Carpe Diem

 It is a nice sunny Saturday morning, 28th May. 10:15am.
7 weeks left to National Championships.

So what am I doing here at home typing this entry?

Simple, the very answer is that there is no pool training today.
As of today, i can estimate that my team has fallen behind on about 5 months worth of pool training. And this just shows the way things are
in Ngee Ann Poly. The second best poly right after SP.

Rewind back to November 2010. A certain SDAR member said that she would not let training stop for us, and that the school had already found a training ground for us while they renovated the pool to increase NP's value-addedness.
As individuals, we all know that being able to trust someone's claim via word of mouth is a very important aspect in mutual trust, till this very day. Not just giving a script of black and white to hold you to your word.

That very sentence proved to be the first of many false hopes that we would eventually receive. 
After going for 3 months without proper pool training, news came up that we would be able to train in Kallang. We were overjoyed, and immediately
set about helping our captain, Andy with the various paperwork that was needed to finalise our application to train there.
Thus, all that was needed to approve the application was a signature.
The signature never came.
Instead, orders to get clearance from a totally unrelated company came by. Emails were not replied till 2 weeks later. 
At the very end, we resorted to our own means. Forking out from our own pocket to transport the boats to other schools to have joint-training sessions and friendlies. Week in week out we got 10 dollars poorer. But we all still wanted to train.

Having no training took its toll on us. At then end of 2010, my team was reaching its peak. The lack of training destroyed that, and our form plummeted to beyond negative. One of the school's policies was on CCA funding. 

As the NPCP men have been finishing 4th for the past few years, the school gradually cut the funding. Coaching fees would be $20/hr. That is simply absurd. One can simply give swimming lessons at $30/hr at any neighbourhood swimming complex, and earn more than a canoe polo coach. 
Whats even more absurd is the policy itself. Let me liken this to a growing child.
If your child is growing up, and you have set aside money for your child to nuture his/her academic growth. Suppose he/she doesn't do well, what do you use the money for? Assessment books to improve your child, or the cane to punish the child?

In this case, what NP is doing is the latter. Cutting our funding won't make us improve.
 

back on topic.

In March, a canoe polo playing ground opened at Pandan Reservoir. We were notified 2 weeks before that we were finally able to go down and train, but for a month till the start of April, as the swimming pool would be ready by then. That gave us the hope that our weekend trainings were back for good. 
At the start of April, we were told to transport our boats back from Pandan to the school, as the pool was supposedly being readied in time for the start of the new semester. We did just that.

A week before school reopened,  we were having our usual gymming sessions. We then spotted 1 construction worker, tiling the pool. Not a very encouraging sight. But we still believed the school's claim that the pool would be open by the "23rd of April".

Once again, that claim was unfulfilled. Thus, once again, we forked out from our own pocket to go to NUS for joint trainings. Which was of course better than not rowing at all. That went on for many weeks.

20th May 2011

 

Canoe Freshman Orientation Camp. A

Again, the pool would be ready for the freshmen to try out canoe polo. Joy, as we could finally showcase the real thing to the freshmen. You can all guess what happened.

On friday night, we were notified that the pool was not ready. Our president then had to make last minute arrangements with NTU for us to do a slight showcase there, at the expense of imposing on their training. 

But it still went on.

24th May 2011

My vice captain and i rang up our new advisor after gymming in school. 

supposed A to C.
supposed B+ to D.
supposed B to D+
supposed B to C
supposed B+ to C+

sigh.

Sad! Yes, but 
their new projects are never as good as them from the original band.



I love blink182
.

I'm so stupid.

I finally feel the burn.
after 1 year and and 5 months in poly.

Life's a chore.












edit: someone get me a 2 year supply of Red Bull and Nescafe, please? :l

just something i came across, just sharing :D





What Happened to All the Nice Guys?

I see this question posted with some regularity in the personals section, or lamented about among your bosom friends, so I thought I’d take a minute to explain things to the ladies out there that haven’t figured it out.


What happened to all the nice guys?

The answer is simple: you did.


See, if you think back, really hard, you might vaguely remember a Platonic guy pal who always seemed to want to spend time with you. He’d tag along with you when you went shopping, stop by your place for a movie when you were lonely but didn’t feel like going out, or even sit there and hold you while you sobbed and told him about how horribly the (other) guy that you were seeing/fucking treated you.


At the time, you probably joked with your girlfriends about how he was a little puppy dog, always following you around, trying to do things to get you to pay attention to him. They probably teased you because they thought he had a crush on you. Given that his behavior was, admittedly, a little pathetic, you vehemently denied having any romantic feelings for him, and buttressed your position by claiming that you were “just friends.” Besides, he totally wasn’t your type. I mean, he was a little too short, or too bald, or too fat, or too poor, or didn’t know how to dress himself, or basically be or do any of the things that your tall, good-looking, fit, rich, stylish boyfriend at the time pulled off with such ease.


Eventually, your Platonic buddy drifted away, as your relationship with the boyfriend got more serious and spending time with this other guy was, admittedly, a little weird, if you weren't dating him. More time passed, and the boyfriend eventually cheated on you, or became boring, or you realized that the things that attracted you to him weren’t the kinds of things that make for a good, long-term relationship. So, now, you’re single again, and after having tried the bar scene for several months having only encountered players and douche bags, you wonder, “What happened to all the nice guys?”

Well, once again, you did.


You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy. You laughed at his consideration and resented his devotion. You valued the aloof boyfriend more than the attentive “just-a-” friend. Eventually, he took the hint and moved on with his life. He probably came to realize, one day, that women aren’t really attracted to guys who hold doors open; or make dinners just because; or buy you a Christmas gift that you mentioned, in passing, that you really wanted five months ago; or listen when you’re upset; or hold you when you cry.

He came to realize that, if he wanted a woman like you, he’d have to act more like the boyfriend that you had. He probably cleaned up his look, started making some money, and generally acted like more of an asshole than he ever wanted to be.


Fact is, now, he’s probably getting laid, and in a way, your ultimate rejection of him is to thank for that. And I’m sorry that it took the complete absence of “nice guys” in your life for you to realize that you missed them and wanted them. Most women will only have a handful of nice guys stumble into their lives, if that.


So, if you’re looking for a nice guy, here’s what you do:
1.) Build a time machine.

2.) Go back a few years and pull your head out of your ass.

3.) Take a look at what’s right in front of you and grab a hold of it.


I suppose the other possibility is that you STILL don’t really want a nice guy, but you feel the social pressure to at least appear to have matured beyond your infantile taste in men. In which case, you might be in luck, because the nice guy you claim to want has, in reality, shed his nice guy mantle and is out there looking to unleash his cynicism and resentment onto someone just like you.

If you were a few years younger.


So, please: either stop misrepresenting what you want, or own up to the fact that you’ve fucked yourself over. You’re getting older, after all. It’s time to excise the bullshit and deal with reality. You didn’t want a nice guy then, and he certainly doesn’t fucking want you, now.

Sincerely,
A Recovering Nice Guy.

RIP Jimmy "The Rev Tholomew Plague" Sullivan.

10 February 1981 - 29 December 2009.

Second musical talent to die this year.
Or pass away.

He probably went to A little piece of heaven to meet the Beast and the Harlot and Dear God for some Unholy Confessions after embarking on Chapter Four of his Afterlife when he experienced Warmness on the soul during a Second Heartbeat.
He Desecrated through Reverance, and Seized The Day after experiencing Remenissions of Darkness Surrounding..


Rest in peace.

720 days and counting :)