It was a rare morning sleeping throughout the silence till after sunrise. Thursday morning, I woke up feeling tired still after the long rest since I did not catch enough sleep the days before. I went to visit the Chinese physician and got myself eight days of medicine before going to work.
Jingkun and I wanted to give Mei Hoe a belated birthday treat and thus we proceeded to IMM’s Swenson. Daniel joined in. We had great chats as usual.
I stayed inside the office until 7.30pm before proceeding down to the MPH for volleyball. Everyone seemed to play well. Somehow, my team had the upper hand. My legs were wrecked at my third game playing the centre position with other people. I was very amazed by my wrist power. Later part of the night was dull, but I made sure I did my duty defending given no other role.
We left at around 10pm. Kachua gave me a ride home. I realised I had sprained my index finger on the right hand and also over-exerted the wrist.
I had my last two sessions of volleyball because going into exile for another two to three months.
Tuesday began with the badminton game. It was quite fine. Then, we went to West Coast Plaza to have dessert, however, ended up in an awkward situation, dining in a Chinese restaurant. In fact, almost no one felt like eating.
Jingkun, Weitat and I returned to have the volleyball game. On the way, I had a cup of bubble tea, which caused extreme discomfort in my chest, such that I could not breathe properly. In my sprained right ankle, I had one of the worst volleyball days ever. It was a bloody day. Mingfa sent me home after that.
On Thursday, I was doing work alone in the office until evening when everyone started to arrive slowly. The stress of the work and the lack of sleep, together with the sprained ankle did not seem to tie me down. Over a few games, I started to get back some touch of the ball.
The worst thing that I had done was to give up playing together with my teammates so that others could play. Then, I joined another team in the next game and I could almost stroll around. Then, I had to wait outside the court for the next couple of games. The last game was boring.
We went to the Popeye at Singapore Flyer but changed destination to Bedok 85. I had a plate of chicken chop before going home to finish a bowl of fried rice.
Last Friday's volleyball session was another memorable night.
We actually wanted to go out for a quick bite before the game but the pouring raining halted us. I was so hungry that I rushed down to the canteen to grab some sandwiches and luckily the auntie was still around. She handed me a difficult task of troubleshooting her mobile phone's alarm clock which was set in Chinese. I kept my fingers crossed and felt uncomfortable throughout the night since I did not test it.
We started setting up the net right after work and this time I did not get any sleep again. We began on our usual two on two game and somehow the combination of Weitat and I failed to overcome Mingfa and Jingkun's team spirit. However, I was able to get myself warmed up through the game.
My index finger on my right hand had yet to recover fully and there was an additional sprain on one of my toes out of nowhere since a few days before.
We continued with free spike and I did not do really well but during the actual game, I was quite impressed with myself. It had been very long since I did a powerful bashing slap on the ball to cut through the air in thundering sound. There were not many chances for me to keep the form going but at least I cherished the remaining ones. I made another satisfying attempt later with good timing and posture, and even wrapped the ball splendidly on my palm to force the ball down using wrist strength.
My team consisting of Mingfa, Wilson, Joel, Darius and Jingkun was a formidable squad. Of all, Wilson did remarkably well with his overall performance especially with his blocking. Eventually, we lost the last game somehow.
The sun showered me with too much love that my skin was burnt on this very interesting Monday, which was a holiday.
The sleep after six pm in the morning and waking up less than two hours later for haircut left me exhausted. Before I could get back into deep sleep, Mingfa called to ask me down to the beach. I was too tired for celebration of the long abandoned place. My brain was blank but somehow, could not fully utilise the remaining time to sleep.
I met up with the three of them – Mingfa, Weitat and Jingkun – at Seah Lm Food Centre. I had a cup of fruit juice while waiting for them to finish off their breakfast. Jingkun drove us into Sentosa where I witnessed the great changes at the entrance, and even the ticket booth for drive-in was shifted further in.
Since it was a holiday for most schools, the beach was actually occupied by youngsters despite it was a weekday. Full of sweeties in all sorts of bikinis, it was quite a gazing place.
We met up with Mingfa's students and started playing volleyball. I was quite careful with my almost-recovered index finger. Beginning of the games wrote some incredible records for me; somehow I did better in spiking at beach than indoor courts even though the sand made jumping much tougher.
I did not take out my camera at all.
Into late afternoon, the sun had worn us out. It was tough on feet, dragging on a dehydrated yet heavier body, I simply lusted for resting. Since we left earlier than usual, we managed to skip queuing up at the washroom.
