The Stream of Life - 2011 In Retrospect

Published Tuesday, January 03, 2012 by Spider-Fudge | E-mail this post

It’s the end of the year again. And you guys know what this means.

It means that it’s time for me to do a recap of all (or at least, most) of the major events that have occurred in my life over the past year. This, even though I have seem to have neither the time nor the will to blog as much as I used to.

Okay, I’ll admit that this post is a few days overdue. I’ll get to that point later on.

So, let’s just do this:

1. Got married

Yep, I gave up my singlehood status and moved on to the next phase of my life, namely, marriage.

It’s been (almost exactly) one year, and I still feel newly-married. Well, that can’t be a very bad thing.

2. Cultural Learnings of Turkey for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Singapore

Okay, only Istanbul, but to be sure, that place is awesome enough for you to spend seven nights at without ever getting sick of it.

There was something for the both of us. For the history buff (me), there were monuments and places of interest galore from two of the greatest empires in world history (the Roman and Ottoman Empires).

For the FS, there was the largest permanent bazaar on the planet.

Oh yeah.

3. 2XU Compression Run

I broke my ‘half-marathons and above only’ rule by taking part in this run.

The only reason why I took part in this 12km race is because of the 2XU calf tights and singlet that they were giving out. That’s worth some serious money, all right?

4. Sundown Marathon

This was a washout that was so promising.

I left home at 8.30pm in order to make it for the 10pm start time. Unfortunately, traffic management was so bad that I had to sprint the last three kilometres to the start line (with my gym bag) just to make it in time for the start.

And it spite of all that, I managed to get a timing of 4 hrs 58 minutes, which was just three minutes off my personal best.

I’m still pretty pissed thinking about it.

5. Cultural Learnings of Malaysia for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Singapore (Part I)

This was just a short trip to KL to celebrate the FS’s uncle’s birthday.

Nothing much to say, except that the trip was pretty smooth and well-planned.

6. Marina 21k

This was another poorly-organized race. The venue was poorly-chosen, with the entire race converging into one single lane at many parts of the race. At one point all the runners had to converge into one single file.

The organizers tried to manage things at the last minute by segregating the runners into elite and non-elite categories, but a lot of n00bs thought too highly of themselves and joined the elite group.

Listen, n00bs. You think too highly of yourselves, you deserve all the brickbats that you’re getting. I can run 21 clicks in under 2 hours, and I don’t see myself as elite. So if you can’t even match my pace, then you think too highly of yourselves, and you deserve a buttstroke to the head.

7. Army Half-Marathon

Finally, one solid, well-organized race. I guess that’s only to be expected, considering that it was the Army that organized this race, and they already have many years of experience in this field.

Even better, I hit a new personal best of 1 hr 50 minutes. Hoo-ah!

8. Newton 30k

The final race of the year, for me at least. I was aiming for the Standard Chartered Marathon in December, but it coincided with my brother’s wedding, so I’m forced to be contented with this race.

I don’t have any major complaints here, barring the fact that according to my GPS, I ran an extra 2 kilometers. Which is pretty sad, because that led to a timing of 3 hr 12 minutes, which is 12 minutes over my target of 3 hours.

9. High-Key ICT

This was the most siong in-camp I have ever had since I ORD-ed seven years ago.

The outfield mission wasn’t the worst I ever had. It consisted of a heli-insertion, a 6-8km bash through the jungle, the attack of a FIBUA objective, and an all-out defence of the objective (which quite surprisingly didn’t come under attack).

What made it really terrible was the massive increase in my combat load due to the increase in the total load of the medical pack I had to carry. It didn’t help that the stretcher was still old school and doubled the weight unnecessarily. My shoulders, pecs and back were rippling in pain the whole way through.

That said, my efforts were rewarded, in a way. I was voted Best Commander of HQ Platoon for my company. Hoo-ah!

10. Cultural Learnings of Malaysia for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Singapore (Part II)

If the first trip was well-planned and executed, I can’t say the same for this one.

I don’t want to say more, lest I be accused of muckracking on the public domain. Let’s just say that bad incidents are difficult enough, but bad responses to those incidents just make things worse.

In a nutshell……

I know you guys are (probably) complaining over how my posts on this blog are no longer as frequent or as passionate as it once was. Okay, I know there aren’t that many of you out there who actually follow this blog religiously even when my posts came fast and furious in the past. But of course, I’m not exactly writing this blog for anyone else. I’m writing it for myself.

If that sounds a little selfish, then it probably is meant to be. The truth is that I write this blog as a means of catharsis after a long day at school, or work, or whatever it is that I’m doing. And it is that point that scares me: if I can’t even write for myself anymore, then where does it leave this blog?

I haven’t forgotten the fate of the Anthology of Seasons. To those not in the know (and I know most of you aren’t in the know), that is the name I gave to the collection of poetry that I wrote from 1999 to 2006. It was THE Web of Fudge before there even was a Web of Fudge. And somewhere along the way in 2006 I simply lost the will to write in verse any more.

I suppose I no longer find any interest to do the things I used to enjoy doing because of some health issues I’ve been having. It’s nothing serious, really, except that it’s not exactly something any of you would want to have either. Suffice to say that I’m doing my level best to conquer this problem, but not everything can be conquered easily.

So where does this leave you, Fudgie? Where are you on the stream of life? Are you letting yourself drift away into nothingness, or are you going to rise up and stand tall and count for something?

I don’t know. At this point in time, I really don’t know.

That is a question I’m gonna have to answer.

Go, Web!!!!

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment

- The Stream of Life/ Praan

Rabindranath Tagore, Palbasha Siddique, Garry Schyman

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The Stream of Life - 2011 In Retrospect

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