Quest for the perfect bra

AAP
June 28, 2006
This article from : AAP
THE fastest, the strongest and the most athletic at Australia's Institute of Sport will be enlisted to help develop one of the modern world's most elusive products - the perfect sports bra.
Volunteers will be called among female athletes at the institute to help make breast bounce a thing of the past.

The institute today announced a three-year deal with Berlei that will allow the bra manufacturer to develop its future products in consultation with Australia's gun athletes.

Modern technology is set to meet old-fashioned pain tests as the AIS athletes and Berlei strive for the holy grail of sporting accessories.

AIS director Professor Peter Fricker said the focus on sports bras was a natural progression from high-tech sporting aids such as full-length swimsuits and aerodynamic bicycle helmets.
"At elite levels, events are decided by tenths of hundreds of seconds - having the right equipment can be the difference between an athlete winning a gold medal or missing out all together," he said.

In return for providing the human guinea pigs, the AIS will be given advanced access to Berlei's designs, the idea being that the Aussie athletes will therefore have a competitive advantage.
The three-year deal gives Berlei the green light to subject the AIS sportswomen to the infamous "pain scale".

This involves fitting unreleased bras on the athletes, who perform a range of physical activities like running and jumping before rating the pain (or comfort) of each bra.

The partnership will allow Berlei to access the AIS's biometrics unit, which will allow the company to utilise 3D computer modelling to pinpoint the level of vertical bounce per bra.
Jodie Cochrane, an AIS biomechanist, says an unsupported 12B bust can move up to eight centimetres, and a double-D cup up to 18 cm.

"You want to reduce pain, and you want to reduce movement to prevent permanent damage," she said.

"Performance-wise ... the less movement the better - you're more comfortable, and you're more focused on what you're doing."

Melbourne Commonwealth Games long jump silver medallist Kerrie Taurima said a good bra was as important as top running shoes.

"You need to know that you've done everything possible to achieve your best - part of this is knowing you've go the right gear," she said.

"I wouldn't compromise the quality, fit and comfort in my shoes, and my bra is no different."

i'm sorry, state of origin is next wednesday.

that's not quite the orthordox tackle but it took the man down... yes, mr. croatian defender, state of origin is next wednesday and despite your efforts, you have not been picked on either team to play. thanks for trying though.

to lose to italy 1-0 from a 95th minute penalty is heartbreaking tonight, despite the disappointment, socceroos- I'M PROUD OF YAS ALL!!!!!!

what a day

200- couldn't sleep, afraid that disco inferno might not happen
230- finally asleep
900- awake to head to school for outside job forms
1110- arrive at school
1145- complete outside job forms
1215- told that disco inferno might not happen by suk yi
1245- got told that the job offer to teach english at st tony's is a reality
1330- hands in deferral form!!!!

so yes, call my miss cheung- i'm going to teach form 1 english next year, and get to do my disco inferno stuff... things do work out in the end... i'm going to miss my APA classmates though, but i'll always get the opportunity to see them...

please please please please let me be in disco inferno

with a 80% chance i'll be cast in the lead female role of disco inferno..... please, please.... let me do it!!!! and please please please be understanding and don't cast me in some minnow chorus of next semester's shows!


woke up with a scratchy throat this morning... but luckily i was able to sing the auditions songs surprisingly well- and that's what saved me from being outed after the dance section. i wasn't as goodas i could be, but no excuses, i'm just not practiced as a dancer... so the singing began, and my throat held up okay, and then i was one of the three from six chosen to be seriously considered for the role of jane.. i love singing!!! i wanted a guy to play off when i was doing my version of "i will survive", and a guy responded, it was fun :) but the 20% lies in 1. my height 2. my age 3. my dancing.... the other girl who i thought was also in the running for the role was younger, cuter, and was a better dancer, although she didn't quite have the singing technique to present the song.

tomorrow, i'm going to ask the teachers whether i can do this... ... fingers crossed...

and from a thing i saw tonight-- "never look back, that way you'll fall down the stairs"- Rudolf Nureyev, ballet great. RIP, dude.

time to think...

