Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

In my Junior College days, I was one of the top Ten-Pin bowler chalking an average of 200 PPG (points-per-game). I trained hard and my dream was to one day win an Open competition and be part of the Singapore National Bowling Team.

In the first year of my National Service, I crack-fractured my right wrist (my master hand) during the Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) test. I went through 1 year of physiotherapy and rehab, but never able to carry heavy stuff using my right hand again. I was downgraded to PES C1L2 and I was never able to take part in competitive bowling again. [Reality strikes and my world just collaspe around me... it's a lousy feeling.]

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In my university days, I was an avid sportsman. I played soccer, basketball, soccer, squash and almost any ball games. In January 2006 during my Masters' studies, I had a freak accident on a rainy day. I slipped, fell and sprained my right ankle (my master foot)really badly. I was out of sports action for almost 6 months, unable to do even light jogging. [I felt really lousy about myself.]

During the 6 months, I went through intensive rehab and physiotherapy (up to 2-3 times a week, sweating like a madman at every physio session!). In November - December 2006, I took part in a 100KM walkathon, climbed the 72-storey Vertical Marathon @ Swissotel and completed the 42KM Singapore Marathon.

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During my Masters' studies in Bioengineering (2004 - 2006), I was required to take Biology subjects, understand Biology concepts and theories, write reports and do up presentations on them. These were a major challenge for me as I have never ever taken Biology before in my life!

I mugged, studied, burned midnight oil studying and preparing for every single homework, test, exams and presentation. This is on top of being a cell leader and serving in church.

In end-2007, I was conferred my Masters' Degree in Engineering. Together with it, I had three conference presentations, two journal papers, and one patent application to my name. I just collected my Masters' Degree graduation certificate this week. *All Smiles*

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Success in life doesn't mean having a glamourous lifestyle, great achievements, nor popular and accepted by people. All these are good and important things in life. BUT... Is that how you really would define Success?

To me, the A-B-C guide to Success is:

1. Able to star at every challenges that comes in life and see the opportunity for growth.
2. Being able to bounce back from defeats and failures in life - having a never-say-die attitude.
3. Choosing not to compare and envy the people around you, but follow your principles, values and convictions of life.

Being a Christian, this is where I get my source of inspiration from:

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves. - Psalm 127:1-2 (NIV)

Read more on this article...

During my teenage years,

1. I didn't look forward to having meals together with my parents because we didn't have much to talk about. Every meal was solemn and very very quiet.
2. I disliked talking to my parents because almost every conversation would end up in arguments.
3. I hated going shopping with my parents.
4. I hated it even more when my mum holds my hands while crossing the road.

Today (I was on leave),

1. I enjoyed lunch together with my parents. Simple homecooked food, and it was a good time of catching up.
2. I enjoyed chatting with my mum, just hearing her ventilate, talk about her hobbies, friends and aspects of her daily life.
3. I went grocery shopping with my mum, helping her choose fruits and vegetables (I am learning from her =D) and carrying them home.
4. I held the umbrella for my mum while we were out and she held my arms when we crossed the road.

You know what? I believe I have finally grown up. Unknowingly I became busier and busier in live... and unknowingly I began spending less and less time at home... I began overworking and under-relating. As I looked back, I began to realize how much I missed spending time with my family.

Looking ahead, I am making effort to catch up with loss time. I love my family a lot. =D

After 20 over years, I have finally grown up. HOW ABOUT YOU?

PS: This post was inspired after watching the movie "For One More Day". Thank you Mr Jeffrey for introducing this wonderful book to me. Read more on this article...

Read more on this article...

Ingredients Needed:

1. Digestive biscuits 2. Butter (250g block) 3. Philadelphia cream cheese (250g block) 4. Condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) 5. Lemon


Step 1: Preparing the base crust for the cheesecake. Mash digestive biscuits into fine grains (Best to use a ziplock bag). Make sure they are as fine as the sand at East Coast Park beach!



Step 2: Mix the digestive biscuit grains with melted butter. The ratio is 1/4 block of butter to 5 digestive biscuits. Stir in one direction and get a good "cement-like" mixture.


Step 3: Spread the mixture evenly onto the base of your container. Best to use a plastic tupperware. If you are using melt container, remember to put tracing paper as a base.



