nanyang gym fiesta
hey guys..
presenting the nygh artistic gym nite. It will be held on 4th and 5th augest which is this fri and sat. We will be performing on the 5 only. It will be a great nite of gymnastic routine, dance and cheerleading. Tickets are sold are 12 dollers each. So wanna organise an outing ? Can contact me for the tickets.
I ride my bicycle
I jus returned from a sibei sia suay run of 2km. The first time I've taken to the streets of paris to run, and it was horrible. I was inspired by clement chio's blog to put on the shoes but was soon deflated as I felt my body and knew that I couldn't quite last the distance. Nonetheless, it's the first run in a long time, and I'll go to the garden to run again tomorrow morning, in search of my long-lost stamina (if i ever had one).
I hit the streets last Saturday to catch le Tour de France live. I do not quite understand the race until I arrived in Paris and realised that the last leg of the race was to be held at Champs-Elysees. If you have a good memory, you would have remembered that the Champs-Elysees was where the national day parade was held.
According to a New York Times article as cited on Wikipedia, "The Tour de France’s status as the world’s most physiologically demanding event is largely unquestioned. The riders cover 2,272 miles (3656 km) at an average speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), roughly the equivalent of running a marathon almost every day for almost three weeks. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, they climb a vertical distance equal to three Mount Everests. They take in up to 10,000
calories per day, the equivalent of 17 Big Macs, elevating their metabolic rates to a level that, according to a Dutch study, is exceeded by only four species on earth." The article forgot to mention that on top of the 17 Big Macs, they take testosterones too.
I am sad that Floyd Landis had been tested positive for testosterones. His victory was phenomenon. How he had managed to come back from more than 8 min behind the leader with just 4 stages of the race left and ended up at the top of the podium in Champs-Elysees on 23 Jul was simply inspiring. However, now, even if he is eventually cleared of any wrongdoings, I would find it hard to appreciate his victory as much as before. And that's what made me sad because it seems like once you've been accused of some wrongdoing, even if you had not done anything wrong, it would be very difficult for people to believe you totally again.
This is how words can hurt so badly (Mr Lee understands this and that's why, I believe, he sues and sues whenever anyone badmouths him). After yesterday, le tour de France 2006 would never be the dream race it was made out to be in the papers. Nonetheless, photos have been taken and will be shared.
This is taken off the side of an advertising vehicle. Before the cyclists arrive, the sponsers will send out vehicles bearing their logos and throw freebies into the crowd - the main reason why I went to watch the race. Sadly, they have already distributed all the freebies in the suburbs and have none left for the Paris crowd.
The gigantic wheels belong to advertising vehicles. There were super many people lining the streets, think there were even more than during their national day parade.
Landis as seen on a gigantic screen, which doesn't seem very gigantic in the photo.
A photo taken on the ground of what would be soon an aerial view on someone's TV screen.
Walking in Memphis. Cycling in Paris.
The cyclists arrived at Champs-Elysees. Most people are more interested in capturing photos of the cyclists. Unfortunately, I fell into that category of people.
The butt of a cyclist. The cyclists ride by damn fast making it super hard to take a photo of them without resorting to an SLR. Or taking multiple shots within a second, a function my camera doesn't have.
It is incredible that after 154km, the cyclists are still so close to one another. In fact, they usually ride in groups. The few cyclists leading each group are called pelotons. They suffer the resistance of the wind. The best cyclists usually ride behind the pelotons until timing is right to overtake. Just a little info on competitive cycling, which I had taken pain to reading before I went to watch the race, so must xuan4 hiao4 yi sia...haha
When the groups ride by, I jus anyhow snapped and prayed the camera focused on the cyclist and not the crowd. Can't quite get the 'blur crowd' effect...any1 any idea how to achieve that?
Bird's eye view 1
Bird's eye view 2
For now, I await the next edition of le Tour de France and may there be someone who captures our imagination again. Otherwise, another good story would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. You have probably seen it somewhere but I think it's a good time to post the quote. 'Wars don't determine who's right, but who's left.'
