Boulderactive

It's coming soon ... the biggest Bouldering competition of the year. It's also the most satisfactory one for us to get into the finals/win - more so than Pumpfest and Rockmaster cos it's organised by us, us, us!!

The crowd cheering, the electric atmosphere, the power of the routes, beauty of movement... the countdown has begun and can you feel it? Just thinking about it makes my skin tingle, and I wish I could be there to compete and cheer you guys on.

Just want to say a few words -
Don't be shy about your desires and hopes. Admit to yourself that you want to win and that makes your ambition feel that little bit more real and achievable. Remember that you must be determined and confident else you will never get anywhere. Also, the prize money is good but that short flush of victory (whatever your aim may be) priceless and you'll remember it for years ahead..

Aim high!! I'm sure the Novice and Intermediate guys/gals have a good chance of sweeping like we did the men's last year. For the open men, I hope someone manages a final! Zhengxin it's your time to shine in open!

Fatigue

Today's training highlight was 3 sets of pull ups (30%, 50%, 30%), 10% of weights. It jus these, and i was feeling like I did 3 sets of PT. My body aches and I feel so tired. My mind's worse, totally turned off.

An unfortunate event occured todae at the gym. Not too sure abt the details. But it ended up in the hosp (again). Seems like the fengshui in the gym not very good, esp in the 2nd sem. Watch it, ppl, i think NF is rite abt the Curse of the Injuries of the NUS climbing gym. I'll be devastated if i'm injured again rite now. Really pray hard that all of us are kept safe.

Gtg back to my tut. Adrain's Bullet Train Guide's a really nice read. Hope i can implement it into my training program too.

(T-seven weeks, i think, can't wait for the eXcitement)

The Bullet Train Guide to be Heavy

NUS climbers are always worrying about their weights. I mean, what's the deal man..just eat climb and dun worry so much lah. And there is this recent flurry of BMI thingy and to our amazement, there are climbers who have BMI below 18! This is super thin and super unhealthy, as testified by a Health Promotion Board Officer who replied to Jups mail. Thus being the always helpful guy, I hereby (humbly) present:

Adrian's The Bullet Train Guide to be Heavy

Introduction
You might ask, Adrian you are not fat, how to write a guide? That is true, but I am heavy. Notice the subtle difference between fat and heavy. Fat means bloated, like a puffer fish and your lumps bounce during walking. Lumps on the stomach or legs that is, we do not mind good lumps. Heavy means you can have a normal body, only that you have this thing called weight and an acceptable BMI. And being heavy prevents stretch marks, being fat fast means having stretch marks all over ur body. Not good if you wanna wear little cloth.

One: Old Chang Kee
Go across the street during training and buy some old chang kee products! They are cheaper than outside, and it tastes good! usually the food will be sold out at 9pm, thus go slightly earlier, like during water break. for extra challenge, buy everything on the shelf man, and treat the team so everyone can accompany you during your get heavy campaign.

Two: Eat den sleep
After training, fast fast go home, bath and eat dinner! Must be completed in sequence, cos you need to wait for your hair to dry. Then after eat dinner, your hair is dried already and now, fast fast go sleep! This is the super orgasmic way to get heavy man..you will feel super happy. This is especially good for those muggers who rarely have a good night sleep, you will feel super accomplished!

Three: Footlong sub
Subway's sandwiches got the footlong one. Instead of going old chang kee to buy food, you can go subway which is just beside OCK. Buy the footlong sandwich but do not get the meal! Remember your student card for discount..this is much more worth it than buying the normal 6-inch sub. For extra oomph, go for subs like meatball, turkey, chicken teriyaki. You will defeat the purpose if you buy stuff like veggie delight. -.- totally a turn off. Subway is healthy too thus you will not feel guilty. Try to finish the footlong sub, you can eat it thru out training (outside of the gym) and remember not to 'f***ing throw your food waste in the gym' hahahaha.

