world of my own

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood,
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

*loves *

the colour orange
the sky and the water (:

Saturday, April 14, 2007

a part of me doesn't want to take a rest now. because i know that if once my head touches the pillow, it would be a long time before i wake up again.

i need at least 10 hrs of sleep to be happy. on schl days, i survive on 7. on days where trng's hiong i need 8 or 9 to function normally in schl the next day. this week i had prob 5 hrs a day... and ytd less than that.

first time i slept through almost the entire bus trip to MR. good thing i woke up in time.

can't rmb who i carried boat with. but i know as we walked towards the pontoon, i looked to my left and i saw the tranquil flatwater laid out... just for us. it was so still, so perfect for rowing... and the thought of my boat, my paddle and i slicing through that fluid mirror sent excited thrills down my spine. tingled with anticipation.

then we hit the water. the stopwatch said that my first 2km was good. 2nd 2km was okay. but to me, i knew the 2km wasn't good. i remember at about 500m coming back... a random thought struck me. 'there was no fight.' there was just no fight in the race. no desire to do well. no desire to row really well. no fight to try and go faster than the boat beside me.... no fight at all. and i finished the race feeling upset at myself. perhaps because you realize when you row without fight... you're not rowing for much. you're just going through the motions but not exactly rowing....

today. didn't really feel one with the strokes/paddle/boat. mary and i couldn't find our glide. my strokes felt strange and it was as if the water was resisting me. but after wad jl said, i tried to change my strokes... it gets to me when i can't FEEL the row.

and when that happens sometimes ill think abt the row with pyong in the afternoon on the 2nd day of nats. that FEEL. that kind of glide, that kind of strokes, that kind of strength, that kind of dreams.

and then i know that i'll get it back and then i rmb what im rowing for.

250s are generally less painful than 500ms. since the distance is much shorter. twice i lost control of direction. as the speed/frequency increases, the need for focus increases even more and thats something i learnt today. when you're doing max strength and max frequency, you need max mental and focus.

and i rmb one 250 i stayed in lane and i rmb to stay calm and dig the entire blade into the water for almost the entire row. at the end, when i crossed the line; panting, there was just this immense satisfaction and exuberance of having done a good row.

perhaps one thing i learnt today is that while i cannot row with too much focus on the results, i cannot row with no expectation either. there need be some sort of small goal i bear in mind each trng... so that i don't come up feeling i've rowed mindlessly.

the process and the icing on the cake.
you've taught me really really well.

i think im super possessive of my boat. i don't like it when people don't handle her with care.

-----------------------------------------------------------
joo spoke
@ |4:40 PM|