you had one job

Hi guys! some of you may or may not know, but I've started working at CA today, and by today I mean Wednesday cause I'm currently blogging after midnight now it's been such a long day.. By right I wasn't supposed to start work now but there was some secondary school camp event that required extra belaying manpower so since I was free as always I decided to help out. 

So there were supposed to be two batches of students that came for the climbing session; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, the morning batch was delayed due to traffic or idk what so all of us just waited and stoned. I tried to get to know some of them since I was new and learn whatever I can. 

Oh yeah at the start, the guy who manages all of us asked me to help him tie double figure of 8 knots on every rope lane, which was my FIRST EVER TASK as a CA worker holy shit. He asked me if I know how to tie and I confidently said yes. But then when I tied it he said I tied wrong and I was a little stunned. Turns out I tied the double figure of 8 that I learnt in army DAMN ITTTT The climbing one was supposed to have three loops on one of the circle of the 8 for extra security. So yeah hence the title I HAD ONE JOB AND I FKED IT UP LOL 

But ok it wasn't all that bad. I tied the correct knot and helped out in whatever miscellaneous shit I could help out with. When the students were finally here, the introductions and climbing became a routine, but it was pretty fun belaying them, cheering them on and guiding them. 

After that I took a quick lunch break and then we waited again for the second batch. Nothing much about the second batch, pretty much the same as the first. Oh yeah something interesting happened during this time. One of the other belayers beside my lane asked me to help her shout to her climber to guide her because her climber couldn't hear her. So I shouted to her climber on what to hold and where to go etc. then after that the belayer asked if I was from the army and I'm like ._. "Yeah I just finished army" then she said that she could tell because my tone sounded like some sergeant scolding someone in an aggressive and commanding tone. I was quite taken aback by that because I felt that I was shouting normally :O it's how I usually cheer people on when they climb and trust me I don't cheer people on that often I'm not that kind of person. It made me feel shitty that army fucked me up this much, but I'm hoping I can change that...

After the whole session was over we had a quick debrief and I rushed off to meet the Indian for dinner and after that we went back to CA to climb the new top rope routes! I think that some of the new routes are overgraded, which means that they are easier than what the route setter claims its difficulty to be. But meh I also did some of the old routes which are undergraded, cause the old 6Cs are extremely hard for 6Cs >< managed to complete all the 6Cs and 6C+s with a few falls here and there but there was one 6C+ route which pissed me off so much cause I couldn't stick one move at the starting part and kept jumping falling jumping falling. I call that route PKMT route in honor of my favourite Malay vulgarity. 

Oh yeah I also got a mini rope burn on my left tricep today cause of the PKMT route. Wtf man getting a rope burn through top rope is a joke... After we were done with top rope we went to do some hangboard training and I realized doing hangboard training after top rope is shiok cause my fingers aren't so tired as compared to bouldering. 

That's about it for today. Oh yeah, saw the work schedule for next month. Seems like all of my Saturdays are gonna be burnt for the night shift lol. Oh well. Such is life when you get a job. But hopefully this job will bring me one step closer to my next level of climbing. 

It's all about climbing

Went to climb today at CA and it was a really good training session! Made a goal for today on my way there, which was to complete all the taped up colour routes on the second level of the bouldering wall. All this time when I went CA to climb I've only did the routes separately and not all in one session. Started with a warm up by traversing twice across the wall, the gym was still quite empty, with only a few other climbers around. Then went to do some dead hangs on the hangboard to get my arms stretched, before starting on my goal for today. 

At first I wanted to do all the blue routes, which are the hardest routes there, but then I decided not to overstrain myself at the start and went to do the easier routes first. So I started with the easiest colour, red and white routes. I made it a point to use every tile and not to skip tiles even though the routes were extremely easy. This helped me to prepare my body for further stress on the harder routes later. 

After I was done with all the easy routes, I took a 5mins break to get rid of the slight pump I still had from the traversing. Then I went on to do all the yellow routes, which was the second easiest difficulty. Managed to finish all of them quite comfortably, but most of it was thanks to muscle memory cause I've done most of the yellow routes before already :P and this applied to other routes too lol. 

