sweden and the lost memories.

wednesday morning funnily, despite being able to update my other blog for the world floorball championships, i was unable to update mine. maybe i just didn't want to. so yups. now that the trip has drawn to a close, apart from the money spent on it (and during), i think the trip has been a rather fruitful one, both in terms of floorballing knowledge gained and experienced but also in the friendships made, the people that i've come to understand better as well as the fact that i've been lucky enough to experience first hand how bonds are formed through hardship and hardwork.

with perspective, i look at the singapore team's performance as somewhat of a success. as compared to other world championships, they never got thrashed outright. they never allowed an opponent to keep a clean sheet. they had the youngest team in the whole tournament (A and B div combined). they played good floorball at times (hah!). they converted a fair number of powerplays. 8 of the 13 outfield players scored, benji (or is it hafeez?) having the most with 5 goals 3 assists. unfortunately, some of the scores don't reflect how the game flowed, most notably against netherlands. much can be said about the selection process and the players selected. finally in the end it's about players suiting the system, players that are effective; not players that are "star" players that league teams rely on. the world championships is a totally different ball game. unfortunately, not everyone will be able to see things the way myself and at most times, dennis, wants or hopes.

on a more personal note. apart from the fact that the trip was more floorball related than anything else, it's also given me time to appreciate life more back home. the friends that have always been there for me, my family, even God.

with national service in 9 days time, i'm running out of time to amend things (if i still dare to think about it and acting on it). i'm running out of time to meet up with friends and spend time with my family. it's as if i'm going overseas again, this time i'm able to come back on weekends for most of the next 2 years. so we'll see how it goes. priority would be dinners with emily, dennis, jill and widya; lunches with brian, matthew shank and shuren. breakfast with marilyn. if she's up for it still. hah! so yup.. so many things to do. so little time..

regrets and apologies..

sunday morning would you give up somethings in your life just to get back with an ex or even a friend? or at least back onto talking terms with him/her?

scary thoughts and propositions but i can't stand the nights thinking about it anymore. the free time that i have is really killing me sometimes. i've read 6 books in 3 weeks and i'm not occupied enough. it hurts thinking about the fun times. the times when i held her and hugged her. everything. and it's ironic that it all came crumbling when i went to sweden last year. and now i'm off to sweden again.. 6 months on and the pain lingers.. of course there's been worst.. and i miss the others too but somehow this feels different.. perhaps even apologising for things that really weren't my fault helps.. but i've never been one to apologise for mistakes and faults that weren't mine. time to change? seems like it..

Yellowcard - One Year Six Months

Sew this up with threads of reason and regret
So I will not forget. I will not forget
How this felt one year six months ago
I know I cannot forget. I cannot forget

I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do
Follow me there
A beautiful somewhere
A place that I can share with you

I can tell that you don't know me anymore
It's easy to forget, sometimes we just forget
And being on this road is anything but sure
Maybe we'll forget, I hope we don't forget

I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do
Follow me there
A beautiful somewhere
A place that I can share with you

So many nights, legs tangled tight
Wrap me up in a dream with you
Close up these eyes, try not to cry
All that I've got to pull me through is memories of you
Memories of you
Memories of you
Memories of you

I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do
Follow me there
A beautiful somewhere
A place that we can share
Falling into memories of you and things we used to do

the things you write as a primary school kid..

I rushed down from the bus and ran as fast as I could. From a distance I heard the school bell ring. 'Oh no! Late again!' I moaned. This was the second time I was late this week. Nevertheless, this time the excuse was different. I was late because I helped or was involved in an accident.

On that day, I left my house earlier. As I was walking down the path, I saw a speeding car driven by what seemed a reckless driver. He kept swerving left and right.

Suddenly, I heard a loud screeching of brakes followed by a loud crash. The car had slammed into a Jaguar. The driver of the Jaguar was bleeding profusely. He was suffering from serious head injuries. Some curious onlookers crowded around. Some called the police and ambulance. Some helped the drivers out of their cars.

Then suddenly the cars burst into flames. The blazing fire was spreading quickly. The drivers escaped the fire; it was a narrow escape. One of the passers-by called the Fire Brigade.

Soon after the ambulance arrived and took the victims to a hospital, I then went to school.

I was lucky again! The discipline master excused me!

Julian Sng Yeung Liang
Primary 6D, 1997

wednesday morning Skools Floorball 13 Ngee Ann Scarecrows 6

what a game. the score doesn't reflect the actual game. it was fairly even but we took our chances. finishing made all the difference. played a lousy game. was overdosed on cough medicine and panadol. =\ still feeling wheezy. anyways. played in the "youngsters" line so it was brandon faiz junwei melvin and myself. played a weird game. haha. we had no idea what we were trying to do sometimes. but it was all fun.. scored a backhand shot with the assist from brandon too. hah!

hilmi rafiz karthik nanda and zak played their best games for np. was quite pleased that they've come so far and yet kept their heads to keep on improving. need more of these guys. haha! i have a feeling np will do very well for the next ivp (that they are hosting) so all the best to them.. =)

nothing much on these days. just trying to clock up floorball time before i fly off to sweden next thursday.. ns beckons.. =S

general elections 2006 and the dimwits

sunday morning so the PAP won. 82 out of 84 seats. clear cut victory? perhaps. perhaps not. scratch the surface of the "new-age" first-time voters and you'll see why.

there are people out there who oppose just for the sake of opposing. people out there who are plain anti-PAP for the dumbest reasons. i've even got a friend who's online now, is not even 21 and yet has an msn nick that says "fuck you PAP. fuck the shitload of you". it's sad to see how some people can be so shallow and narrow-minded.

ask yourselves this: if it weren't for the PAP, forming the goverment since 1965, would we be where we are today? a generalised "we" to signify singapore as a whole. would we be using what we are using now? our laptops, our internet connections, cable tv even our mobile phones.

it's scary to see our own prime minister have 49468 people in ang mo kio against him. 1/3 the constituents. what then for singapore as a whole? assuming it's also 1/3. that makes 1.3 million! so what does that say of the goverment? what does that say of the voters? sure enough everyone is entitled to their vote, to their own opinions but to all those who oppose for the sake of opposing: sit down. take a deep breath and think about what your vote means. especially for the 2011 elections. everyone's been saying that the PAP will be back in power, no questions asked. if everyone thought that way and then voted for the opposition, won't we be expecting a new goverment in 2011 then? perhaps we need another economic recession, SARs outbreak or even attempted terrorists acts on us to remind us of why we chose the PAP in the first place? what's not broken need not be fixed. that said, i never expected low and chiam to lose their seats, not yet anyway. so it's all good.

so then. status quo on the surface. but look at the figures for this election gone by and you'll see the difference in numbers of votes getting closer in some places, and in others, getting larger. it speaks volumes about the opinions of the general population. my opinion? we need more mature voters.. read on here