Climbing in Putrajaya

Definitely the gesture of the trip: Oh yeah!! [As seen here in Vector's performance in Despicable Me - haven't seen despicable me? it's cute and funny, go see it if you need something like this in your life]


We rented a car from JB. The car was ok, i.e. it didn't fail or go awry on us. But other than that, i would have traded it instantly for anything not malaysian made. We almost lost plastic parts of it at least twice. Sandra opened the door and the plastic cover for the door just fell out. I dislodged some plastic cube which was covering something or other right next to my brake. I know for sure that some button to the right of the steering wheel was there when we started but was missing by the end of the trip (could see the wires). Moreover, if I stood straight while driving I could not see half of my board due to the non-ergonomical position of the steering wheel. Speaking of ergonomics, the car was a BOAT. It was big like a boat, slow like a boat, it had poor sealing all around (like a boat). There. I've said it. And the color! URGH! (I am finally happy that I can speak nasty about it because before I was afraid I would jinx it).

The drive to KL and back was uneventful. BUT KL!!~!!@#!!@! ZOMG! The street signs were too low. The signs were all in malay (you would think that considering the gigantic amount of tourist the populated streets get, they would at least put the signs in english, or using internationally-known signs). Like the sign for the one-way streets. It SAYS Jalan Selantaran (or similar). WTF>?!@ The streets were crowded but I didn't care much about it - with an automatic car there really isn't any effort in driving. But for directions?! And the poor person giving them!?... Marian and I ended up almost having a row in the first day out in KL; his GPS (ahem iPhone) was not working well and we were like the circling the same block for like the zillionth time and then I was like "Your gps sucks" and he was "NO, you can't give directions!!" So yeah! We switched and I moved to the driver's seat. And then afterwards I was emigrated to the back while sandra gave Marian directions. Growl!

Climbing in Putra was fantastic. Well, at least compared to whatever it is that we have here in singapore. The tiles felt much better than those at yishun, and the routes were much much longer. Sandra was my personal slave-driver during this trip. She would not allow me to rest and chicken out until I had at least tried SOMETHING. My usual approach as we all now is to rest on the rope, bestill my beating heart, work out a possible sequence, and then go again. Stop and repeat. Kinda lame, but this once I could not do it in full cause Sandra was watching yay! THANKS! I climbed a very inclined overhang!! Rested at EVERY quickdraw but at least i did not come down (yes this paragraph is a loser's lament so if you skipped it, good for you!)

Marian almost finished a 6c! The dodo bird as usual climbed harder routes but not by much harder cause she had to stay with us, at the intermediate lead wall, ahem. Better luck next time ...

We tested our span! I win, but not by much. Sandra is very close to me although she is at least half a meter (hahahhahaa 13 cm) shorter than me (Sandra is one cm taller than the bird, by the way)


The trip was all about funny faces:



And durians and food (when i got back i could not see my abs! - they are back now, but more about this in another post)


And visiting; we visited the Petronas Towers - Can you believe it that Doris had never been!@?; and Melaka






And relaxing [Sandra is afraid of these!]


And goofing off




And queueing (for the petronas towers, to get back in singapore - more about that later)
Than it was about climbing.

Putrajaya climb directions and topo

Below are the directions on how to get to Putrajaya Climbing gym in KL.

You are going to kill me, but my directions read like this:

1. Follow the GPS coordinates below:

Latitude: 2°53.32716
Longitude: 101°40.0948800000003

(can search google maps for 2.888786, 101.668248)

These are the coordinates taken in front of the gym, but because our software didn't have the street right in front of the gym, it took the coordinates of the highway right in front of the gym. Only problem is, if your driving direction is different than that highway stretch you end up having to exit, turn around, etc, and GET LOST (there are no signs and no people to ask)

2. So basically, from Kuala Lumpur, follow the signs (or lack thereof) towards Jalan Tun Razak or the highway (Sembaran), and from there to Putrajaya. Next, follow the directions to these coordinates, until you see a BIG BROWN SIGN on the left that says: Taman Cabaran (sign might be hidden by trees but do not despair). From this moment, quit listening to the GPS and shut it down if the voice annoys you, and just follow the signs (or go straight forward if in doubt). Taman Cabaran is the adventure park in which the gym is located. The gym is a big grey building and as far as we could tell it was the only big grey building in the park. (if you see any people - I am not kidding, that place is deserted - you can ask them about directions too)

There is no topo for any of the walls but! we asked the guy there and he told us the grades for the routes on the Intermediate Lead Wall.

