On 6 Dec 2009, from 0530 hrs to about 1130 hrs, I experienced what was probably the most painful six hours in my twenty years of existence. It was fraught with muscle cramps, joint pains at the knee and a never ending outlook.

My first 10 km was of no issue. It was at around 11 km when my knee started to give way, specifically the left knee. As a natural reaction, my legs decided to focus all its activities on my muscles instead, leading to massive muscle cramps on both quadrilaterals and calves on BOTH legs at about 15 km. The next 7 km was pure agony, having to stop a few hundred metres because I could feel a pull and tug at my muscles when I try to push on. There were several instances when both muscles on one leg decided to cramp and I was simply writhing in pain by the kerbside.

It was then a couple of Samaritans came to my rescue by offering me salt pills. I took them and the next 10 km or so was slightly better, with less intensive and frequent cramps. It was still pure torture trying to run out of East Coast Park. From 30 km to approximately 35 km, my knee decided to give way. It was now a combination of cramps and knee pain. I could not even run for a hundred metres without stopping from the pain. I practically walked most of the way till 40 km when I tried to jog to the end.

Throughout the whole journey, I was practically just zoning out. I wondered how I could have been so willing to fork out $65 to subject myself to such immense torture. I was even thinking of punchlines I am going to post when I return home from the run. I reckon that if I had not been through NS, I would have just decided to give up in the middle of the run. It was really sheer determination that got me through. I was determined to finish the whole thing, having already come so far (and of course having already paid $65).

Surprisingly, at the end of it, I was not as tired as I was during the half-marathon last year. It was the pain that was tempting me to just sit on the kerb and forget about going anywhere else. My left knee is now in a pretty bad shape. Walking will cause pain. I guess I will probably refrain from any lower limb workouts for at least a month. While walking from the Espanade to Citilink Mall, I could not hold my glee as I exclaimed “heng ah” when I saw the escalators were operating. A couple in front turned behind and smiled at us, fully comprehending our predicament. I could also empathise with those who cringed as they tried to sit down at MacDonalds’ where we had a very unhealthy lunch.

And oh, on an ending note, this is probably the first and LAST marathon I am ever going to run.

Hmmm. [about:me]

A pretty cool set of earphones. The bass is good and the reviews online are pretty good as well.

If anyone is interested in buying earphones or headphones, check out Jaben Network which has a store located in the building opposite of Funan. Friendly owners and good stuff. You can try out the various earphones there as well. Highly recommended!

• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• The Eighth Habit
• The World is Flat
• The Twilight Series (four books!)
• The Children Of Hurin

And books I WANT to read:

• The Time Traveler’s Wife
• A Thousand Splendid Sun
• Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang
• The Stand
• … and probably more

I think I should start with finishing the books I have first.

On another note, my family spent quite a lot of money on the PC Show yesterday. Let’s see how much I spent:

• $49.90 – Sonic Gear Earpump Pro
  Since my creative in-ear has decided to stop working on one side of my ear, I had to get a new pair. I am rather impressed with the package. It comes with a pouch and some audio jacks including one that allows you to plug in two earphones into one audio output jack. Buying it at the PC show included a free gift of a HTC mini-USB to 3.5mm audio jack adapter. Pretty cool!
• $60 – On the Twilight 4 books boxset
• $59.90 – Two pairs of Berms

And my dad bought a 42″ HDTV at $1699 =D It comes with a free Blu-Ray player. Now I just need to get a media adapter (looking to be $500 =/) to stream videos from my PC to the TV to maximise the use of said TV in a HD-content devoid Singapore.

My brother bought a $1299 HP Notebook to replace his ailing notebook.

Total damage: $3167.80

And so today, I spilled a rather significant amount (such that my keyboard can become busted) of a liquid containing Noni on my trusty keyboard. And bam!

I tried to dry it to the extent of disassembling it but to no avail.

So I fired up my trusty phone loaded with this little piece of software called GRemote and now I am using the QWERTY keyboard on my phone to input text for my computer. An intriguing and disturbing scene.

And oh, Microsoft also helped out with their On Screen Keyboard.

P.S. I apologise for this weird writing. It is not exactly to type like this and I am simply not in a very good position to be linguistic with my choice of words.

I came across this at Marina Square. Seems like people these days have grown rather large with XXXXL.

And yes, in the background you can see yet another branch of Starbucks. They seem to be sprouting up everywhere like mushrooms.

Some downside to the movie would be the complexity of the story, which is much much worse in the manga (trust me on this: at the end of the series, I still cannot fully understand who Friend is or his motives.) and the constant flashbacks (which was done in the manga as well). There are too many characters as well, a problem in the manga. But this adds on the a consistent complex story that is entertaining.

If you like complex stories, this movie is for you. You might want to read the manga for a better understanding. 22 volumes + 2 (serialized under the title “21st Century Boys”) volumes. That’s a lot to read. I am looking to forward to seeing how they will compress this much content into three films.

For those who liked this, try Monster by the same author. It features a similarly complex plot with an ensemble cast.

My full collection.

(OK Picture’s bad. Camera wasn’t focusing on the object and I snapped the picture anyway)

Let’s take a look at the “milestones” of my NSF life so far:

Jan 9 2008 – RECRUIT
Dedicated my life to SAF for the next one year and ten months.

March 11 2008 – PRIVATE
End of BMT and posted to SISPEC to undergo BSLC.

May 17 2008 – CORPORAL
There begins my longer than others life as a CPL after BSLC ended on 17 May. Posted to 1 SIR as an Infantry Recce. Tough luck. Sent for Class 3 driving course form 12 June to 14 July. Recce (or RSTA) Commander Course began on 18 August. Since this is my penultimate high-key course (the last would be CCC ) before I ORD, unless some lightning struck, I will probably write something about it more below.

First week consisted mainly of lectures and two fast marches – 6 and 9 km. Almost died.
Second week had more lectures and 12 km fast march. Near Death.
Third week was 60 km long walk. Died. And swimming across dirty swamp water in S/FBO sucked.
Fourth week was four-day field camp. Sucked.
Fifth week was starving in forest. Hungry.
Sixth week was Summary Exercise. 5-day field camp.

AND from approximately 1700 hours on 24 Sep 2008 to 0500 hours on 25 Sep 2008, I went through hell – Resistance To Interrogation. It was amusing in some ways and annoying in others. A worthwhile experience.

Seventh week was good. A public holiday right smack in the middle of the week.
Eighth week did nothing.

October 7 2008 – THIRD SERGEANT
Went back to 1 SIR after a ceremony that lasted half an hour maximum. And received lots of shit.
Clearing leave from 16th till tomorrow.
Prowler duty on Tuesday.
Cool. NOT.

Cooler.

The world is smaller than you think. Look at the friend wheel below, courtesy of Friend Wheel, an application of Facebook.

So many people I know are linked to each other, and sometimes the connections surprise me as well.

And in case you were wondering why I am able to post this, I am clearing my leave from today till Monday.

But anyway, because I’m such a huge fan of lost, I’m going to put this: