They Never Got You – Spoon

“TrueHoop reader Daniel emails: “I have a topic for you: TALENT. When I was kid and Star Wars ruled the nation, unlike the other kids, I didn’t want the action figures; I wanted the soundtrack. I have always loved music. At 15, I got a guitar. Didn’t know how to play or even tune it. I just plicked around and sold it on the first offer. In college, a roommate showed me a few chords, riffs from Pink Floyd and Hendrix, and bam. Still rockin’ today. People tell me I have talent. But I don’t think so. I think it’s love. If you play every day, and feel bad if you can’t, and you do so for years and years, it’s love and work that make you great. Yes, there are a few prodigies out there, so talent does exist. But I’m saying it’s way overrated. Have you ever tried to think of a way to measure the minutes Jordan played? Total minutes, from childhood playgrounds and lonely mornings in the driveway to high school practices to pick-ups to summer league and international play to NBA games. If my theory holds any water, then Jordan, before his decline, played more than anyone. Maybe I’d put Iverson and Stockton and Nash up there, but maybe not Wilt or Shaq (maybe size is part of talent). LOVE TRUMPS TALENT.“

i was never a good writer to start with, nor an athlete nor a basketball player and i don’t profess to be as proficient in those fields the way iverson is in basketball, but this is something i still fervently believe in, that love triumphs over talent because it keeps you going. you never want to concede that it’s the end and sometimes it’s the way it concludes than the way it starts and this is why i continue to write, cook, to play basketball; whenever someone asks me “why do you play basketball when you suck in it” i just simply go, “because i love playing it and if i can’t contribute offensively at least i know i’m dependable defensively.”

times like these, life becomes black and white, times like these, you stop thinking about what others think of you and instead focus on the things you love, because love, love will keep us alive.

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but what happens when you love loving? what happens then?

Send Away The Tigers – Manic Street Preachers

i might have forgotten how to love and that is a scary thought.

Kevin Carter – Manic Street Preachers

i don’t talk to many people these days because it’s simply too exhausting to; dandelionwine is almost left to its own to ferment in the passing of days but there are times when things are simply too hectic, rapid, vapid.

but all things turn out well in its own way; international day came and went, we managed to establish a singapore booth despite being only 2 of us, with 2 others and the food i prepared was gone in 2/3s of the allocated time; curry puffs, ngor hiangs, goreng pisangs, bur bur cha cha, soya bean milk and the singapore sling cheyenn made were all cleared out by the time we started packing and there is much satisfaction gleaned from the fact that i was almost operating as a one-man army. it is when you’re calmer and more composed that you learn how certain people would rather complain and question every decision made when they are simply just lazy and it irks me to no end that they would ask you to finish their work for them simply based on the fact that you’re the only other countryman around.

people should stop taking others for granted, learn to respect others and learn that that’s one of the few methods to command respect in turn. more than grades, this school is about management and instead of plaintively whining how terrible lessons and teachers are, maybe you should start thinking how you can make do with the money you have spent instead of just changing schools; life is never peachy, and one should never be so reachy so work with what you have instead of comparing and complaining; it is a singaporean pasttime, but it only leads to atrophy and detriment of one’s character.

but to jisun, thank you so much for everything, because i couldnt have done it without you.

and at least it was a success, and the food tasted good so i shall seek solace in that. and aboveall, the ice sculpture chef jean-pierre did for me, the procurement of the food items i requisitioned by chefs daniel and mark were muchly appreciated and to gwen too, because without all these it would not have worked.

thank you all, and i hope that this will not be the last singapore booth for a long time.

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i learnt so much more this year than the previous, this should be mentioned and recorded, and regardless of it all, hard work is still recognized and much consolation should be obtained from that.

p.s norwegian aquaveidt is really awesome stuff; for memories of boozing with the chefs in the garbage area where we were out of camera views, the brand is linie; remember  it, record it, relive it.

these are magnolia days, despite it being autumn where the snow came and went.

Where Do You Go To My Lovely – Peter Sarstedt

yesterday i won my first ever basketball tournament and the championship game was an epic affair with us trailing till the final 3 minutes before daniel netted his first two 3-pters of the tournament and i thought, omg we did it, we won back to back tournaments. and in the last second of regulation, a tiny asian guy came up, and hit another three to send it to overtime and i swore with every ounce of my being.