Four: Running and swimming is wrong
Why burn off money? You see, food is bought using money, and by running or swimming, you are burning off the food, thus burning off money. But you need to be fit while getting heavy, thus continue to eat and climb. Just climb. Correct de, you can firm up the arms and thighs that was fattened. Imagine those firm arms and hot legs like Mei Fen's. They can be yours too! Still no firm legs? Rally all the engineers in the team, we have like 584 engineers here. Big team hor? Anyway get their timetables and escort each one of us up the Engineering Slope. Inclined at an angle of 30 degrees, escorting everyone of us up for a week can give you those Mei Fen's Legs! They can be yours too!

Five: Ice cream hurhur
Ice cream during training, ice cream tub while studying, ice cream for breakfast, ice cream on bus..eat it wherever you go! If you're rich, go buy Ben and Jerry's. If not..just a local brand will do. Remember to bring some to the gym to share so we can share your guilt. If you start to uh-wekkk (vomit), oh man..you have just hit the sweet spot. Ignore the puke and ice cream foaming at your mouth and continue eating! Spartan training yo. After sometime, it will be totally normal to foam and eat ice cream at the same time, ie the l33t ice cream eater haha.

Conclusion
You will surely have a lot of fun eating behind coach's back during training. It is like satisfying your curiousity. Satisfaction will be attained especially for step two. Once you attained satisfaction, continue step two but in a higher intensity, like sleep longer! Remember to share your food hor. Being underweight has its consequences and really, the.threat.is.real.

GEK1025

Today during the lecture, we were gg thru Chinese landscape painting. And i can't help but think abt Yang Shuo. Esp so after Liu Li showed me those crazy photos on his ever high-tech and high resolution camera-phone. Here's why:





Forces of nature and humans, pls let this trip be a reality!


On another note, its the 1st day of Feb. 2 more months. Like what a hardworking climber always says: "Train hard train safe."

Exchange Wat?

It'll be the 3rd wk of training 2dae. And there's already injuries here and there. I'm badly injured too, with a large blood-filled blister (which had healed). Take care people and recover fast. (X-training helps, I guess.)

We had about three school exchanges till now for this sem. And I look forward to every one of them. Its a chance to climb at a different place, to see how other climbers are training or their style, and to learn from others. I think this is like climbing with British pro climbers, but at a level lower, i guess.

But somehow, during exchanges, we tend to keep to ourselves (myself included). It just feels weird to interact with others. Somehow the objective of exchange is lost. So here, let me humbly suggest some not-so good ideas.

• Ice-breakers. Usually we jus get changed and start climbing asap. How abt gettin the coach and captains / committee to self-intro. This will aid future c0-op.
• Divide into groups (maybe by category) to increase interaction.
• Go through the normal training routine, rather than jus free climb. This allows ppl to exchange training pointers; and let them see how other team trains.
• Pre event route setting. (done last yr)
• End with free & easy climb.

Point to note: we're a big group and tend to intimidate and occupy large areas wherever we go. Thus we appear obnoxious. (me included)

Just my humble opinions. Its easy to say, but hard to execute.

Comments or ideas, anyone?

Tuesday

Just finished reading Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom.

My canoeing coach braved the rain to cycle to my home just so that he can pass me the book. So I believe it has to be something influential and powerful enough to make someone want to share it with me.

And the book made me ask myself questions over and over again. It's not just once.
It may help in your pursuit of happiness.
Either that, or just head down to the gym.

Chang Mai - Crazy Horse Buttress

Chang Mai vs Krabi. Seems like there has been some talk going around abt "Why Not Krabi?". To appease the masses, here're some reasons of why the former is as good, or better than the latter.

1. Chang Mai has lots of long nice exposed climbing that takes you into a fantastic view of the area

2. Like Krabi, not as many mozzies as Batu Caves

3. Cooler weather up north

4. Places for bouldering too!

5. Save you from the dangers of the monsoon and the threat of rain in Krabi

6. Prevent you from being extorted by the pirates of Krabi

7. Try something new! Take the path less trodden! Dont keep trying things that pple will just say "seen it, tried it, finished it"!

8. Coz many of the seniors have been to Krabi =] And Clara too. Frankly I havent been to Chang Mai but I think I will be great!

