Éclectique

So, 2012 is coming to a close. It sure doesn't feel like a year has gone by... This uear has definitely been an exciting, full of triathlons, committee events & adventures. :D Naturally, it is sad that the year is coming to a close. But, next year has more adventures in store! New year's resolutions... Hmm... Well, last year's resolutions were only partly met... :\ So this year, nothing special; keep up grades, get accepted to a school in Canada, etc. Perhaps, try a century ride before I leave Malaysia. I would also love to do the World Championship Distance for XTERRA Malaysia in April. Just a short post this time around. Can't come up with more substantial posts at the moment. Heh heh. On a different note, Happy New Year!

In light of the recent horrific shootings in Connecticut, I've been observing some debate amongst social media users regarding gun laws in the United States. Some are saying for people to always have their firearm loaded & on their persons, the younger the better, etc. On the other end of the spectrum, some are calling for either stricter laws or outlawing guns altogether. In my opinion based on what I've seen in the media (which may be biased/lopsided/etc), as well as during the recent Presidential Elections, the community demanding gun laws stay is rather powerful.  It was one of the topics of debate during the elections & if I recall correctly, neither candidate did much about it. Given the number of shootings that are happening recently, I think, no wait. I don't think, something NEEDS to be done about the gun laws.  Do I feel guns should be outlawed outright? Honestly, yes.  Is it feasible?  Probably not.  There will be resistance, issues...

So I did the Putrajaya International Triathlon last weekend.  It was a rather last minute event so not many people signed up.  Personally, I was skeptical about how well I would do as I hadn't been able to properly train for the past month or so, juggling school work, committee work and finals. Crossing the line in an unofficial time of 2:07:11, I was pretty happy.  Seeing as I'd never done such distances back to back compounded by the lack of training, I actually performed better than I did at Desaru.  Unfortunately, the rest of the field was rather experienced and I came in around the bottom quarter. :( My only issue with the course was the cycle route.  Why go on the highway?  Putrajaya has a very complete motorcycle lane system.  Why didn't the organizers use that?  They really should have.  On top of that, there were no signs and not enough marshals so at times, we were winging it, hoping they would place marshals at crucial exit poi...

So, I did my first duathlon last weekend. It was the Powerman Duathlon Asian Championships & some big names came down hoping to secure points to qualify for the Duathlon World Championships in Switzerland. The duathlon I participated in was held in Putrajaya. Such a beautiful place to race. I hope they do it again next year. A duathlon is run-bike-run & sounds easier than triathlon -- which is swim-bike-run.  It's simpler, yes but it is in no way easier.  Most likely due to the slightly different distances.  That being said, I like the duathlon distances better.  Maybe I should start doing the long distance triathlons after this. Anywho... Compared to the Desaru triathlon, I was able to put a 5 minute gap between my brother & myself.  Best part of it; I started creating that gap in the first run & he never closed it.  In Desaru, Akid had a 1 minute advantage out of the water but I was able to close it & we arrived at T2 (bike-to...

The last time I blogged was before my birthday. Wow. So much has happened in that time span.  My cousin, Hamid, got married, I raced the Desaru International Triathlon, did the Salomon X-Trail Run, went to Legoland, I coordinated a two-day Halloween bazaar, & last but not least, Hari Raya. Was kind of surprised when Hamid popped the news about getting married. Was so happy for him.  My family is very close to him & his siblings so we were more than happy to help out in anyway we could.  We all bunked out at a homestay in Pasir Gudang, his new wife's hometown.  After the wedding, we went to JPO! Muahahaha. JPO stands for Johor Premier Outlets and is basically a shopping mall selling high-end stuff for cheap.  Well, mostly.  Long story short, I got a Adidas AdiZero jacket! :D Akid got a running kit, Abah got a track jacket & pants combo for cheap, & Mama... well, Mama bought a lot.  O-O She got the previous generation F50 AdiZero r...

Religiously, I cannot endorse homosexuality.  However, the recent flurry of posts regarding a supposed guideline endorsed by the Ministry of Education offends me as to how shallow & simple minded they are when it comes to identifying homosexuals.  Their list pretty much includes majority of Malaysia. -,- Each category only has four items or guidelines.  Yes, there are only four things.  Who knew homosexuals were so easily identifiable, eh? Just to quote & comment. Quoted is in red italic  while comment is not. :) Symptoms for gays Have a muscular body and like to show their body by wearing v-necks and sleeveless shirts .  This applies to pretty much our ENTIRE athletic contingent.  Is the government implying they are gay?  Also, straight men do it to attract girls because let's face it, a well toned body is a big ego booster for men, and an attraction for women. Prefer tight, and light colored clothes .   I tend to...

Classes have resumed.  Last two semesters have felt like open season & I was the deer.  Mechanics & Heat  in the short semester, then Multivariate Calculus in the following semester were really a blow to my CGPA. I've probably rambled a lot about this so I'm not going to say anything more.  Let's just hope that hunting season is over & this little deer is not going to face anymore trouble. This semester I'm only taking 3 subjects; Thermodynamics, Electricity & Light, & retaking Multivariate Calculus.  Multivariate Calculus has a new lecturer so hopefully she's good.  Going to work hard at all my papers now.  Have to.  Need to bring up my CGPA so I can apply. Talking about applications, I'm now looking at Canada rather than the States due -- primarily -- to safety issues...  There has been literally a shooting every week.  It's frightening.  Going to apply to McMaster, University of Calgary, & Queen's. ...