i really enjoyed today--- my first true day of holidays, i had the time to think about the next three or four months. through the exam and audition process i really had no time to worry about anything other than our work at the APA.... and i made at least 6 or 7 phone calls to catch the final business day to organise myself... i found out that we are touring pakistan in mid-august, mid-bloody-summer on the sub-continent; that we'll be performing at a shopping mall and a studio venue after the musical theatre workshop i enrolled in; helped a few classmates to enrol in the MT program, and that luckily found that the performance dates for disco inferno falls right in the middle of our semester 1 production week (phew... that was a big, big discovery!). i ripped music and planned for a school teaching job i've taken through mum's contacts.... and fixed up my room a little... i still don't quite feel like i'm on holidays, because as a person in my industry, even as an actress-in-training, we're never on holidays... we're ever on the lookout for opportunities to work in the industry. it's a busy life, that's for sure, but i'd rather it be a busy life than a dull life.... cos that's what i asked for when i left australia.

avenue q... and the year ends...

this week was for me, pole dancing, avenue q, chinese dance, aussie aussie aussie, QLD'er, and a lot of work.
we had our school production auditions this week... which meant memorising a lot of chinese words and working out for our movement presentations. i'm surprised what i can do after a year of acrobatics training--- the splits is a big one- if you told me to do the splits a year ago i would've laughed you off!

pole dancing-- because the degree 2 musical theatre students were rehearsing their "hey big spender" number out in the level three foyer. and as the music filters through to the level 1 foyer, where we were quietly chanting our monologues prior to our audition, i got up and danced to it... every bloody time the song came on- i just couldn't concentrate :)

avenue q--- the other song they were rehearsing was 'if you were gay' from avenue q... classic! it was stuck in my head for ages.

chinese dance--i got a recall audition for "back from the journey to the west"... and the chinese dance moves gave me a pain in the butt.

sporting front--- the hong kong women's cricket team are going to pakistan in mid-august to play three qualifying matches for the world cup 2009 qualifiers.... the qualifyers for the qualifyers... australia won 3-1 against japan, and QUEENSLAND BEAT NSW 30-6!!! TAKE THAT!!!!!!

hmm.. it's been a long year, but i'd like to review it.... soon.... i have to rest...

di nu hua.... english style-- from a fellow blogger

Falling flowers cover a thousand miles and ten thousand places
Like the hundred flowers, with weeping eyes thanking the people
The crimson blood of the country is not yet dried, but a lavish banquet aids a good funeral
The blood of a painful heart leads a thousand depths
Remembering the dreams of the last emperor were full of sorrow
The country is fallen, the family is dead, watching the water flowing faraway
Lives lost and curses of death litter the gateways and the poor alleyways
Sai Hin will forever be buried with Cheung Ping, turning the troubles of the country into hope
Only wishing that the great times will be better than the heavens
Beautiful images buried with no regrets forever that the excess love lingers
The light in the tears drowns the light of the moon in the cup
Two hearts know that their end is in the grapes and wine
The emperor's daughter is prepared to die together, borrowing a new grave as the wedding night room
Yet they look and yet they watch each other
The wind has taken them across the three rivers, bringing a hundred experiences and a thousand meetings
Tragedies striking for half of the lifetime, this pair of birds of a feather
The patterned candles reflect their boundless love
Thanking their country, Thanking the last emperor,
Giving their lives to repay the grace of a troubled time for the excess love that lingers

exam tomorrow...

argh!!!!!! we can do it!!!!!!!

a day out with disney

went to the disney vocalist auditions today... didn't expect much but gave my all with my suicidal song--- memory from cats. did okay with the high notes considering i pretty much fucked up all the low notes ("burnt out ends of smoky days"...). thinking back, it's a pretty amazing 16 bars of singing--- encompassing two octaves! going from the low e flat below middle c to a few notes at the high e flat above. after our 16 bars, you either hear "please stay" or the most dreaded words performers hate to hear at auditions --> "thank you". i heard the former, fortunately, and waited with the other three acquaintances from the APA. we were getting quite cosy in there, because it turned out we four, and one other girl, were the only ones left from the 50 or so who turned out for our session. we had another chat, then went back in to learn a disney song (when you wish upon a star)... then we said goodbye to another aspirant... afters, we learnt the rudimentary dance routine (step touch... step touch... passe... step ball change... chasse... outwards turn.... ball change... etc) and finally had to say this really cliche disney spiel into a dv cam, with AS MUCH NRG AS WE CAN MUSTER AT 5 IN THE AFTERNOON!!!!! ENERGY!!!! YOU'RE IN DISNEY!!!! i'm glad to have taken the extra dance lessons because it really trains you to pick up steps faster at auditions.