Then I took another 5mins break before starting on the next harder difficulty, green routes. Around this time, one of my juniors came along to join me to climb. I actually planned to climb alone today as it was an impromptu decision in the morning when I had the psyche and my fingers felt recovered already. But I'm always glad to have some company when climbing :D Anyway, I finished all of the green routes, slipping only once on the most inclined wall because of poor footwork. At first I struggled to finish the green route on the flattest wall with lots of volumes because there was this one move which required me to hold on to the shittiest tile I've ever tried to hold in my life (it's a small and flat green sloper/pinch with minimal finger space) but I just couldn't do it :( so after much discussion, we decided that there's probably a missing foothold which is one of the volumes. After using the volume I managed to complete the route and I think the volume was definitely missing a green tape. Hmm. 

Then I went on to try out the blue routes. By this time the gym was getting really crowded cause two schools were there to train. But I didn't care I was determined to finish all my routes. So I managed to finish all the blue routes eventually (also thanks to muscle memory), except for one of the ALMOST impossible blue routes. I say it's almost impossible because I've never seen anyone done it before. I say almost because maybe some day.... Someone will show me how to do it LOL. The starting move is so damn hard. It requires an insane amount of core strength because you have to toe hook and step your second handhold with both feet and then spring out to grab that handhold with your left hand and step on another further foothold with your right leg. I've tried that move many times but to no avail :( maybe some day... But anyway, I was really satisfied that I managed to finish two of the blue routes which I've had a lot of problems with in previous sessions. Both of those blue routes I kept falling at the second last handhold last time, but this time I managed to finish it with a little bit more strength and that extra bit of confidence in myself. 

Which means now I only left that almost

impossible blue route to complete the next time I go to CA :D hopefully they reshuffle soon though haha. 

Spent the rest of the day giving my junior previously set routes and sharing my beta with him. As it got more and more crowded at level 2, we headed downstairs to climb at level 1. He set some routes for me to try which were quite fun and not so intense because by then we were both quite tired. Decided to finish all the easy red and white routes and all the yellow routes at level 1. Only managed to do one of the green routes which I have already done previously, and tried to do this other green route which I've attempted many times before but didn't manage to finish it, though I did make significant progress and I think I got the sequence right already. Will try it next

time when I'm still fresh :) didn't even bother trying any of the blue routes cause they are way too hard. 

Overall it was a fun climbing session and I can see improvement in my climbing again! Still trying to figure out a proper climbing schedule for myself but I think I'll just stick to climbing regularly till I hit a plateau and from there I'll start training properly. 

Anyway my parents have been bugging me to get a job because they are afraid that I would get lazy. At first I thought it was just because of money but then today I realized this was the real reason. They want me to get a desk bound admin job because they want me to have office experience. But damn it what kind of experience can I get from that? Learning about office politics? That doesn't interest me at all. I know it's highly likely that I'll end up in some office job in the future even though I don't want to, but why ruin my youth now? I have my whole adulthood to spend in an office -.- I tried to explain to them that climbing is truly my passion and I want to pursue it and see how far I can push myself to excel in it, and now is the best time because I'm in the prime of my youth and this is probably going to be the longest break I'll ever get in my life. I mean think about it, once I go into university, those "holiday breaks" are probably going to be spent studying for the next damn exam because typically that's how the singapore education system is like. And then what comes after uni? I'll have to pursue my career, I'm already in my mid twenties. How can I be at my peak climbing fitness then if I have so many commitments as well? But they just don't understand. They're afraid that my brain will rot for the next few months before going uni and then I'll find it hard to start studying again. But then my brain has already been rotting for the past two years, and how does getting a job help my brain get active again?! Sigh. Ok writing about this just pisses me off. Will probably find a job in February :( 

Climbing again tmr. Hopefully tmr will be as great as today :D 

Progression

I have been climbing a lot recently and I can feel myself slowly improving. I've also got a better idea of what I need to work on in climbing so far:

-train up my locking-in by doing more hangboard training because I tend to tremble every time I lose grip on a tile. I know it's a natural instinct for people to do that but I'm not training to be like normal people. I should focus more on one arm lock-ins on crimps and slopers. 

