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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Yup, that's the title of the 7th book.

I know, I know, kinda slow to post that. It's been out for a few days already.

Don't know whether to be excited or sad. Sure, the last book will finally be out, but...

IT'S THE LAST BOOK!!!

"...at the solstice will come a new... and none will come after..." - Order of the Phoenix

NONE WILL COME AFTER!!! AAAAARGH!!!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

A Vivid Vacation for a Vacated Venture

Pardon the pun, watched too many reruns of V for Vendetta, which is the personal favourite movie of the year, made extra special by someone special. Phew, that’s been quite a long while since there has been any decent post at all. Through that entire wait, there have been quite a handful of ideas cropping up which has been set on reserve, so look forward to a few more worthwhile entries before the year is done. A top five list is to be expected, so to make that even tangible, some entries need to go up.

Before we proceed, allow some introduction to be done. All of you are all too familiar with this person called Farhan. Yet it is not he who speaks now. Neither are we the alter ego called Rafahn. Instead, let us be known as the Greater Consciousness [until we find a nicer name]. We are the entity that has been given consciousness in the cranial crevices of Farhan’s brain since its existence, ever watching, ever waiting. It is through this long silence that we have finally manifested a voice to speak to all about the thoughts and mishaps of Farhan and Rafahn. As an inside third party [ooh, what an oxymoron], we are able to report independent of their influences. We are the Voice that is Withdrawn, the One who Knows Many, the User of Corny upper Caps, the Privileged with the Special Brackets, and the Personification of Legal Grounds. Yes, it is we who embodie the purpose of the grounds where the truth is ordained. Don’t fret, Farhan and Rafahn will still make appearances. To make it clear who’s who, we’ll all sign off at the end of each article.

That was rather longer than we intended. Anyway, our purpose here today is to report on the recent event that happened to Farhan. As per tradition, he made another trip to miserable Malaysia last week, as had been done during school vacations. Along with him was his band of misfits: brothers two, Stupidity and Shamelessness, a mat/skater confused crossbreed, and another pair of brothers from In The End. No offense, but we don’t mind their lack of intellect at all. In fact it made for quite an interesting vacation, just like last year’s events.

Let’s take a look at little Singapore from the global geographical perspective. She’s tiny. An hour gets you from one point of the island to the other. Malaysia on the other hand, is littered with acres after acres of land. That meant that a lot of time there was spent on travel journeys in the middle of palm plantations, if not in the middle of nowhere. Man, do they have a lot of land. If Singapore could buy just their peninsular, we can even be twice richer than those farm-loving Malaysian. Equipped with the trusty divine lifesaving iPod Nano, constant supply of coffee from regular pit stops, and a band of idiots as company, the journeys around weren’t as bad as they were supposed to be.

We’ve seen the Legends at Fort Canning, but we weren’t eager to see yet another one in Malaysia. However, Legends Resort there wasn’t so bad. The rooms could do better, but the resort it self was quite lavish. It had all the facilities that a band of idiots could ask for a full day of havoc, which was exactly what we did right after we checked in.

Sadly, there wasn’t a good afternoon and dinner buffet at the in-house restaurant, so all meals except breakfast were had outside. Duh, since we were at other parts of Malaysia during the trip there anyway. Oh, we really must tell you about the mishap that almost resulted in the permanent loss of Farhan’s beloved jacket. There’s this seafood place right outside the resort that we all went to for all the dinners. It was actually quite a long walk out from the resort, since for some reason they built it in a way such that you had to take a really long walk down a road to get in. Anyway, after the dinner on the first night, alas, he left his jacket on the chair while paying the bill. Oh what horror! It wasn’t realized until he was back safe, ok maybe not with all the other idiots in the same room, in the hotel room. The poor guy had to run back to the eating place to get it. He had a ten ringgit bill prepared just in case the people were rotten enough to hint for a tip. Oh you know, who knows how corrupted these people could get. For some reason, we’ve observed that the service people there don’t really have the ‘service with a smile’ campaign going on. Except for the service people at the shopping centres, who seemed to profusely greet and thank everyone like clockwork. Anyway, his ten ringgit was still with him at the end of the incident, and so was his jacket.