Comments
Longan drinks
My mushroom baked rice
French fries
The four of us went to Vivocity and had our early dinner at Kim Gary. It was my second time dining over there at the costly restaurant. Jingkun left us after the dinner and we started walking around before going home.
A long day began early in the morning. I struggled to leave my house as usual not long after the sun rose.
Once again I gave myself extra work instead of concentrating or resting inside the office. Weitat was kind enough to accompany me for a quick brunch.
The late afternoon was hours of torturing period but eventually working with the kind souls made me feel quite honourable.
Starvation was my foe for the evening. Faris donated some chocolates to me but my poor health could only allow me to have one piece to win favour from the rumbling stomach. Famine drove me down to the canteen for in search of food and luckily, I managed to get a cup noodle from the beloved drinks stall auntie.
Just as I was trying to take a break and catch up with the online news after neglecting them for a couple of days, Weitat announced that both Mingfa and Mingli were already waiting for us inside the hall.
A quick setup of the net permitted Weitat and I to get changed up. We began playing two versus two, and this time I teamed up with Mingfa to drag his score down.
After the weeks of secluded life, away from the court, I was totally rusted that I could not even serve the ball, let alone spiking. The hit on the top joint of my right thumb when I was trying to spike the ball added to the phobia of touching the ball. I could feel the blue-black and it was a terrible pain to start off with the game. My right index finger was still a victim to the sprain months ago.
We had quite good games but however, I felt weird to have outsiders in the same team. My backache caused me to pause at the later hour – it was not due to volleyball but bad sitting posture probably.
My entire mind was filled with complications throughout the night.
Jingkun drove us to East Coast Park's C Nai Hong Kong Café. We had great jokes inside the car, and the seat belts' joke simply lasted us for long. However, I started to get kicked up with famine once again and my entire body was so weak that I stopped talking. In my collapsing eyelids, I could feel only numbness in my mind but could not doze off.
Small cup of Yuan-Yang (same size as the Si Wa Nai Cha)
Wilson and Ruoci joined us soon. I had the usual dish but ordered a cup of "Yuan Yang" (coffee with tea) instead. I could not help but to complain again about the size of the cup as they had reduced it since months ago. I could not stand the small serving with the same amount of price, which failed to give me the satisfaction especially with the enormous numbers of free ice inside the drinks.
Jingkun sent me home. Without looking at the clock, I knew well it was already very late.
Last Thursday, Weitat hurried us after work and Jingkun drove us to Jurong Entertainment Centre to get MacDonald's meals. It was my first time sitting inside Jingkun's new baby and I was actually quite excited.
The tactic used by the fast food restaurant was to give away free glass cup with each upsize of any meal set. We bought the food and quickly rushed back to school. After having dinner, I started nodding and eventually collapsed by the side of the windows.
I woke up a while later with my brain numbed. Without warming up, I stepped into the volleyball court, too weak to do anything. Apart from the exhaustion, the lost touch after missing the game for more than a week paralysed me.
Nothing was good except for the fact that my sprained index finger was recuperating well.
After the game, due to the fact that I decided not to take my bath immediately, I ended up having to face the same old problems myself; and it greatly loaded up my burdens.
I had made arrangements with Weitat to stay overnight at his house earlier on. Along the way, he chatted quite long over the phone with his friend. The journey was longer than usual with my heavy bag.
After bathing at Weitat's house, we watched the volleyball match between China and Japan, which he had downloaded. After eleven o'clock, we went down to switch on the television in hope of seeing Devin appearing on the show. Weitat cooked noodle for me and followed by a cup of iced tea.
I did not doze off immediately like the previous time, but gave a few tosses around before my usual shagginess conquered me.
The objective of the stay-over was not purely for the convenience of going to work easier in the next morning, but also for the feeling of get-togetherness. Perhaps, we would not get such chance again after September.
I had my second volleyball session of the week on Thursday. Both Weitat and I were exhausted from work and I thought I could behave like a zombie in the hall but he started setting up the poles and net again. After which, I happily went to the mat and within a minute, Weitat came over to invite me for two-on-two.
My right index finger gave me the usual pain. I was a cripple when the finger affected my serving, digging, setting and spiking – basically I was dragging him down. Perhaps it was a form of phobia, which I took quite long to overcome the pain over the evening, and probably through immunising.
