Date:	2004-06-21 23:59
Subject:	Past and Present
Security:	Public
Mood:	mellow

2 September 2001. The day which started it all.

It was one of those days which I was bored and just surfing around for new skating sites. Having visited almost all possible skating sites on the web, I was certainly not expecting to find anything interesting. However, after some clicks here and there, I found myself at a french website. Not really knowing what it was talking about, I started to download the many videos on the site (skating videos never fail to excite me). Back then, the size of these videos were considered to be really huge (about 20mb each). As the first video finished, I double-clicked on it in anticipation. For the next 6 minutes, I was staring at my monitor, totally dumbstruck. And that was the very first time I set my eyes upon what was to become a large part of my life. And never did I expect myself to be doing what I was seeing then, because it just seemed so impossible. Me and my skating friends agreed that those were not legs made of flesh, but of rubber.

The video slowly came to pass as it was deemed impossible to emulate what we saw. But it was not forgotten, and one (boring) day in the subsequent year, I remembered about it, and went to check for updates on it. I was thinking that there would be new videos, and I was really excited with what I found! Clear animated instructions accompanied by videos illustrating every slalom move! With this new discovery, it was not long before we started to practice slalom. On 15 April 2002, we had our first slalom session at Fort Road carpark. And for many many weeks to come, we would find ourselves in the company of colorful Ikea cups.

Slalom became the catalyst in our skating regime. It breathed life back into our group. Instead of just sitting around in our skates, exchanging the latest gossips, we were actually skating once again. We tried to learn new moves every week, and it kept us going. As for me, I was surfing for french slalom sites everyday, trying to find new videos or information. Indirectly, the french skaters became our teachers, and we were soon referring to them on a first name basis. During the competition period, I would be checking out the websites constantly for the release of new results and videos, and we were always interested to find out how our favourite skaters did and whether they have any new moves in their repertoire. In some ways, they became "celebrities" to us, and like all "fans", we definitely hoped to meet them some day, or even better, skate with them.

Sometime this year (in 2004), someone approached us with the proposal of making this dream a reality. Naturally, we were very excited, but we were skeptical at the same time, because we know that the french will not fly to Singapore on the request of some small group of skaters who are enthusiastic about slalom. It would take much more than that. But luckily for us, there was going to be someone sponsoring them to come here, paying entirely for the flight and accomodations. As the arrangements were made, we took care not to count our chickens before they were hatched. The thought of finally meeting them was great, but somehow, it was really not that super exciting to me. Perhaps my passion for slalom isn't as strong as before, or perhaps the desire to meet them was not as great as before. But eventually, everything was confirmed, and all that was left, was to wait.

18 June 2004. The day finally arrived. As I received news of the arrival of the french nationals at Changi Airport, a sudden surge of excitement coursed through me. But the full extent of it only struck me later on in the day, when I met them for dinner. There they were, eating at the same table as I was, so familiar yet so distant. There wasn't a lot of conversation, and the whole scene made me feel like I was in some dream. Didn't manage to see them on skates yet, but from what I've heard them do earlier in the day, I was certainly looking forward to seeing them in action the next day. And so the first day ended, not terribly eventful nor exciting.

And so the next day started early, with demonstrations conducted by the French at the Youth Park. Having seen their routines many times in the videos, I could almost predict what moves they were going to do. But it was not about novelty nor surprise, it was about seeing all of it in real life. That made the difference here and it felt almost surreal. During the lunch break, I took the chance to interact more with them, and found that they were really nice people. Fortunately for everyone, they could speak decent English, and that made it much easier for us to communicate. They mentioned that this was not the case when they visited Korea, and all they could do was to smile at each other. We had quite a lot of fun eating the ice-cream buffet at Yuki Yaki, which is of course a novelty to them, having to make the ice-cream themselves. A sort of friendship was already in the making. It's interesting that we've "known" them for more than 2 years, but yet we've been complete strangers to them until now.

During the dinner on the subsequent day, I retold the summarized story of how we started on slalom, of how the French have been the source of our inspiration, of how we were still wondering if this has all been a dream. As it drew nearer to their departure the next day, I couldn't help but to feel a little sad that the dream was about to end. In response to what I said, they mentioned that when they first put their videos on the web, never did they expect that it would reach out to skaters halfway across the globe. But the truth was that it HAS happened, and if not for freestyle skating (and the Internet, of course), they would not have been here in Singapore, skating with us, talking to us, eating with us, having fun with us. And I knew at that moment, that they were not just skaters we invited over from another country to help conduct clinics, judge competitions, perform demos. They were now our friends and what touched me the most was the fact that we were brought together by a common passion. And of course, the circle would not be complete without the rest of you, the friends who share my fervour for skating. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart, for being a part of my passion.