Did we mention that he got a room with that entire bunch of misfits? Oh, now we did. Can you believe it? Imagine the havoc that must have occurred! And that was exactly what happened. Too bad the room service menu wasn’t good, or else we could have done our traditional consecutive call in the middle of the night to order the same food at different times thing. Yeah, we actually did that last year. And the year before. And the year before that too. Despite our cultural, behavioral and intellectual differences, we still had a common view of having a good time, so hanging out with them was worth our while. Tempting as it is to join their illicit activities [strict as they are, Malaysian laws are nowhere as enforced as ours], Farhan still retained his moral pride, so he got to witness all the insanity while still being sane.

All in all, it was quite a fulfilling trip. The only regret is not bringing our laptop of course, or else we could have enjoyed our iPod a little longer and god knows what else a bunch of guys with a computer would do in the middle of the night. Home didn’t seem to welcome us back with open arms. It poured like never before, for days on end, though it was good excuse to skip training [don’t tell anyone that]. Really, rainy weather doesn’t give you the mood to do anything else except for doze off. Anyway, this is as far as we can go, the rest is up to Farhan. This is not, however, our last encounter, so we bid you farewell until next time.

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The Greater Consciousness is the all powerful entity that governs the cranial spaces of Farhan’s brain. They like is there since it’s cosy, but with Farhan and Rafahn’s increased conflicts, it’s getting a little cramped. That could have been the cause of the gradual drop in IQ.

And the fight rages on

NOTE: This entry was saved as a draft for me to work on, but I never found the will to finish it. So I'll just put it up in this state for the record.

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THIS POST IS REGARDING THE ACJC FIGHT CLUB. (which does not exist)

Oh, I'm just making sure that whoever is googling on it finds the right stuff.

Before we dive back into this whole fiasco, I just realised that this kind of thing is what this blog was aimed to be doing when it was created - to be writing on interesting touchy topics. But it has kinda died lately, so I'm really excited to be on the keyboard again. If promos ends well, I'll be gearing up for a fresh new round of blogging.

Now, back to the main issue. I was just looking around to see what's sprouted since the news about the fight came into the digital realm and all hell broke loose. Must really admire how the internet spreads the word. I've gotten hits regarding the article from people who are from the other side of the globe. And I also discovered some psuedo open house teaser poster of some photoshopped japanese girl. Look out for that, it's worth a look.

What isn't worth looking at is SGForums. The thread on the issue is relevant at first, but after the first five pages it turns into a bitchfight with JC vs Non-JC students, Transparency vs Political Correctness or whatsoever factions the bitches have broken into. Unless you're another New Paper reporter, it's not worth a look.

And here's another worthy look. Read on.

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fight club?
http://poultryrice.blogspot.com/2006/09/fight-club.html

whoa apparantly the fierce kids at acjc have some sort of fight club which proves that the chattering classes are not above petty violence when it comes to extra-curricular activities.

acjc kid 1: i say, shall we reconvene after school at a suitable locale to do most grievous bodily harm to one another

acjc kid 2: a most excellent proposition my good man, and may i first say that by the time our little altercation is over you will most surely have cried uncle

acjc kid 3: and might i be so bold as to suggest that we invite the other members of our class to this little after school soiree

acjc kid 1: by all means go ahead. after all, what could possibly go awry unless it appears on the front page of the new paper

and here i was thinking that only the proletariat were capable of such things. perhaps we are more alike than we like to think.

well apparantly in jc you are allowed to add 2 grades to your prelim score to get your projected results. so technically C is the new A. i'm just waiting for dead to be the new alive so i can kill myself and live off the insurance money.