The real games begun alright as the rest arrived. We did not have enough players and had to play five-on-five. It was good until the exhaustion strike me. I made few mistakes and unfortunately, I was in the wrong team somehow.
It was good for advice because through the comments, we would improve; but basically if someone who was of worthless quality dropped criticism, it was an insult which normally would also arrive in frustration. It was impossible to stop arrogance when the champion was always in his own world, thinking that he was great.
I was still in strength to continue the game until the very last drop of tolerance evaporated through the heat. The irritation brought my soul out of the game, but since I could not just simply leave the court, I could only pray hard for it to end.
When my long awaited moment arrived, I was almost scared to death when some of them mentioned about continuing the game. Luckily that the ball had gone up to the top and they were having too much fun to get it down that time passed by fast to reach nine o'clock.
I had a second volleyball session this week on Thursday. I ended my class late and when I got back to the office, all my team-mates were already gone. I had the urge to do some work first but time did not permit me to.
However, after reaching the hall to meet up with the rest, I walked towards the inclined-flex-arm-hang bar by the side and lay on the mat below it. I had a short deep sleep before Mingfa came over to get me up for the game. I quickly bandaged my index finger and stood inside the court with my sleepy head.
It started off well, at least I was able to stay awake and focus. I did much better than the previous months and I could have called for a celebration if only the night was completely silent.
I began to regret over some decisions. I would never want to remain in places where things would only turn sourer and having to endure fake smiles daily. The love showered by all the good people and buddies around could never shield backstabbing completely.
Excess jokes can be so damaging.
Every human being, regardless of your friend, passer-by or even your enemy can be your mirror. For every mistake which you have not committed, you still have to take it as a lesson learnt and remember by heart, and never let it happen to yourself.
I'm glad and proud of myself that I have never caused any dispute between my friends even though I'm cracking jokes and nonsense most of the time; because I bother to reflect before spouting sensitive words, or rather, I know the limits.
Tuesday's volleyball was fine except that I did not play as well as what I had expected. It was probably not because of the recovering finger but the phobia and the expensive chicken rice caused burpings throughout the entire game.
After the game, Weitat drove Mingfa, Jingkun and I to Bedok 85 where we met up with Wilson and Ruoci who took cab down. We were planning to go somewhere to buy ice-cream since we thought we would arrive earlier but it ended up we lost the race; cab drivers could be really reckless on the road. We were missing Mingli somehow since she went for chalet in the midst of the game earlier.
It was a great night somehow when I could see some things had reverted to normal and I enjoyed the gatheringness. I missed the days when we went out in very big group especially after volleyball.
I made a sinful choice of taking chicken chop, knowing that my mum had already cooked. Feeling guilty yet did not want to miss out the fun, it caused hesitation.
The heavy rain cooled the night but it made driving tougher for Weitat from the East to West.
I dreamed a little too much at times to stir up my frustration, and to realise things were unlike expected. I sank in a little too much before I could piece up my feeling, and the compass refused to stable.
The exhaustion worsened my mood when I hardly could raise any smile. I felt some heavy burdens out of nowhere and there was not much time I could take a break.
It was totally not a good day for volleyball. Despite how my finger was bandaged like a big white sausage, I could never get rid of the pain in my heart. It continued to hurt indeed but strong willed men could easily overcome the phobia.
There was not much I could do before the furiousness shone in the darkest night, erasing the strain on the injured part, to stimulate courage. There was hardly any chance to vent my sudden drive and to prove that anger had brought back what I had been missing all these months.
It was never a good day for the newly dealt injuries. For each time I smile in future, the hatred would surface.
Another late working night caused the exhaustion yet again. Sleeping at five in the morning and waking up before seven was a torture. I was breaking the rules again by bringing work home.
By the end of the day, I was beaten by the long hours of struggling and disappointments. I dragged my feet to the hall and sat by the side for some time before knocking off into deep sleep.
Mingfa woke me up soon and I got changed. The rest of them arrived in a while and after Mingfa settled the girls down, all of them went to jog while I stayed behind to train the newbies. It was pretty boring since there was nothing much to do before they could start to dig better. As usual, I exerted myself more than anyone of them.
After seven, Weitat, Mingli, Jingkun and I started playing two on two. I was completely a handicap with my sprained index finger because it affected me on digging when I could not hold my fingers together properly, and also, on both setting and spiking. The pain on my right shoulder somehow decided to kiss me again. Weitat and I won the first game but eventually lost when Mingfa took over Jingkun's place.
