"Climbing has taught me that failure is an essential and important part of learning and succeeding. We must understand this fact and accept it in order to progress. For some reason, I forget this everytime I have a project, and I am forced to relearn this lesson. I have learned it thousands of times, but I cannot seem to grasp this concept in the long-term. I decided to give in to this idea of failure and embrace it after falling on the last move of Turkish Airways last night. I told myself that I would try again, but not to succeed, just to try; to experience climbing in its purest and most natural form. I also promised myself that if I fell, it was ok. I would not be upset. So guess what happened? I didn’t fall. I just climbed like I would have if nothing mattered. My mind was clear. There was no past, and no future, just movement and action. I did it. I was proud that I had conquered that mental demon. Another lesson learned (more like re-learned), onto the next project……"

taken from:
http://www.neverstopexploring.com/blog/2010/04/free-range-turkey-4.html

ended my last netball game ytd night.
we lost to SIM, by 1 point, so we placed 4th, without a medal.
quite a heart wrencher, considering we just lost our semis on tues to TP.
(btw, TP won NTU and are champions.)
the drives and runs i did, the last few minutes of pressure and forcing my legs to move..
appreciating the fact that i may not do this again anytime soon.
yet somehow i'd like to play it all back again.
this last year i have in nus, this last game of school netball that i played, perhaps the last run i've done in competitive netball, all these hang around my head, in my thoughts.



i can only thank ms chng for asking me to play, to wait for me to climb as much as i could in sem 1 last year before coming back to train with the team.
honoured that she believed in how much i can play.
and im thankful for this year's team, all the girls so loveable and making trng enjoyable and fun. =)
(they even plan farewell party for me and ziying. awww)

well,
time to set down the adidas barracades and pick up my lasportivas.
boulderactive adverts are all up on facebook.
and yuji is gonna be the routesetter.
exciting march ahead! cant wait! =)


credits to yixiang

saw this on Redsports:
http://redsports.sg/2011/01/15/ntu-nus-sim-smu-ivp-netball/

haha.
thats me in the photos!
up against nemesis number 2.: lydiasoo's sister, sarah, WD


ref to ivp 2010:


(nemesis number 1 is purple sloper volume)

shucks. damn psyched to play already...
want to meet ntu in finals again. :p

day 10 of sprain thumb:
functions normally.
mobility is there.
still cant fully close.
(can pinch small stuff. heh. but not the big pinches in the gym)
less pain at the bone there. (maybe coz im not forcefully rubbing it?)
tmr will see if catching ball hurts.

all in all, one more week to go.
then its full force ahead to get my flow back on.

tuesday is netball semis!
against TP, 7pm @ RP.
to whoever who reads this, come down and watch! haha.
esp the nus climbers since tues is the only day u guys dont have trng. :p haha.

update of my competitions:

1) we won RP although i cant remember the score. :p abit of a tough fight.. but somehow we managed to pull thru.

2) won SP 60-43 to get into the semis. =) gonna be on tues against TP. gotta get ready!

3) Gravical finals. got 5th.. maintained my standings. :p not exactly the goal i had in mind.. but a satisfactory finals for me. =)

got lots of nice photos taken by the hardworking photographers! =) this time the plain walls with the colourful volumes make the pictures look great! (y) haha.

i think this finals will be the moment when i'll look back and smile to myself thinking abt the climbs i did. haha. managed to overcome the physical obstacles of injury and tiredness. overall, happy climbs with happy new purple and blue pants. (y) it was good, it was good. more to come, allez! will post a video around here soon, once i get them! haha

photo from facebook by Guo Jingyang.
this was the last route for the finals. the purple undercling crimp really quite horrible. but more horrible-er is the next greenwhite sloper tile. urgh. :p


this is by yiming. very cool shot!
(of the only route i finished. :p heh) the last minute jump on the wall and conquering the purple ball. oh yea~ happiest moment. (y)



(edit)
heres the video of the finish. woohoo! all smiles baby.