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Well said, whoevever-you-are-didn't-catch-your-name. However, being an ACSian myself, I feel obliged yet again to put that in it's true context. So here is my remake of that entry.


acjc kid 1: i say, shall we reconvene after school at a suitable locale to do most grievous bodily harm to one another

acjc kid 2: a most excellent proposition my good man, and may i first say that by the time our little altercation is over you will most surely have cried uncle

acjc kid 3: and might i be so bold as to suggest that we invite the other members of our class to this little after school soiree

acjc kid 1: by all means go ahead. after all, what could possibly go awry unless it appears on the front page of the new paper


**********************************************************************
Source article: Newspaper article from The New Paper
Author: Santokh Singh
Date of article: 03 October 2006
**********************************************************************

HERE'S my appeal to school principals and teachers: Please do not impose any gag order on your students if something negative happens in the school.

HERE'S my appeal to school principals and teachers: Please do not impose any gag order on your students if something negative happens in the school.

Why? It doesn't work.

If anything, it makes them want to talk even more - first among themselves and, if approached, to the press.

The students will get the feeling that the school has something to hide, is authoritarian and not transparent. Worse, they may think their principals and teachers are not practising what they preach.

How can teachers ask them to practise critical thinking and freedom of thought and speech, so central to their classroom learning, when they impose gag orders?

Last week, The New Paper came across this unique situation. Unique because it happened in two schools within an hour.

Students from a secondary school and a junior college told us they had been gagged.

In the secondary school, almost 300 students were struck by a mysterious illness.

In the junior college, the police were called in to break up a planned fight by students.

'We've been told by the school not to talk to the press about this,' the students from the two schools said when we approached them.

But they then went on to tell us everything we needed to know.

Why? It is a basic human instinct - to talk.

The JC students not only spoke freely with us, but they also contradicted what was told to us by the school authorities.

The New Paper ran its report last Thursday, reflecting both versions.

The principal may also be interested to know that it was a student who had alerted us to the incident.

I am convinced the student called us because he did not like being told to shut up.

'We do not wash our dirty linen in public' is an adage that is plausible only for a small family.

I say plausible rather than possible because even in the families of today, I see loyalty losing out to the urge to share interesting gossip.

What more, in a school 'family' of more than 1,000 members.

And with the advance of technology, the imposition of gag orders is almost bordering on the ludicrous.

At times, a student who witnesses or hears of the incident sends an SMS to a friend or family member almost as soon as the incident happens.

No time for the principal to tell students that he or she is going to impose a gag order.

And, as we've witnessed many times these days, these SMSes with visuals attached spread really fast.

If not SMS, then e-mail. And if not e-mail, then a blog.

A Google search with some key words would, more often than not, produce the results.

It may take a little longer but it's usually not long enough for the school authorities to remove the posting.

The details on blogs can be revealing.

Earlier this year, The New Paper warned of fight clubs forming in schools.

One principal, who vehemently denied the existence of such clubs, called me to protest.

But the next day, a posting on a blog criticised The New Paper for being late with the story. A JC student wrote that a fight club was already in existence in his school since he was in Secondary 1.

There are often two sides of a story. But, gag order or not, the truth will usually prevail in the end.

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DISCLAIMER
**********************************************************************

Well, it's not mine, but I found it to be rather intersting and applicable here. So, to all you snoopy reporters out there, have a look.

The blogger uses this weblog to exercise her freedom of expression and has attempted to protect the privacy of characters mentioned. In the event that similarities between actual people and persons mentioned in the entries are uncanny and you think that they are one and the same, you are probably right. However, you should not presume to know that you are correct, or presuppose that the blog contents are accurate. Whatever opinion you form based on the information provided is most likely made in a false light and should be kept to yourself. The blogger will not be held responsible for the contents of this weblog and warns that it should not be taken seriously. Do note that contacting me and demanding that I remove any offensive material is ludicrous since you are visiting this site of your own free will. Under no circumstances should you use and pass off any material from here as your own unless I permit it.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Revelations

It's Christmas Day.

A week since I had my vacation.

8 days left till school opens.

And the pile of schoolwork won't just vanish.

WTH.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

ACJC Swimming Video

Just to add more materials to this blog before I post the articles, here's an interesting vid that might interest you.

