that crosses my way..

Trudge on.. and live on...

A new responsibility in life..

Yay!!! I am sooo elated.. Done moving already, now just finishing up with the unpacking bit.. but no, that's not the real reason behind this post. I'm getting a new baby!!! I'm so happy. Visited the clinic today, and everything is going great. Next appt is on Monday.. so excited now.

Been dreaming of this baby for ages, and now that it's coming true, I can't wait to see her. Yes, its a HER!!! I'll put up pics as soon as I can, after next week.

:)

I hope all of you guys out there are happy for me too!!! I'm really excited

Trudge on , mateys..

New name...

Yes... the title sez it all..I have a new name.. by accident.. it happened so quick, that before I knew it, my last 27 yrs, known as Jonie, has changed. The culprit : BG...

It was a dark and not-stormy night.. the sun just set, the wind blowing strong (well, it was in singapore anyway) I just got back from a swimming session, all wet and aching at the time.. the room was dark, and quiet.. I went in.. the laptop was just sitting on my bed, ready to be activated. The screen turn brigth as i started it.. and the connection came on. "Internet connected," it says.. and Messenger auto-connects.. seconds turn into minutes turn into more minutes.. and Beat came on... Man, havent seen her in a while. Wonder how she was... With the sensitive touchpad... i double clicked her nick on the screen... and typed... casually... with no fear....

"yo beat's"......

more quiet seconds ensued...

the sweat now lining my fore head....




"yo joets....." she replied.....

with that... and ringing in my ears...

I got a new name..

Joets....

Men....just men...

I wonder, what do guys do when they go to toilet... some guy came forscreening today. Went for urine testing ... akks..after urine microscopy - sperm and blood in the urine.....ackkkssssss what was he doing in the toilet??!!! in that short 5 mins while collecting urine...sigh sigh sigh

Blisters

Got a blister after rock climbing - the rock climbing shoes were 2 sizes smaller than normal shoes.. plus, I forgot to cut my toenails.. in conclusion - alw cut your nails before wearing small shoes.. that or go for surgery to shorten the 2nd toe.

Small things to brighten the day...

Small things have been happening to me the past few days that taught me to appreciate the lighter side of life. Been weird, cos only nowadays I noticed how special I am.. (haha..another bragging session). I've always maintained that others are special, and they bring me joy in my life, that I've neglected to feel special for myself as well. This doesn't mean that I'm downgrading how much I love my friends, family and almost everbody else I know, just that I'm starting to fall in love with myself once again...

The past 2 weeks...
2 words: Cute footballers!!! (and nice asses, six-packs....etc etc)

Then, on Saturday...
After a really really tiring day, the night was spent at Wala wala with my fave band playing... thought I caught one of the cute band guys smiling at me (hehe...or how I wish he really was)...

On Sunday...
the cab driver was wondering why I was smiling when looking out from the cab.. He said I was smiling from my heart and thought I won the lottery or sth... I told him that I was just happy that day, and that I wanted others to share the smile with me.

On Monday... (yesterday)
Had a fantastic 20km run in PR of 1hr50min, then went out with housemate for a fantastic dinner at Crystal Jade.. had porridge, and a great time chatting with her. Been a long time since we had dinner together at the restaurant.

These may seem like small unimportant things to many other, but to me, it just made my days felt complete.... So look around, you might some small things here and there that you just take for granted. As in the lyrics of a song that keeps playing in my head nowadays- "take a look at the ordinary... don't need to look for paradise,... you might just find, an angel in disguise......"

Got shot!!!

ughhh... feel weak now.. fingers trembling... will I ever recover from this traumatic incident...

It happened yesterday afternoon, but I could still remember it very well, as though it just happened a minute ago. There I was, just hiding innocently behind the sandbags, awaiting for a chance to display my skills, well honed at the arcades playing Time Crisis 1-4(R), when out of no where, a pellet hit my fingers...my left fingers to be exact.. and out I was... left to deal with my wounded fingers (but mostly pride) arrghhh.. it was a dramatic moment, where the seconds turned to hours... when I realised that I had to leave my team mates to fend for themselves. With sadness and regret (more like scared of being shot again), I walked out (more like ran out too)... never turning back (but I did continue to watch the game from the starting bunker)....

hehe.... the whole department went for a paintball game yesterday. The centre was closed for half a day but as expected (and also cos we couldn't find the place), we started late, almost an hour late, but that didn't deter our ever rising spirits to shoot one another. I think most of us had someone in mind to shoot at, but in this game, everyone except your team mates are your enemies. We started out with a short briefing session, where we were taught on using the 'marker' aka gun and the rules of the game. Apparently, there are paintball competitions held worldwide!! and with great vigour too , do all the contestants participate. We were divided into teams, which were changed in every game (we played 3 games altogether). Then off to the firing range to try out the weapons. Seems that its easier to shoot by roughly aiming the gun, than to use the sight to aim. The battle then begins...

The grassy pitch was wet from the rain in the early afternoon, and our shoes were covered in mud once we stepped into the battlezone. Looking at the bunkers there were, strategies were whipped up in the last few minutes before the games begin.. I was in team 1 throughout.. with Brother and Unker and the dietitians.. Name : Team Brother..very generic name.. haha.. our strategist was Unker, who opted for passive aggresiveness, and it worked..we won the first game. Second and Third game, I was in Boss's team, with Boss as the boss of the team.. It was in the third game that I got shot...by my AC, right smack on my left fingers while trying to peek out and get a good aim..eww..the paint was sticky..

The game turned out to be a blast, with some free shows as well (Fawzi with his... err.. pants coming off was the butt of all jokes). Later, we adjourned to dinner, buffet style. Food was goooooood, liked the ?Mongolian sauteed prawn. Had a free ride home after that thanks to Unker.. :) .. turns out he stays nearby.. hmm (evil smile coming along) ....

phew, it was a long day indeed... was dead tired by the time I got home, and totally knocked off after showering. hehe... this is really going to be one trully memorable day ...

Total damage of the day:
Pants and shoes, Left fingers, Pride...

PS... call me out if anybody gg for another round of paintball... ;)

Brazillian bods..

ahhh...just seen 2 hot brazillian soccer players... with chiselled six packs and all... hot hot hot... darn shoulda taken their pics.. hehe