lastly, taken by chris.
(thanks daffy for the finger tape!) but taping the thumb only served to collect more sweat at the palms. :p gave up and took it off only to encounter pinches on my next route. -.- haha.
this is also to shout out to dor to tell her that she will always be my inspiration. =) (no matter lousy comp or not)

i dont know whether to feel awesome or sad.

had our first ivp game this year @ RP. (first game of the last season i'll ever play, must treasure this!)
NUS vs NTU.
first game already so powerpacked. :p
we lost 32-41, but that wasnt the point.
the point was that we fought really hard and for the first 3 Q, i thought we were awesome.
the flow was like nth we ever experienced during trng.
some how each and everyone one of us pushed hard to get the shot in.
somehow we kinda lost our mojo abit towards the end.. heh.
maybe too much stoppages. :p hmm..
but i think ive never played so hard yet lost, but feel good at the same time. (y)

had our icebath and took a freezing cold shower before heading to Timbre @ Substation to meet the tj people.
the ice bath only made the blisters on my feet sting more. :p haha.
but cold yoghurt soaking into the icebath with us FTW! :)
gobbled down some duck pizza and listened to rae and uncle loh and daryl talk. haha.
awww.. so nice to meet all of them again.

anyways, i sprained my thumb towards the last 5 mins of the game. :p
super sad when i realised i couldnt fix it. (really tried, but its up to God i guess. )
nursing it back to God-Like-Pinching strength now for Gravical on Sat...
hope it works out. bleh.
tried alittle endurance in the gym just now.. managed to open-hand load every tile and "close-pinch" some tiles. haha.
and i guess i can hold a pen and chopsticks a little better right now..
just cant single load on that thumb alone. :p
worry worry worry. (dont tell ah pa!)

well, heads up jud..
tmrs another day for ball-catching!
the game is at 8.30pm @ RP, NUS vs RP.
ALLEZ!

recently the teams been in some twisted mess. :p really tough shit to deal with, like uncoiling new rope that hasnt been coiled properly. its such a long story and im lazy to type it down here. but there are several points that i want to write down so when i look back, i can see whats happened.

this was in KL @ camp5.
the bottle leaning on that piece of thin rope.


and my now perfect, neat, organised and clean table.
threw away lots of rubbish. :p
and some well earned trophies. heh. collecting too much dust.
my old roses are still there.. and gazillion photo frames. haha

to do some stuff ive never done much of in 2010 is something that today was made up of.
or rather, this week before school starts.

ive trained (netball) and climbed almost every other day.
and i admit, i am quite tired. yep.
i am tired.

but ytd was a nice day! a happy, yay! day. =)
netball training ended early as usual. (y)
lunch at engine then back to the gym to climb. (y)
fantastic routes and awesome climbs. (y)
random shopping with the sisters for cny clothes. (y)
ive got my northface pants tailored, a new pair of jeans after 6 years(?!). haha.
and yummy white milk tea from oldtown. (y)

then today i walked around ikea on my own,
bought some stuff for my room and carried a big ass white shelf from queenstown all the way back to simei. :p
cleared my room!! vacuumed, wiped, threw away stuff.
now, i have pretty looking empty boxes that i dont know what to put into. :p haha.
so today isnt so bad either.

tomorrow will be another day of tiring training. and buffet eating. and team briefing.
so will saturday. :p
until school starts, im maxing out my remaining days of holi to play as much as i can. :p

ehh... my above sentences have no structure and dont link up nicely like a story.
haha. oh well.

had a nice new yrs eve at berts hse.
gathering with some of the usual bunch of climbers. haha.
each brought alittle something, some chips, wine, ice cream!
yea. watched the flares and faraway fireworks.
it was a good night.
a good end to 2010, and a good start to 2011

uh oh. this is gonna be long. haha.
once again, every year end/year start, i'll write a long post about things and reflect about things that happened in the year. haha.
so i guess this year is no different.
and maybe let me limit it to 11 points for 2011! haha.

1) CAP went down after the great escape out of the 3.0 mark. just down by 0.1.. but it can never resurface now. haha. so ive settled for average. and its gonna be my last sem this semester. aww.. i dont wanna leave schooooool. :p but i guess if not for the okr ppl always chionging the study rm, i doubt my CAP would be at 3.38 now. haha.

2) vice-captaincy of nus climbing team. another shot at leadership. this time no overbearing coach and perhaps less stress really. but more things to do, to consider. im glad to have this EXCO with me. =) planning training was something new for me. but being passionate about the sport makes a difference in planning. haha. well, i guess ive grown in this aspect of leadership. having a sense of responsibility really changes how you think in a team. everyone shd be a captain one day to know how it feels. no easy man, not easy at all.

3) heh. another PB bite the dust! see here. once again. its nike run. haha. BUT, i know the distance is definitely not at 10km.. but 49.43mins is sweet music to my ears. =) dont know when my next run is. haha. i feel like im retiring already. haha. cant do as well as i can back in the "old days" of 3 years ago. hahaha. maybe until the next ahm? some cheaper race. the races these days are expensive! maybe i shd train hard and win smth to cover my costs man. sheesh.

4) another year of climbing. last year was all about promotion and climbing the ladder to opens. but this year, im trying to really reach up and push myself. getting into open finals is a start. (Y) proud to say that somehow ive managed to climb my way through. compared to my last years performance and this, i guess ive improved. =) haha. and im hoping for more. my krabi climbing grades have gone up to the 7s.. and yea.. im trying harder stuff AND enjoying it. haha. i guess theres this whole new focus and concentration on the moves that i din really bother about in novice or intermediate. getting into opens prematurely really catches you off guard. unprepared and all... but one captain once told me that this might work for the better coz i get to train more in the open and not be lost in the deep blue sea. and yea.. thinking back, im glad ive had this much time to train as a open climber compared to IW or NW. yay. haha.

i hope this coming season will be good. much as i dont physically set the standards for myself, but mentally, my expectations are up there. :p no stress jud. allez!

5) sent my first few 7as. haha. must have one point of this to remember. ;)

6) graduating from netball. this is it, my last IVP. my last few games that i might ever play in netball. phew. its been a long 8 years. i doubt i would continue although ms chng has asked me to join clubs, etc. but you see, netball is a team sport. you need physically 6 other players to play on court with you. whereas climbing, well. its different. you CAN climb together. but you can climb alone too. haha. well.. gonna hang up my adidas barracades and smelly ankle guards (im not even wearing them now!) im gonna miss netball thats for sure. all the running and jumping. aww.. but its time to let go. haha. gone are the days of daydreaming about NSL and U21 and national teams. ive passed that stage. haha. good bye to playing for school teams, something which i once put my heart and soul into getting into.

7) my braces are off! haha. and erm.. im not wearing my retainers anymore. heh. ive got a spastic smile now. haha.



8) perhaps i shd try a new years resolution to not skip any lectures this last sem in school? haha. but a good girl. hmm.. hard.. but we'll see along the way. haha.

9) first job, *gasp! at selling shoes at schu. haha. its an experience. haha. something outside school and sports. haha. met nice colleagues, understand how the customer works, etc. and spending time with endless numbers of shoes. scaling the storeroom of 5m of stacked shoes to dig out size 39. haha. those were quite happy times. haha.

10) roomies with ely and st. haha. sometimes being in sch and coming back to the room with someone inside, plus food sometimes really makes the day feel better. haha. someone to rant to, complain abt school work, wash clothes with, ignore lizard shit and catch insects. yep. haha. all in the life of a roomie.

11) finally the last point! i cant think of what to say now... :p but erm. i haven bought my 2011 planner. haha. i need to organise my life asap!! its the 1st of jan and my schedule is packed already. :p



merry christmas and a happy new year!
(time for a new haircut)