A tribute to the seniors.

Friday, December 22, 2006

BoBs Sentosa Outing

Here are the waaaaaaaay overdued pictures folks. I'll put up quirky comments or whatever on my own time ya. Enjoy.














































































Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Product of boredom... again

Oh, scroll down for the fight stuff. This is just my routine boredom check.


Message: if you're a girl, fill out the girls
confessions,
and put an 'x' next to each that apply. If
you're
a guy, fill out the guys, and put an 'x'
next to
each that apply also. Have fun! [Don't
forget to
delete the x's if you're the opposite sex =)]

X_x Girl Confessions x_X

[ ] I do wear make up
[ ] When I walk by mirrors, I cant help but look
[ ] I love pink..
[ ] I have cried at a movie theater
[ ] I love chocolates
[ ] Getting flowers still makes me smile
[ ] I've wrecked a car
[ ] I can put mascara on without opening my mouth
[ ] I'd do anything for a guy
[ ] I love cuddling
[ ]Johnny Depp is sexy
[ ] Gotten detention
[ ] If I have to dress like a... to get your attention, then forget it buddy
[ ] I love to laugh
[ ] I've flashed someone/some people
[ ] I've skinny dipped
[ ] I like Rock
[ ] I like rap
[ ] I like Electronics/techno
[ ] I carry a purse everywhere
[ ] I carry my cell phone at ALL times
[ ] I do own a spice girls CD
[ ] I also own a Britney Spears CD
[ ] I play hard to get
[ ] Boys are fun to tease
[ ] Football is boring
[ ] I love athletic boys
[ ] I love rockers
[ ] Hot guys are better then sweet guys
[ ] Sweet guys are better than hot guys
[ ] I prefer "sweet hotty" guys.
[ ] I've been called a tease
[ ] Lip gloss is WAY better than lipstick
[ ] can't leave the house without makeup
[ ] I'm a bitch. Deal with it.
[ ] I play video games, even when there are other people around
[ ] My friends are the best, and they're important to me


o_O Guy Confessions O_o

[x] I have watched....... (can we not speak of the obvious?)
[ ] I have played/cheated on a girl
[ ] Ive slept naked
[x] I play video games (playED)
[ ] I wear boxers to bed
[ ] Ive thrown rocks @ a girls window
[ ] Ive drank because I felt like it
[ ] I still beat my buddies up
[ ] Of course they never beat me up
[ ] I drive a truck/SUV
[x] My friends and I make fun of each other...alot
[ ] I drive some type of car
[ ] I have a job
[x] I currently have a girlfriend
[x] My girlfriend is better than yours
[x] I think about girls/my girl
[x] Girls are complicated, to the tenth degree
[ ]Im .......... friendly? ahaha
[x] Ive forgotten to return a phone call to a girl...or a few (the latter)
[x] Not all guys are the same Im one of the different ones (ugh, so true)
[x] Id do anything for my girl/a girl (they tend to be... persuasive)
[ ] I tend to be shy around girls
[ ] I act like an ass on purpose
[ ] I've been flashed before
[ ] Ive seen the Rocky Horror picture show
[x] I play hard to get
[ ] I aspire to one day become like the guys in Old School (say who?)
[ ] Im not in love
[ ] Ive honked at a girl going down the road
[x] I've hit on a girl in public (oh no no no, I brought her into a dark alley...)
[x] I've gotten wood in class (what can I say? I'm an adolescent)
[ ] I've asked a hot girl for her number that I just met
[x] Ive acted like a man ........ (as compares to... an infant?)
[x] Angelina Jolie is hot
[ ] Pamela Anderson is hotter (waaaaaaay too big)
[ ] Sports over-rule everything else
[ ] I like rock music
[ ] I like rap music
[ ] Ive been expelled
[x] Ive gotten detention (for the first time in my life!)
[ ] Cheerleaders are hot (show me some then I'll rate this)
[ ] I have a tattoo
[ ] Ive gotten road head
[ ] I smoke entirely too much
[x] Im a virgin (gee, we're asians)
[x] I respect what you have to say (i'm a listener)
[x] And yes I care how your day went =) (for real)
[x] Its not the external looks that matter its how you feel about yourself (ah, tricky one)

Sunday, October 01, 2006

At the Fight Scene

Recently, there has been quite a buzz at school set off by an article in The New Paper about ACJC. I'll spare you the details and just look at the article to see what it's all about.

