That feeling

That feeling

you know what's today?

Yes, Anzac Day.

But for me, today's one of those days, that I dislike and I don't know why I do. No, I'm not saying I dislike Anzac Day. It just happens that today I suddenly feel like that. Maybe it's the weather. Arghh!! I think there's just too much on my mind.

I think I need to go for a run. To clear the head. I haven't ran since the When U A "Pie" run. Ahhh! Netball tmrw, skit prac ... and then study after. And I think I'll run after study. I need it, I really need it. Run it all out whatever is inside me.

On a different note, I shall leave you with a war love story that I found when I was reading the newspaper this morning during my breakfast .... (it's not very often where you can see my readings the news ok :p)

Love letters in a time of war

Stepping into 7 weeks of hell

Stepping into 7 weeks of hell

There goes the mid-semester break. As I said previously, it wasn't really a break. I did have some fun though ... sleep, netball, foam party, flat party, sleep, lunch with friends ... And I also studied. Two days at the library. I did get some readings done, I did get myself organized. Well, more like turning on the panic alarm earlier.

Week 8 - 25% test, 10% report
Week 9- 7.5% lab report
Week 10- 25% assignment
Week 11- 25% lab test, 7.5% lab report
Week 12- Logbook due, 7.5% lab report
Week 13- 60% written analysis due - this is more like an exam!!! worth the most compared to other exams during the exam period!

And somewhere amongst those weeks, I will have a 20% presentation.

Oh tell me I still have time for work, netball, other sports, and a life ....

I'm sure I do! I'm Sher Mayne!!!!!

If i do blog, it will be to release stress. If I don't blog, then I'm probably dying.

That's it from me! Good luck to all of you out there who's in the same boat as me. I'm sure there's heaps out there in my position or even worst! Bwahahahaha... let's die die together :D

Holiday

Holiday

I'm on my one week mid-semester"break" now. It won't really be a break. It will be more like an opportunity to catch up. A 25% assignment and a 25% test will be due in after the break. And then there's still more readings to be completed, and catching up on my other two sports sci papers which I did really bad in for the mid-semester test. *sigh* If you think about it, it's kinda sad. It's like when people ask you:" What will you be doing for your mid-sem break?" and your answer is :"Ohhh... studying." What a freak! But one thing's for sure, there's many other people out there that will be doing exactly what I am doing this break. So, we're all in the same boat :) Stupid uni, give us one week break only. Ishhh!!!

Somehow I feel that I have hardly any time to just sit back, relax and just do NOTHING anymore. No time to emo too. No alone time. I think Swan would agree with me on this, yes? No? If it's not study/work, then it will be sports. Time is so precious now that I can't afford to waste any. I wish I do have some time to kill.

Looking forward for the inter-semester break end of june/early july. That will definitely be a break! It better be.

Nevertheless, I'm enjoying this. There's always something to look forward to. There's always something I can do.

Life is sweet.

whenuapai 10 km run

When-u-a-pai 10km Run

I did it! I beat my target. A rather low target I did set, but my time came out very very unexpected. Before I set the target of 1 hr 15 mins, my previous target was 60 mins, aiming to run at an average of 6 mins per km, which has to be faster than the Round the Bays run where I ran at an average of 6 mins 10 secs per km. I ended up finishing it in 55 mins 52 secs, at an average of 5 mins 35.2 sec per km!

The day started off with me having less than 6 hours of sleep and with the groin muscles still pulling, shoulders somehow aching. I so wasn't into the mood of running. Had two eggs for breakfast and rushed out of the house. Forgotten my Red Bull :(

Got to city at 8am where Shaun picked us up. Then the 5 of us (me, shaun, nick, ivan and sharvin) headed to the west of auckland for the run. Reached there around half past 8, drank some Powerade, and mentally tell myself I can do it! At 9am, the 10km run begins! Shaun, Nick and Ivan sped off pretty quick. Sharvin, who had a pretty bad ankle sprain yesterday, stayed with me throughout the run.

The route had more slopes than I expected. But, I kinda enjoyed it. It wasn't boring compared to the flat route around the bays. There were things to see, mainly grass and cow dunk!. There were things to smell, mainly... cow dunk plus the fresh air when there weren't any cow poo. And of course, the people zooming pass us! Haha! Reaching the 5km mark seemed like ages. I was waiting and waiting for it but yet not to be seen. But not long after my clock passed 30 mins, there I saw it. The water station at the 5km mark. The hope of hitting below 1 hr 15 min is super high ... unless, I KO half way.

