legendary athlete from my eyes

'Legend' means one that inspires legends or achieve legendary fame. In sports, world legends are often named for athletes who have won championship titles or made great contributions to sports and other athletes. In my opinion, not all world champions deserve the word 'Legend'. I have paid lots of interest in sports since young and I would say that my active life is very much inspired by some athletes who earned my respect as 'legendary athletes'.

Yelena Isinbayeva, the lady who always strives to go beyond the limits. Being the first woman to clear 5 meter height in pole vault, she is in the class of her own by breaking 27 world records and completely unbeatable from 2004-2009. I wonder how she can stay focus and handle the pressure as top athlete while delivering flawless jumps in every competition.

Lance Armstrong, the man who rise from the bottom of his life to win Tour de France for 7 consecutive years. He was a testicular cancer survivor and he had certainly inspired many cancer patience that 'it's not the end of your life when you are diagnosed with cancer'. He is a positive thinker and never take impossible as his answer.

The journey called life

When I was 10, I wished I can grow more in inches.

I was the shortest among my friends. I entered standard 5 and often got teased for my height. All I did was to smile and pretend that they were just joking with me, not laughing at me.

When I was 13, I wished I can grow more in courage.

I was over confident for a race and I was defeated despite it was an all out run. I laid on the grass, tears bursting out and I wondered. Why I couldn't take that failure. What's worse than losing to others is to lose to yourself.

When I was 14, I wished I can grow more in strength.

I won 800m and 1500m and I was just short of one more victory to claim the best female athlete. I failed. I was just not strong enough. I took failure with calm and humble.

When I was 16, I wished I can grow more in confidence.

I never believed I won the title which I've been fighting for years.

When I was 18, I wished I can grow more in leadership.

I wanted to help my coach when I returned to the school team. They lost the year after I finished Form 5. I wanted to boost their spirit, I should be their leader. But I wasn't good enough.

When I was 20, I wished I can grow more in effectiveness.

Laziness has no cure. My lay-back personality must be changed. I need better self management.

I realised that I chase after different things in different stages of my life. In the end, I need lots and lots of wisdom. This is life, journeyed by my feet, authored by my hands. What I have in mind---keep going, you will never know what's around the corner until you reach there. Know what you want and you will reach there. Eventually.

Budi bahasa budaya kita ?

13 Julai 2011- kereta yang dipandu Jing Yi telah dilanggar oleh sebuah kereta. (malas nak jelaskan prosesnya) Si ayah itu keluar dari keretanya, bersama dengan dua orang anaknya.

Saya memandu dalam si kuning.

Ayat pertama yang dia katakan pada saya, “Saya ‘stay’ dekat ‘lane’ saya”. (nada suara yang yakin).

Saya tersenyum, “macam mana encik nak ‘stay’ kat ‘lane’ sendiri sedangkan saya pandu kat ‘fast lane’? ‘Main road’ ni ada dua lorong dan sekiranya encik nak masuk dari simpang jalan pun kena ikut lorong kiri dulu baru masuk ke ‘fast lane’,” kata saya. (handal betul bahasa rojak saya sekarang)

Saya tak pandai berdebat tetapi saya berkeyakinan. Dia terdiam. Memang pun dia yang bersalah.

“Anak encik ‘OK’?” Tanya saya.

“OK…” kata dia sambil merokok.

Kami menunggu lebih kurang 45 minit untuk ke balai polis. Sepanjang masa itu, Jing Yi menunggu. Habis rokok lima puntung si ayah itu. Jing Yi menunggu, menunggu satu perkataan. Nampaknya perkataan ‘sorry’ adalah suatu perkataan yang menjatuhkan air muka.

Jing Yi tak marah tapi hanya hairan kenapa orang sekarang amat pentingkan air muka. Mungkin si ayah tersebut ingin kelihatan bermaruah di depan anak-anaknya. Tak berbaloi marah kerana orang yang angkuh dan ‘bermaruah’ itu.

Budi bahasa budaya kita

Teras panduan hidup manusia

Nak jadi rakyat kelas pertama

Jauh lagi perjalanannya

Adakah budi bahasa masih wujud dalam kalangan masyarakat kita?

when silent speaks

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr

I respect this man for his bravery and contribution to civil rights. He is a hero. I do not know that our dear prime minister is a big fan of him too until today. I wish everything would turn back to normal after the peaceful rally by Bersih 2.0 until he lied. The rally shows the world of our maturity, unity and desire for clean and fair election. I am proud to be a Malaysian.

Our prime minister is really good in speaking, i think he took Martin Luther King Jr as his role model in speaking. Tell you what...you failed in imitating his style especially the enthusiasm. As you were talking, your eyes were filled with fear, fear of the lies coming out from your mouth. You could not even look into your people's eyes when you are speaking.