Route list:
Green - arete - 6c
Blue - 6b
Grey - 6a+
Orange - 6c+ (Dodo said "Oh my God!" on this one, and she didn't on the 7a)
Grey - 6b
Yellow - 6b/6b+
Brown - 6b
------------------------- (marks change between walls)
Blue - 6c
Green - discontinued
Red - 6c+
Orange - 7a
Grey - 6c
Brown - 6c+
Marble green - 6c+
Marble white - 6b+
Greeen - discontinued
Grey - 6b
Yellow - 6b
-------------------------
Brown peanut - 6a+
Green blue - 6a+
Green sloper - 6a+
Blue - discontinued
Green white - 6a
---------slab------------
Yellow - 6a (left - 1st anchor) /6a+ (right - 1st anchor)
Blue - 6a+
Brown - 6a
Orange - 6b+

[Click for a bigger version of the panorama - rightmost slab excluded]

I guess

My previous [longer] relationship was with a disturbed alcoholic that had commitment problems and father-figure issues. We loved each other to the end of the moon and back and we fought extremely often and everytime we fought like it was world war 2 all over again. He had a communication problem and i thought that everybody can go and fuck themselves if they don't like me. I entered that relationship as a spoiled girl and emerged, with commitment problems and father-figure issues (actually, i had the latter from before), but definitely a much wiser woman. [Oh yeah!]

Nowadays, while Marian is god's send on earth (in terms of patience, love, companionship, friendship etc) I still notice that we fight like it's fucking world war 3 again. The reason is that I can't just let go of things. And he can't either (but don't tell him that I said so). And then i get super pissed of and reach the conclusion again that people can go fuck themselves if they don't like me.

And with respect to non-climbing friends (or acquaintances sadly) for the past few months I have been conducting an experiment, in which I do not ask people how they are doing, or ask them to go out and do stuff together, but rather wait to see who asks and who cares. This was a direct consequence of the fact that I was writing the thesis and it. was. sapping. me. of. everything. Fullstop. period. The sad result of this experiment is that nobody asked and nobody cared. And of course i started to remember how when their respective lives where going downhill I was there to comfort, listen, and care.
Now of course the logical answer from me is just a big FUCK YOU, a shrug, and a slammed door (I be good at that).

Do we notice a trend here? I guess we do. I notice that things with somebody can be either super cool or they can go fuck themselves. It's kinda sad and I hope it does not make me bi-polar or anything. The even sadder part about this is that it's getting a bit lonely here people*! A bit like high-school but not quite, since the guy I am smitten with is my boyfriend and I no longer think I am fat and ugly.

* Now don't get me wrong, I will not go and jump off the roof of COM2 clutching a note that says "nobody woves me"! The main cause for this rant is that I used to enjoy coming to work because I also had good friends here. It was fun to laugh and chat or do stuff. Nowadays, I just come to work; and rush to leave work to climb (or run) - although this was a major increase in productivity, it just turned work into a big "meh" **.

** Now if this blog was really about graduate programs - I would have commented about the chances of making good friends during phd.

How to run 10k

Had problems running 10 km? Thinking you can't do it oh no nononono? Well then, THIS is the place to read.

- Start by going out on a 5k rum run with your boyfriend/fiancee/husband/etc - no matter, s/he has to be human, and must like you - a lot - otherwise this does not work

- Throughout the run complain about the following: s/he is running too fast and you have a stitch; s/he is NEVER running right next to you, always a bit in front and therefore you always feel like you are chasing him - hence you run faster, hence the stitch

- When he decides to run behind you, complain that he's making you feel chased (because you can see him with a corner of your eye) and THAT'S WHY you had to dash into the unknown, unlit night at 4:40 min/km. And he had to chase you, lest you get raped at night. in the park.