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Source article: Newspaper article from “Was it a 'Fight Club'?”, The Electric New Paper
Author: Liew Hanqing And Veena Bharwani
Date of article: 29 September 2006
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STUDENTS IN TROUBLE #1
Cops break up JC fracas

IF you thought fight clubs existed only in movies, think again.
First brought to the fore by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in their 1999 film Fight Club, the concept of clubs, formed for members to fight for fun, appears to have arrived here.

In May, The New Paper reported two such incidents which were recorded on video by students from two secondary schools.

They were allegedly involved in a 'fight club' - where students fought one another for the camera.

In those cases, the fights happened on the school grounds.

Last Tuesday, yet another face-off took place here.

This time, a group of students from Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) gathered at the carpark of an HDB estate near the College.

The New Paper learnt from students at the college that at least 20 to 30 students were at the carpark to witness the fight.

And, despite the school imposing a gag order on staff and students, a number of students claimed that a 'fight club' exists.

They said that the group consisted mainly of first-year students.

The New Paper found two blogs written by students which also mentioned the fight club.

MANY MEMBERS

One first-year student told The New Paper that he had heard from friends that the club had more than 50 members.

He said: 'Some of them were involved in this fight club probably because they thought it was fun.

'Most first-year students should have heard about the club's existence.'

Another first-year student added that the incident occured at a multi-storey carpark opposite ACJC.

She said that most of the students were there as spectators and did not actually fight.

Although she wasn't present, she had heard from a friend that there were both boys and girls at the scene.

'We heard that the students dispersed quickly when the police arrived,' she said.

When contacted by The New Paper, ACJC principal Kelvyna Chan said that there is no fight club in the college.

'ISOLATED INCIDENT'

She described the face-off at the carpark as 'an isolated incident of mischief', and said that the students involved had been reprimanded and counselled.

The police confirmed that the incident took place on 19 Sep.

A resident contacted them last Tuesday about a fight at the carpark.

A police spokesman said they received the call at about 4.20pm. When officers arrived at the scene, they spotted students 'running into a nearby school'.

The spokesman added that the police had used the carpark's CCTV cameras to help identify the culprits.

The police have been in contact with the school regarding three students involved in the fight.

No weapons were used.

- Additional reporting by Lim Jun Xue

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,114543,00.html?

**********************************************************************
Source article: Newspaper article from “No fight club in college”, The Electric New Paper
Author: NA
Date of article: 29 September 2006
**********************************************************************

IN a faxed response to The New Paper, ACJC principal Kelvyna Chan said there is no fight club in the college.

'There was recently a fight in the multi-storey carpark involving three of our students.

'This was an isolated incident of mischief. No one was injured. The students involved have since been reprimanded and counselled. None of them were expelled.'

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,114540,00.html?

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Well, being me, I just couldn't sit still. So guess what? I wrote back to them. Check it out.

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At the Fight Scene
An article by Seraphim

**********************************************************************

I refer to your article, 'Was it a fight club?' (29 September 2006, The Electric New Paper). To answer that directly, no it wasn't.

If you thought fight clubs existed only in movies, think again. If you think they exist in ACJC, really think again.

Study break on 28 September took longer than usual, as research reading for the next day's General Paper on The New Paper took all of the attention. Reading up for school turned out to be reading up on school. The article sensationalised the possibility of a ‘fight club’ back in ACJC.

Wow, a new club and it’s not even listed in the yearbook.