Date:	2003-06-22 05:35
Subject:	Big wheels, small wheels, balls and diabolos..
Security:	Public
Mood:	mellow
Music:	Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook album

While on my way home from supper at Lau Pat Sat, I had a strong urge to pour my feelings and emotions out to LJ. I'm in one of those weird moods, one which I can't really put a word to. It's a sort of melancholy, yet it brings a warm feeling to my heart. Perhaps it's got to do with the events of the day...

Yes, it was supposed to be yet another day at ECP. But before I was there, I made a trip down to Paragon to get a confirmation for my travel Visa. The stupid queue at SIA wasted one hour of my time. It was almost 3 when I reached ECP. Immediately proceeded to change my wheels and service my bearings. And once done, I was on my brand new LARGE wheels! Speed, glory speed! But alas, I can't do my brakes anymore! Well, I wanted to take the new wheels out for spin immediately, so we (Judea, Lego, Oxy and I) started on the bedok jetty run (again)!

When we were nearing the F1 area, we saw the group of skaters who were supposedly doing skate dancing (or monkeying around, according to Uncle Owyong *hehe*). I think they were about done for the day, as most of them were already sitting down and resting when we skated past. Wanted to take a closer look on our way back, but they were already gone by then. It was then a leisurely skate back to Hvper.

Once we were back, I spotted Kelvin, and immediately asked him for the keys to his van. Why? To get the unicycle! Forgot to post last night, but guess what I was doing then. Trying to learn unicycling! Oh man, it's 872598982345 times harder to learn than cycling!!! If you have the chance to try it one day, you'd know what I meant. Anyway, the unicycle belongs to Uncle Steven, who bought it off the flea market for $40 at Sungei Road. So coincidentally, YY was just talking bout it 2 nights ago, and he mentioned that he wanted to learn. And so last night, we had our first try at unicycling. Today was the second, and of course, not much of an improvement, just slightly better balancing.

And while I was trying the unicycle, the rest of them starting juggling with balls and the diabolo. We really look like some circus troop. Passer-bys would stop and take a look at what this bunch of crazy people are doing. Weihan said that we should just rename the school to Rollerline Circus Troop. *LOL* Anyway, we really had lots and lots of fun, trying to act like clowns. I think Uncle Owyong was really enjoying himself also, trying to unicycle and also trying to toss the diablo into the air.

We ceased our mischief for dinner, and proceeded to Fort Road. Today's training schedule is Waltz Jump again! Since Uncle Owyong insisted that I had to relearn the jump all over again, I just did like he said. At the end of it, I could really could feel the jump fly higher! I think it feels really good, even though I couldn't land it anymore. Right after that, I continued with the unicycle training. Yeah, torture my legs more. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really into S&M. *hehe* And then, everyone started monkeying around again. Uncle Owyong was the main comic element, and we really couldn't stop laughing at him! Then Travis suddenly appeared, all dolled up! WOW! I couldn't even recognize her when she walked towards us. Totally Pan4 Luo4 Liang3 Ren2!

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, we ended up going to Lau Pat Sat for supper. And it was when I left, that the emotions started to well up inside of me. Was it because I was going to leave Singapore for Australia, and somehow, it occured to me that I would miss this bunch of people whom I've gotten so close to in the past few weeks? Well, you guys take care and have lots of fun while I'm gone! Skate on!

Date:	2003-06-20 07:30
Subject:	A long day...
Security:	Public
Mood:	sleepy

It's been a few days since my last entry, and why? Because I've been stuck at home for the past few days! Home = boring = nothing to talk about.

Anyway, the day started for me when I left the house to meet erametyn in NUS. Lego and I were going to take a lift from him to ECP, since he was in school. It was a a super sunny and hot day, but surprisingly, I didn't seem to mind the heat (which isn't very usual). I think it's got to do with the fact that I'll soon be leaving this furnace for snowland in a week's time...hehe

Lessons ended at about 6, and we commenced our usual Bedok-Jetty-Run, which has become the SOP whenever we're at ECP now. Wonder if it was the heat or what, by the time I reached Bedok Jetty, I was panting like I just finished a 2.4. Haven't felt so shack for a long time, especially during skating. YY commented that it's good, because at least there's some workout. I agree. =)

On our way back to Hvper, met Joanna and Chuming, who were on their way to some chalet. Talked for a while and then skated back to Hvper. 5 mins later, YY was invited to go to the chalet, and so, he, lego and me made our way back to Costa Sands again! Very extra. But got some free food and free drinks there. And finally saw Joanna's brother, of MIT fame. *hehe*

