Glimpses of 2009

It has been a beautiful year. Thank you everyone, for everything. Goodbye 2009! A chapter closed, but imprinted eternally in memory.

Reflection

Looking back on 2009, perhaps I should make a summary of all the main things that happened this year. There are only 11 (almost 10) days left of it and it is perhaps inevitable that one feels a certain sense of sadness, of loss, at the passing of one year into the next. Even though the measurement of time is such an abstract concept, there is something infinitely concrete about labeling this year as 2009, and closing it - done and dusted, to face the coming new year with a messy concoction of feelings.

Well the early parts of the year were spent preparing for the IB exams. I pretty much shut myself into a little hidey-hole as my family and friends can testify to. I learnt so much from the IB. Both in terms of academic syllabus and also about life in general (and how to organise my own). I miss studying and working the way I used to. 7 months spent sans intellectual stimulation is a form of mental torture. So anyway, I took the exams, didn't get the perfect score I wanted, entered depression mode for several weeks, and finally managed to pull myself out of it. I realised that life really does have to go on whether or not you miss by one point. I can say that this certainly helped:

Due to the fact that I had so much free time on my hands, I frequented the gym like, well, a gym freak. Gym is awesome. There is nothing more satisfying than working up a sweat and screaming your lungs out in RPM (for me it seems that my mouth works more than my legs). And I've got a great bunch of gym buddies who make the daily experience so very fun. I made a lot of new friends and bonded in the way that only fitness freaks can.

And my love for running was certainly positively reinforced by all the events I took part in. I used to shun competitive sports (I still do) but the occasional race really does give you that extra motivation and commitment to push just a little further.

Powerman 2009, our team Airborne got second place:

Tanjung 10km Run, I got first place in the Women's Open:

Penang Bridge International Marathon, I came fifth in the Women's Open:

And all the little things that happened this year: Finding a new love for trance music, getting my first iPod, making new friends, discovering things about myself, learning to accept, learning how to be grateful, finishing the compiling of my book of poetry (to be published soon, people!), developing my writing techniques, receiving presents from people, making presents for people, going for holidays, spending time with my family, going for parties, having quiet nights in, having late night chats with some of the most wonderful friends I could ask for, falling down, getting up, crying, smiling, laughing, learning, sighing, breathing, running, being. It is good to be alive. And may the coming year be even more exciting and challenging as this one was. Here's to a new adventure; my new life in a foreign place.

The Lioness

she is draped

lazily over a warm

slab of grey

rock heated gently by the Sun.

eyelids half-closed heavy with the heat;

soft padded paw curled

almost like a fist.

and two spiraling flies

buzzing around her eyes,

caused a flick-of-the-tail

(or two).

she is Proud

like no other lion can be Proud:

for she is the Hunter,

the Gatherer, the Carer,

the Wise,

the Guardian, the Protector,

the Mother.

she watches as

her young frolic on the

burnt plains;

a smirk playing gently

at the corners of her

lips as she knowingly

observes those pale

brown figures hiding

pathetically behind

tufts of grass,

she almost Laughs

(do they think she cannot

see them in their

khaki shorts and

tourist hats?)

she lies unabashedly naked,

her golden fur glinting

in the light, she

needs no melodramatic

mane or roar -

for all her Power lies

in her stealth,

in her silence.

1927

151209

Comments

I FIGURED OUT HOW TO ADD A COMMENTS LINK!!!!!! YAY!!!

The Moth

she is pale like

moonlight,

like a white moth

fluttering in the night.

a fragile thing,

with broken wing,

as thin and torn as

frayed tissue paper.

(but inside her, I sense

a darkness,

a deepness,

a scarlet-crimson stain

from an unstitchable wound,

that bleeds.)

2023

131209 (thanks Daniel :P)

Thought.

Sometimes, broken things are the most beautiful.

I AM BACK

HAI

I'm home.

To be honest it wasn't such a bad experience. I guess everything was toned down what with the hype in the papers and all. But the trainers and facilitators were pretty nice and cool about everything. And it taught me quite a lot about team work. And I realised that despite all the crap in this country, I really love it and I am definitely proud to be Malaysian. There's so much about us that can't be found anywhere else. Don't worry, I'm not brainwashed - just more aware.

Feels good to start working out and drinking coffee again :)

Oh ya I beat all the boys in the 2km run (ya 2km, pathetic right?) and broke their all time record. 8:17! Hahaha.. But it was very hilly and SUPER windy and I didn't feel I was running that fast so I have a feeling the distance was less than 2km. That was part of their fitness test.

I tried absailing for the first time too.. It was pretty cool.

Ok time to go shower.. Will say more when there's more to say.

HAI

WILL BE GONE FOR MOST OF NEXT WEEK AS IT IS REQUIRED THAT I ATTEND A BRAINWASHING CAMP ORGANISED BY JPA IN SOME FORSAKEN PLACE IN SEREMBAN CALLED ULU SOMETHING OR OTHER WHERE ONE MUST SHARE TOILETS AND USE A COMMUNAL BATH. I WILL PERISH FROM LACK OF RUNNING AND VEGETABLES. THIS IS HOW SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS ARE REWARDED.

BAI :'(

Seems like I haven't written in a while. Don't think I have much to say, really. Last week's mileage was a pathetic 60km. Looks like this week isn't going to be much better. Don't know what is wrong with my right hip flexor. I must run until there is nothing wrong with it. Been spending time feeding my fish in Happy Aquarium, making notes for Biomedicine, and redoing the exercises in my Math HL textbook. I swore I would burn it after IB ended but I'm quite enjoying all the differentiation and trigonometry. I want to leave but I don't want to leave. I'm comfortable with my gym and running routine but I suppose I really ought to move and get somewhere in life? Can't be just about food and exercise and shopping. I need intellectual stimulation. I need mental challenges.

I also feel like buying another pair of running shoes considering the fact that my Frees (both the 5.0 and 3.0 that I use for running) are SERIOUSLY falling apart. The pattern on the sole has been rubbed almost clean away and you can see the rubber almost half a centimetre thinner on the outside of the heel. And apparently, as told to me by several people lately, these shoes don't provide enough support, etc, etc, they are performance/race day shoes, etc, etc. Yah but I love feeling the ground when I run!

Decided to skip this morning's run. Must limit myself to 6 days a week I think. But a day without a run is so damn unproductive and I feel icky. Even with RPM and Pump later. It just ain't the same. What am I blabbering on about now. I want my third breakfast. Bai.