well now (part 3)
well, i guess you guys must be damn sian of reading now haha. but for those who are even more boliao, i guess ill continue the story....
i arrived in ac soon after SDBA finished. i remember one of the first things i saw here was pek hong going up to receive his trophy and i thought "hey, acjc has quite an established canoeing culture as well" well i guess people do make mistakes once in a while.
the SARs scare came and school was closed. i occupied myself doing pushups, playing astro soccer , going to the gym and road running. i once ran from my house in toa payoh to the area close to RJ haha. its about a 8 to 10 km road run in the pouring rain. heh, running in the rain is sorta liberating i guess.
but anywae, thats not the real point of the story. this is.
when i was in my og, we were eating in the canteen and i chanced upon a plump and round person who was wandering about. he came to my og and so i asked him what eca he was in. "canoeing"
i dunt really remember much about the conversation, except that he pissed the hell out of me cos he was so damn arrogant and cocksure. he spoke of his seniors as if they were very powerful and as if he was very powerful. i laughed, cos his seniors werent even close to mine. and besides, i didnt join straightaway because i told my friends i wouldnt want to row against them for another school.
it soon became apparent that there was no other cca to join except canoeing. other ccas had establshed players. i tried to join sailing but they werent taking in anymore people. so i sighed. and i told myself that i just went back on my promise.
i saw the ac canoeists doing pull ups at recesstime and so i approached them. the first person i saw was a skinny person with spectacles and quite a sharp nose. i thought he was the captain so i asked him. they laughed.(he was shiwei) and i mistook auggy to be the captain (cos i was told that the ac captain was a small guy)
the real captain turned out to be calvin, but he didnt speak much and i spoke to Bill instead about training. i joined them on friday when they were doing land.
my first ac training consisted of about 30 sets of pushups and hanging. i dunt think ill forget it cos my wrists were numb and i had a pool o sweat around me and the bloody captain doesnt seem to bloody get tired ******* we didnt hang in rj, so hanging was a new sensation for me. nobody was dying so out of personal pride, i didnt die as well.
after that was circuits. and a run. the run was chicken cos we were hardcore runners back in rj, covering up to 30 plus klicks or so in running mileage per week. i found out the seniors were crapshit at running. and yes, my running deproved from my time in ac. i dont think i could do what i did during the first 3 months over here anymore haha.
i hated my seniors. they screamed, they yelled, they made a fool of themselves cos they were do damn noisy. and echoing, oh my god, i hated echoing. i felt like an idiot. and i was with this bunch of noisy idiots. the reputation of canoeing in acjc wasnt like that in rj. in rj, you were a god, another species of being. over here, you were just a noisy f***, and i could understand why.
you learn that in male society, the strongest get some "privileges". simply put, if u could take the seniors, theyd shut up. so i started taking them. and they left me alone after some time. but i never really liked them in training, especially eugene. we just didnt have chemistry and we still dont see eye to eye on a lot of things. but outside of training, theyre a nice bunch of guys. still, my seniors never shouted at me and told me what to do so i guess i had to get used to the new style.
i never really got used to the new style. people in the club who know me and how i work will know that i do things in my own style. not that i dunt do training or what but certain approaches and decisions i undertake on my own. so i guess my training and rowing style is one of the more differing ones in the team. no matter, diversity is always good.
i was pretty miserable in J1. and i thought of quitting a few times. who wouldnt? with the proespect of a few retarded ppl shouting at you every training. the best part was that u had to do punishment as a group. i didnt see why i had to take shit for some other arsehole. heh, but all these gradually went away after my form teacher spoke to me about certain things (but thats another long story)
i thought of quitting, but i couldnt quit. id lose my points and id be cca-less. whic wasnt a smart decision. so i stuck on. not cos i had friends (only yina i believe and she was with the girls team most of the time) or ppl supported me or anything like that. i stayed cos i had to. it was a matter of necessity rather than want.
are u surprised that i am saying all these things? just cos im quiet most of the time doesnt mean i do not think these thoughts. i think a canoeing club is very special. and you cannot ever ever ever fully go from one club to the club without a backlash like this. it is just so unique and different, although the ethos of all the clubs is always the same. bonded by shit, through shit.
now im the senior. and i shout and kaopeh and echo. so i guess that makes me (at least in part) an ac canoeist. i no longer long for rj. there was once when i was in ac canoeing at the beginning, i went for one last training session in rj and that was the best training session i ever had. (although that too is another story)
this club has given me a lot. technically, i was surprised to learn that J1s are well taken care of (if not abused) in this club and taught techniques early. in rj, non e of my seniors would teach me , despite my constant bugging of them. and so i was like a sponge that just soaked up everything here. the club gave me a purpose in words, as opposed to the "random chaos" and rudderless direction in rj (although that too is fun) and i guess ive changed too from experiences here. leadership experiences, shit taking experiences. and the coaches are always understanding. (although i thought kenneth looked damn scary when i first joined)
will i remember the times here? i guess so. ill always remember acjc in a bittersweet way. it was what made me, and it was what took me away from my friends and my love(canoeing). life was pretty tough in an adolescant boy way when i got here.
but i think the most important part of the story lies here, after all that load of crap you just read:
ac canoeing asked me two questions:
1)Who do you think you are?