I got happy. Started running faster, taking more and bigger strides. But .... it only lasted for 2km. The last 3 km wasn't too good. Kinda struggling. Thank goodness Sharvin was running with me, kept on asking me to go faster. There were so many times where I started running faster and then died off and then picked up the pace again. Lolx! For the last km, the watch showed 50 mins. Bwahahahaha! Confirm can be under 60 mins la! I sorta slowed down then since I know I can hit under 60. The body and mind was giving in as well. Haha! But anneh still said to go faster. Sprinted towards the end. And... we clocked a nice 55 mins 52 sec :) Big thanks to anneh actually who pushed me towards the end.

After the run, it was some lucky draw thing. None of us were lucky. Lolx! And one thing we realized was .... we were the only asians running!!! Hahahaha!!! Headed to westgate for lunch after that. Chinese buffet! I was so hungry man. But yea.. no guilt at all after the run. Teehee :)

Now, I'm suffering from sore feet, sore thighs, sore knees, slightly burnt face.... but, i'm one satisfied bugger!

Pre-run

Pre-Run

Judging by the condition i'm in .. i.e. sports non stop since wednesday, a slight groin strain AGAIN ... sore calf muscles ... sleeping late ...

My target time for the 10km run in 8 hours time will be 1 hour 15 minutes. Slow, I know. But taking all of the above into consideration, can la!!!!!!

Gnitez! Daylight savings has ended. So turn your clock back 1 hour. And to those in Msia, NZ is now 4 hours ahead instead of 5 :)

Sports and Report

Sports and Report

Ahh! Finally finished my first report for my practicum! Finished it earlier than expected. I wasn't planning to sleep at all tonight. For 10%, I spent so much time on it. It actually got me wondering if it's worth it. I have two tests next week on the same day, one after another, 20% and 25% and I have touched nothing for them. Talk about priorities huh? Hence, the very end of my report wasn't written well. I skipped a lot of facts that I have read up so far and decided not to put them in. Hopefully what I wrote is sufficient enough.

And now.. to sports. Just had netball today. Again, got thrashed. Today was the day where I really really wished I am taller! Seriously, their hands were literally right on top of my ball when I was getting ready to shoot. It's like I knew it for sure that once the ball leaves my hand, it will touch their hand and won't even reach the hoop! I managed to get a few balls in nevertheless but still!!!! *sigh*

I also realized one thing. From yesterday till this coming Monday, I will be doing sports every single day.

Yesterday (Wednesday) - jogging ~6km

Thursday - netball

Friday - jogging

Saturday - super sports

Sunday - Whenuapai 10km run.. jeng jeng jeng ...

Monday - netball

I can finally call myself a physically active person now.

of balls

Of balls...

Bersatu Games this year... many team sports, mixed team, giving more opportunity for us girls to play.

Here's just a few definition of the sports at bersatu games this year down at welly...

handball = how hard u can force the ball .... \

basketball is how well u can handle

netball is how accurate u can shoot...

futsal = how hard u kick the ball

pingpong is how much u can spin the ball..

badminton = how hard u can smash the cock

Had a good laugh? I'm sure I did. Or are you just speechless? And oh! I did not make all of that up. Only two. The rest of the credit goes to ivan. sicko!!

Man, if one can master all these sports, they'll make one hell of a good ball handler :p

april fool's

Happy April Fool's Day to all of you!!

Talk about the pinching and punching in my tagboard ... and the people who were TRYING to fool me... seriously, seriously!!!

10 more hours till april fool's end. Gotta watch my back for the next 10 hours. But all good coz I'm at tamaki today, not getting into city till after dinner so I'm pretty much safe! I just hope the kids at swimming aren't cheeky and get up to something. Fingers cross!

Mum's gone to sydney today for a week. Party time ... NOT!! More like..... late nights at library!!! Need to get my report done. At least I started.... 400 words. A couple more thousand to go.... how many thousands? I have no idea. I asked the course coordinator and all I get was...

"Just as long as you need to cover those six points listed in the course outline. Perhaps a couple of thousand words?"

The word JUST and a COUPLE THOUSAND WORDS so do not go together. Joy!!

Shall bring out the Red BULLS tonight and start BULLsh**ting.

I am so NOT stressed... really. I am good.... not...:p

Walalalalaalalalallalalalaala!!

Sorry this not proper blog. It's called... destress-ing. Wakakakakakakakaka!!!!!

coromandel part 2

Coromandel Part 2

28th (the other half...)

After leaving for Cathedral Cove, we headed to Kauaraenga Valley, Thames for the Pinnacles walk. The highlight of the trip!! (for me that is... dno abt others... )

Once we arrived the carpark and getting all the stuff we needed for the night, the walk begins! Took us roughly 3 hours plus to reach the hut with several stops for photos and lunch.

crossing streams...getting wet. All part of the experience ;)

lunch time by a waterfall

a climbing we will go...

