Monday, June 16, 2008
I've never really been a believer of Friday the 13th being an unlucky day. However, sometimes it's safer to walk on the safer side of the road. The whole thing is about respect. My leg foot has always been giving me problems ever since I sprained that ankle badly 3 months ago. Injured it again with some minor pulls and sprains at the end of every soccer game, the one on Friday 13th was no difference.
My friends know that I will never allow myself to get caught into a fight when provoked in a game. The more the opposition wants to provoke me, the more I wanna play better. However, against this bunch of showboaters (the usual team that plays at the area), he came in hard on me from behind). I would walk away usually from such an instance and just wait for the foul to be given but this time round, I got up hurriedly and pointed my finger at the young kid and said angrily "I know you went for my ankle". He was probably surprised that I reacted but it's a good thing I did because these kids need a hard lesson in life. It's a common saying in rugby that if your opponent tackles you hard, you return twice the favour. Play hard but fair.
Others would have probably gotten themselves into a needless fight but I won't, neither will my friends. I mean we are all out for a game of soccer - it's about the fun of playing, not the result. Being a teacher, I tend to look at it from a teacher's point of view and to me, they're are just teenagers. They may not be smart academically but they tend to channel their energy into something that they are good at and that something is soccer. No point getting upset over these people. It's all about having a good rest now and take care not to overstrain these ligaments again. The eagerness to play soccer everyday could be costly as I found out 3 weeks ago when I ended up with a groin strain. When you depend on exercise for a living, getting injured is really part and parcel of the job. With soccer module coming up in Year 2, I could do with all the practice I can get.
It really sucks to hear from Philip and then a phone call by Xinghe that my army friend's father had passed away. Weili has always been a very jovial guy that I've known since my unit's course time. People like him makes the going seem alot easier during those tough times. Always providing the platoon with jokes and laughter, life isn't fair sometimes. I can only hope that he takes good care of himself and be strong for his other family members.
The recent passing on of the 2 army guys had once again made me realize how fragile life is. There were only 2 things that I was afraid of when I enlisted into bmt back then. It was those dirty stuff and the heat, training-wise I know it was just a matter of time before I get used to it. For those dirty stuff, I believe they do exist and I respect them. Having studied exercise physiology, I've seen the effects of what heatstroke or heat exhuastion can do to one's body and it can also be fatal. Sometimes, it's not even your fault if you happen to collapse from it. It's good to push yourself to the limits but not over. Which is why I never tend to push myself too much when it comes to doing stuff like ippt. I know my own limits and that a gold timing for running is not realistic for now and there's no point pushing myself, A pass or silver will do. Safety is more important than the gold or $400.
Just finished watching a dramatic match between Turkey and Czech Republic, Final score? 3-2 in favour of Turkey after being 2 goals down. Credit to their spirit of never giving up. It was the best match so far in the group stages. Just gonna wait for the newspaper man to deliver the morning papers, get some breakfast before I call it a night or rather day.
