cannot believe you're taking my heart


... to pieces

I've been posted to 3 Guards at Bedok Camp beginning next Monday, for my vacation attachment. Basic Airborne Course starts next Thursday, assuming I make it through the selection test which I think shouldn't be much of a factor, but of course there's never any room for complacency. God willing I'll get my wings as a timely birthday present. Even though I'm not a big fan of heights, but it's time to face my fears, and, quite literally, step out into the unknown. Hooyah!

Hopefully this vacation attachment will give me plentiful opportunities for dynamic learning and I won't be reduced to handling admin stuff, because that will be a bummer. Time to bid farewell to these 3 blissful weeks of working out thrice a day and wondering how else to spend my time otherwise. Looking forward to returning to military life, it's been quite a while. Need to touch base once again.

I think I much prefer blog-surfing to updating my own blog, which kind of explains the sporadic posts. Just read Philip's post about running and I'm inclined to agree with what he said. I never was a big fan of running in the past because it always gave me awful side stitches, and the weather here isn't very conducive to running especially in the afternoon heat. Even though we did a fair bit of running back in the canoeing days, those pre-SDBA intervals and canal runs, I still wasn't particularly fond of it. But after BMT and OCS and 5BX in the mornings which involved short runs, and endurance runs as well as interval training, I gradually came to appreciate how it was a pretty efficient method of exercise and perhaps one of the best cardio workouts. So I started running a lot more during and after military training last year. Running was also an excellent method of sightseeing- in Melbourne, Bangkok and Chicago I'd lace up my shoes and head out of the door for loping morning jaunts ranging from thirty minutes to slightly over an hour in duration, just taking in the sights the cities offered and relishing the relative peace and quiet the early hour provided. In Michigan I did a fair bit of running, especially in the fall and towards the tail end of winter. During the harshest period of winter, around November-January, I didn't get out as much as I'd have liked to, because of the heavy-duty erging sessions and the fact that the pavements were often cloaked in a thick layer of slippery ice. I did go for a couple runs in sub-zero weather, though- bundled up in UnderArmor, running spandex and beanie, but it wasn't easy having to gingerly pick my way around the icy spots, which often reduced my pace to something resembling a shuffle. And if you know me, I'd never run on the treadmill because that's a fate worse than death- I go absolutely balmy just plodding along for two minutes on the deck. As I grew more accustomed to running, my runs became longer, and I often spent between an hour to two hours on the road at any one time. The monthly 10-milers held by the Tortoise and Hare Running Store at Ann Arbor were a great way to inject an occasional dose of excitement into my long Sunday recovery runs. Back in Singapore right now I run alternate days, which is working out really great because I'll be less prone to get bored of it. I signed up for the Chicago Marathon to be held later this year, in October, and I think it'll be an unforgettable experience. Will probably be taking IPPT in the next few weeks- hopefully I manage to attain a respectable 2.4 timing in testament to my training. Haha.

Wah, this blog has been dormant for a very long time. When I come back to Singapore I hardly use the computer, whereas in Michigan if I'm not out and about, away from my room, I'm probably glued to my notebook monitor. So that helps to explain the pretty sporadic updates as well. Anyway so lately I've been quite free, my life predominantly revolves around home, the swimming pool, and Fitness First, and occasional ambling around town. Which isn't a bad existence in itself, in fact it's pretty nice, but not something I think I could do forever. Today I finally discovered the SAFSA Ladies' Dragonboat team which I've been hunting for forever, and it was good paddling in a 12-crew dragonboat again except that it feels deathly slow after the relative lightness of a rowing eight, or a K2 for that matter. I think dragonboating has become hugely popular especially of late- people even own their own paddles now! And they even use fiberglass paddles, which I felt was pretty sweet. Those SDBA-supplied ones are like bloody logs. Okay lah, I've been tagged twice and I think I should do something about it, but not now because it's bedtime. :)

Back in Singapore for four months! The flight back was pretty uneventful except that there was a delay due to engine problems which forced us to switch planes before takeoff from Detroit, and everyone missed their connecting flights. Spent a night in Japan, courtesy of Northwest Airlines, but it wasn't such a shabby deal after all despite reaching home about 15 hours after I was originally scheduled to. At least I didn't reach Singapore at such a godforsaken hour, and I can't really complain about a night's stay in Japan with breakfast and the works. My first entire day in Singapore has just about ended and I'm just getting reacquainted with the horribly humid weather here. Went running this morning, about 6 miles and I don't know if I was running really fast or something or just not getting acclimatized to the weather but my heart rate was pretty high, around 90% of max HR which was kind of weird. And when I returned I was positively dripping. This is crazy weather, I'm not sure I like it very much. Haha. Sometimes it's pretty much a toss-up between the heat and humidity of Singapore and the chilling wind of Michigan- I'm hard-pressed to pick one over the other. Oh well, can't complain now, can I? Signed up for a membership at Fitness First for the duration of my summer vacation, am pretty pleased because it seems like a good deal considering what a gym rat I am, and their clubs are kinda sweet. Especially the one at George Street which I shall have to check out. The Paragon one is pretty nice except that it's slightly small, but that personal trainer- what's his name- that hot one who appeared on the cover of Men's Health and who burnt up the sidewalks a couple years back with the pic of him in the buff for the smoking hot Virgin Mobile advert at bus stops and the like- works there, so that's also a treat. Haha. Met up with EC and went for a much-needed haircut, it was great talking to her and she has a sweet bike as well! Makes me feel like learning riding. Haha.