Step 4: Preparing the cheesecake. Mix 1 block of Philadelphia cheese with 1/4 can of condensed milk.


Step 5: This is the toughest part! Put in all your energy and start mixing them evenly. Add in a few drops of lemon juice in the process of mixing. This would give the slight sour taste.


Step 6: Continue mixing... Your hands should be tired by now. So get your friends to help you. Make sure your mixing is in one direction! (I'm not sure of the rational, but it's what my youths tell me.. haha!)


Step 7: Now spread the cheese-condensed milk mixture evenly over your container, which was earlier laid out with the digestive biscuit base.



Step 8: Once done, put the container in a fridge to chill the cheesecake. Estimated timing is 1-2 hour for small cakes and 3-6 hours for larger cakes.


Step 9: Decorate your cake as you wish! TADA! It's done!!!

Read more on this article...

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Take a good look at this... For the past two years at work, I have been sitting on this distorted chair:

Read more on this article...

A New Year... A New Beginning, and a time to set New Year Resolutions! But wait... have you ever wondered what's the definition of New Year's Resolution?? So check this out from Wikipedia:

"A New Year's Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous."

So now, check out MY new year's resolution..... Here we go!

1) Read a book per month

2) Watch a DVD per month (must be inspiring shows)

3) Complete Adidas SunDown Marathon & Standard Chartered Marathon, each in sub-5hr 30min timing.

4) Scale to summit of Mount Kinabalu

5) A personal gift/makan treat/movie treat from me for everyone in my youth group


That's as far as I can think of now, will add in more as I get inspired along the way.

Well, truth of the matter is that anyone can set NYRs, but not everyone can achieve it. The key is to set in place practical steps and plans to achieve them. In line with my NYRs, here are some practical steps to be taken:

1) Write down a list of 12 books that I would want to read this year (currently I have 3 in mind already)

2) Setting aside the last Saturday evening of every month for a getaway to catch up with my mounting stack of DVDs!

3) Exercise (either jogs or ball games) at least 2-3 times a week. Currently I jog twice and play soccer once within a week.

4) Plans are already on the way to climb Mt K. in June 2009!

5) One of my youths has emailed me a contact list of everyone's birthday and NOW I am busy logging them into my calenders (email & handphone) with alarms!

Have you listed down your NYRs yet? Take time to pen them down, else it's definitely gonna be another boring year ahead for you.

If you have listed your NYRs, then may I challenge you to put actions to words. =D Read more on this article...

Many of you have been asking me where I have disappeared to in the past two month as I haven't been updating on my blog. Well, here's a quick update on what I've been doing these past two months. Enjoy!

Standard Chartered Marathon 42KM Singapore Marathon

I survived my 3rd marathon in 4 years, clocking in at 6 hours 26 minutes. Many have asked me, "Why in the world do you pay money to suffer?". My answer is always the same... Pushing myself to the limits and believing that I can achieve something that I cannot humanly fathom I can do. I want I can! =D

Holiday Trip to Kuala Lumpur


Took a week long holiday trip to KL with a bunch of friends. Indeed it was a wonderful time of R.E.S.T - Relaxing, Eating, Shopping and Touring around KL. Next time anyone of you want to go KL, look for me! I will introduce you to all my KL friends whom can show you around! =D

Christmas Party


A bunch of my church youths organized a Christmas Party at my place. So proud of them that they anchored the entire event - the decoration, the food, the games and even the cleaning up. A wonderful warm and cosy time of sharing the true meaning of Christmas with our friends as well!

Combined Cell Group Camp @ PraiseHaven, Salvation Army


Immediately after Christmas, I headed off for a combined cell group camp where we had a time of re-looking back at Year 2008 and being thankful of what has happened. A good opportunity also for everyone to catch up and time to bond with one another. Lotsa fun too especially with the 'Fruity' fun game! =P

Countdown Party 2008 @ TOUCH Centre


Ended the year 2008 in a celebrative mood with the Countdown Party in church. The theme for the party was 'Occupation'. Check out some of the crazy ideas that came out from this. All in all, everyone was game for the dress up and we have tonnes of fun just snapping photos away! What a way to usher in the new year! Woohoo!

Watch out for more exciting highlights in 2009! Sundown 42KM Marathon, Expedition to Mount Kinabalu are two of the plans in stored!

