Been 10 days since my last entry and I would say it has been quite a fulfilling time for me as I spent some quality time with people that are important to me listening to them and vice versa.

Everything is good till this point in my life and I just need the last part of it to stabalise and all would be perfect. I still feel that life sucks on the whole but I would not let this negativeness put me down as there is an equal amount of optimism surrounding me all thanks to the people who care. =]

I went down to the court beside Block 437 at Yishun on 9th May upon Yang Peng's request(sms), "Bro, come down and play ball leh.. Long never play with you le. Every week play 5 vs 5.. In need of defender and center.. Too shiong our back.. Can't cope.."

It has indeed been a year or two that I played with my once team-mates from Yishun. The main reason I stopped going down was because they were not playing competitive Basketball and though I did not really mind that but I couldn't stand the continuous smoking breaks they have and the second-hand smoke. "I do have a weak heart!"

It took me quite a while to locate the guys all thanks to Yang Peng telling me the wrong location of the court, "...its in front of Block 413, opposite Jin Shan Ling". It was contradicting since the court opposite Jin Shan Ling is the one beside Block 437 while the court nearest to Block 413 is the one inside the park. Yang Peng and John were the only primary school mates of mine that was there while the rest were the juniors from Block 346; Tin Tin, Mark, Zhao Dong, Beng Mang, Melvin, and Ah Qiang. Anyway, in regards to how glad I was to see them when I finally managed to find the court they were talking about, I would say it is a plain 'alright'; no excitement, nostalgia or what-so-ever. It is a sad revelation of just how strong this bond actually is...

I was baffled when they told me they have been losing for weeks and that they had just lost a game before Daniel and I reached. From what I last remembered, the dudes though were deteriorating in stamina their skills and accuracy were well-polished. Yang Peng and Melvin are accurate Perimeter shooters, John has a nasty shot that is hard to block and a good passer, both Tin Tin and Zhao Dong are solid Post players, Ah Qiang has magnificent inside-scoring and rebounding abilities while Beng Mang is a very hesitant but sturdyGuard. Moreover, looking at the opponents on the court, I sincerely could not sense any serious threat except for out-playing them by running them out.

When it was their turn to play again, I was asked to substitute Yang Peng while Beng Mang substituted John. This game was played with Melvin as SG, Beng Mang as PG, Ah Qiang as PF, Zhao Dong as C while I played as SF. We won that game fairly easy as we out-scored and out-rebounded them and relatively did the same against the next team with Yang Peng substituting Ah Qiang. However, I noticed that both our Guards are playing very bad defense as they often leave the high post for easy shots and penetration and the worst being that no one is there to box out for those long rebounds.

The third game which we lost was a repeat of the same defensive mistakes and high turn-over to assist ratio. Not only that but due to my outstanding scoring performance over the last two games, the defense made sure that I did not get the ball. In this game John substituted Yang Peng, Tin Tin substituted Zhao Dong and Daniel substituted Beng Mang. This game was badly played and John turned the ball over many a times and Melvin kept taking hurried shots. Daniel was running all over the place and was pretty lost while the defense was all over Tin Tin inside the low post area and like I said, the opponents made sure that passes do not get to me.

We were down by quite a margin but we managed to tie it and lost as they hit that deciding shot. I was frustrated half-way through that game and screamed at my team-mates to get their act together and play proper defense. This not only 'woke' my team-mates but intimidated the opponents which caused them crucial turn-overs which Melvin and I scored off fast-breaks and finally tied the game. At the end of the day, I finally knew why they were this bad and that they could only win when Wen Yi and Hui Yi are with them. They did not really play a team game and defense is horrible. The worst being that they often take bad shots and were not playing smart.

They commented that they were surprised that I did not take on 5 guys with my penetration like before and in response to that is because the opponents got back to their zone asap when they fail to get the offensive rebound so it is redundant to take them on. The other comment that kinda disgusted me was how they said that I still could not shoot a 3-pointer. I think they seriously need a reminder of who often hits that Big Three when they need it. Last but not least, as I quote Daniel, "what spectacular and 'wah' move... used to it leh. It's all Danny."

ps: I got a hit on my left eye as the defender tried to follow after I did a cross-over on him and
passed him. "Ouch!"

10th may: JMD 6th Anniversary... Not alot of members turned up due to either work or Mother's day celebration. Nevertheless, it is still good to see those who made it. However it is quite dis-heartening to see that that the different batches stay within their own clique instead of mixing around. It defeats the prupose of holding an anniversary celebration of bonding and sharing experiences with one another regardless of age or batch. Nonetheless, I am glad to see that those who were there that day had enojoyed themselves and kudos
to Ezzat for his entertaining and encouraging speech.

The start of the much awaited Natsu 2008 practice on 17th May can be easily summarised simply by saying, "The Sweat of Hardwork from the Aches of Labor motivated both by the Excitment of thy Heart and Stress of the Challenges defines what all this day is about." Ganbatte Ne Mina San~