i don't think i have a chance in a million years to be cast... compared to the voices in the phillipines, i don't think i have the voice to compete with. but pending all the bureaucratic stuff like visas and passports and stuff, it would probably be easier for disney to cast locals immediately who can probably sing just as well. it would be a dream job for me at this moment of my life to grab a role in the lion king... fingers crossed and we'll see what happens :)

hot guy, hot voice

crazy stuff.... this dude has the highest falsetto i've ever heard. he's this russian pop singer. go check the site out and be amazed!

HKCA Women's League Bowler of the Year

Is me. moi. Margaret Cheung Kwok Wing.
How i earned the trophy with 11 wickets for the season i don't know, but it's nice to cap off selection in the hk women's squad with a trophy as well :) funny also that the bowler of the year has no control over every ball she bowls. maybe that's why she's the bowler of the year, because not even the batsmen can predict how the ball's going to come out!
but unfortunately i wasn't there to collect the award... i'm never there when there's an award to collect, unless when notified beforehand like at presentation nights... perhaps that's what will happen if i win a Tony or something... i'll be in the toilet doing a poo when my name gets called out and someone has to brave the horrid smell to tell me about it.
thank you, Western Suburbs District Cricket Club--- Farmer, Megan and you lot in second grade womens, for teaching me how to play cricket, and how to be a cricketer... if i had to dedicate this award to someone, after my parents, i'd dedicate it to you girls back there. thanks for the good times!

Marge Cheung- season 2005-2006
From 28 Overs
11 wickets
Average: 9.18
Economy rate: 3.61
1 5 Wicket Haul---> 10-0-44-5

frenchy munchies

why does the french word for SHIT sound so much more elegant?

'merde!'

it's impossible to say it with a rude tone!

here's a site that has explainations for naughty words in many, many different languages. it's fun to learn... in a way :)

yes, i'm officially a disco lady

hong kong team training was better than i thought... it was a good workout, had a good sweat.

got home... hey! i'm in disco inferno! there's a casting call again in june to find out what roles we end up with. so- my fair lady or disco lady? or neither? since our school auditions will be in june as well??? argh... there'll be tough decisions to make soon.

deja vu

i was woken to my phone ringtone this morning... i didn't bother to look at the caller indicator but only at my alarm clock, which indicated that it was 840 in the morning... i answered... there was this familiar indian voice... so i said: "david?"... that's david gonsalves, my former employer in australia... he must have called from his office during morning tea or something and forgot the time difference... but alas, no, it was the hong kong women cricket team coach, nasir, telling me that there will be training, come rain or come shine.

ah... australia...

then dad called fifteen minutes later asking me my ID card number... he's another one who asks strange questions at strange hours of the night. he once came into my room at 7 in the morning (when i was still working at shaws, on the afternoon shift) and asked me how to pronounce some obscure name of some obscure figure in french history...

and i finally finished tinkering with the cultural salon post.... it's obvious that i put very little effort in the layout, but there's not much i can do. playing around with indesign and illustrator is fun!! it came in this package ReadyMadeMagazine sent me for being a member of their magazine... the Cd had all the macromedia family (cos they merged with adobe) as well as the programs for print & graphic design in the adobe family. yay! i have toys to play with for the summer!

the two audreys & rediscovering france

beautiful paris... there's even art inside the metro!

god, did i hate junior french... i could find no purpose then for studying the language, and everything taught to me was boring, blah blah blah... un de trois quartre...