My new year resolution would be 'Daring to live life on the cutting edge'! So as to inspire others around me that we can step out courageously and achieve things that we never have imagined about if we choose to believe! =D Read more on this article...

Phew! *Wiping sweat off my forehead* I have disappeared from the Blogosphere for a while but now I am back! Now.. what have I been busy week the past 3 weeks???

A picture paints a thousand words... just take a look....

I am 'Resurrected'! Watch out for more coming from the History.Maker!

Read more on this article...

Incident Report

On 27th October 2008 (Monday) at around 10:00am, the owner of the Samsung D880 Dual Sim Handphone woke up and made his wake to the toilet to wash up. En route to the toilet, the owner picked up his handphone to read some of the SMS sent to him in the night. He brought the handphone into the toilet and after reading the SMSes, the owner placed the Samsung D880 handphone on the flushing system cover of the toilet bowl before proceeding to wash up.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, without drying his hands, the owner reached out to grab his Samsung D880 handphone from the toilet bowl flushing system cover and wanted to proceed out to the living room for breakfast.

However, for unexplainable reasons, the owner didn't manage to get a good grip of the Samsung D880 handphone and it slipped through his fingers and tumbled into the toilet bowl below.

The Samsung D880 handphone executed a 1.5 somersault move before a perfect plunge into the waters of the toilet bowl. The owner watched in despair and within a split second plunged his right hand into the murky toilet bowl waters to rescue the Samsung D880 handphone. Within 5 seconds, he managed to rescue D880 out of the waters, but it had already been knocked unconscious.

The owner immediately rushed out, grabbed a dry towel and quickly started drying Samsung D880. He took out D880's battery, SIM cards and Memory Card to dry them and also performed CPR (by blowing away any excess water) in hope to resuscitate Samsung D880. However, at this point, Samsung D880 was still unconscious.

After 5 minutes of frantic attempts, the owner decided to bring Samsung D880 down to the Ah-Beng handphone shop nearby and seek immediate help. While at the Ah-Beng handphone shop, the "doctors" opened Samsung D880 up and found traces of rust on its metallic parts. At that point, the "doctors" declared Samsung D880 dead, and there was no way of reviving it.

Attached along is a detailed autopsy report:


News Reporters from the Cha-Pa-Rang Times caught up the distraught owner of the Samsung D880 handphone. Check out what he says about the sudden death of Samsung D880:

"It's just so sudden! I never thought such things could happen... I mean... I have heard about such freak accidents happening to my friends before and I always laugh it off. I never thought it could happen to me! *Sob sob*"

"I will NEVER bring my handphone to the toilet again!!!" Read more on this article...

Tears welling up in the little boy's eyes, he fought hard to prevent the tears from trickling down. Tears are a sign of weakness and boys do not shed tears. Standing in the middle of the living room and with a surge in audacious boldness, the little boy pointed at his Mum and shouted with great anger in his tone....

With clenched fists, the little boy turned around and stormed back into his bedroom, throwing his face into the pillow and punching the bed mattress. He thinks within himself, "I hate you Mum! Why won't you buy me that Transformer toy?!?!"

The little boy's Mum heaved a sigh of sadness and walked back into the kitchen to continue with her household chores. She's speaks to herself, "Sigh... When will this boy ever learn that earning money is not easy?"

Such a scenario just keeps repeating itself through the next few years. Tempers somehow just easily flare up resulting in quarrels with cursing remarks and vulgarities flying about. From refusal to buy toys, to failing tests, to stealing money, to forgetting to flush the toilet after use. Seemingly ANYTHING could result in a quarrel in this family.

------- (Pause) --------

This is no ordinary family... Welcome to MY family.... 18 years ago. And yes, the little boy above is non other than me. You must have skipped a heartbeat upon knowing this right? Far cry from the goodie goodie guy you know of me today. Ignorant, arrogant, ill-tempered, want everything my way....etc. You name any spoilt-child like attitude, I almost have them all.

I never knew why I behaved like that in those years. Perhaps it was bad peer influence. Perhaps it the lack of a Father figure in my early childhood years as my Dad was working hard overseas. Perhaps it was just any child's growing up phase. Well, I never got down to diagnosing what really it was.