He said the rally only represented minority and he urged those 'majority' to voice out their opinions. I classified myself as one of the majority in this matter (since I did not go to the rally) and this is what I want to say about Bersih 2.0.

My Saturday should be a relaxing and calm one but I couldn't stop myself from browsing through the internet and look for the latest news about Bersih 2.0.

I should be there.

If not of the stupid 'Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti 1971' which I had signed in order to enter local university I should be walking on that streets with those people. They were once the 'silent majority'. They are just ordinary people and do you think they would risk their lives just to create havoc out of nothing? They are Malaysians who can no longer bear your cruelty. They stood up for us and I salute them.

The best thing I had ever done on my 21st birthday was to walk to the post office and register myself as a voter. I can still remember that moment...

The officer at the counter was starring at me and asked,' do you want to register today? Why so soon?'
And I replied,'do I have to be 21 year and 1 day old to do this?'
And for the first time ever I walked out from post office with a big smile.

I am patiently waiting for my first general election and here is my message for our dear prime minister...

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-Martin Luther King Jr

We are just ordinary people but I believe that we can be the heroes in ourselves.

MASUM 2011

I didn't expect that I will return for such prestigious competition after leaving the secondary school.

We had a coach who was totally irresponsible. Late for every training sessions, showed his face for only 2 mornings out of the 3 competition days, left the team without water on the last day and gave demotivating words to us. He does not understand the exhaustion of running under the hot sun and sizzling track.

UM management sucks. The stadium is 20 minutes on foot from the hostel and the 4 UM buses refused to take us to the stadium with reason saying that there were only 15 of us.

The manager loves us so much that we called her ‘Kak Ijan’, spending all her time arranging our schedule and taking care of our welfare.

Then the Dr Lela joined the team. We have no doctor in the team at the first place and she would come to the stadium at 8am everyday to give us treatment until the volleyball game in the opposite hall started. She returned to us once the volleyball game was over.

I salute all my teammate for putting up not just good, but great fights. After the all-star national runner team or so called UPM team, UM came 2^nd among all the universities in Malaysia and yes, we had only 15 people in the team. Each of us took many events which require a lot of physical and mental strength. We endured the process, fighting those national athletes and SUKMA athletes like soldiers. With bandages on our legs, we kept fighting till the last second. The doctor stopped the boy’s team from attempting the last event which was 400m relay because she couldn’t stand us from suffering more injuries.

In the girl's 400m relay final, I pulled my exhausted legs in the final hundred with excruciating pain on both my hamstring, I leaped myself forward to the finishing line before passing the baton to my teammate. We finished last in the relay but we were proud as the team of 4 was formed from the only 6 girls in UM team.

I love my teammates. Thanks for having me as one of you. I have learned so much from you. Thanks. And one more thing...4 golds, 8 silvers and 4 bronze from a team of 15 people, UM, you can take all the fame you want but our spirit stays deep within our hearts.

An unexpected bronze medal from 400m hurdles =D

Work

Walk in slowly
5 minutes late
Sit and stare at your surroundings
Chit chat for awhile
Walk to the pantry
Make a cup of coffee
Eat a packet of nasi lemak
Then turn on the computer
Read some online news
And start working when your boss walks in.

The norm in the office
and the country is facing unemployment problem.

While complaining about the unemployment
have you ever ask, 'Am I a good employee?'

While there are people out there searching for a job
are you jeopardizing their opportunities?

Walk in slowly 5 minutes late
Sit and stare at your surroundings
Chit chat for awhile
Walk to the pantry
Make a cup of coffee
Eat a packet of nasi lemak
Then turn on the computer
And start working when your boss walks in.

Sorry, this is just not my style.

The Gym Thingy

I don't know how, I don't know why, I just don't like to workout in the gym. Despite the well-equipped and air-conditioned space, I still don't like it. Maybe I have not come across a good gym yet.

I won't say that the UM weight gym is bad. In fact, it is quite good. Ventilation, temperature, equipment and everything. Maybe it's just that I could not stand those ego guys posing in front of the mirror especially when there are ladies in the gym. Self-indulged in their own world, I'd rather get some sunlight.

However, I won't deny the benefits of gym. It helps to improve your targeted muscle in no time IF you know how to use it. 3 gym sessions and I can't believe I can do 10 sets of hip extension (40 lifts per set at 90lbs) in less than 20 minutes although I did 200 x 110lbs for quadriceps and 200 x 40lbs for hamstrings in the first day. With these statistics, I know which muscle I should train more.

Perhaps I should not do too much of gym. So I will sneak out during the gym session to catch some fresh air. And still I prefer moving exercises like running, cycling and swimming under the Sun rather than becoming a workout machine and rely on statistics.

Finally, don't get kick by me now...you will die. =P