So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again
- Bachelor Girl
it's been a wicked week down under.
cool weather, blue skies, funky environment and great fun.
of course it's good to be back mate, but i can't say i didn't enjoy myself there.
AND... I'M RANKED WORLD 8TH FOR 16-18YRS GIRLS INDIVIDUAL KATA.
EAT YA HEART OUT MATEYS.
so, here's what happened in my life from the 15th - 21st of this month.
DAY 1
flight at 9.20am from Singapore to Sydney (darn early)
when we got there, tis about 7pm, but the skies looked like 10pm. weather was cool, so it was quite comfy. cabs were aplenty, so we had no difficulty making our way from the airport to Darling Habour. we stayed at Somerset as always. it's like my dad's favourite serviced apartments. so... the food at the serviced apartment didn't look too...palatable. so we made our way to chinatown which was 3 blocks away.
it's wicked! CHINATOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF SYDNEY. AHA, how cool is that? ok, the food was... so-so. a bit too salty. just A BIT. so anyway, we trudged back to the apartment and stopped at bread story and convenience stores along the way. the fruits were bloody expensive, and my dad as always bought the weirdest breads...
i mean, NORMAL PEOPLE like MOI, pick stuff like sausage rolls, pizza thingys, choc bread, etc. what does my dad pick? GREEN TEA BREAD, ORANGE CROISSANT, some weird concoction that i refused to go near. BIOHAZARDOUS.
then i asked the PMSY GAY, oh i mean, GUY at the reception how to get to OLYMPIC PARK and he was like: oh you gotta go down that road to blah blah blah george street blah blah blah the right blah blah blah no no, the other right, blah blah blah Townhall, blah blah train's the fastest way, blah blah, oh it's easy blah blah blah, change trains, no don't change trains (???) change trains if you want to ( HUH -.- ) then you stop at Lidcombe and you're there. -.- SIGH...
that was about it for that day. slept pretty well.
DAY 2
woke up pretty early. went to Townhall station to catch the train to Lidcombe. best part is: WE GOT ON THE WRONG TRAIN. ended up in Concord West. some really really rural area. so... we had to wait 1/2 an hour for the next train to come to bring us to back to Strathfield so we could change trains to Lidcombe. told ya it was rural. -.-
at Lidcombe, we had to change trains to the Olympic Sprint train. from there on it was quite straightforward. went all the way to Novotel (yes, it is a hotel -.-) where the registration was taking place. so many people.. South Africa, Scotland, Serbia&Montenegro, Germany, USA, Japan, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Laos, Thailand, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago. just to name some of the 40+++ countries present at the competition. we didn't even have a Singapore sweat suit. i's quite sad man. but it was ok. so... hung around, tried out the arena, trained for about 2 hours, got geared up and then it was back home to rest up before the big day.
DAY 3
the BIG day.
i was so so nervous. i got up super super uber early just to make sure i was there on time. had to sew on my number tag to my gi (karate uniform) and i was so cold and numb that i kept pricking myself with the needle cos i was just so cold and my fingers were not listening to the brain. my dad was trying to calm me down. was not working... heh. and you know EVERYONE'S A LITTLE BIT RACIST. so.. just cos i was ASIAN and NOT JAPANESE, all these *ahem* people, were disrespecting me man. i felt out of place, out of focus, just OUT. i thought i was gonna get kicked out on the first round yo. i felt i was unlucky. i had 3 elimination rounds, unlike some others who only had 2.
i remember walking into the arena. woot. it was packed. it was cold. it was frightening.
they go by a flag system. RED (representing AKA) and WHITE (SHIRO).
first up was KATA.
so, 2 competitors will go up onto the competing mats and one will be wearing a red cloth around the waist, the other will have no cloth. then they will perform the same kata randomly chosen by the chief judge from a deck of cards. there is 1 chief judge at the front and 4 sub judges sitting at all 4 corners of the mat. once the kata has been performed, the whistle will be blown and the chief judge will blow the whistle. the 4 corner judges will raise either the red or white flag depending on who they felt did better. the chief judge will then decide who won that round by raising his flag.
my first elimination round was against Therese from Norway. HEIAN SANDAN.
i was RED, all 5 judges voted red. PHEW.
second was against Nikki, a friend i made from Scotland.
i was WHITE this time, again all judges voted WHITE. HENG AH.
third round, my friend Rosemary from South Africa. ok...i'll admit, i was scared, she was good.
i was RED. when the judge blew the whistle, the 2 judges in front of me voted red, but i couldn't see the 2 behind. i was so nervous, it felt like an hour. then the chief judge raised his flag. RED. OH MY LIFE. I WAS INTO THE FINALS!!! YAY YAY. i found out later that all 5 judges voted RED, woot.
but i lost my nerve in the finals which really pisses me off, but ya know, i'll live. next time, i'll do better.
8th's good. X)
Kumite was horrid. i'm so glad i was eliminated in the earlier rounds. even with that, i still managed to bruise and bloody my left shin, as in literally bloody my left shin. i have no idea how the skin tore. but the bruise went all the way to the bone yo. the medics thought it was fractured or broken at first cos everything went numb. girls had bloodied noses, carried off on stretchers with oxygen masks etc.. man... it was VICIOUS.
some guy even popped his collar bone, it was one of the most horrifying sights i've seen up to date.
so after all that, i went to this function at one of the convention centres in the middle of nowhere at the olympic park. not much food though.. sigh.. i love my food.. especially when i hadn't had a proper meal the whole day. didn't get lunch cos the queues were way too long. so that was that.
anyway, the rest, i'll tell you if you come and find me and ask me, cos i don't really wanna bore you with more details or continue, cos then this entry might never end. haaha. and dinner calls. so, YES. i'm BACK, bigger than ever mateys. SO WATCH OUT. XD
what iAMY has to sing, has been heard.