Animé-d
I spent my birthday watching 27 episodes of Full Metal Alchemist. It should have been 31 so that I could set a new record of watching 10 hours straight of anime, with intervals just for lunch and dinner. However, I faltered at the last hurdle and slept at 1 plus am. I probably could have tahan through the last 4 episodes ydy night but in all honesty, they deserved a fully-awaken me to appreciate the ending, so I took to bed and woke up this morning to finish watching them.
Full Metal Alchemist is a story abt the Law of Conservation and the Law of Equivalent Trade. The central idea is that in order to gain something, you have to sacrifice something of the same amount. The alchemists attained special powers based on the above laws. The ending of FMA kind of questions the validity of the laws, which are much similar to the fundamental law of physics that we are so used to. It questions if the conservation law replicates itself in life. It's like yi fen gen yun, yi fen shou huo, something I constantly reminded myself during Chinese High days, especially when I had to memorize for the C lit tests. If I study for another half an hour, then I'll get another mark more...haha...that was how I used to spur myself to study. It's comforting to know that your efforts will not go wasted.
Birthday this year was special because it wasn't special. No one within a 100 km knew that it was my birthday and I was spared the anticipation of how people would celebrate the birthday for me. It is almost an obligation to be happy when people celebrate your birthday for you. I am most happy when I am not obliged to. I also think that 22nd July is more special for my mother than for me because it reminds her of both the pain and joy she went through in delivering me. I can't even remember myself crying on that day of 1983 and I find no great significance in commemorating the day I enter Earth. Maybe next year you guys should direct the Happy Birthday messages to my mother instead.
Even though I have expressed a certain amount of dread for my birthday, the wishes on the tagboard are very much appreicated. Kev, I did ur receive ur msg on the phone...thks bro! Please keep them coming in next year...2 msges, 1 for me and 1 for the mother=)
Entitled a japalang post
Yet again, take from a mafbrothers' post because yaohui left a comment on the tagboard, which I felt I had to reply to.
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I must admit that I wasn't aware that Israel had launched the attacks on Lebanon after the Lebanese had captured 2 of their soldiers. After knowing the reason behind the invasion (not sure if we can term it an invasion) I wonder if Singapore would do the same if you and I had been captured by Malaysia. Maybe if the Prime Minister was Tat, he would. For loyalty. Yi Qi.But if it's me, I doubt I will. There are another 3,999,998 people whom I have to look after and I am not sure if an attack on Malaysia would be the best solution when I risk incurring the wrath of the rest of the world.
I think the major powers have stayed relatively quiet on this issue. They have not supported the israelis. The G8 had issued a statement denouncing the attack, although I must say the statement was relatively mild when they should have taken a firmer stand. France had indicated their support for the Lebanese. As usual, they stand in the way of the Americans and their allies. For people who don't know much abt the story between the Americans, the Israelis and their arab enemies, a short summary would be that there are many Jews working in major American governmental departments and they provide solid backings for Israel who is rather unfortunately born in the midst of many arabic states.
I do not believe that the Israelis' attack on Lebanon is as simple as they made it out to be (to demand the return of their soldiers, is it?) My guess is that the capture of the 2 soldiers provide a good excuse for them to either demonstrate their might to their arab neighbours or to weaken the Lebanese terribly. Or perhaps to attain strategic positions to consolidate their defence again Syria as well as to launch attacks on Syria when the time comes. I can't tell and there's no need for me to tell.
I'm happy in France because beer is damn cheap here. I bought 2 cans of Heneiken today for 1.10 euro each which is 2.20 sing and the cans are those 50cl ones...beer-y long...haha...I have not been reining in my spendings, which in a way is not good, because I spend on luxuries like drinks with taste but on the other hand it made me satisfied. I think I shldn't live too extravagantly. Thks blog for making me come to my senses.
I do not have lesson in the morning tomorrow so I can blog for as long as I can stay awake. I was at the France's Bastile Day celebrations on 14 Jul at the Champs-Elysees. For Singapore's national day, the Guard of Honour march into the stadium. For the French, they march through their famous streets. We start practising the marching 4 months before National Day. They start practising 1 week before. That's the french for you...and so, Singapore's national day is so much better, in terms of entertainment value.