- When he decides to run in front of you, run slower such that at one point you are so far behind that he can't see you. Then complain that you'll get raped at night in MacRitchie HA! Because he doesn't take care of you!!! [the rape theme can be changed to something else, of course - variation is always the spice of a relationship]

- A very accurate measure of love is a) the step where he will crack; if he doesn't crack the first time, b) and how many times you can do this to him until he gets to the next stage... Read on...

- Once he can't take it anymore, he will start complaining that this is not a run, it's a fucking kidfest and he hasn't had a nice good run in ages. Now be careful, as THIS IS THE SPOT where you want to be!! Once he says that, you must say: "FINE! Pick a 10k route and we run it on Tuesday!"

- Now this is perfect. Because he has been wanting a longer run for so long and! you have been such a bee-itch, you will feel guilty and you will try your best to finish this run sans whining, complaining, bitching, quiting, etc. You are allowed to yell THIRST!! WATER!! THIRSTY!! from time to time, especially since you have been stuffing your face with junkfood the whole day and your entire mouth is dry but you still have little white specks of saliva around your mouth. Of course you are thirsty now, one whole pack of Cheddar soy crisps will do that to you - thanks san! But under no circumstances you are allowed to quit, stop to buy water, or complain about his running.

Oskar speech

Probably went through the most scary moment of my life when I submitted the thesis today to the secretary - actually, to the secretary's secretary cause the secretary was out to lunch (sheesh!). Below is my oskar speech, for those of you who are reading here and are not on Fbook (ahem!). Of all of those mentioned below, clarifications and extra hugz are really needed for the following a) the prof (first paragraph - and only one that has one for himself - this one really wrote it with all my heart and without inspiring from other ack's) b) marian (ahem, needed one by himself ahem but it's not a love story what?), c) san and doris for reasons written below and many more hahaha, d) marius (for showing me that you CAN do mountaineering at fifty-fucking-four years old) , e) mihai and mariuca for settling both marian and me in during the first years and last but not least f) my mother - "raising me" should read "putting up with me and my impossible self - really" for about 23 years (i would have kicked myself out long before that). So, here goes nothin'!

It is with unbounded gratitude that I write these lines. I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Yong Meng Teo, for supporting me throughout this thesis with patience and knowledge, while at the same time allowing me room to follow my own way. Professor Teo has taught me how to look at a problem, what important questions to ask, and how to present my ideas clearly, focusing on the big picture and the important insights, rather than the intricate details of methods. More importantly, through his never-ending patience and kindness in dealing with his students, he has shown me that teaching is an act of patience and understanding, rather than a simple information exchange. I am happy he was my
supervisor throughout these years and could not wish for a better advisor.

I would like to thank my thesis committee, Professors X and Y, for their continuous feedback and encouragement. They have both given me their precious time and provided me the resources I needed. I would further like to thank Prof. Rassul Ayani and Dr Simon See for the helpful and insightful discussions on simulation, composability, and distributed computing. Dr Verdi March has always offered feedback and highlighted important issues during our seminar talks.

In the daily work in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory, I was surrounded by many great friends and brilliant colleagues. To Marian, for being a constant support throughout all the stressful times, putting up with me and making me laugh or focus when needed, there are no words to express my gratitude. To Mihai and Mariuca, thank you for all the coffee breaks and companionship throughout the first part of this quest. To Bogdan and Cristina, thank you for all the insightful conversations on life and computer science, over the never-changing food from the Science canteen. To Marius, I am grateful for showing me the power of believing in my dreams. To Sandra and Doris, thank you for being my climbing guinea pigs and sharing the cost of durians with me, although I always ate the bigger part; you've made this foreign country seem like home. To Cristina, Nandini, Dmitry, and Aleks, thanks for all the fun in this last stretch.

Finally, I thank my mother for raising me, supporting me through my university studies, and always pushing me to give my best.

When the going gets tough,

The tough get going.... What do you do one fine evening when you start to prepare your lunch for the next day and lo and behold! your gas tank suddenly fizzles to a stop?
.
.
.
.
Of cors! You remember you have an old camp stove somewhere in some closet! You ask marian to dig it up (delegation!) and then you proceed to cook in the middle of the living room.