When we reached the hut, all I had in mind was SLEEP!! But..... the hut warden told us that the next morning is forecasted to be cloudy hence we might not be able to catch the sunrise. He adviced us to climb up the pinnacles and watch the sunset instead.

I was so so so lazy to go but to miss watching the sunset is a big NO NO. And, I'm glad I did it.

The climb up the pinnacles was really energy demanding. Hate climbing staircase. Rather climb rocks. But... in the end, it was SO worth it.

Almost there. That's the peak of the pinnacles from the distance.

The view from the top was just undescribable. It was as if you're in a totally different world. New Zealand is getting even more and more beautiful as I start to explore more and more of it.

I totally forgotten how tired I was when I reached the top. And we all said, no matter what, we are coming up for the sunrise the next morning!! The sunset was lovely. Thanks to the woman who told me to turn off my dynamo radio as the sun was setting. It was good to just have a moment of peace and quiet watching the sunset. Amazing, simply amazing.

After watching the sunset, we then headed back to the hut. It was nightfall by the time we reached. The hut doesn't have hot water. The shower.... doesn't have a roof. Hence, we had no choice but to shower under the icy cold water. Well, at least the roofless bathroom gave us the opportunity to shower under the stars which was sort of a distraction from that freezing shower!

The toilets with no flush.. long drop

roofless showers

After our shower, the 7 of us then headed to the kitchen for our dinner. Instant noodles with leftover roast chicken meat. Not the best dinner you can have but it tasted extra delicious!! The water we used was still brownish even after we boiled it. But it was all good in the end coz after you add the flavouring, it became browner/red.

Dinner was followed by stars gazing.We lay on the deck and looked at the sky which was filled with so many stars. Saw 3 shooting stars in total!! Hope all my wishes come true!!!! If it doesn't, it's alright. I consider myself to lucky to catch a shooting star.... but 3???? How freaking lucky is that? As it started to get chilly, we then headed to bed.

Because SOMEONE said we on't need to bring sleeping bags.......... all of us ended up just sleeping on mattresses and using another mattress as our blanket. It did not really work though. I was freezing the whole night and can hardly sleep. I was just hoping for time to fly super duper fast and for the morning to arrive.

29th

Woke up at 5.30, downed an Up & Go and we were all ready to climb up the pinnacles again for the sunrise!!

Yes, there were clouds but ... we still saw the sun ise. I reckon the presence of the clouds actually made it even more beautiful. It was as if we were in some sort of fantasy, magical world. Again, photos will do the talking...

magical, ain't it?

nurofen plus ad?

After the sunrise, we headed back to the hut, do our one last BIG BUSINESS, packed and headed back down to the car park.

during our walk down...choo choo train

All in all, the pinnacles was amazing. I have fallen in love with it. Definitely will want to go again. Didn't really want to leave whilst I was up there. It is highly recommended. No regrets, no regrets at all. If anyone wants to go up there, call me!! I am glad to accompany you!!!!!

When we got to the carpark and was about to leave, from a distance we saw a very familiar shape. Roger said: "eh! that dude over there looked so much like dallas!!". He slowed down wanted to jokingly say HI and to our surprise, it was Dallas and Shaun waiting for us! Yes, it was a surprise indeed because there wasn't any service up at the hut hence we couldn't check our phone for messages. Ahhh! They caught us right in time!!!

We were meant to go for the gold mine tour after coming down from the pinnacles but the day was hot and all we wanted was to just soak ourselves. A waterfall would be awesome but we ended up at Maraetai beach instead, which was just 45 mins from Auckland CBD! Arghh! Sorry shaun and dallas for making you guys come all the way to Thames and then turn back. Sorry sorry!

Before Maraetai, we stopped by clevedon to get oysters, fresh raw oysters. Yum yum!!!

We feasted on the wharf at Maraetai beach and ended the trip with one last adrenaline rush activity .... jumping off the wharf!!

who da two ppl humping in the water? SH_ _ N & R_ _ _R.. go figure!

A wonderful road trip indeed. No regrets at all. Thanks to all of you who made it happen! Will never forget this.

And my february mission was accomplished. I climbed the pinnacles. You see, from 2006, I found myself climbing every February. In 2006, I climbed Mt.Kinabalu. In 2007, I climbed Mt.Berinchang, Mt.Irau and Mt.Berembum. So yeaa.... 2008, I did the pinnacles!! A great present for myself indeed.

What's next for 2009? I have no idea. What I know now is that Tongariro Crossing is next and I wanna do it this Spring. Who's with me for this?