But one thing I know.. I am really thankful that my Mum never gave up on me despite all the verbal abuses I hurled at her in those growing up years. Instead of shutting me out or exchanging verbal abuses with me, she continued to love and care for me faithfully in the little everyday things which I had often taken for granted. Things like covering blanket for me in the middle of the night, washing and ironing my clothes, preparing breakfast for me daily before school, giving me tuition, piggy back me to the doctor when I injured my leg...etc. And the list is never ending even until today.

I know that a large part of who I am today is because of my Mum - how she has given to me and how I have modeled after her. She does have her flaws in many ways and may not be a perfect Mum (no one is perfect anyway), but to me, she's the best Mum in the world! *clap clap clap*


Thank you Mum! This post is specially dedicated to you! Love you!

To all out there: In your journey of growing up, have you taken your Mum for granted unknowingly? Maybe it starts with saying 'Thank You' to your Mum the next time she does something for you. It's as simple as that. You don't need to wait for Mother's Day to make it special for your Mum. You can make everyday a Mother's Day for your Mum by appreciating her! Read more on this article...

... (continued from previous post).... I slotted in my debut token and started my first arcade game adventure. I lost the first game within 5 minutes. Not satisfied, I put in another token again. This time I won the first game but lost the second. Without consideration, I put in another token and before I knew it, 2 hours had just zipped by and I have finished up my $5 worth of tokens!

I left the arcade center feeling proud of my achievements within those 2 hours... It was a satisfying feeling long never felt before, definitely not when I am playing on the real soccer pitch with my friends. I thought to myself, "Hmm.. I kinda talented in Virtual Soccer. Give it a few more tries, I am sure I can do much better and beat any player who tries to challenge me! And this is definitely better than slogging out on the court with my friends whom always tease me. If I excel in this game, I will be King!"

Subsequently, days hanging out in the arcade center snowballed to months. What started out as Fun soon became an Obsession (or should I say addiction even). My reputation in the arcade center grew as I got better by the day on the virtual soccer field. I would attract a fairly large crowd watching me play and even cheering me on when I challenge other players.

"Wow! In school, I am a Nobody.... In this game, I am Somebody. I am a Force to be reckon with! Don't mess with me or I will trash you!"

News spread like wildfire and soon my classmates got wind of my new found fame on being the 'King of Virtual Soccer'. Now, no longer do they tease me, but instead they are asking me for tips and advices on how to play well in Virtual Soccer! Sometimes I would hear my classmates whisper to students from other classes...

"Hey, EeJay is really good at Virtual Soccer! He trashes everyone whom challenges him at the arcade center! If you need advice on the game, you should look for EeJay! He's a Pro!"

Gosh! I suddenly feel like the Senior Consultant of Virtual Soccer! *smug look on my face*

I was simply basking and enjoying this new found fame until things came crashing down to earth when one day a student from another class came up to me and said..... (to be continued)... Read more on this article...

Check out my marathon training route today with Semukun... 10KM!!

We did it in approximately 1 hour WITHOUT stopping... and Boy... We really ran our lungs, calves, ankles, knees, hamstrings out! We were still crapping happily for almost 3/4 of the run. But by the time we hit 8KM, we could barely catch our breathe. Crapping ceased, silence took over with heavy panting and gasping for air.. It was all serious business from then on as we worked our way up the final stretch of Depot Road 10-degree slopes which was tormenting!

One important thing I reflected during the run today was that once Semukun and I embarked on the run today, there was no turning back...

No money to flag cab...

No EZ-Link card to catch a bus ride...

All we had was each other, and We Are In This Together!

Finishing the 10KM today means more than just marathon training, or exercising. (---> Check out the fat boy photo. I don't want to be like that again! Yikes!) But it speaks volumes about Commitment to finish what we started out together.

"In the fast-food society we live in today, Commitment is a cheap word. We can easily start out on something, and once we hit the bumps, we throw in the towel. We don't care whom gets hurt or left behind, all we care is about ourselves. Friendships, work, studies, relationships..... everything has become wishy-washy or broken today because of the lack of commitment."

Do you have an issue with being committed and following through what you do today?

Don't just take the easy way out. Learn to finish what you started.

Special thanks to Semukun! Thanks for the inspirational run today man. Greatly appreciate the commitment (both vocal and silent period) through the run. Let's get Mr Bang Bang to join us too! Read more on this article...

Check out my latest buy! A Newbie Polo T-Shirt!

Can you imagine? I never heard about this brand until my youths told me about it months. And I have NEVER seen a Newbie apparel until last Saturday when I was shopping for a birthday gift for one of my youth. Yes yes.. Laugh at me all you want for being a Mountain Tortoise (Sua Ku)... *sulk*

But YES! Today I am proud to say that I am part of the Youth Revolution! New World Order!

Gone are the days of Gianne Versace, Giogio Armani, Polo Ralph Lauren, Valentino.... Nay... those are Dinosaur generation stuff... I have "Crossed Over" to Newbie, Pure Milk... (anymore? Those are the only two brands I know now. Someone please educate me... keke..)

PS: I am not advocating materialism. Just sharing my journey of jumping my Fashion-sphere to connect with the young people. =) Read more on this article...

8.5KM. That's the distance I covered today. Not too bad considering that this was my third run within a span of four days! I felt good after the run and could still have gone on to complete 10KM. But the aroma of my Mum's cooking was just too alluring to be ignored, so I headed home instead.

A random thought... 13 years ago, I could never imagine myself jogging. To me then, you might as well kill me if you want me to run! Why? Check out this photo below and you will understand why... (can you spot me?)


Ok Ok... back to the more serious stuff...

Something that I reflected and learned from my run today. Because I was running along the road, I had to take occasional pauses due to traffic lights (Yes, I am a good citizen whom only occasionally jay-walk, but not all the time!). These pauses helped me to catch my breathe and actually helped me a lot in lasting the distance to complete the run. I figured that if I had ran at a constant pace without stopping, I probably wouldn't have lasted 8.5KM. Maybe at 5KM I would have been breathless and took the short-cut home!

Isn't it something like life? Sometimes we go through life at such break-neck speed and try to accomplish many things at one time. We multi-task, work late, bring work home, constantly checking our email on our BlackBerry/PDA/iPhones... The culture, technology and environment we live in never seem to know how to slow down!

That's why, all the more, we need to INTENTIONALLY take pauses along the way to relax, recuperate, regroup and reorganize. It helps to be more effective and efficient in the work that we do. It helps us to last this frantic pace of life without breaking down or burning out.

Have you Rested today? Read more on this article...

That's the number of days left before I enter the battlefield where Mind, Body, Soul and Heart will be challenge - The Standard Chartered Singapore 42KM Marathon 2008. Having completed two previous marathons in 2005 and 2006, I thought I would be rather numb or near dreadful about taking on this year's run, but somehow I am very high spirited and looking forward! The major reason has got to be the fact that I am actually making effort to train for this marathon as compared with previous runs where I just grind my way through.

Special thanks to Shem and Joy whom have been my jogging buddies as we toiled round our Bukit Merah route. It's really motivating to have someone running alongside you, especially someone like Shem whom I can crap with along the way. Hahaha... I REALLY wish we could crap through the entire 42KM!!

Here's the route that I ran with Shem and Joy yesterday after work.. 5.8KM. But it was a killer route with breath-taking up-slopes!

And here's the route that I just ran today.. 6.7KM. Flat terrain but had to battle in my mind to complete the run having already ran yesterday.


My next target would be to run 10KM non-stop!

I'm gonna be blogging more often about our training progress. So keep in tracks with me!

You can also check out Shem's blog @ http://semukun.blogspot.com to see if he enjoyed running with me! Wahahaha...

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to http://42.195km.net/e/jogsim/ for making our jogging route tracking possible! Read more on this article...

.. (continued from previous post)... How is it possible that I've got a history of computer gaming addiction? What actually happened??? It all started back in Secondary 3 where I was totally fed-up with my friends for constantly gearing, picking at me and their sarcastic jokes.

Since Secondary 1, I was already an avid soccer fan and would stay back after school daily hanging out with my friends on the soccer field or court. However, there is something about me then which makes every player wish that they would not be in the same team as me. Because at 13 years old, I was standing at 1.60 meters tall and weighing in at 85KG!! Humongous right? It was like a Sumo Wrestler trying to play soccer! Naturally at such an incredible hulk frame, I was easily the most clumsy and slowest person around on the pitch (and presumably the entire school!), therefore no one would want me in their team because it seems like they would have an added liability!