OT was like the first half, with both sides scoring two measely points to send it to double overtime, and we were trailing the whole time before miljhan released a ball from the top of the arc, where it hit the front rim, the backboard and the back rim before wobbling down into the net and sending us into raptures. we were up by two, and it stayed that way and that was that, my first championship, and lord forbid, hopefully not my last one.

i did scant little in this tournament, hitting two airballs and scoring no points but i played rugged scrappy defence as usual and like david said, i had no turnovers which was an amazing feat in its own right so i suppose i should be happier, but i wished i had contributed more than to just defence, which should never be underrated, but basketball is really a game of two half courts and i should do more than just stay on one end.

i will be better, i swear, i will hit more jumpers, develop a post game, dribble with both hands effectively and learn to have more faith in my ball handling. it’s all about belief, it’s all about faith, it’s all about will.

stefen, miljhan and mike, it has been an honour to play with you the past two years; daniel, david, chun, victor and dushan, it was good to meet you guys these year, and i don’t think i will ever quite forget you guys ever. to the Caux team of 07-08, we won all our games and this should be remembered on some levels, on certain spots of a cyberspace.

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i fucked up my mid terms so badly that it isn’t funny, but there are always reprieves, if only i will stop believing in the them.

Rie fu – Life is a Boat

it started snowing yesterday while we were at the glion courts balling and by the time i emerged, all that stood out were soft feathery flakes from the sky forming a white down on the grey musky floors. it is winter, winter is here, earlier than last year and all is salient and quiet.

there are different stories every year; last year i took charges like an empty battery and this year i handle the ball with the left hand and i have evolved into a jump shooter; last year we won our first two games before losing the rest and this year the story will be different, i suppose.

last year i would be on the fourth floor typing this while facing a wall; this year i did so facing a russian, a palestinian, a zimbawean and an indian taking photographs on the third, smiling infectiously, incandescently, immortally youthful. there are different stories every year, and that’s what makes it so different.

Dire Straits – Money for Nothing

Saucepans at Dawn: Alain Ducasse meets Heston Blumenthal

good lord, what masters.

Radiohead – Bullet Proof…I Wish I Was

two weeks ago it was fall, two days ago it started snowing and there’s an immaculate sense of peace which white water drops bring. these are tranquil, magnolia days, embodied in the green barren trees that stand in the courtyard just outside of the cafeteria.

it doesn’t make outright sense, but it does.

it has been an absolutely hectic week, banquet’s over, we were lucky, and i am thankful. chef jean-pierre called me a chef at the end of it all, and i suppose i have to be grateful and thankful that he never lost his temper when i asked him so many questions, that he helped us to salamander the breaded lamb chops that were never supposed to be steamed, that he helped us prepare the vegetables that we should have done by ourselves beforehand. there’s too much sloppiness, and much gratitude but we learn all the time i suppose.

to tamara, umair, yana, sunny, natascha, clive, roy, dede, yvonne, neli, all of whom will never read this, thank you for making this come through because it could never have been done without you all.

there is a marked atrophy in bloodwyrds these days, and i have absolutely no control of it. you lose a bit of yourself everyday but sometimes there’s only so much you can do. but it will be the winter break soon, and i will read books in the white splendour of it all. it will be a reprieve, i will be happy.

A Design For Life – Manic Street Preachers

there are too many things to say, too many letters to spell, and too much guilt to bear; rachael tan told me i worry too much and that i was probably the most cynical person in the world, but what i didn’t tell her was that i am too optimistic, too idealistic, and too honest.

i broke up with the girl today, because it was the only thing to do, because i could not love her the way she loved me and because i had to be fair to her. part of me died today but i grew older i think, i grew older.

there are too many words to say, but i remain muted, souless, loveless, not because i chose to be, but because for the first time in my life i proved uncapable of loving and this burden bears heavily on me and not even writing this serves to alleviate any of the weight on my shoulder.

today i think i shot 50% of my shots with a refined shooting stroke.

today i think i will study till late into the night because the rest of the day was spent coping with it.