I had intended to blog abt the need for Singapore to have very solid National Day celebrations every year but I think that would be too heavy on the post. Anyway, jus 1 line, I think it's to occupy the officer-in-charge for 4 months, else he got nothing to do, and give him a platform to perform and promote, failing so, he can be stuck in the doldrums of SAF.
I stayed in central Paris till 11 plus to see the fire works, which were launched beside the Eiffel Tower. Singapore definitely has better fireworks too. Below are some photos taken on 14 Jul:
The crowd at Champs-Elysees with the soldiers lined on the streets.
The 'colours contingent'?
The Chinese girl in focus is Jianran, a senior from NUS currently studying at Ecole Polytechnique. Ecole Polytechnique is a crazy school that had produced crazy people who had together, came up with many funny ideas and call them mathematics that would be the bulk of my sufferings at ENPC.
A gungho female soldier commanding a tank.
Funfair at la Jardin des Tuileries, which is sandwiched between the Champs-Elysees and the Lourve.
A french family awaits the fireworks.
A view of the obelisk (spelling not sure correct or not) during the sunset. This should be the one that Quek told us that the Egyptians regretted exchanging with the French for a clock that had since stopped running.
Taken with my camera's firework mode and did not turn out well. The videos are better but they threaten to deceive that the firework performances were nice.
I have an idea of how investing should work, with some enlightening analogy taken off soccer. will post soon.
Sharing a Dream
I didn't used to get my news from channelnewsasia.com. However, now that I'm in France and the Straits Times Interactive requires subscription, I have turned to the CNA.
This is what I chanced upon on their website and it is what I hope to do one day. If you are interested, let's keep reminding each other so that we can fulfil the dream before 40.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/clipper/index.htm
Les photos de 17062006
Guys,
I've a crisis. I haven't shat for 4 days. I think it's because of the instant noodles that i've been eating. I have had fleeting moments when I feel like shitting, but it never last for 5 seconds. After posting this, I'm going toilet to squat and squeeze. Hope there'll be good news for my next post.
Below is something I posted on themafbrothers' blog last nite. After getting a very flattering comment from tat for one of the pictures, I have decided to post it here for your viewing pleasure. They are technically uncomparable to kevin's flies' mating picture but nonetheless, hope you will enjoy the post and spare a few moments for the poor pple caught in the war, and affected by the tsunami also. Pour le paix...
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The headlines in the major French papers over the last fews days have been the war between Israel and Lebanon. So far, world powers have taken sides with Lebanon, which is at the moment, it seemed, very much the victim of an unprovoked Israelis' attack. The number of civilian casualties continues to be on the rise. This far-away war (it's almost half the world away from Singapore) has the ability to conceive itself as a small war before developing into a world war. The Arabs against the Jews. And I believe the North Koreans might stick one leg in and fly some half-fook missiles to Japan and the US. Good luck to the countries in the space between (this line dedicated to the Dave Matthews Band).
You might feel that I am exaggerating but please do read the papers regularly and keep yourself updated. For me, dinner's become even more precious now because as we all know, when wars break out, all of us would have to start eating grass. This evening, I was out with a friend, Kok Meng, for dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Paris, recommended by a senior who was brought there by his Jap friend. The bowl of ramen below costs 6.50 euro, which is abt 13 sing dollars, just abt the cheapest restaurant meals one can find in Paris excluding Kebab, Merguez and stuff. The ramen tasted like ramen and is unlike any of the ramen we have in Singapore that's usually more like maggie mee. It had the right amount of spongy feel to it, not too soggy and not too hard.
Keiko (which is, according to my senior, a Singapore slang for 'After that'), we took a walk to the Lourve. We didn't enter to visit Lisa. We walked through some sort of a tunnel and I discovered a nouvelle angle to view the pyramid. Managed to find a pretty girl who silently agreed to be my unpaid model, and because she's not paid, we don't get a picture of her face.
I returned to my hostel at 9.15pm and here is a picture of a towerclock (chinese high rocks) which I had to walk past everytime I walk from the metro to hostel and vice-versa. Summer makes the sun (aka Weiming?) works harder and below, he illuminated the clock.
