is it a dream?

my day started off nicely with great breakfast and busride. while my term test also went well after three full hours of studying from 9-12. i must really thank my friend who is also my lecture-mate for my 10-12 lecture who helped me understand one whole chapter for my 12-1 test. i knew i should go for that 10-12 lecture. confirm can find somebody to help me study.

managed my test well, only to come back tired and sleepy. so i went to deep sleep at 2. i couldn't wake up to my alarm clock at 4 and woke up at 7 instead. went down for dinner and talked excitedly about what happened yesterday and today. wow, i didn't know i could have such enthusiasm again. i thought my life is screwed already. but not really.

meanwhile, just after the test, my iPod played me a nice song. the guitar riff is great man. i loved it so much last year that i used it for my rockers audition, which i failed badly anyway. sorry. i'm off the guitar for now. i know i used to love guitar so much and all. but i guess life is bringing me to different turns and twists, those that do not involve guitar. and i'm glad for that. i have so many other activities that i really, really like, much more than the guitar. dance. cl. badminton. it's just incredible to like three things greatly. i almost forgot how it felt to play badminton after a five-year period of laziness. but i felt it again last week. the thrill of going after the shuttlecock, observing your opponents, analyzing their moves, controlling your shots, thinking of the shuttlecock placing, so many things to do, yet everything went almost automatically.

oh, and not to mention that funny story. on sunday i played badminton in a big group. there were six people or seven. we played double king's game. so this kimchi friend of mine came in. kimchi saw me (and e-wei) losing to hasikin and eric's group badly. obviously, hasikin is a damn good ihg player. but anyway, kimchi laughed at me. hmm. shit. one more thing to bear with, him laughing at me all the time, that's what i thought. well, luckily he couldn't laugh for too long, the next game e-wei and i beat eric and him. then at the end of the night, kimchi and i played single. i won the first set easily with 15-8. he beat me on the second set with 15-13. hmm. good! i wanted to play a long game. but then i realized that it was 11pm already and i still have some important work to do. so i just had to finish the last set fast. played a bit more seriously than before. won 15-1.

15-8. 13-15. 15-1.

why did i beat him easily on the last set? apparently, i unconsciously learned of his weakness during the first two games. on the last game, i kept giving him a high-speed long shot to his backhand side. some of the time, that's enough to keep him busy and losing points due to his backhand inaccuracy. at others, i just continued with a soft, close to net shot. he would have to rush back in front and that really tired him out. no way he could continue playing like that. because even when he managed to return that one, the next one will be too easy. his posture is already bad after that one that it's quite easy to predict where i should be putting my next shot. that gave me all the points i need.

with eric, it was different. he's much harder to play with. but he has weakness playing near the net. i just need to make use of my dropshots more often. not easy since i already lost most of my control over the racket, but still manageable. he always told me during the game that my dropshots are disgusting. but seriously, you wanna see a disgusting dropshots? look at hasikin's ones. they drop smack after the net. forcing the opponent to play a net (which implies that the opponent is good) or for the opponent to lift the shuttlecock up. usually, if the opponent chose the lift option, he'd have a big problem. lifting under such a short reaction time will usually either results in a slow lift that can be easily returned with great force near the net, or a medium lift that can be easily smashed. both way is bad for him.

oh, not to mention that the couple played damn well that night. we (two guys) always lost to them (one guy, one girl). seriously boon sern and yingjia can really play well. and they have the connection! wonderful! we were totally, completely beaten.

my target: to play as well as boon sern, or even hasikin (that's a little bit too high, but this is just a goal, right?).
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ah, talking about that guitar riff, the song i was talking about is jack johnson's better together. it's playing now on my iTunes. i used to have a few bad memories associated with the song that made me dislike listening to it (i used to like it very much). but anyway, i guess those bad memories faded away. now i can really listen and enjoy that piece very much. lovely.

there's an acoustic version at youtube. you can find it here.

Better Together
Jack Johnson
In Between Dreams

There is no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
And no song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia tone loving

Love is the answer
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Why are we here and where do we go
And how come it's so hard
It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing
It's always better when we're together

Mmm, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, we'll look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

And all of these moments just might find a way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone when the morning light sings
Or brings new things for tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too, too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression I was somewhere in between
With only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be, we'll sit beneath the mango tree now

Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Mmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together (mmm)

I believe in memories, they look so, so pretty when I sleep
And when I wake up, you look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time
And there is no, no song I could sing
And there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing
We're better together
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did i tell you that i have weird taste of songs? the songs i like don't come from one single (or even a few) genre. i basically can like any songs and hate any songs. when i liked a song, i could put that song on repeat for practically days and nights. right now better together is on repeat for the day, while Groenemeyer suits my sleeping mood (and thus, is on repeat at night).

but nowadays i don't listen to new songs anymore. i'm reaching stagnation with no MTV or radio around. i can't be bothered too! i mean, i could easily listen to online radio, but well, who cares! never in the mood to listen to radio nowadays (or podcast).
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central library - hall

i like walking the path from central library to hall. since i've lots of classes near central library, especially the ADM block, i took that path many times in a week. really, really love it! firstly take the path in the forum to beside the central library lift. then continue and turn right. you'll be greeted by a park with law library on the right while a lot of trees and plants on your left. then continue walking pass the library. instead of continuing to bizad canteen, turn left and take the long staircase down to the roadside. take that path to the bizad busstop and then to my hall.

i fell in love with that route. i'll usually just walk along that path with my iPod on. walking as slowly as i can, enjoying my day. i really love being a carefree person. with time on my side instead of against me. i can easily take fifteen minutes to complete that journey. meanwhile listening to many, many songs in my iPod and enjoying the cool breeze there.
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a letter from my orientation OGLs that is almost nine months late. ancas - lots of good memories, lots of voluntary embarrasment, yet little friendship left. we're just that fallen apart. oh, that reminds me of dating game. i can't believe i actually did what i did! what a shame, what a shame! aaaaaaaaa! to think about it, i must have lots of testosterone and dopamine to be able to do such lame things (and big balls too). if only i have a bit of those when i need them. cheh. come on! took me three people to push me before i can do even the smallest thing yesterday.

what are you scared of?
come on! be a man.
just go!
need me to help you knock?

that's what they say. hmm. seriously. i feel like such a loser. maybe i am. hopefully not. because if i am, then what chance do i have?
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Or brings new things for tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too, too many things I have to do