By the time we were back to Hvper AGAIN, the shop was already closing. We decided to go Parkway hawker center to eat dinner, since YY was itching to play pool (actually I also, hehe). Ate the famous "wet" fried kway teow. Lego left for home after the dinner, while the 3 of us proceeded to look for some place to play pool. THEN, SUDDENLY SOMETHING CAUGHT OUR EYE. SKIS! First time we see some place in Singapore actually selling skis. But the shop was already closed, so we could only see from outside. It's actually one of those sell-everything-2nd-hand kinda shop. But wow, skis! Got us more excited bout the trip! =)

Two new pool halls at Parkway, Megapool and this other one which I can't remember the name. Pretty cool places, not the typical ahbeng kind, and quite a lot of kids. Decided to play at the one at the 10th floor (which was only opened for 3 weeks). Nice clean tables, and the house cues are high quality 2 piece cues. Played for quite long, we left at about 11. Went to Geylang for supper at the youtiao place, and guess what! Some TV channel was filming there! And of course, we were captured on their video camera, because heng heng when they were at our table, the food was served to us. Told yy and ivan not to look at the camera so that we'll look natural...haha! The camera was on us for quite long man! YY and ivan complained they can't eat normally...hehe

And the day's still not ended! Went to Uncle Owyong's house to help him fix his computer. His place is really a typical bachelor's home, with hardly any furniture at all. Got a gigantic TV though. Managed to tame the computer after some effort, and we watched some nice figure skating VCDs too. It was 4 when we left his place, and I decided that my stomach needed more food. So, it's supper, round 2, at the nearby Eunos 24-hour coffee shop. Ended up talking a lot about our ski trip next week! Really looking forward to it now! And yes, at nearly 5, finally took a taxi home and here I am, updating my LJ...

Yikes! It's 7.30am already! Got to wake up to go ECP again later! Signing off!

Date:	2003-06-15 05:18
Subject:	ECP
Security:	Public
Mood:	hopeful

A long day it's been, just like every other Saturday.

Started the day off by visiting Expan to put Moya back to where she belongs. She died yesterday, for some unknown reason (even Kint was quite clueless). But she's now back online, all thanks to Kint's rescue operation.

Fetched Cedric (not the etakS one) to SLS and then proceeded to fetch Judea and Snacks from Eunos MRT. Of all times, there's a bloody traffic jam! And to make things worst, my bladder was on the verge of explosion (from all the free drinks at Expan). Resulted in me contorting into various positions while driving. Not funny at all. Immediately made a 100m dash to the MRT's toilet once I reached.

It's already 5+ by the time I reached ECP, and WG was eagerly waiting for me to do the Bedok Jetty run. Quickly laced up and started skating. Gene came along too. Met Randall along the way. Pretended not to see him. *hehe* Returned to Hvper at 6 for my lesson, but it suddenly began to rain. Just a few drops though, and it stopped. Weird weather. Taught the lesson till 730, then went to have dinner.

After dinner, it's off to Fort Road as usual. The entire gang on fire today, all decided to skate to Bedok Jetty and back. Snacks tagged along so that she could leave halfway at Macs. I stayed to practice figure skating with Jay, Weihan, S.Kelvin and Mary. I'm beginning to enjoy the sessions more and more. It's great when you've got a whole group of friends to practice with. =)

Surprisingly, Kelvin asked me to do the Waltz jump today. Didn't expect it, but nevertheless, it was great! At least now I know the proper way to do it! Kelvin mentioned that he's going to make d0do do it very soon. *sniggers* I'd expect lots of sacrifices to the road monster soon =)

Ended the day with supper at Darwood. Then I sent YY home. He didn't even realise he stayed so close to the new Bedok Skate Park. *blur* We went to take a look, and it was all fenced up, with a sign saying "Helmets and Wrist Guards are compulsory". No comments about that, but you won't see me inside in the near future. Looking forward more to the new rink to be built at ECP. Kelvin seems to want to "take over" that if it's possible. I hope he does. *hehe*

Btw, Kelvin mentions some skate festival thingy organised by Inssas on the 8th of August. We're supposed to put up some sort of performance. No details available yet, we'll wait and see.

Ok, that's it. Time for bed! *zzz*

Date:	2003-06-14 05:14
Subject:	Supper at Jln Kayu
Security:	Public
Mood:	hyper

Just back from supper at Jln Kayu. Attendance list: me, wg, gene, lego, oxy, joia, chaos, judea and nytemare.

Incredible supper man! Was supposed to be only me, Gene and WG, ended up having almost the entire channel there! Even Oxy and Joia turned up! Best part was that it was totally impromptu. But oh well, etakS is *ALWAYS* so last minute in organising stuff, so no surprises here. Still, a very memorable supper, and a great way to start off this LJ =)

It's also the first time Gene drove us around since he passed his driving test! Kudos to Gene for his steady and safety driving! Practice makes perfect!

Ok, let's keep this short and sweet, more to come tomorrow. Time to retire for a long day at ECP later. Stay tuned! =)