absolutum dominium

(a) is a citizen of Singapore;

(b) is not less than 45 years of age;

(c) possesses the qualifications specified in Article 44 (2) (c) and (d);

(d) is not subject to any of the disqualifications specified in Article 45;

(e) satisfies the Presidential Elections Committee that he is a person of integrity, good character and reputation;

(f) is not a member of any political party on the date of his nomination for election; and

(g) has for a period of not less than 3 years held office —

(i) as Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker, Attorney-General, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Auditor-General, Accountant-General or Permanent Secretary;

(ii) as chairman or chief executive officer of a statutory board to which Article 22A applies;

(iii) as chairman of the board of directors or chief executive officer of a company incorporated or registered under the Companies Act (Cap. 50) with a paid-up capital of at least $100 million or its equivalent in foreign currency; or

(iv) in any other similar or comparable position of seniority and responsibility in any other organisation or department of equivalent size or complexity in the public or private sector which, in the opinion of the Presidential Elections Committee, has given him such experience and ability in administering and managing financial affairs as to enable him to carry out effectively the functions and duties of the office of President.

LOSERISTA EXTRAORDINAIRE

I couldn't sleep till 4.39am last night. Well, I can't say for sure tt I fell right into dreamland after 4.39am, but yes, 4.39am was the last thing I saw on my clock before my mom woke me up this morning at 7-something asking if I was still going for my "bi-event".

Yes, it's called a "bi-event" to my mom. I'm surprised she doesn't want to find out more. What could I possibly be doing at a "bi-event"? Guys? Girls? ...Or both?

Nonetheless I got a lift back to hall where my receipt and other miscellaneous barang barang like my goggles and swim suit was. Went for the biathlon event at Sentosa with Zhengxi and Declan from my hall. Dakun came to fetch us.

NUS Biathlon... is one damn cocked-up sports event. Okay, I don't blame them. The turn-out today was amazing. And unlike the army or the police who can recruit... erm, I mean enlist... erm, I mean er... just Get volunteers (by making it Compulsory to volunteer) to help out at their events, NUS is comparatively short-handed. Okay, maybe not comparatively. Maybe more like a world apart.

The queue for registration was a bitch. A complete, total utter bitch. I think queuing to register alone took me an hour. And it didn't help tt Johnny happily SMSed me to join him at the front of the queue, only to tell me the moment I'd left my place in the middle of the queue to look for him, tt HE HAD FINISHED QUEUING ALREADY!!! WAAAAH *bish*

So I had to re-queue from the back. Oh, but I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

At least my name got registered officially. It was on the board and I had a number. "2019". Just in case you want to buy 4-D. I had it marked on my body first before requeuing just to save time. The girl who did it for me must have assumed tt everyone else around me is blind, coz she drew the fucking numbers SO fucking big over my arms and legs tt I swear you could have seen the numbers from a mile!!! And btw, it was in thick waterproof blue marker.

But I digress. Like I said, I was lucky. Coz A LOT of people didn't even have their names registered. Johnny and Alvin, the DGB vice-cap from his hall, who were taking part in the men's relay, hadn't been registered. Adrian hadn't been registered. And apparently because of this cock-up perfectly good participants had to all chapalang into the 9th Wave (which would be flagging off at say... 1pm???) under a manual timing. And for 12 good bucks too!!!

Oh, and in the end, Declan decided not to take part coz he needed the energy to complete his project, and Zhengxi couldn't take part because of a wardrobe malfunction, and Dakun went off for his Men's Closed category, so I ended up sticking to Alvin and Johnny, and among other things, giving my goodie bag to Johnny to hold on trust for me in his insanely monstrous bag, which apparently stores a wealth of Burger King coupons. BTW, Alvin and Johnny decided NOT to stay for their event either. Instead they went to collect their T-shirts... and THEN ask for a refund.

Cheaters!!! Wahaha. But inefficiency gets what inefficiency deserves I guess.

And I managed to get Johnny to agree to wait for me till my event ended so we could go back together. Coz otherwise I would be ALL ALONE. *wail*

So I get all my stuff JUST in time for the Wave 2 to start. Women's Open. There are TOO MANY women dammit. We need a damn Women's Closed category, because it's just TOO MANY women. You see, I didn't see the significance of this at first even though I was already jostling with other women all around me at the starting line, because I figured if I can swim 800m in a pool I can swim 800m in the sea.

WELL.

They sounded the horn. We rushed into the waves. I started on my freestyle. But I couldn't really swim because every stroke I took, my hands ended up grabbing someone's leg. Every stroke I took, I kept getting kicked in the face. Every stroke I took, I would kick SOMEONE ELSE in the face. And every stroke I took, people would be grabbing hold to my legs, my body, and basically pulling me down.

I tried to swim faster; it didn't work. There was nowhere to go to coz no one was fast enough to give me space to swim into. I tried to slow down; tt didn't work either. More women just kept crashing into me.