And I know it looks like what it looks like, but it's just lentils, ok?

Motivation

Dear SoC,

Please give me a PhD, because I know how to make loose associations. Just today, I have established that Marian and Aurel Vlaicu and Traian Vuia (two romanian flying pioneers) have the same bald patch.

It follows that this particular bald style, i.e. high around the sides of the forehead, leaving a small bear's tail in between, is a shape prone to aerodynamics. Figure 1 shows Marian's bald patch (notice how hot his girlfriend is).

Figure 1. The Bald Patch of Marian

As we can see in Figure 2, Marian's bald patch is very similar with Aurel Vlaicu's bald patch.

Figure 2. The Bald Patch of Aurel Vlaicu

Figure 3 shows Traian Vuia's bald patch. The similarity here is not as obvious, specifically because Traian Vuia seems to be applying a comb-over technique.

Figure 3. The Bald Patch of Traian Vuia

As it can be seen, all men showcase the same type of bald patch. As a conclusion, I could only recommend that either Marian starts taking flying lessons, or that he starts taking physics and engineering lessons for his future career as an airplane designer.

Future work includes establishing the social impact of the bald patches of famous men. For example, as it can be seen in Figure 4, which represents a 50 Romanian Leu note, the bald patch of Aurel Vlaicu is heavily stylized and diminished. The reasons for this modification remain a research challenge.



Best regards,
Claudia

Humility

I have two photo cameras now. One that is my own baby, namely, Bobby, and another that I share with Marian, our baby, Maxi. With two cameras and amateurish knowledge about photography, composition, etc. My photos still lack something. Last night I found out what. They lack sincerity. And joy. I would say they lack reality, if it didn't sound so weird.

Above is a photo taken by a woman in a prison in Romania, part of a photographic experiment that went and gave six inmates six cameras and asked them to take photos. Actually, all the photos in this post are from the same experiment.


They used the same techniques I would have used, given that somebody would have told me to shoot that particular photo. Because otherwise I don't think that i would have. The photo equipment that i have is much more advanced than what they had, yet still ...

The authors and all the characters are inmates from that prison. The set is also the prison.


This is the link, forget about the text, just look at the pictures.

PS. The umbrella in the second picture cracked me up.

Best Sunday in a while

This Sunday I have decided not to go to work. I know, it's rare that i show such amazing procrastination but! i just needed a holiday. So Marian and a few others and I went cycling in Pulau Ubin.

We woke up to Marian finding out that the W90 is available in Singapore! So he left the house, rushing to buy it before we went to pulau ubin. It is here, we have it, it's our first electronic equipment bought together, our first baby so to speak. It's name is MAXI!


The pictures below (except the last one) are by Maxi.

It rained in pulau ubin on Sunday, so there was much skidding and a lot of mud! I enjoyed it thoroughly as any Pig should do. I have decided that, while I am a Dog by birth and nature, I am also a Pig because I LOVE getting dirty (and issues like clean shoes, socks etc do not faze me). So i am either a Swog or a Doig or a Piog, haven't decided yet.



We saw many people in pulau ubin that were either picking or selling durians. So at one point we decided to follow one guy that had stopped alongside the woods, to see where he was getting the durians. And so we did. He picked up a conversation with me, asked me where we were from, if we wanted durians etc. He ended up in offering us all the small durians he had picked so far! For free!! Turns out he's nepalese and he was very excited that his name (Raman) was very similar to our country's name (he said he didn't want his pic on a website, so i am not putting it up). We had a truly tasty durian feast by the side of the road.



This is how much i ate. Slurp!




We exchanged numbers and by the end of the day we met up again and he gave us 3 BIG durians that we had for dinner late on Sunday. Now, i promised I won't put a picture of the guy, but the thing is all the other pics in which i hold the durians have me looking either a) DEMENTED or b) full of pimples (both of them true). The pimples are a direct consequence of me being upset about that idiot's drunk driving. So I will forsake vanity and tell you to please don't drink and drive because you will give me pimples.

Adrenaline

This post is because tonight I watched a guy in our group get on his bike and drive home after drinking 1.5 l of beer AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. oh sure, I screamed and i kicked and I yelled and I bickered about it for at least an hour, but, short of actually tackling the guy, there was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless I wanted to scream.