To entice you peepz further, here are some more pics from Chang Mai http://www.thailandclimbing.com/

Pork??

no offence to the other races in the climbing team...

Food Journey

Now heres something bit different, a food journey that happened on last tuesday, heres some photos for ya'll to drool over (hopefully)...enjoy!

Bak Chor Mee..gone.. Nonya Dumpling! Quite good with the chilli powder





P.S.: Jensen, next time u shld eat less before training..don't waste it by letting it out..

Just stopping by to say that...

Just stopping by to say that...
actually I wanted to climb endurance routes today but it rained so i stayed in.
actually I wanted to climb a bit today but my fingers are still aching from Kiat's training.
actually I wanted to go Tampin but I got 5 mid-terms plus a paper assignment immediately after the hols.

ps, who knows what is the best gift to give to your ex-classmate who is turning 21? she's throwing a birthday party and i no idea on wat to get for her..thanks!

The ReVenGe of the InJurieS

To all NUS climbers... An Urgent Health Notice. Pls take note... The Curse of the Injuries of the NUS climbing gym is BACK. For all the people that had escaped unscathed last academic year, you would probably only have a vague impression of that dark period. To refresh your memory, think of sprained ankles (notably Adrian's amazing leap of faith during RockMaster qualifiers). IT's BACK. But this time it has morph into WRIST pain. There's a raising number of climbers suffering from it - Liu Li, Edwin, Jansen, me n whoever else. It can also transfigure into the form of pulled finger tendons. Would advise caution to all climbers to stay well aware of this plague.

Ok seriously. You seriously do not want to be afflicted by injury or sorts. Do a Google on 'climbing injuries' and you'll find thousand n 1 articles on it - cause, prevention, maintenance. Find some time to read up ya? Climb Well n Climb Safe people! Meanwhile, might need to change the feng-shui or something again... or burn some joss sticks...

Start II

"Is Adrian here yet?"

Those are the typical lines said during trainings. Thus hereby I present, Why Adrian Seems to be Late for Trainings.

1. Actually it is the rain. Rain prohibits movements and everything slows down. Training starts at 6.30pm, and I make my move to the PGP bus stop at 5.30pm. Due to the rain, I close my room windows and take my umbrella and walk to bus stop. Walk slowly now as rain makes floor slippery. Reach PGP foyer at 6pm. Rain gets heavier and I walk slower. I missed the bus and had to wait for the next one at 6.40pm. There was traffic jam aso..so when I reach the gym, it was 7pm plus de.
2. Raining makes waking up more unbearable.
3. Tutorial registration..my tutorials registered via IVLE and all my faculty mates are kiasus! My tutorial registration starts at 7pm, and by 7.10pm, my prefered slot is full already. Thus I aso kiasu and hog my computer my clicking refresh refresh refresh. Outsiders may think I am some sick gamer but NO. I am actually trying to keep up to some nerds nia.
   
4. No bus to climbasia. If you miss the bus to harborfront, u must wait 10 more mins. When you reach the mrt station, you must wait another 6 mins. Thus you will be late for 16 mins.
5. I forgot my ezlink card, as I am an engineer. So must go back and take.
6. I forgot my climbasia card too..
7. My faculty mate called me to ask me about lab -.-

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Nyam nyam nyam chi-fei wo men muahaha.

Start

This week marks the start of official trainings. Quite glad to see most people back for training, except for some lost and late sheeps. This blog had be seeing its lull of posts; i hope those bloggers out there can post more exciting stuff (eg star blogger like hadrianus who stays at block 3.floor 8.room d). Guys training on monday was tough, at least to me. My back muscles ache terribly today. We did max pull-ups, which saw all the guys and one lone gal pulling to new highs. I went beyond 20 for my very 1st time. We then had three sets of push-ups, dips, leg-raises, tension conditioning, and more pull-ups. If OJW was there, I’ll feel more motivated, not that the people there were not.