As a proud member of the school (like everyone else), I am obliged to set the record straight. The article mentioned that ‘This time, a group of students from Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) gathered at the carpark of an HDB estate near the College.”. So previously it was at the local dojo. That is hardly reason enough to think that there has been similar past incidents. About the 20 to 30 witnesses and a 50 member fight club, those digits are wrong. So far, there hasn’t been any ‘gag order’ notice on the school internet portal either.

I have to stand by the principal’s claim that there is no fight club in the college. It is interesting to ponder why this particular fight became a media focus. If you ask, say, an ITE student, I’m sure they can supply you with a weekly fight to content with. A previous May report already supplied two videos as evidence. A quick search on Youtube revealed 3246 more.

Fear not, this little conundrum has not discombobulated us students. It merely justified our GP teachers’ claims that the media does have engaging stories. Besides, it has become good inspiration. We’ve always wondered what could beat our special edition collegiate t-shirts. Imagine a limited edition ‘Fight Club’ t-shirt at our upcoming 99.90 store. (Oh! Like, that is so cool! And they cost peanuts!) Another good point learnt from the incident is that all of us can truly trust the local police. They have surveillance at carparks that will happen to focus on juvenile fights at high enough quality to distinguish faces. How efficient can they get?

We understand why there is a dire need for sensational scandals. Why else does Singapore need topless dancers, bar top dancing and casinos? Besides, we know that it might take time for the truth to be realised. Even the Ministry of Education needs time to figure things out. Jack Neo, ‘who spoke against the EM3 system in his hit movie I Not Stupid in 2002’, ‘took six years’ for the MOE ‘to figure it out’.

Quoting from my principal, ‘no one was injured’, so all is good. Even if the fight club were real, it won’t be us who should be worrying.


The writer is a first year student at Anglo-Chinese Junior College. This aggravated person has indeed not heard of the existence of such a club, reads satires for light bedtime reading and was not distracted from revision by any misleading articles.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Irwin gone

Aussie croc hunter Steve Irwin killed in 'freak' stingray attack

SYDNEY (AFP) - World-famous Australian "crocodile hunter" and television environmentalist Steve Irwin has been killed by a stingray blow to the chest while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.

The larger-than-life Irwin, 44, known for his fearlessly enthusiastic handling of even the deadliest of wildlife, was killed when a stingray barb punctured his heart during underwater filming off northeastern Australia.

"He came over the top of a stingray and the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said the ebullient Irwin's longtime producer John Stainton, who was with him at the time on Monday.

"It's likely that he possibly died instantly when the barb hit him, and I don't think that he ... felt any pain," a tearful Stainton told reporters in the city of Cairns. "He died doing what he loved best."

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060904/afp/060904125339people.html


Oh well, poor bloke. Here's something as a sign of respect for him:


If you haven't already heard, Steve Irwin died today on 4th September, on the great barrier reef, near cairns. As a sign of respect for the Australian Cultural Icon, please place a turtle at the start of your MSN Name and forward this message to others. To make the turtle sign type 'tu' at your nickname.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

A Race... Just for dignity

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Alright, so last weekend, on Sunday 2 July 2006, I went to the OSIM SIngapore Triathlon 2006 as part of the Olympic Distance Triathlon relay open category, doing the obvious event - swimming. We actually participated just for fun, thus the title, which I will explain in a while. But in the end, at the event itself, we took it more seriously than planned, and ended up in a pretty good position.

For a brief introduction, the olympic distance triathlon relay is a race where there are three legs to the race - 1.5km of swimming, 40km of cycling and 10km of running - each done by a different person. I was down for swimming, senior Frank for cycling and fellow Pre-U Sem presenter Gerald for running.

Ah, back to the title. We arrived at the event pretty early, so we walked around at a leisurely pace. When we just got to the starting line (that's where the swimming part starts), we heard the following announcement: "Swimmers ready? GO!". So you do realise that at this point, there was a crowd of 56 other swimmers who just started the race, and we were just staring at them. Our faces clearly spelt "WTF". Man, I never undressed so fast in my life. And when I first touched water, my PINK swimming cap wouldn't come on properly. So there you have it guys, a race to fight for our dignity, to save ourselves from being last and to save some face for ME who was wearing a PINK swimming cap.

The organisers have no fashion sense.

So, a little commentary on my part of the race. Actually, I wasn't really the last person to start. There was someone else, and he made a futile effort to not remain that way by tugging on me to propel himself forward. Too bad it didn't work, cause he got a backward propulsion from my kick smack on his face. Yeah, mass swimming is really dirty, there's more kicking and pulling later on in the race.

The first sensation that was exhumed to me was the shock of realising that the water was pushing back! I mean, OMG! The water moves!!! That never happens during training at the swimming pool! Oh, and it was moving AGAINST me! In big waves! Yeah, it didn't really occur to me that swimming in open water would be so much different than the swimming pool. There were resisting forces, unpredictable waves, totally obscured seafloor, choking and blinding salty seawater and absolute blindness at navigation.

When you swim 300 metres offshore, its a bit hard to navigate as the horizon and shore looks curved. Navigating according to the parallel waves was quite hopeless, as the waves change directions according to the passing ships, so I found myself lead astray quite a few times.

Not to mention the seawater. Half an hour of endless swimming in the sea makes really burns your throat. Thirst was the only feeling. And extreme irritation. And of course exhaustion. Half my efforts were spent on surfacing, since the water level wasn't constant.

While I was swimming, I wondered why nobody swam past me. It didn't occur to me till later, that how could there be anyone passing me when I was last in line! HAHA. Laugh with me guys. So I could only overtake, not get overtaken.

All in all, it was quite a refreshening experience, as I did pick up some tips on swimming in open water. Like play violent when violence is used on you. And it was really cool coinciding my strokes with the swash, to give it an extra propulsion.

My other teammates had their own little adventures too. The cyclists almost rammed into the barrier threee times. One of which was cause by me and the runner, who shocked him with our sudden loud cheer at a sharp corner. Hey, it wasn't our fault. It was the shadiest and coolest corner around. He lost all feelings in his family jewels after all that. And the runner was a media magnet as he ran a full 10km at high speed with a JESTER HAT on. Yeah, we really joined this thing as a joke at first. For real. He got the joke of the day. "Hey, that joker can run!"

But in the end, we got quite decent results, despite the fact that none of us did any real training for it.

Bib - R297
Name MOHAMMED FARHAN BIN RAS, CHIN ZHAN SHENG, GERALD SOO ENG SIANG
Nationality - Singapore
Swim - 00:36:18
BikeCP1 - 4
BikeCP2 - 4
Bike - 01:18:07
RunCP1 - 2
RunCP2 - 2
Run - 00:42:17
Total - 02:36:41
Rank - 16

Yes, you read it right. After starting last, trying to hide a pink cap, gone on kamikazi crashes, ran like a crown, we still topped 41 other people to get ourselves the 16th placing. I calculated from the timings that I overtaken 28 others in the swimming round, and the runner owned 40 in his leg of the race (there were runners from other categories too, and I'm too lazy to calculate how many the cyclist owned). So like they say in dota, OWN-AGE!

00:36:18. Definitely not my personal best. How can it when I had to brave the shock of moving water, trying not to suffocate on seawater and propelling upwards instead of forward? 1.2mins per lap (over 30). Terrible time. But it's quite ok, considering it's my first open water experience.

Ok ok, I know you want this:

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The colours are a bit off, since I had to digitally edit off the website link from the picture. If you want to find more, go hunt me down at http://www.sportsphotox.com. But please don't, cause this is the best picture and it's ugly. I look fat in the pictures after getting bloated up on seawater.

In the end, all of us are hooked onto the adrenaline rush of a triathlon and ended up with the promise of a more dignified return in next year's race. Too bad for Frank and his NS, we gotta find ourselves a new cyclist. Next year, we're really gonna train for it, and looking at the bunch of old people in that category, it'll be another TOTAL OWNAGE next year.

So go TEAM ACJC!!!