Spinning wheels and blurry roads...

I've officially started my build up to my Ironman next year in July. Will be doing some preparatory training to make sure that my body is up for it when base training begins. =] As Jiajie, Jason and I have discussed over coffee at Starbucks last night, we will be posting our training programme on our blogs so that we can refer to the trainings and make amendments to our own one. =] This is indeed 'the adventure of a lifetime' as Jason puts it!

Well, I did 70km on the bike with buddy Nicolas this morning, and it felt pretty good. I don't deny that I was pretty tired though. Hahas..180km in Switzerland is a long way to go...However, with training I believe I can overcome!

Linking back to life, it is indeed like spinning wheels and blurry roads...It is so fast it passes you by, and things are not as clear as they seem to be. Time indeed flies as I once again realised after attending yet another 21st birthday party hours ago. We all look the same to one another, but things change and they don't seem as clear as we thought they are..

I hope one day, the fog before me in the path of life clears and things are not so blurry anymore...

Love...

I renounce all selfish goals and choose the ultimate goal of love.

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." - 1 Timothy 1:5

I choose to obey the 2 greatest commandments: To love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind, and to love my neighbour as myself.

"And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself."" - Matthew 22:37-39

Indeed, in life most things are down to decisions. =]

I'm Ironstruck!

I was just thinking about my Ironman in Switzerland next year and realised that there was really a lot to prepare for which I have not done. I also realised that I have to seriously map out a training programme that will prepare me to complete the event.

This will no doubt be a challenge for me, balancing school work, biathlon training, church and family with this life-changing event. I believe that in the training for such an event will inevitably help to make you more disciplined, focused and hone skills for long-term planning. This is seriously going to be an epic journey for me! =]

I will end of this post with a quote I saw while searching for some training tips.

"A challenging journey is not without risks. Often we feel we can go no further, we can do no more, and that one more step is impossible. In that one moment we face the abyss, the ultimate challenge of mind, body, and spirit and discover an inner strength we never new existed and in a glorious revelation realize that our lives have changed forever." - Ironstruck

Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura...

Another week is almost over again..My goodness how time flies around this part of the world. Anyways, I did not manage to complete my 24km nor 32km yesterday. I stopped short at 16km because my legs were dying and I really felt like shit. I don't really understand what is going on inside of me recently, but I tend to feel nauseated days after the long run. My legs are also feeling more tired than ever, I hope I'm not burn-out, please please please not a burn-out.

Next week, I have only 5hours of school for the ENTIRE week! Is that insane or what? Praise the Lord as I can use the time to catch up on Physiology for respiration and the cardiovascular system. The title of this post, if you're wondering, is the longest name for a disease I've come across so far. Hahas! It simply means unknown purple-ing of the skin due to lack of platelets in the blood. =] Quite a feat to squeeze the whole description into just 3 words don't you think? Medical jargon is just poser-ish.

Lastly, I've recieved the results for my CA1 and it is quite good! Praise the Lord! Yay! I will work harder for my CA2! =]

Supper-o-dinner with brothers from Aquathalon!

A couple of hours ago, I was having a very very late dinner with Nicolas, Jiajie, Jason and Jonathan at their hall. It was a steamboat fellowship, and we had loads of fun catching up and enjoying the food. The spread was quite elaborate for a cook-in and the company was superb!

Even though it was in the midst of their studying break before the exams next week (my CA2 is still another 1 month from now), they never fail to enjoy in the company of friends. I love this team...

=] Am back in my bunk now almost completing my notes on the haematopoietic system. I want to sleep...24-32km run later after my lecture at 9.30am! I hope to complete it as there is only another 18days to my marathon on the 7th of December 2008! Drats..

Ethics..

I've just returned to my bunk in PGP from the Singapore Medical Association Ethics Convention 2008. The topic of the forum is "Compensation or Incentives for Donors in Organ Transplants: Possibilities & Pitfalls"

It was an eye opening forum for me - seeing so many professionals gathered in a place to discuss about an issue and sharing their points and opinions. Some big shots were Dr Thomas Murray, President and CEO of The Hastings Center, from the United States and Professor Jeremy Chapman, President of The Transplantation Society, from Australia. The rest of the panel were made up of our local professors, doctors and legal advisor. It was cool to see some of my ethics lecturers in the panel! The discussion was very enriching and it dawned upon me that ethics was an important area that I have to deal with when I graduate. The new and improved curriculum that we are undergoing now as medical students includes ethics, and I think that it is very good! =]

I decided to attend this forum as recently we (year 1 medical students) just had a lecture and tutorial discussion on organ donation and trading. I thought it was cool to check this forum out as the Health Minister is in the midst of trying to implement some new law that might affect me in the future as a doctor. I am not sure if I was the only year 1 medical student there, but I sure did not see any other fellow classmates. =] Anyhow, I had quite an enlightening experience, and I look forward to more of such forums! =]

What!?

I have people coming up to me asking me if I really believed that there is a Department for Appropriate Behaviour..Argh! I was tricked! The notice that was pasted on the original advertisment was a smart publicity gimmick! My goodness..Perhaps they are trying to use reverse psychology on us? =] Well, you never know..

Was talking to Jesselyn on Thursday before cell started and she shared many killer stuffs about the processing powers of the brain. Are you aware why whenever you watch a horror movie you get so scared? Or perhaps why you bought something at the spur of the moment but realise later that you don't need it at all? I think I might just have the answer for you! =]

From what she told me, producers of horror films place a really horrific/scary picture in a single frame in the entire movie so that it flashes by so fast that your eyes cannot pick up the image, but your brain can. What happens is that your brain processes the image without you knowing it and in doing so, you get the scary feeling. In shops where they play music, they mix the music with another track that goes "buy it, buy it, buy it...". The latter you can't really hear as the music is tuned to drown that out, but somehow, your brain processes that information again and you get that strong feeling to purchase that unnecessary product. Hahas..this is way cool! Our brain indeed is mysterious =]