Headed back to gym for max hangs. Then the end of training. The juniors are confirm much stronger now and I applaud that. But please get even more stronger (technique, strength, power, endurance), so Liu Li can improve and push to new frontiers. Man, alvin’s blog is so crowded with cool climbing pics that I drool over my laptop as I admire each of them. Then there is the castle hill trip by Ben, Suz, RH and Coy. When it is gonna be me? – the gym rat.

Here’s some pics of Climberland – the gym where Alvin and I climbed in HongKong. Its cosy and you pay by placing your money in this metal box. Good for cheapskates.















(Weimin, its time you post some pictures of beautiful ladies from your side!)

greetings

Hi guys! Now that it's a new semester, holidays are over and results are out, I hope everyone's ready to start the new semester with a better idea of time management! i.e. How to fit school work into climbing life :) I'm really looking forward to see everyone grow into better and more experienced climbers when i get back. Especially hope the juniors can surpass the older climbers like me, zx, ks, weimin soon. For my batch, I feel that we improved due to helping each other and also friendly competition..whatever works for you!

Anyway if you're interested, you can read my blog here. I write about my travels and also a lot about climbing. Currently, I am climbing about 3-4x a week and I think I will buy the 45pound /month unlimited climbing pass at the local bouldering gym here. You can imagine how much that stings after climbing free in NUS for so long.

The climbers here are good. There are 2 guys on the British National squad and they are really REALLY strong. Climbing with them is tough but very enlightening. Other than them, there are LOADS of other climbers stronger than me so I think I can really improve here. Climbing in NUS has made me strong enough that I can climb decently with these guys and not make a fool out of myself. I owe a lot to the NUS gym(always my second home) and all the seniors/dinos who have taught me so much over these 2.5 years.

Thanks!!

Read this article on the Straits Times Life! yesterday(Thurs). Decided to share.

It's written by Ben Hecht(1894-1964), an American journalist, playwright and screenwriter. It's an excerpt from his column titled Testament of a Reporter found in The Penguin Books of Columnists.


I saw (the boxer) Jack Dempsey knock out of the ring in Atlantic City and come back to win.

I saw Chris Happerty of the Association Press (AP) climb an icy telegraph pole in the Dayton flood, tap out his last message: “Dayton, Ohio – AP everywhere”, and slide unconscious to the earth.

I heard Hugo Haase stand up in the first National German Assembly at Weimar and proclaim: “I am a German who believes the might of guns will only win for us an ignoble place in the human family. If this is treason, kill me.” They killed him on the Reichstag steps in Berlin.

I saw Lou Gehrig bat out his last homer with his spine in a knot.

I saw Jesus Maria Lopez, before the firing squad in Chihuahua in 1928, smoke his last cigarette, grin at the leveled rifles, and say: “Your bullets, my friends, will have no effect on the thoughts in my humble head. They will continue in other humble heads.”

I saw Ben Welch, blind as a bat, come prancing out on the Palace Theatre stage and crack jokes that convulsed his audience.

I saw George Gershwin writing his last tunes for the Goldwyn Follies with a brain tumour driving an ice pick through his skull.

I saw a survivor of the Titanic, a servant girl from Galway, who told me how her friends in the steerage had died. Unable to find places in the lifeboats, they had crowded into the forbidden but now deserted precincts of the first-cabin saloon, taken possession of the elegant piano, and played and sung Irish tunes as the ship went down, themselves with it.

I saw an American Expeditionary Force soldier on the hospital cot, with both legs off and a fake jaw riveted to where his face had been, move his mouth stiffly and squeak like a mama doll: “We won.”

I’ve seen these and many things like them.

Along with the endless saga of misfortune that hits the eye of the reporter, he gets to see the queer stamina of little people in big troubles.

He is given a privileged look at the undaunted moments that are the soul of human history.

He sees a lot of disaster and wreckage, but if he keeps his eyes open, he usually gets a look at the flag of man still flapping away above some corner of the shambles.

I’ve seen this flag a hundred times where it never belonged. I’ve seen it come out of the many big and little hells in the hearts of people and straighten up in victory.

Missin'

"When you miss something, you'll know it."