Maybe on a normal day, I would have persisted, pressed on, just kept swimming like Dory fish, because sooner or later I would probably get somewhere. But noooooooooo.. today I decided to be super dulan, super frustrated, super irritated. And it didn't help tt I was already having breathing difficulties from being dragged down into the water by over-zealous swimmers. The last straw was when I got kicked in the chest. And tt was it. Not far from the 200 m mark I just told myself "This is it. Fuck Biathlon I give up."

And thus ended my foray into Biathlon. Haha. Which is actually quite loser. Had I pressed on I would have been able to finish the swim once we spread out, and apparently the run's very relaxed. But nooooooooooooo... I decide to be a goddamn priss and quit.

Damn.

But oh well. Next time I shall either a) stick to just running events; or b) start at the VERY LAST so tt I can avoid underwater warfare like this forever!

Gosh.

So in the end I end up calling Johnny and Alvin and telling them my Biathlon plans have been averted, and so we decide to be losers and instead of losing the pounds running and swimming, PILING more on by gorging ourselves on comfort food at BK.

So first they have to return the car keys to this jr Jason, and so we have to wait at the finishing line for the guys to come back from the Men's Closed.

Oh, speaking of which, the requisite flower vase girlfriends were there waiting for their boyfriends. I admit, I will NEVER be a flower vase girlfriend. If tt makes me a bad girlfriend, if ever I do become one, then so be it. I will NEVER go down to support my sugar-honey-apple-crumble-sweetie-pie *puke* at some event like Biathlon, Marathon, or for tt matter DrAgOnBoAt RaCe UNLESS I am taking part in it myself.

But tt said, I find tt it is IMPORTANT to have guy friends who have flower vase girl friends. Coz then in cases like this where they DON'T have lockers for you to put your valuables in, at least the girl friends can be of use by helping to look after them!!! Wahahahahaha. Gosh.

If I do get a bf, I wonder if he would mind being my flower vase bf. That is if he doesn't take part in whatever event I'm taking part in myself, of course.

So the guys happily run in from the finishing line, we pass the keys to Jason, and after a bit of meandering in all the wrong directions (reminder to self: never EVER let 2 dragonboat guys lead the way anywhere, because you're probably going to get everywhere except where you want to go), we manage to get to the bus stop to get to the bus to get to the Visitor Arrival Centre.

Johnny happily pulls out his wealth of BK coupons and 2 people away from the counter itself, we get to read the fine print on the coupon tt says "Not valid at BK Sentosa".

Whoopie.

So we end up having a huge lunch at BK. And for some reason I've been REALLY craving sweets today, so I had an additional ice-cream. And it was most strange having a conversation with them because a) on one hand they both expound on how much they lurrrve BK and miss fast food; and b) on the other there is this whole FEAR about getting FAT and losing the nice-defined abs and what-not what-not. And Johnny keeps getting poked fun at for being FAAAT. Okay, I don't think he's fat, but it seems his team thinks so. Poor boy.

And then Alvin says something like: "You know what? You should keep this hairstyle of yours. You look nice and neat."

To which Johnny goes, "Really?"

And to which I say, "Hey, it's okay lah. If the hair gets out of control you could always go back to WEARING A HAIR BAND."

And Alvin says to Johnny: "You know what? I think she doesn't like you."

*evil grinz*

Then I give my dad a call coz the original plan was for me to meet him and my mom for lunch in town... but you see the thing is: a) I'm unchanged and sweaty; b) my shorts are wet and I'm still wearing my freaking wet swim suit underneath with no change of clothes; c) I stink and d) I HAVE FUCKING 4D NUMBERS SCRAWLED ALL OVER MY ARMS AND LEGS!!!

Fortunately, my dad being understanding, tells me tt I can just grab lunch and come straight home... I don't even have to tell him tt I look like a prisons reject.

So we walk towards the bustop. Or rather Alvin walks towards the bustop. Me and Johnny try to convince him tt it's a better idea to walk back from Sentosa to Singapore. The argument works because of the winning phrase: "But you just ate so much." And so we walk back. The conviction in tt argument lasts about 3/4 of the way back to Harbourfront, where the sun gets so hot and just beats down on our backs so much tt we perspire like pigs (ooh alliteration) and Alvin starts complaining about how Johnny (no mention of me. Wahaha) keeps getting him into fixes like this.

Oh gosh. Sometimes they behave like gay buddies. It's hilarious.

And so I leave the two of them to get home myself. I miss the first 61 so it's a fucking 20 min wait. Then when I have to change bus I think I missed my 77 as well so it's another fucking 20 min wait. And this entire time I'm sitting at the bus stop with my 4D numbers scrawled all over my arms and legs. Trust me I got A LOT of long lingering stares from middle-aged to old people who are probably going to rush down to Singapore Pools to place their bets after seeing me.

Yeesh.

But hey, at least I get home in 1 piece. And even though I didn't do JACK at all I guess the whole lack of sleep made me tired enough to just conk off. I almost missed mass tonight! Almost. But not. Was very late, however. OOPS.