but just like lost in translation made me want to go to japan two years ago, seeing amelie and other associated french films are making me want to go to paris, and france. there's off jazz dance centre, and two for the road as well. two weeks ago, our french guest director's show, le sword de mon pere, premiered, and whenever i saw him (jean!) in the corridor i'd speak some of what little french i still had in my system to him: e.g. moi: bonjour monseiur! jean: bonjour mademosille! moi: comment cava? jean: bon! bon! merci!... at which point i stopped because i couldn't carry on the conversation... then our dance instructor, henry, who'd been to off jazz, started counting our beats in french, un-deux-trois-quartre-cinq-six-sept-huit... ! i could NOT stop giggling. it seemed all of my surrounding world had succombed to france fever.

it's so romantic, i just want to go into a cosy little cafe and drink coffee and eat pain du chocolat (is this right?) and listen to french people conversing in french. with the holidays being so close, this dream could become a reality, but there is a chance that i'll be there in august... where apparently it's hellish hot for europe. school starts hellishly early as well next semester so we only have from july to mid august to travel. fingers crossed!

how strange

i got pulled up twice by these promotional people asking me if i wanted to be something in the lines of a fitting model, and another saying he's from a "magazine" (he didn't specify... maybe he's an intern :p) that news stalls sell... getting pulled up by these people is not a strange occurance in causeway bay, and i've been asked before, actually... but twice in the space of five metres and ten seconds? very strange indeed...

fun fun!

happy times. a pic from our last day of our dip1 lives, after our last test and our last lesson- cantonese articulation. (carmen-- if you're reading this... notice the headband i'm wearing? it's my ganbare headband for the exam :p)

'tis the season of rain, rain and... more rain

we're about to hit summer and i'm getting a reminder of last year.
it DOES NOT stop raining during summer here.

bloody hell! the hong kong women's cricket team are supposed to tour pakistan later this year and we are consequently supposed to be in the middle of some intensive training. however, due to the horrid weather we haven't trained at all this week... we are to train about three times next week--- i wonder whether we'll get to train at all.

i was removed from my cultural salon commitments for an excursion to IKEA today... we bought home three storage sets... how we got home via MTR i never understand but we did it... again... cos we've been through the whole "getting-home-from-telford-IKEA-with-our-fucking-hands-full" thing before. argh...

and i'm trailing firefox :) let's see if it's better than IE.

back to the future

class photo day--- the diploma 1 "kids"

we had our last ever acrobatics lesson yesterday up at studio 14. we had our rigorous final presentation dress rehearsal, then we basically had all hour to mess around in the empty studio. it was so much fun--- we had all the gym mats out and were playing... everyone doing cartwheels, handstands, flips and flops.... like kids. yes, like what we were supposed to be doing when we were 7, and couldn't because hong kong's education sucks ass. i couldn't use the playground equipment downstairs when i was 7 because i was up until 12 studying for the weekly tests--- one for each day of the week: chinese dictation on monday; english comprehension on tuesday; english dictation on wednesday; chinese composition on thursday; english composition on friday... the next week, we had maths and other subjects crammed into our already full schedule... looking back, i was put under less stress as a 19 year old university student than at 7, in primary school, for fuck's sake.

it's definitely nice to be a kid again. thank you, HKAPA, for letting me relive my childhood, 13 years late.

the good & the bad.

bad news first!
queensland lost by a point... and although i knew NSW deserved the victory a whole lot more than QLD b/c of their commanding display, i was still awful crushed.... to lose by a point!!! to get so close!!!! so dramatic!!!! johnathan thurston converting that steve bell try at the 75th minute! and we fucking lost....
sigh....
ah well... there's always the next game...

the good...
i saw amelie after the game, in hope that it will cheer me up. and cheer me up it did. what a delightful movie. it's the first movie since "only yesterday" (the japanese anime film) where i got weepy eyes in a.......... i won't give the ending away.... well, yes, i got weepy eyes, but it made me a little happy, even! and i'm always grumpy after a queeensland loss. thank you, amelie, for cheering me up!
p.s. anyone who's not seen this film---- for those who have a penchant for fairytales/fairyfloss light films.... amelie's for you.... the last scenes gave me not only a warm fuzzy feeling... it gave me the same feeling i got when i found out (years ago) that the person i once liked actually liked me back. that.... shiver up your spine... and it's a good shiver...