William Chong

This year I’ve grown taller.

It’s mainly as a result of wearing shoes to work. When I take them off I am my normal height, and my normal self. In 2008 I chose to start a career, and it’s been a year of learning, phone calls, research and writing, business meetings, commuting.

This year I spent 20,000 km in traffic. And about 500 hours listening to equal parts stilted conversation, heartfelt fellowship, irate talkback, devotional nudgings, head-banging tracks.

This year I left New Zealand. But then I came back. The trans-Tasman travel I’ve done this year has been purely work-related. It’s almost like a cheap thrill – perhaps less cheap and more thrill – to fly on account of someone’s credit card. It’s almost like a free gift, grace.

This year my sister joined me in the amazing race. I’m still buzzing about it.

This year I started a countdown. Today it’s at 402. And when it counts down, there’s a cord of three waiting; my best friend will become my best friend with a different name.

She’s the love for a lifetime.

—————————-

This year was filled with new experiences. A new job. A new church. A renewal of my walk with God.

This year I ran my heart out. It was hard, but it was good. I made new friends, both online and offline. I kept old friends close, or at least tried to. Sometimes you have to accept that you’re thereabouts, but not in there.

I went tramping, and fell in love with New Zealand all over again.

—————————–

And now, for a Special Paperclip section!

Open with care: fragile! And thanks for the dinners and the everything.

As a reminder to how we’ve changed through the ‘ears:

LIST OF PREVIOUS Y/EAR IN REVIEWS

Cheryl 2007

Dennis/Ethan 2005
Ethan Waters 2006/07
Ethan Waters 2007/08
Ethan Waters 2008

Henry 2005
Henry 2006

Helen 2005-2007

Kat 2007 (kinda)

Ray 2005
Ray 2006
Ray 2007/08

Sonny 2007

William 2007

—————–

Happy New Year everyone; thanks for reading and sharing life together!

Now that the halfmarathon’s over, there’s a temptation to just slouch back and relax as summer 08/09 rolls in.

But that wouldn’t be very fun, would it?

The 21st Auckland Orienteering Summer Series has started up again for the 2008/09 season. For those who don’t remember orienteering as one of their childhood camp activities, orienteering is a sport where you find your way across unfamiliar terrain with the help of a map and your sense of direction. The aim is to find all the control points on the course in the shortest time possible – and track back and forth across any one of the beautiful parks, forests, suburbs of Godzone in the process!

Last year I gave a couple of events a good go, and loved it. I think it’s being amongst the sights and sounds of Auckland parks in a totally refreshing way that’s most rewarding. Add to the fact that you actually get to see more of places like Cornwall Park, Eastern Beach and the Domain than you usually would if it was just a leisurely weekend picnic at the BBQ areas.

I think I’ll try my best to make this Wednesday’s event at Western Springs (will be my first time there!) – after being sick for the most of last week I’m raring to get running again!

Take care everyone, and if you’ve had exams I hope they all went well!

—————————-

I’ve been sick the last couple of days, so the most productive thing I did this week was to vote. So don’t waste your democratic right!

It’s always great to run with someone else.

For a start, a training run passes by so much quicker when you’re chatting away down the footpath. The soreness and breathlessness seem muted when you’re engaging in friendly banter. You pace each other (provided the other guy’s not a professional marathon runner) and cover more ground.

And it’s also quite fun.

For all those who’ve decided to show their support by actually walking the talk and joining me in training – that’s awesome. I love you guys. Rather than pleasantries and rhetoric, you guys make it so much more rewarding by joining the fray, and doing something. No matter how little or how often I get to run with you, I’m happy because we get to spend a small portion of our lives in comradeship (so to speak).

So thanks!

This week I’ve ramped up the running a little to make up for last time. As you can see (below), each run steps up in time and length. One highlight was tracking along Eastern Beach on Tuesday, with the near-full harvest moon casting a pale limelight for each step I took under the clear night sky.

I think a realistic aim is to try to maintain my current pace which is between 5 and 6 minutes per kilometre, across the duration of the race. So far I’m tailing off a bit, especially past the hour mark into previously uncharted territory – I’ll look to working on that!

———————

I’m fundraising for the Heart Foundation of New Zealand. Check out my HeartRacer page.

———————

Week 6: Training Record

15.9.08 - Route - 23 min – 4:48pm – 4.02 km Jog
16.9.08 – Route - 35 min – 8:14pm – 5.95 km Jog
17.9.08 – Route - 43 min – 5:35am – 7.66 km “Tea” Run
19.9.08 – Route – 75 min – 8:47am – 12.39 km Run 

———————

After about 2 days’ worth of tinkering, the new layout of the site is complete! As you can no doubt tell, there’s been a colour change (a few people mentioned that grey on black was a bit hard to read), and less clutter. I had to modify a few things because admittedly I wasn’t too keen on bright yellow and black, and a big sunflower to grace the top of the page! So I changed all that too.

If you’re curious, the banner picture was taken at one of the entrances to 90 Mile Beach, on New Year’s Eve in 2007. I remember admiring the utmost simplicity of the scenery at the time, so i thought it would be a good match for my (hopefully) “clutter-free” layout.

I’ve got a pretty busy week lined up – flying to Sydney for two days on a work trip, and then driving down to Matamata midway into the church camp to join in the festivities! Next week is more scheduling and balancing, with a dinner, teaching, baptism service (my sister is getting water baptised!), worship band, work and of course, marathon training.