Yeah, that's what I've been told as well. I guess it's brought to you by the same people who insist that "you'll know it when you're in love," and "you'll just know it."

Well, I know it, alright. I know that I'm missing something.

This evening, it rained just as I left the office. The nostalgic dampness in the laden evening air gelled my weary steps. She was beckoning. She had been so patiently waiting for me.

She was my old lover, my once true love; and I found myself thinking of her through the hazy train windows. Ah those times we spent in the comfort of one another; those nights we shared in quiet and in blatant disregard. Perhaps most importantly, the times she gracefullly showed myself to me in ways I couldn't ignore. Her elegant rigidity defeated my contrived agility each time I tried to conquer her.

Whenever things got messy, we'd clear the air, and throw out the trash. Whenever our lives got crowded, she always gave me room for a breather, away from her cozy embrace but never far from her presence. Whenever we had a chance to stand out on the public scene, she'd be there to give us all that she had.

Oh, what true love.

I miss the NUS climbing gym. I've spent some of the best and worst times of my life with that gym and with those silent fibreglass sentinals. They have taught me more than I could have learnt. And yet, they would never ask for me to give anything -- but to return to the one true place for climbing.

Give me a reason not to love climbing, and I'll just introduce you to my great lover.

She still completes me.



JKLM

Kl pics

Here's some pics from kl for your viewing pleasure. Sorry if the pictures are all over the place. Can't be helped lah. I'm too lazy and untalented to work it out.

Jups is like some cliffhanger super hero huh. Check out all that gear sia. How you say... action packet, if you know what I mean.








Special thanks to Clara for her photo taking skills because mine suck.

Must put my big face inside right?





Disclaimer: Pictures have been photoshopped to remove mosquito bites and pimples. Thats why everyone so "hansem". You think you really so hamsen meh?

New YeaR 2007

No witty comments,

No humurous quotes,

No hot YouTube videos.

This is about the New Year and the Year that is passing. On the same line as Jensen on this, that this is a time when thoughts surface and questions form, when reflection probes and uncertainty scares. Consciously or otherwise. How has the Year been for you? Or from a wider perspective, how has the Year changed your life? How have you changed? The list seems endless.

Something more relevant to the blog, a question that Zhengxin once asked, why do we climb? For the juniors, maybe it's a little early to ponder but i feel that somewhere down the line, it's inevitable that it will appear. Why do we devote so much time and energy into this activity? The passion? The nature? Or simply because there isn't anything else to do? A simple question but one that can mould one's drive to climb or make one feel that it's probably time to call it quits.

Why do i climb. One picture sums it up. One of my fav.


In words. It's about the Moment - that Moment when time feels like it's standing still, when nothing else seems to matter - that Moment of beauty, of nature and of climbing - that Moment shared with friends

Just a little poignant moment =]

(watch the movie "The Beach"; might give an idea if you have no idea what i'm talking about here) Happy New Year and a wonderful 2007 ahead!

xmas

I was wondering who else had no programs for xmas evening and found out that actually quite a few ppl!

So we decided to meet and have a short climb in nus from 6-9, then dinner at holland V. Some of us had zhi char which was only so-so and the rest had western food.






Then everyone went home (wtf!) and the 4 remaining survivors of xmas climbers outing 06 went for some drinks at Wala's...




l-r: alv, eli, jiasheng, weixiang
Jiasheng and weixiang are our non-NUS climbers who actually climb more often in nus then most nus climbers!





Merrrry xmasssss

Take A Look

I'm sure everyone has seen some disappointments and unlikely successes in their lives this year. As the end of 2006 draws near, it is inevitable to think about the year that has passed.

But I say let's not be trapped by the shackles of 2006.

Tell us your wishes (doesn't have to be resolutions) for the new year, say, 3 of them.

I'll start.

1. Learn to climb with grace and control.
2. Stay cheerful in the face of adversity ( like flunking exams)
3. Get to know all you people in the team more, in depth.

I don't like to shoot arrows at unsuspecting people, so I'm not going to tag anyone. If you visit the team blog, just spend a few minutes posting.