hello there. its been long, hasnt it?

well i kinda wanted to post after the exams, but the general euphoria of THE EXAMS ARE OVER took over. now, here i am, again.

my life? a) playstation. b) canoeing. suffice it to say that i have a lack of a life.

my thoughts nowadays are of nothing but canoeing. take for instance, just today, G and i tried out the k1s. for non canoeists, there are four main boats on canoeing. k1, k2, t1 and t2. the t2 is a two person boat, as is the k2. the t2 is virtually unshakeable, and if you capsize it, youre a big loser and should back away slowly from the canoes.

the t1 is like the t2. its a pretty easy boat la. quite hard to capsize, but of course its easier to capsize than the t2, but, hey, dont be a loser will ya? only difference is that the t1 only holds one person, like the k1.

on to the k boats, the bane of my existence. they are a hell lot narrower than the t boats, which means that they go a lot faster than the t boats. however, they are also a hell lot harder to balance in. and it is quite easy to cap in a k boat.

so G and i hop over to try the k1. we take about half an hour to forty five minutes, with repeated capsizes to actually get out of the bay. yes its that hard to manage, but hey once you get your balance its easier. i guess. but its hard to get your balance when you are a frickin N00B at the k boats.

well i finally haul ass outta there, first with brigitte in a t1 watching over me, then when the senior girls go off for apache (which is when they row out and row around and you can barely see em from where you are) then caleb takes over.

i capped thrice, out there. yes, embarrassing i know. this is how my first cap went.

*tyf caps*
*brigitte rows over to help me get my boat out*
*some random kayaking family passes by and the mother tells the child*
mother: Boy, that is what we dont want to do, okay?
*tyf mutters darkly*
*liyana and the newbie girl row up in their t2*
*tyf hops up to the back. yay, three person boat!*
*we row back to shore, brigitte behind us ferrying my boat back along*

now that was embarrassing. anyway the next two capsizes werent that bad so yea.

heh. at least i got outta the bay faster than G. she took about 15 minutes or so more than me. G and i were later named the official B div k1 rowers by mr yong, saying that it was admirable that we got our balance so fast and stuff.

i am freaked, but excited. >.< (lol when he said that liyana turned to grin at us. xP) anyways dragonboat race in about a week. 20 weeks to nationals. my thanks to brigitte, lina, shi en and caleb for helping me out with my k1. also to meishan who pretty much taught me everything i know about rowing. memorable quotes:-
"you capsize because you are scared! dont be scared!" -mr yong, to G and i.
"you dont balance the boat by being Zen, but by tapping." -brigitte.

by the way, tapping means that if you tilt the boat, you use your paddle to give the water a hearty smack on whichever side your tilting on. then you will untilt yourself. yeah.

yeah. thats all. lol. tmr long distance training. i am frickin scared that mr yong will put G and i into a k1 again and we will cap in the middle of nowhere, which believe me, is a huge hassle.

originally written on 17/11/05, but not published as the entire comp language was SOMEHOW (yes dad.) changed to bloody chinese. so i clicked "save to draft" instead of "publish post". no wonder im flunking chinese.