It’s all good, everything’s under control.

——————

When you’ve entered an event which has 7500 participants, there’s a fair chance you’ll know other people that are doing it too.

On Saturday I ran with two friends and we had great conversation while throwing ourselves to the mercy of road running. Took a similar route to last Saturday, with the exception of having to swing past my house as one of the ladies ran out of steam…

And today (Sunday) I’ve just come back from a crazed run with another friend of mine. This regional hockey rep/team captain/athlete pushed me up a hill for a good 20 minutes before I cried “mercy” and cut short the route! I’ll aim to get fit enough to complete his massive 10km route at a later date (including a couple of killer uphill segments), but in the meantime I’ll stick to my hour-long runs.

I also got to chat with him about his faith and how he’s been going – he’s been water baptised and has been pretty keen on Christ in the past, so it was a good time of sharing and just encouraging him to get right with God, and look out for answers to the tough questions.

All in all I pushed myself pretty hard this weekend – you can tell you’ve run hard when your sweat leaves a fine film of pure salt across your forehead (seasonal greetings from an overworked physiology). But it’s only gonna get harder!

———————-

I’ve had a great response from a lot of people so far on the HeartRacer page – thanks for those that have donated, and promised to at a later stage, and thanks for the encouragements and wellwishing! If you’re thinking of donating, I think $1 for each kilometer I survive is a pretty good start, though I’m equally taking prayer and moral support – it’s all meaningful! I got a good donation response from a couple of people at work (and they’re in the Sydney office) – so come on New Zealand, you can do better!

Just to add a personal touch, I talked with a good elder-statesman (read: senior citizen) friend who had recently survived a massive heart attack, and he was singing the praises of the support he got from hospital to physio to recovery. I look up to him in part because he’s someone I could never be: a Jewish Christian! But I know come November 2nd I’ll definitely be thinking about him as I run.

———————

Week 2 Training Record

19.8.08 – Route – 5:55pm – 27 min – Jog
21.8.08 – Route – 5:40am – 26 min – Jog
23.8.08 – Route – 8:36am – 53 min – Jog/fastwalk with AN and XL
24.8.08 – Route – 3:56am – 52 min – Run with BL

———————

There was a big blast of cold air as we stepped out of our cars at Dressmart Onehunga. I hadn’t been clothes shopping in about a year, and this showed particularly in my work attire. So I thought I’d better update some of my clothes. I was a little disappointed that business pants were so hard to come by (and not cheap), whereas they couldn’t sell enough shirts every where I went in the factory outlet centre.

In the end I settled on 3 business shirts and 1 pair of business pants – I’ll have to look harder for another pair of pants but hopefully these will put me in good stead in the meantime.

It was good fun doing long drives from place to place and not a single destination being work-related for a change! We had a look around the Appliance Shed in Papatoetoe, as well as visit my sister who’s currently pulling shifts at the Buddhist Temple my mum used to be an active member of.

Hope you’re all wrapping up in these atrocious conditions!

——————-

So it’s a bit early to make any posts about the year in review, right? I mean, things are just starting to pick up. Holidays are starting, end of year is imminent. Life starts now! For me, on Tuesday I walked out my last undergrad exam with a distinct feeling of “don’t look back, let it go”. And from now on? The wide world awaits – new job, Albany-based, starting January 7th, new people to work with, and a new phase in life where money makes your mortgage go round.

Four years of Uni, and life went on through all that. Here’s a recap…

(DEEP VOICEOVER: Previously on …)

• I wanted to be a pop star. When you’re young and impressionable, you have crazy dreams. This was one of them.

Funnily enough, most recent Saturday it turns out one of our singers at NY called Selah Mahe came 9th in Season One. It turns out I didn’t envy her singing ability (high notes are for those than can do it well), and didn’t envy her gigging lifestyle either (singing 70’s and 80’s hits a la jukebox style. creative independence?). Either you make it as a pop artist or you don’t – leave out the manufactured mess in the middle.

• The Four of us. It was the close friend-group that you’d swear you’d hold on to for the rest of time. We were all striving for ambitious degrees: BA/BFA, BSc(CompSci), BMus/BSc, BA(Psych)/LLB. The latest from Paul is that he works full-time at Harvey Norman and lives for his weekends. The last time I saw him was at RB’s 21st. The latest from RB is that she works 6-7 days a week running a cafeteria at Whitford Golf Club. Alive? Yes. Well? Who knows.

• Music was easy, Sports science was a revelation. I still had laughs on Fridays at Andrew Fellowship. RB was formerly the Youth Fellowship leader who was headstrong and sure about walking with God. We all dreamed of bigger and better things, yet fractures in relationships grew.

• My mother passed away. I stopped being a child. My faith had never been more tested. Our family ceased to be nuclear, and grief-scarred, I saw my father, my brothers, sisters in different lights. You look around and see people take for granted their mothers, everyday.

• Old friends, new friends. Paperclip, Sportsci, NY, and soon in vivo. I achieved what I had set out to during my time at NY, and hopefully I’ll aim to do the same at in Vivo (my new workplace).

• My time at uni certainly shook things up and let me decide who I wanted to be – a dreamchaser, or a realist. I could be unemployed, let the government fund my chase after a fantasy of song-writing and soul-searching until I “make it”. Or I could fund it myself… it’s not to say that I don’t have dreams. I do. But they’re less wild, more picket-fence, less fame-fondling, more altruistic. I hope.

• I hope.

—————-