And before I sign off ... here's my favourite picture of the sunset at the pinnacles :) Teeheee...

i'll be coming back again.. that's for sure... wish i'm here, forever...

so many things

So many things...

Stress.

So many things to do, so many things on my mind.

So little time.

If only there's 48 hours in a day.

Coromandel part 2 will have to wait.

Need to get my priorities right again.

But...

What if there's too many? How?

*sigh*

small update

Part 1 coromandel trip is up. Still have the other half of it but that will have to wait. Third year is just busy busy busy.

The easter break did some good though I do need more rest.

Was playing too much this easter break. Hardly any rest.

Friday...netball and sabo. Sunday... cycling and sabo. Monday ... cycling and netball. Tuesday... super sports. (yes, a lot of sabos has been going on. March is the peak season for sabo)

2 more weeks till the mid-semester break. I do need it. Really really need it.

I've decided to go for the 10k Whenuapai run which will be in 1.5 weeks time (6th April). I shall go and do it without any training. Go only la!!! No target time this time.

Can't really jog now as I pulled my muscle from Round the Bays. Need to rest!
Right now, no sports till... sunday? Hehehehe... need to buck up and study!! Bring it on! Priorities.. priorities...

trip to coromandel part 1

27-29 February

A trip to Coromandel .... (Part 1)

How it came about?

Bike trip was cancelled. We were too tired to bike after the busy lantern fest weekend. Not many people were keen. Couldn't find any girls to go. I didn't really have any mood to plan for another trip. But thanks to jeremy who helped me with planning the trip to Coromandel, writing out the itinerary, checking out the pinnacles walk, hiring the car ... it was well on the way!

The travellers: Jeremy, Roger, Sharvin, Me, Celest, Pui Li and Naomi

27th

The day started off with us shopping for groceries at Pak n Save in Manukau. The van .... it's a 7 seater, fluorescent green van. Yes... you got me right... FLUORESCENT GREEN. How striking!!

After getting our groceries and fuelling up, the journey to coromandel begins. On our way to coromandel town, we made many stops. For what? Because.... quote jeremy....."teck teck teck!! (take take take!!)" ....

I'll let the photos do the talking.

After all the photo taking stops, we headed to Coromandel town, wanting to see what it's like.

There weren't much to see at the town. We just made a 5 minutes stop, took a photo and then headed to our backpackers - The Cats Pyjamas. Cool name eh?

We checked in, bought chicken for dinner and then off to High Zone. What is High Zone?

Again, photos will do the talking (you can see that I am rather lazy eh? Hehehehe.. no time la!!!)

$65 bucks. It was worth it. The key to it is ... don't think, just do it. I managed to do all of them except for the Leap of Faith. I have to admit, I really doubted myself before I jumped. I guess if you don't believe in yourself and have faith, you won't be able to reach it. So yeaa...lesson learnt ;) There's always a next time!! Best one was the High Swing. Awesome shitzz!! Love the free fall effect. And apparently, it's better than Swoop. so yea.. good choice, I saved heaps of money in not doing that. Haha!!

After all the adrenaline rush, we then headed to hot water beach. We were behind our schedule but still managed to reach there before the high tide came.

The water at some spot were HOT! And when I say hot, I mean it! So hot that you can't really soak yourself in there. Boiling wei!! There were a couple of times where I just started jumping around. But yeaa... all good. In the end, we managed to find a good spot to just lie there and relax.

When the tide came in, it started flooding the hot water spots which forced us to get out and head back to our backpackers.

For dinner, we had pasta. Was still hungry after that. Not enough chicken. But gotta just leave with it. Had a drinking game after dinner but the joy was killed halfway after a grumpy old lady came out and told us off for being too noisy. *sigh* We already apologized but she still went on scolding. urghhh...

28th
The morning started at 8am where roger and I headed to woolworths to get chicken while the others were preparing the eggs and packing lunch We got two whole chickens. Bwahahahaha!!! Breakfast was awesome. Sher Mayne's tummy = Very very happy tummy. We had scrambled eggs, toasts and heaps of chicken. Happy happy.

After breakfast, we then headed to Cathedral Cove.

Before our walk to the cove ...

this actually looked as if they were staring at a picture

... and sharvin says: "wahh... i didn't know i look so cool :p

During the walk...

i blame exhaustion and the heat...

the girls...

jump jump... who's leg and ass is that? Hint: i was the one who took the photo

When we arrived....

Roger was so happy that he started *ahem*-ing the rock. I actually have a video of this but... i'll be nice and not put it up.....

The day was hot and if only we had more time, I would so go into the beach and swim!!! So tempting but we had to rush for the pinnacles walk at Kauaurenga Valley in Thames.

To be continued ...