midwest (ii)

first of all i'd like to point out that i haven't played basketball since, literally, last century. so when the kids, - and we're talking mostly highschool kids here, - wanted to get a basketball team together for this year's midwest games (nak buat team bola tak cukup orang la pulak) they asked me and so i said why the hell not.

i've seen enough midwest games to know that the participants are competent collegiate athletes, and i had a feeling that our kiddy team was going to get some spankin' around. and it turned out we did get spanked, on the average final score of about a gabojillion for our opponents and maybe twelve points for us.

so, yeah, it's wasn't all that fun.

but!, one thing did give me quite a delight, and a happy heart!

my team was playing at the time, and i was getting ready for a sub call when i saw a familiar angelic face in the crowd far downcourt, cheering the teams on. and i was, like, "omg it's her..."

she must had seen me helplessly squinting her way (kita ni rabun la, awak) coz then i caught a trace of a smile upon her lips, and a wave of the hand, and i heard, "hii, syamil..."

in my fuzziness i smiled back, and before i could do anything else i was called to get on the court and play ball. (i got so distracted with still thinking of her, and was constantly aware of her presence watching us play, that i completely missed a pass from my teammate and the ball hit me squarely in the face, boink!!, right there in front of everybody. hehe. whateverrr.)

she lingered only for a while longer, and i stole as much glances as i dared, never getting the chance to even say hello. and before long, she's gone.

i sighed, poised to think of her no more, but my heart went butterflies all day.

i saw her again only one other time, during the closing ceremony event. i was walking out the door and she was with her friends walking in. she was dressed in an elegant black dress, looking as precious as ever. she passed me by, she didn't see me.

i held my breath watching this beauty of Creation.

it's her, folks, do you all still remember?
it's ms aliah, formerly of the U of I, ms She's-All-That herself...

still.
themost.
StunninglyBeautiful.
of them all.

midwestgames (i)

the midwest games 2007 commenced last month.

fyi, midwest games is a quasi-olympic event being held every spring by msian students, sponsored by the Msian Student Department and the Embassy and the host university and at times by the big companies such as Intel etc. the operating budget is usually around $20-30K minimum, and the event is attended by at least 1000 student athletes from all over the continent.

this is all by way of saying that it's a huge event. HUGE.
you just don't screw around with this.

the host this year is *technically* the northern illinois univ at dekalb. i say *technically* because the organizing committee was drawn up out of students from many many other universities. a collaboration, so to speak. the unspoken part was the fact that the committee itself was desperately scrambled together by MSD, like, five minutes ago, and then sent off to the lions in hopes they'll survive unscathed.

so, the organizing committee this year was somewhat unorganized, shall we say.
typical malaysian.

and the unpreparedness the inexperience the disorganization was very apparent. the whole frakking event felt like being held together by cellotapes, and people were like, whoa, is it going to crash and crumble??

i supposed, of all people, i must not be critical of the committee. we at WMU did our own midwest games, i know how tough a gig it is. so i emphatized with the people running the show this year. they didn't have much time to plan and prepare. not much manpower, either. the pre-officials pre-meeting was a hassle. the games started at an ungodly seven-thirty in the morning. the game's rule (i played basketball) kept changing to make sure we all finished in time for the opening ceremony at four pm, wtf. opening ceremony apa la weii orang dah abis main dah, ntah hapa-hapa. and the closing ceremony was, hmm camna nak cakap ek, kira budak highschool buat show pun would be clearly more professional-looking than this dog-n-pony show the 2007MG people conjured up.

again, typical msian. asalkan buat, cukup. now let's slap each other's back. syabasss yehhh mesia bulehhh.

sheeshhh.

but still, i emphatized. i was very unimpressed, but i emphatized. the organizer had an impossible task. but they gritted their teeth and stuck to the gameplan, come hellfire or highwater. and i speak from experience - i took part in several midwest games, and i personally directed one - when i say that many many many other things could've gone wrong butforthegraceofGod no major fuck-ups actually happened, so all in all i suppose they did okay, if for no other reason than that they somehow managed to hold to the flimsy thing together.

and so, when the curtains for the closing ceremony were finally drawned (oh hell, let's be honest there was NO curtain there was just a stage with spotlights on it and mic wires strewn all over the floor... that was how truly kindergarten-y the whole production was, but, i digress...), i ventured into the crowd outside the hall looking for the guy, found him, shook his hand, introduced myself as a fellow former midwest games chairman, and told him that he did a good job putting together everything considering what little resources he had to start with.

till next year, people.

for starters

first things first.

upon popular request (and by popular i meant, well, three people), the blog now resumes.

warning: i'm a potty-mouth now. i'm done being the polite guy. just because i kept my mouth shut all this while that didn't mean you melayu idiots have to be melayu so much and spewing untruth behind my back. you people are incredibly pathetic, do you know that? never even bothered to ask me yourselves, do you??

and guess what, this time around, i will strike back. i will defend myself. i will not let things go anymore, hoping against hope that you warp-minded people will come to your goddamned senses, wtf.

after the hellish torture that i had to go thru, i have become angrier and bitter than ever. i'm spouting filth out of my mouth as if the sewer just fucking burst. so, just to say, you know, keep the kids away why don't you, coz you've been forewarned.

life crisis

i desperately want it to be unreal. that it never happened.
it took every ounce of my being to struggle, to kick and scream, to claw my way back to life.
there were times, truthfully, at uncommon frequency, when the tired heart just begged to not fight anymore.

i was awakened this morning as if from a very bad dream.
i looked around and everything else remained unchanged.
yet my health my mind my life soul & spirit will never ever be the same...