But I can't go for Ivan's play or any outing tonight coz I need to keep my parents happy and do some general housework. Oh well.

It's a small price to pay for the benefits. Everytime I feel down and pressured and stressed, I have to remind myself tt I am blessed with all these good friends and family, and even though sometimes they give me trouble, but for the most part they have been there for me and give me love and support. And therefore I should never be anything but grateful.

Oh. And I wanna eat ICE-CREAM!!!

P.S. Apparently the damn June Race is in July. KNN. This means I have even less time to prepare for my Exchange proper. Bleah.

...AND IZZY BOUNCES BACK LIKE A PING-PONG BALL!!!

As you should have guessed from the inane title, Izzy is back. Or rather, has bounced back like a sotong ball-sized sport apparatus. Actually I'm not really as high as this entry title makes me out to seem because a) I'm tired. It's almost 1am. Hello? b) I have NUS Biathlon tomorrow and the thought of waking up REALLY early tomorrow morning just to drag my ass down and zi4 zhuo4 nie4 myself some more is highly daunting; and c) I watched Constantine, and am disturbed by it. Or rather, its effect.

But I am getting ahead of myself here.

My day started out nice and bright and early, or rather as early as 10.30am is for me. Went to accompany my mom to "make a new pair of specs", along the way getting nagged to death about the importance of upkeeping a home and helping out in the housework (somebody shoot me please!!) by the mom and the dad; rushed to the Singapore Swimming Club to complete my application as an adult member of the place, as well as to have lunch (club sandwiches!)... and then get to SDBA at 1.10pm.

Training starts at 1.45pm. But from personal experience I HAVE to tell my dad tt training is AT LEAST half an hour earleir than it really is, because otherwise I WILL most certainly be LATE. So today I told him 1pm, to be safe.

Ah, but it is nice to be early. Sit on a bench, stare at the waters of Kallang, turn on super-bitchy mode in attempt to convert poor innocent new junior Wenting, and just watch the world (and other similar like-minded paddle crazy individuals) go by.

~Interlude: Speaking of which, WHY is it tt *every* dragonboat guy I know has this insane OBSESSION with getting BIGGER???

"I must, I must, I must increase my BUST!!!" Oops... I meant chest size. But either way if you look at the end result... HMM...~

So anyway after the harranguing we got last week, the team has suddenly developed a scary enthusiasm for helping to take paddles, tie rudder and fill bottles. Where before it was just one or two measley people, this time the entire place is too jam packed with eager helpers! Wahaha... This is like major overkill... But at least it brings back the SpIrIt.

We need the SpIrIt you know. And I don't mean spirit like Holy Ghost or any other kind of ghost for tt matter. I MEAN SpIrIt. Like tt whole teamNUSdragonboat SpIrIt.

Ah, yes. I'm just crapping but you know tt already, now don't you?

My Oakleys made their appearance today in place of the bug-eyed goggles! Oh, and the rowing set was good. I know a lot of people find it really xiong, our kind of endurance training, but unfortunately for me I LOVE IT. I love rowing to The Esplanade and back. I love tt familiar screaming in my deltoids from exertion when we row. I love the feeling when the timing is all uniform and the boat is gliding through the waves, even when they're choppy and rowing becomes a challenge.

I guess my only gripe is tt the boat is too silent. I guess there is this necessity to take training seriously, but where is the laughter in-between sets? Where is the encouragement, the "jia yous", the "fly highs" and "focuses" and all the other spontaenous shouts tt make me feel like the team is one? Even came to the point where *I* was feeling super-paiseh abt shouting out commands or echoing stuff. I know Geox was, even though she's still one DAMN good loud hailer. Wahaha..

And after rowing, FINALLY, a run I can do. So it was super-long and super-slow, but I did it!!! With no small help from Wendy! :) And then we had the requisite pull-ups, debrief... And then I rushed to bathe and change and leave for PS.

I thought I was going to be late! But instead I was super early! If anything, HE was late. But that was coz he'd lost his phone today, poor guy, so tt is totally understandable.

We had dinner at Pastamania. His treat since the movie was on me. My lasagne looked like vomit, but he nicely decided not to comment. I gave him his birthday present; caught up basically on a bit of what's been going on in both our lives since. Then we went for the movie, Constantine.

Now... tt I have with the movie, is not tt it's not good. Coz it is. It's just tt I found it disturbing, or at least unsuitable. But I like Keanu Reeve's character, even tho Constantine has the same Neo-esque Messiahnic attitude to him too. But to watch it with a non-Xtian who doesn't understand half the stuff, and does not seem to buy the rest... WELL.

I came home after the movie. Decided to go home instead of hall. My dad is addicted to this Korean soap tt is just damn sad. As in loserly, not tear-jerking. It's the damn cheesy songs, I tell ya.

But on the upside I have a Gold supp card of my own now!!! Yay!!!