A typical scenario would look like this:

We would split into our random teams via the age-old traditional method of "Oh-Ah-Bei-Ah-Som" (if you do not know this methodology, you definitely belong to the Generation Z! *blink blink*)

Whichever group that unfortunately has me in their team would usually react this way, "Alamak!! Sure lose liao! Got Fatty Bum Bum in our team! Siao liao lah... we must work extra hard now cos we are one man down. Can we put him on the Free transfer list?!?!"

Hanging my head in disgust and discouragement, I would drag my feet and walk to my publicly-assigned and self conceited position - the Goal Post!

Sometimes I would voice out requesting to play in other positions to try out, hoping to get more involved in the real soccer action. Some common response from my friends would be...

"Please lah... just stay where you are and don't run out! Give us some hope by staying where you are.."

"Oh man... please don't come out. You are DESTINED to be a goalkeeper! You look so cool standing there.. and plus.. look at your waistline! It is almost the same width as the goal mouth! All you need to do is to shift your buttocks left and right, and you can block all the shots! Plus you go so much fats.. the balls will rebound really far away! You are born to be a goalkeeper man!!!" (said with a snigger and sarcastic tone)

I was always bombarded with these negative comments and the only thing I could do was to just swallow them down and accepted them. I didn't want to walk away from my friends because I don't have other friends and didn't want to be seen as a loner too. So for the entire four years in Secondary School, I was constantly bombarded with these crude negative remarks and would ALWAYS play as the goalkeeper. *Sad* In my mind, I was thinking, "I am lousy in my studies. Now I am also a loser in the soccer game. Gosh! Am I a loser in life?!?!"

Things went further downhill for me two years later in Secondary 3. Out of boredom one day, I decided to drop by one of the Arcade center near my house and wanted to play any games to distress and ventilate my frustrations. The "Virtual Soccer" game caught my attention and since I also like soccer as well, I was thinking maybe I can try out all the skills I wanted to in the real game, but never had a chance to in this game!

I slotted in my debut token and started my first arcade game adventure. I lost the first game within 5 minutes. Not satisfied, I put in another token again. This time I won the first game but lost the second. Without consideration, I put in another token and before I knew it..... (to be continued)..... Read more on this article...

Computer games of today are so much different compared to those that I played when I grew up back 15 years ago. When I was in Secondary School days, the Internet had only slowly begun coming into trend, and back those days, the fastest available Internet speed around was via the 56K dial-up modem using the household telephone line. Surfing the net was a dread due to the slow congested speed and by the time one gets to read through all his emails, one season of English Premier League would have already gone by! (exaggerated)

When teenagers play online computer games today, they are literally spoilt for choice! From the fantasy games like World Of Warcraft and Cabal, to the cute-looking 2-Dimensional games such as MapleStory. Teenagers typically get glued to the screen for hours just fulfilling in-game quests and virtual landscape explorations. This scene is vastly different in my 'dinosaur' time - the Internet wasnt' so well developed yet and thus not to mention the idea about games. My computer then was black screen with green lines and the only noise it makes is "Teh Teh Teh!"

However, back in those days, I was very much drawn into playing a different kind of computer games. In fact, I was so hooked that my whole world would just orientate and revolved around that game. I was 'addicted' to the arcade game - Virtual Striker, a soccer game where it could be player vs. computer or player vs. player. I spent most of my free time and the arcade center and was almost like the P.R of the center. Even the center manager would recognize me and treat me a can of Coke from time to time!

However, this 'addiction' was so potent that it brought me to a point where I isolated myself from my friend for almost a year and even almost got kicked out of school because of declining school grades!!!

Look at me now.... 29 years old, enjoying a good and fulfilling career, happily in love, and family doing well. How is it possible that I've got a history of computer gaming addiction? What actually happened???

It all started back in Secondary 3 where I was ..... (to be continued) Read more on this article...

For me on the cloudy Saturday morning yesterday, I was just a mere 0.81s slower than Usain Bolt....... BUT ....... the difference is that I clocked the timing of 10.5s over 40 meters in my IPPT and Usain Bolt ran 100 meters!