Of all the stupid ways to die i find drunk-driving on top of the fucking list. And now I'm on a fucking rampage, bitching about everything under the sun/moon. And I expect about ten new pimples on my face come the morrow ...

Marian says that this kind of behavior - the guy's - is because adrenaline is lacking in Singapore. For example, I - so Marian says - fight with him for
every little shit. Whereas the guy goes driving while slightly drunk. Compartively, life in Romania is so full of adrenaline that there's no need for self made doses.

And to this I say:

If the guy wants adrenaline, let him go take a dump on a fucking railway track while the train is coming, and not mess with other people's lives. Dumbfuck.

Realization

I just realized that

I am speeding up while running past bus stops because my secret fear is that otherwise I will get overtaken by people running after the bus.

And i just had to stop my run and come blog this. Ha hah, no really, it was raining too hard and because i had forgotten my ipod, i took up marian's phone. Fear that it will get wet and then end up like mine made me stop and turn around.

I love iPhones, they make such great excuses!

iPhone test

Just to please Marian, I am writing this although I am about to zzzzzzz .... Climbing was great tonite except for the topless, sweaty guy, yuck!!

Seriously, climb Asia should have this printed out: a) no climbing topless if you sweat like a pig b) no climbing topless unless you have a fucking eight pack.

NOBODY wants to see your sweaty rolls of fat, you fucking asshole!!

Hell [partially] froze over

For the past year and 8 months I have been using this as a mirror.




Yes, I was using a bus stop, A BUS STOP! as a mirror because we didn't have any mirror in our room. I was using Marian as a critic as well, but his answers were guided by self-preservation and as such could not be relied upon.

It all went downhill this saturday when I flipped because I had asked marian how I looked, he said, "You look amazing!" (see? biased!) and I reached the bus stop (about 200m away) and saw that the only amazing thing about how I looked was how amazingly delusional I was to think that those type of pants could actually make me look normal instead of the big fat whale that they made me look like.

And so something snapped in me and I told Marian that if he doesn't go and buy a mirror ASAP I WILL LEAVE HIM. And I started remembering all the times I had told him to please go buy me a mirror puhlease, pwetty puhlease, etc etc. And so he relented just to put an end to the reminiscence.

And now, lo and behold:

Oh noes~!

Look what landed on my desk!! (love the texture!)



It had zillions of layers of crust, that Marian hacked at with a small wee knife:


And this is what was beneath:


Sadly, the interior is as hard and as dry as the exterior. Totally not a good investment.

How's life?

I think I am submitting, i want to die my hair green, i lost muscle mass and put on fat, my mother is lonely, oh so lonely, my grandmother is getting older and older and i don't want her to ever die, cherries, bread, cheese, durians, i hope my old dog forgave me for leaving him because i sure as hell haven't forgiven myself, great teaching feedback, dirt under my fingernails, clutter, food, didn't shower after running and am now talking to you, i am going nepal, getting married, i should look for a job, who's gonna hire me, want to die my hair green, going nepal, driving, honeymoon climbing with friends, mo money mo problems, three pairs of the same favorite bra to make sure i never lose it again, stress, anger, fear, adrenaline, climbing is great but i suck at it, living with a chinese is bound to make me racist, you would know all this if you would have taken the time to ask before, what marathon to run this year, hell, pioneer is great but it is at the other end of the universe, but you didn't so fuck off ...

And this is why I pause before I say "FINE".

Sibiu

I am writing my head off, rushing to submit the shit asap, so I am basically out.of.words. But I can still post some pictures from the wonderful city of Sibiu, Romania. I had never been there before so I was quite amazed to see that there are still towns in Romania in which the old buildings have survived the communist onslaught. Just goes to show how little (if any) I know about my country.

Light:


View from the small tower:


Tower of the cathedral:


Main square:



Would love to live in the green house.


CIA


I did not do any photoshop to those clouds!


Storks on houses? => Transylvania!


Kitchy? Classy? Haven't decided yet.


Behind the polished main squares


At play


Watching the world




I like!