Happy birthday Yuxuan. Weijie, please help pass the word and I am still awaiting your spew of vulgarities at KY. haha...
jus another post
honn, enpc stands for Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees...basically bridges and roads. It started out as a civil engineering sch, but is now (supposedly) quite wellknown for its financial math though I doubt any of u had heard of it before.
I am planning to visit liverpool during the early part of October. It would set me back by either 100 sing or 150 sing to fly there...not sure exactly how much coz i dunno if the determination is in euro or pound...haha nonetheless, i tink it's quite cheap. no matches being scheduled during that period but it might be the champions' league period, so if heng heng, maybe can catch liverpool play barcelona, that is, provided liverpool qualifies lah.
Today, I dreamt of playing soccer with zidane. Kenna headbutted by him, head to head. But after that damn proud i got to touch his head...haha...I was still hao lian-ning to guan. And meterazzi also featured in the dream. And the dream is funny because i had to rush for a test while the rest continued playing. It's like reminding me that i need to work hard here. anyway, i tink the dream not that original too...like chye+10.
Oh, and indeed, giapoo and i did met for tea on the afternoon the day i left.
And yaohui, the title is especially translated for you because i posted the same post on themafbrothers' blog without the translation mah...haha
ciaoz, got to go sch liaoz.
chye i miss u
This is such a gay title but i can't think of a better title then this. Anyway just to show that i have not forgotten ptw. I managed to send chye off eariler and treat him to a good bowl of laksa at my cosy corner. Besides that i also met up with long yi just now at S11. So do continue to jio me out for outing cos i will definitely come if i have nothing on.
Anyway just had a performance for the lion's association. Although 2 of the stunts just chuied but we still earned applauds for our performance. Coming up next, there will be an nanyang gym nite on 5,6 august at ny audi. My team will be having a guest performance there. Also u get to see groovy dances and cheerleading from the nanyang girls. So those who wants the tickets pls msg me.Last but not least, I will be featured in ndp side show during 9 aug... so those who are going to stadium can come support me man.
Well thats abt all, but chye i really think with ur mugging ability, u can still de guo qie guo there man. Gamabatte over there and mingle with the french chick so that u can intro me if i come over for holiday man...
First post from Paris (especially translated for Yaohui)
As promised, a post!
I met my only senior at ENPC today. He was a messenger of bad news as he filled me in with how he had failed 4 of his math modules and was almost sent back to Singapore by the school after his first year. He was only allowed to carry on his studies here after going through an interview with a panel of 20 old french men. Apparently, the school is prepared to send 1 or 2 of us from NUS back if we can't meet their expectations.
Sian diao sia, there goes my dream of de guo qie guo-ing in France for the next 2 years. And my teaching award is hanging on a very thin thread now.
Only good thing that happened today is that I now have internet access at my accommodation for the next 48 days. Please blog more often so that I have more things to read. Bon nuit!
Yunnan Mama II
Just like the Chang Jiang river that skirts around Ninglang but never runs through it, the money that is pumped into Lijiang to conserve Gu Cheng as well as to promote it as a tourist destination never reaches the pockets of the Ninglang's natives. Hence, even though Ninglang and Gu Cheng are separated by a mere 6 hours of bus ride, they are located at the 2 different extreme ends in terms of their levels of developments. Gu Cheng is trumpeted by China and the world as a successful model of how preservation of culture and development can be achieved in tandem. Ninglang, on the other hand, is neglected and forgotten. Some photos we took in Da Xing Zheng, the main town of Ninglang, are featured below:
That's how Ninglang is written in Chinese.
The wet market of Ninglang, especially vibrant in the morning.
The most prominent landmark of Ninglang...supposedly the statue of Hou Yi.
Hahaha...as you would have realized by now, I have exaggerated how backward a city Ninglang is supposed to be. With a statue of Hou Yi to boast of in its main town and a perfectly functionable wet market as well as a budding building material industry, the living conditions in Da Xing Zheng are, in fact, very de fine.
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The first day we arrived at Huang Ban Ping, we were welcomed by an entourage formed by the school administration as well as a few government officials of Ninglang. They showed us the place where we were supposed to stay in. It was a communal house that had been vacated. The villagers probably used to congregate there for meetings but for the next 2 wks or so, it was to be our home.
The place was in a rather dilapitated state when we arrived and in obvious need for some cleaning before we could shift stuff into the rooms. All of us were probably so overawed by the occasion that we did not quite know what we were supposed to do initially. We had not brought brooms along and we did not know where or how to start our cleaning. The primary six students of the school came to our rescue. They came, armed with pails of water and brooms and started cleaning the rooms for us. They had probably been briefed on our arrival and they looked at us, not quite knowing and understanding where we came from. To them, it was the first time they had met people from another country and they did not know what to expect.
I remembered us standing in the middle of the courtyard, all looking rather lost. I wanted to help but did not know how to take the initiative. It was like everyone was waiting for someone else to offer their help first, but because everyone was waiting, there was no one to step forward and so the waiting never ends. Finally, one brave soul took the initiative to step up to introduce himself to one of the primary six girls. That brave soul was me.
The ice was broken and more people joined in the conversation. At the same time, more conservations were initiated at different parts of the communal house. Before the primary six students left, they sang for us a song called 'nalejiubo', which was supposed to mean, in their dialect (the yi2 zhu2 yu3 yan1), 'farewell my friends'. It was to become one of my favourite songs. Below is a picture of the primary six class singing the song in front of our toilet.
(Notice that the girls were extremely shy and took cover behind the guys. Also, not all the primary six students were of the same age because they might have entered school at different age)
The photos of our home captured from different angles. The photos were taken with everything in relative order, unlike what we saw when we first arrived.
The left most room is the kitchen. The second room housed a pig, which the villagers cooked for us on the last day. There's another room which is outside this picture on the right...that would be the toilet. The pails were used for the cleaning of utensils, which we would later find out, wasn't a very wise choice to be done in front of the kitchen. This is because the leftover food we threw into the drain attracted a lot of flies, which wasn't very hygenic as we had kept our food either in or just outside the kitchen.
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After settling down and moving our stuff into the rooms (the pictures of which, I'll show on the next post), we were ushered to the school for a welcome ceremony. The whole school were gathered at the assembly area and we met our potential students for the first time. It was kind of interesting because all eyes were fixed on us. We sat at the centre of the school like some kind of exhibits with the students and teachers surrounding and examining us with curiousity.
This was from one of us who took a picture of them while they were observing us.
One of my most unforgettable experiences from the trip happened on the first day in Huang Ban Ping. The welcome ceremony did not start on time because a few members of the group were in Da Xing Zheng to purchase some necessities before joining the rest of us in Huang Ban Ping. We had to wait for them to arrive before we could begin the ceremony. Thus, the process of us observing the students and them observing us lasted quite a long while until Bernard, one of the team members, and I decided we had to go to pay the toilet a visit. The toilet was located behind the school. It wasn't the normal toilet that we were used to but that was to be expected. We didn't pee that much so that we won't drown the maggots in the hole.
After relieving ourselves, we saw 3 or 4 kids hanging around outside the toilet. We started introducing ourselves and asking them questions, trying to find out if they knew English. Apparently, they didn't. We then started a impromptu English lesson, teaching them simple phrases such as 'Hello', 'Good morning', 'My name is...' etc and getting them to repeat after us. The crowd started to build up. Some students who were in the school compound, got wind that there were 2 guai4 ren2 conducting English lesson outside the toilet and came to join in as our audience.
From 3 to 4 kids, the crowd expanded to as many as 30 and they were surrounding us, listening to what we were saying, probably half the time not understanding what we said. The experience was surreal and the attention they gave us was overwhelming. It felt great to know that they were interested in what we were teaching even before we had officially started class. Actually, more likely, it was that they were interested to find out more abt us, to know us. When Bernard and I concluded the unplanned lesson and returned to the assembly area, the ceremony was already over (either that, or it was cancelled...can't quite remember). Bernard and I trudged home, with an experience that, though not captured on video, will always bring a smile to our faces whenever we relive it in memories. And it was kind of a secret since the rest of the team did not know abt our little experience.