Can you imagine that!?!? For many of us, the timing we take to run our IPPT or NAFTA shuttle run, we are still at least one second slower than Usain Bolt! Means that while we are still huffing and puffing trying to catch our breath, Mr Lightning Bolt has already finished his race and already into his celebration laps already! Shocking statistics isn't it?

Anyway, that was just the appetizer. The main course is updating everyone about my yearly IPPT which I took yesterday. My results are as follow:

Station #1: Sit-Up - 38 (Argh! Short of one to get 5 points!)

Station #2: Shuttle Run - 10.5s (Disappointing. I clocked 9.9s a year ago)

Station #3: Chin-Up - Excused because of my wrist injury

Station #4: Standing Broad Jump - 216cm (Phew! My weakest station. Just happy to clear that!)

Station #5: 2.4km Run - 12min 27s (I'm glad I survived through 6 boring laps round the tracks!)

Honestly, I was quite upset with my results, especially for the sit-up and shuttle run stations. I could have done much better on those scores. All it took was a split second of lost concentration and everything went downhill from there.

When I started out at the Sit-Up station, I was 1-for-1 (1 sit-up every second) for the first twenty seconds. And typically for me when doing sit-ups, I would take huge breathe and slowly exhale through the 60 seconds without taking a second breathe. This helps me to keep the momentum going and hitting 40 sit-ups would be a piece of cake. However this time round things took a different turn. Suddenly there was a shout from behind from one of the PT instructors, "Ah Ah Ah... Cup your ears ah!!" . I lost focus for that split second an exhaled my breathe of air and started frantically inhaling a new breathe. That broke my momentum and I almost had abdomen cramps! I struggled for the remaining 40 seconds, only managing 18 more sit-ups. It felt digusting knowing that I missed the top mark in this station just by one sit-up!

Ironically, I left the Sit-up station unable to sit up properly because of the abdomen cramp. Time constraint, so I went ahead to the shuttle run station. Bending up and down to touch the sensor, combined with the twisting and turning was really tough with the abdomen strain, so I came in from the shuttle run clocking a pathetic 10.5s.

At that point, I felt really yucky and thinking that I had another 2.4km race ahead, I really had no mood for it. I feel like walking out. But the thought of going for RT (Remedial Training) puts me off and I decided to give it my best shot for the last station.

At the flag off of the 2.4 run, I was thinking to myself that all I needed to do was to clock 2.00 minutes flat per round and I will be safe for a pass at 12:00 minutes. (the passing mark for my age group is 12:40)

Looking and feeling good after the 1st lap. (1 minute 53 seconds)

It's getting bored in the 2nd lap but still ok. (3 minutes 57 seconds)

My legs are feeling the cramps in 3rd lap. (6 minutes 05 seconds)

I really really feel like stopping and walk for the rest of the run after 4 laps. (8 minutes 15 seconds)

Everyone seems to be overtaking be in this 5th lap. I am grimacing from stitches. (10 minutes 20 seconds)

Gosh! I was getting slower by the laps and am flirting with failure and possible RT if I still continue to run at this turtle pace! NO! I didn't come this far to fail and go for RT... This cannot be! Mustering up all the remaining energy I could find within my legs, I opened up my stride wider and pushed through the last 400 meters.

I closed my eyes at the last 10 meters as I crossed the electronic barrier end point. Upon hearing the beep signal, I opened my eyes and looked at the score board.... 12 minutes 27 seconds..... I PASSED!!!

I left the camp a happy man. I may not have clocked the best possible performance, but I am glad that I bounced back from the initial shocker, cramps and yucky feeling to pass this IPPT. IPPT... Till we meet again next year! Kudos!

Lesson learnt: Indeed, a lot of things is in the mind. 99% of our defeats in life come because we caved-in in our minds first. We lost concentration, lost the will to fightand gave up easily and sometimes even before the battle begins! Life is never always smooth sailing. What counts is when we remain focused and will ourselves to rise up and conquer the next hurdle ahead!

Source:
(1) Usain Bolt photo from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
(2) IPPT station photos from http://www.mindef.gov.sg

Disclaimer: I have no anger nor grievances against the PT instructor whom shouted at me at the sit-up station. He was just doing what he needs to do. =) Read more on this article...