-do more routes/set more routes for myself with heel hooks/toe hooks. I want to be able to have proper footwork especially for these two moves because they are probably the most useful climbing techinques. I must train up to the point where I can heel hook/toe hook such that I can completely go hands free with one hand. 

-train up on my endurance. My endurance is really weak now and in order to sustain longer during training or even during competitions I have to build up my endurance. I've always preferred bouldering but sometimes I must force myself to do more top rope and start doing lead once I am able to top rope 6Cs comfortably. 

So far these are the 3 weaknesses that I have. Okay maybe I've got a 4th weakness as well but it's so retarded I'd rather not talk about it cause I'm sure most of the climbers already know about it haha. It's no LAUGHING matter ok, one day it'll be my downfall and I'll have to train myself to resist it. 

My strengths? Well I won't really call them my strengths, more of my preferences. I like doing powerful moves, pockets, open hand crimps, campusing, smearing, fingery moves, and a lot more I can't think of right now. Today one of the climbers told me that I may not be buff but that's what makes me strong. At first I didn't really understand it, because naturally most people would think that being buff means that you're strong. But after thinking it through I got what it meant to be strong in climbing. I'm really thankful to have a body that is built for climbing, it was a body that used to make my parents question if there was a growth problem because back then I was extremely scrawny and short. I may be underweight but I am happy for that because I carry less when I climb compared to most other guys. 

Ok actually I'm blogging at midnight right now cause I'm really bored and I can't fall asleep. So I decided to think about my climbing progress so far and reflect upon it. For those who aren't climbers and didn't understand the whole chunk of shit I just wrote, sorry about that. That was more for myself than my readers actually, if I still have any readers out there :/

Anyway I'm not looking forward to going NUS right now. My course is competitive. Climbing team is competitive. WHYYYY. I think my time in uni will just revolve around studying and climbing. I hope when school starts I'll have the willpower to use my brain again. 

2015

HELLO!

is anyone still reading this crap?

Yes, I admit it has been a long time since I've posted, but that's because I've been really busy with life.

So to summarise what has happened for the past two months, I went to Brunei for a jungle adventure in November, then went to USA for a taste of California life. I can't say much about what went on there because of OPSEC (OPS SECRECY GUYS WE CANT LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW A CERTAIN ARMED FORCES TRAINS IN CERTAIN PLACES)

but you guys get the idea, or at least those who even bother to read this crap know why I've been to these places and what I have done there.

well right now I'm super free everyday, just climbing whenever I can and exercising at home by running around my neighbourhood, doing pull ups, push ups, core exercises etc. when my arms and fingers need a break. I'm really happy to be back in climbing again, no longer in the hiatus mode. I'm also damn determined to train back up because seeing progress in climbing simply makes me happy as climbing is life.

Another thing I want to do is to get my driver's license. It'll be really convenient to be able to drive to NUS when I start studying again. Hopefully I'll be able to get it before the first semester begins.

I ORDed just three days ago but it feels as if I've put behind my army life for good. I thought I wouldn't be able to let go and transit back to a normal civilian life but I guess I was wrong. I've never felt this happy and free before in my life. I'm not saying that NS was a bad experience for me; overall it was definitely a meaningful journey which has taught me lots of life lessons. I'm proud to be a guardsman because it was the toughest shit that I had to ever go through in my life (even worse than A levels, trust me)

Anyway I don't think I want to get a job so early or even get a job at all. I have no need for money because I think I've earned enough through NS and I want to focus 100% on climbing. Maybe I'll get a job related to climbing, I don't know. Right now I'm indecisive about this but I'll just relax and go with the flow, enjoy life and be happy because that's the way life should be when you just finished NS.

So if anyone is free to go climbing or do anything else just ask me I'm free everyday. I feel that I've been missing out a lot and neglecting some of my friends because of my stupid NS commitments so now it's time I made up for it and get back my life again.

I don't really know what else to talk about, If anyone is really desperate to know about my holiday to Brunei or USA, you're weird why would you want to find out so much you're definitely a terrorist. On a serious note, just talk to me about it.

ok I'm sick of typing.

happy 2015 guys ORD LO