When the real game started as our opponents arrived, I missed the first game. This day's system was unlike Saturday's one and we could not stay on for another game even if we won the first game; and therefore, we gave up after playing the second game and went for dinner at Clementi.
I reached home after eleven and soon, dozed off on the floor while watching Yudan's show about "Zhuang Zi". My mum woke me up at around three in the morning and I started stoning on the chair, half asleep and half deciding and choosing on what to do next - the exhaustion obviously killed many brain cells but my consistency on doing my work at late hours kept me struggling to stay awake. After some time, I finally gave up and went to brush my teeth before going to bed.
This was one of the very rare days which I would sleep for long hour; however, was not uninterrupted sleep.
We got to play volleyball on a Friday night again. We had rare visitors like Tze Khit and he even bought my dinner for me – chicken chop. Both of us had stuffs to discuss but to no conclusion yet again. Things were alright for the night except that playing with a sprained finger was a great hindrance.
I spent my Saturday sleeping earlier than usual. Since my mum and younger brother had gone to Malaysia, I dominated the entire room. Waking up early on a Saturday morning was another rare thing. I set my alarm to dance at around seven but I only woke up at eight and I was late for around ten minutes.
It was the last training before the ITE's tournament. I was merely a vase there. Mingen drove to West Coast MacDonald's to buy breakfast.
After slacking around for quite some time, I started putting on the tape on my sprained index finger but to realise that I was a cripple. It was only a finger and yet it affected the entire game since even receiving balls required grabbing of all my fingers to keep the arms firm. Alas, I was forced to tape my index and middle fingers together; I got so much better but the pain was still there.
I forgot to bring my water bottle and ended up drenching my thirst with Mingfa's 100plus. The gassy drinks gave me problems.
My legs were strengthless after the volleyball session around twelve hours ago. Eventually, I started to slack again on the stage and dozed off before the arrival of Mingfa's C boys. I did not interrupt the training again. When Mingfa was doing the toss-spike to train his boys, I felt helpless since I was really lousy at that and could not offer any help to him, whereas his knees were already badly injured for him to jump too much.
Weitat arrived to join us and I got to warm up a bit with him again. We got to play a set of game before the training ended. Slowly, my tiredness captured my consciousness again and I dozed off on the stage. I was woke up by Weitat to play a dual match with Mingfa and Mingen. With my sleepy head, performance was real bad but eventually my team won a western food treat with a close margin score.
Mingen drove the three of us out to get dinner at the hawker centre and tape at Guardian store. We also got two bottles of water at 7-11, which were sold at insane price. Then, we went back to the school and enjoyed our chicken cutlet together with Oliver.
While waiting for the rest of the people to come for the night game, I dozed off on the stage for the third time. We had great games at night and even though we lost the last game, the high morale was satisfying.
Supper was at Bedok 85. Five of us, inclusive of Jingkun, Mingfa, Weitat and Junyang walked to Weitat's house to collect his dad's car. On the way, I felt sick, which left me speechless. When they were advising me to take up driving license before the price increased again, my messy brain made me feel worse.
I frequented my usual western food stall again but this time, I got myself fish cutlet instead of chicken chop. We did not stay for long before leaving for Mustafa. It was a short stopover again before Weitat drove me home.
It was a very good and relaxing weekend and if only everyday was so enjoyable. I was so sinned for indulging totally on volleyball and did not touch any work.
The volleyball session yesterday turned a bit disastrous. Weitat accompanied me down to Mingfa's girls' training after five. The old girls returned. Both of us started playing with Mingen and Tiffany, and it was not long before Mingen spiked a ball too far in front of me and it hit the ground before agitating my index finger on my right hand.
It had been so long since I last sprained any part of my body and I hated the irritating feeling that hindered me from doing well. Since I was wearing my old spectacle which had scratches all over the lens, my visible was not completely clear and it was too late to switch spectacle because it would probably cause giddiness.
The training lasted till night since our usual game starting from the evening was cancelled due to a bitch, and Mingfa was preparing the girls for the upcoming competition.
I had my greatest fun at the end but it was really short.
We did not have dinner together even though Weitat and Mingfa were fine with eating together, knowing that my mum did not cook; since Weitat claimed that his house should have food, I did not want to make him waste his time.
Anyway, I met Meilin and Sisi at the MRT and it was good to have companion on the way. The best thing was that the train was not crowded and thus we managed to get seated comfortably.