2)What do you think you are doing?
and i have found my answers thanks to it. and that has made all the difference.
i arrived in ac soon after SDBA finished. i remember one of the first things i saw here was pek hong going up to receive his trophy and i thought "hey, acjc has quite an established canoeing culture as well" well i guess people do make mistakes once in a while.
the SARs scare came and school was closed. i occupied myself doing pushups, playing astro soccer , going to the gym and road running. i once ran from my house in toa payoh to the area close to RJ haha. its about a 8 to 10 km road run in the pouring rain. heh, running in the rain is sorta liberating i guess.
but anywae, thats not the real point of the story. this is.
when i was in my og, we were eating in the canteen and i chanced upon a plump and round person who was wandering about. he came to my og and so i asked him what eca he was in. "canoeing"
i dunt really remember much about the conversation, except that he pissed the hell out of me cos he was so damn arrogant and cocksure. he spoke of his seniors as if they were very powerful and as if he was very powerful. i laughed, cos his seniors werent even close to mine. and besides, i didnt join straightaway because i told my friends i wouldnt want to row against them for another school.
it soon became apparent that there was no other cca to join except canoeing. other ccas had establshed players. i tried to join sailing but they werent taking in anymore people. so i sighed. and i told myself that i just went back on my promise.
i saw the ac canoeists doing pull ups at recesstime and so i approached them. the first person i saw was a skinny person with spectacles and quite a sharp nose. i thought he was the captain so i asked him. they laughed.(he was shiwei) and i mistook auggy to be the captain (cos i was told that the ac captain was a small guy)
the real captain turned out to be calvin, but he didnt speak much and i spoke to Bill instead about training. i joined them on friday when they were doing land.
my first ac training consisted of about 30 sets of pushups and hanging. i dunt think ill forget it cos my wrists were numb and i had a pool o sweat around me and the bloody captain doesnt seem to bloody get tired ******* we didnt hang in rj, so hanging was a new sensation for me. nobody was dying so out of personal pride, i didnt die as well.
after that was circuits. and a run. the run was chicken cos we were hardcore runners back in rj, covering up to 30 plus klicks or so in running mileage per week. i found out the seniors were crapshit at running. and yes, my running deproved from my time in ac. i dont think i could do what i did during the first 3 months over here anymore haha.
i hated my seniors. they screamed, they yelled, they made a fool of themselves cos they were do damn noisy. and echoing, oh my god, i hated echoing. i felt like an idiot. and i was with this bunch of noisy idiots. the reputation of canoeing in acjc wasnt like that in rj. in rj, you were a god, another species of being. over here, you were just a noisy f***, and i could understand why.
you learn that in male society, the strongest get some "privileges". simply put, if u could take the seniors, theyd shut up. so i started taking them. and they left me alone after some time. but i never really liked them in training, especially eugene. we just didnt have chemistry and we still dont see eye to eye on a lot of things. but outside of training, theyre a nice bunch of guys. still, my seniors never shouted at me and told me what to do so i guess i had to get used to the new style.
i never really got used to the new style. people in the club who know me and how i work will know that i do things in my own style. not that i dunt do training or what but certain approaches and decisions i undertake on my own. so i guess my training and rowing style is one of the more differing ones in the team. no matter, diversity is always good.
i was pretty miserable in J1. and i thought of quitting a few times. who wouldnt? with the proespect of a few retarded ppl shouting at you every training. the best part was that u had to do punishment as a group. i didnt see why i had to take shit for some other arsehole. heh, but all these gradually went away after my form teacher spoke to me about certain things (but thats another long story)
i thought of quitting, but i couldnt quit. id lose my points and id be cca-less. whic wasnt a smart decision. so i stuck on. not cos i had friends (only yina i believe and she was with the girls team most of the time) or ppl supported me or anything like that. i stayed cos i had to. it was a matter of necessity rather than want.
are u surprised that i am saying all these things? just cos im quiet most of the time doesnt mean i do not think these thoughts. i think a canoeing club is very special. and you cannot ever ever ever fully go from one club to the club without a backlash like this. it is just so unique and different, although the ethos of all the clubs is always the same. bonded by shit, through shit.
now im the senior. and i shout and kaopeh and echo. so i guess that makes me (at least in part) an ac canoeist. i no longer long for rj. there was once when i was in ac canoeing at the beginning, i went for one last training session in rj and that was the best training session i ever had. (although that too is another story)
this club has given me a lot. technically, i was surprised to learn that J1s are well taken care of (if not abused) in this club and taught techniques early. in rj, non e of my seniors would teach me , despite my constant bugging of them. and so i was like a sponge that just soaked up everything here. the club gave me a purpose in words, as opposed to the "random chaos" and rudderless direction in rj (although that too is fun) and i guess ive changed too from experiences here. leadership experiences, shit taking experiences. and the coaches are always understanding. (although i thought kenneth looked damn scary when i first joined)
will i remember the times here? i guess so. ill always remember acjc in a bittersweet way. it was what made me, and it was what took me away from my friends and my love(canoeing). life was pretty tough in an adolescant boy way when i got here.
but i think the most important part of the story lies here, after all that load of crap you just read:
ac canoeing asked me two questions:
1)Who do you think you are?
2)What do you think you are doing?
and i have found my answers thanks to it. and that has made all the difference.
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