In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.
even though i do not know you, i hope you are at peace now.
Get there by candlelight
....
felt like i was stepping into some foreign world.
a lot of the other cadet umpires have taken badging test, and most of them want to go on taking it. and the whole load of them are still playing, while im sticking out like some sore thumb. i barely even know the teams anymore, who's up and coming, and emerging. the connection kinda fizzed and died when i left it for hrmm, a few months. its pretty ironic since i spent four years fighting hard for a cca i wasnt even chosen for. sigh.
dont know whether to give up the umpiring or not. its a last connection to a world i left behind. we shall see though, when i go for pesta sukan. put together with the other cadets i know i am one notch below, and the license expires next year, when i have the a's.
so i dunno. it isnt possible to have the best of both worlds. either devote entirely ODAC and the outdoors, or cut out one chunk to spend on umpiring.
choose mel choose.
SIGH
Get there by candlelight
back.
:D
i love kayaking. i love being on the sea, with every rise and swell. when you are paddling you forget about all the sand and discomfort. there is only you and your boat and just
"the sea! the sea! the white gulls are calling".
they have really nice names for the boats
the big fat tubby sea kayak: dolphin
the elegant spinner: dancer
the long slim yellow: pacifica
the red doubles: wanderers
:D
aha me and jared kept on banging into meili and ian during the ex. AHA. ian looked damm traumatized (oops) damm funny. and nic and andre were very funny also, nic kept on yelling at andre about where he was trying to aim them. LOLX. and mrle ong kept on camwhoring damm cute. ahah. he was paddling while biting his camera strap damm diaos -__________-
beached up on campsite there, then took the dolphins and dancers out to play. tried the eskimo roll while holding onto eli. pulled like some muscle on the waist there trying to get back up in the spray skirt. almost did it, but the skirt came out halfway up o___0 ohwell actl not that scary as it seemed ^^ but maybe because i was holding onto eli haha. watch mark goh roll up twice on the bandit. he took like 15 secs to get up. scary scary.
dinner ROCKED. we had the best menu of the lot. mashed potatoes, rice with mushroom soup, rice with baked beans, stir fried vegetables, grapes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes.. but the mess tins are SUPER hard to wash. lolx. i was scrubbing and scrubbing just now. then after that BBQ. WAH. haha then we gathered and played all the fun games like animal concentration and polar bear. OMG damm funny. meili and i choose the best polar bears lolx.
camping was nice. sitting in june ex shirt, lying on the beach with eli peering at the sky, and the grass was as soft as a carpet. I think i fell asleep thinking to myself that the sound of the waves were damm nice. Next thing i remember was nic prodding me away. aww. lolx.
aha me and wanxi waved at every plane that flew past, because yl was taking the early morning flight lolx. everyone probably thought we were siao.
me: eh wanxi! AEROPLANE!
wanxi: yah! lets wave
both: wave frantically at plane.
lolx see yl! we are so nice :D
on the way back i was sitting the doubles with eli it was super fun and fast because the sea was as calm as a mirror. just cruise all the way back. then we kept on slotting in beside the food kayaks. and skimming around. ahhaa. funn. more fun if we take singles yeah. i was disappointed that we werent going out for another hour to play around in singles :( haha i miss the sea. i miss odac23. i miss having expeditions where we just sit around and soak in the company and sleep and wait for the teachers, and joke around.
had storewash today, so little people turned up. the atmosphere was gone. D: BEfore going for banmian with the exco peeps, me nic and amanda went to get our slurpee and caused mini volcanic explosions. ROFL. the 7-11 lady was practically glaring at us lolx. after lunch got this weird concoction of bubble tea - grape ice blended with jelly. o__O tasted like ice jelly with grape sauce lolx. interesting.
on the way back home on the mrt with zach we were talking about pedalling, climbing and cycling. quite fun. can really see and compare the different ways we like our sports. zach prefers sports that emphasize power, thererfore he likes taking the pacifica, climbing and cycling. I like sports with emphasize control and skill - i like taking the dancer, climbing not as much as paddling, and i like to experiment when im cycling (hence the numerous falling downs)i would go out of the way to go paddle; zach goes out of the way to climb. lolx quite fun.
alright time to full steam for EOY Ex. LETS GO. :D and eli lets go paddling some day yeah :D
odac23 :D
Get there by candlelight
leaving for our mini JEX tmrow.
JEX shirt rocks yeah. even though it has been scaled down, but its really nice to wear as a pullover. woot. jacket design by jared rocks too. now i wont freeze during the CTs.
had meeting with mrle ong today. aha. quite funny. we turned up at 1 and started meeting only at 2.15 how qianbian is that. -______-
eli its your fault that my whole left ear is completely blocked. ahahaha. stupid. im going to shoot seawater at you tomorrow. wonder who is my doubles partner.
cant wait! ;D
Get there by candlelight
2star today
was fun! again in the kayak. took the dancer for half the afternoon, and the dolphin for the rest of the day. You realize how stable actually the dolphin is, with its flat base and all. the dancer spins like anything. when you give it a nice hard stroke on its right, it takes you on a 360 degrees right. revised and learnt a host of new strokes:
-forward
-reverse
-drawstrokes
-sweepstrokes
-stern rudder
-low brace turn
-low/high brace
and got to use the cool looking spray skirt, which is not so cool, and bordering on scary when you are upside down in the water. this thing is like covering your whole cockpit. which means that when you capsize, there's this thing there preventing you from dropping out straight away. and since it is a snug fit, you would have to reach down, tug the skirt out, bang the hull, and then resurface. Which means an extra 5 seconds or so trapped there. And i shudder when we have to do the flip thing. Which equates to staying there for 10- 15 secs or so and wait for someone to flip you, with your skirt on. Which is creepy.
But the benefits of kayaking far outweight any darn thing. Dipping your paddle in the sea is cathartic. When you are skimming over the sea, you forget all the sand salt and just enjoy the whole experience. (In fact i can still feel the waves)
Stroke in, out, in, out, sweep, turn, sweep, turn, stroke stroke stroke...
this is when you truly feel free and unrestrained and the whole world is your playground :D
Get there by candlelight
