Ouch..

It's funny how just 2 years back, after not winning the league title for 4 years, Manchester United winning the 2006/2007 league title felt like the best thing in the world. After the European Cup final defeat last night, however, the 2008/2009 one just feels like a consolation prize.


There's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere. I'll look for it after nursing my emotional wounds.


Curse you, hope and escalated expectations!



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On a much brighter note, I've achieved another first in my life 3 days ago. I won my first ever sporting medal! The University of Nottingham Staff Futsal Tournament. Prior to this, I've never in my life won a medal in any sporting event.


I used to finish out of the qualification times every year in my high school cross-country runs. I got beat in the first round of the Adidas 3-on-3 Streetball competition. I was never the track runner or the high jumper in both primary and high school. I score 180 degrees own-goals. Recently, I even became the guy who always got picked last when they were drafting team members at the neighbourhood basketball court.



So, winning the futsal competition as a first choice goalkeeper 3 days ago naturally felt surreal. It felt great. Of course, the fact that it's a Mickey Mouse competition that nobody really gives a damn about is not lost on me. Kinda like winning a Research Award under the "Male Student in Universities Located in Semenyih, Malaysia, with the surname Ng and height above 177.5 and below 178.5cm"category.


But after all the sporting mediocrity I had to bear during my short 21 years of life, I think I deserve to bask in the glory of winning a gold medal for a while.


I'm awesome.



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I don't know if it's yet another moral high ground moment for me but lately, I'm just not into gossips anymore. You know, the type where you bad-mouth somebody behind their backs but act nonchalant in front of them.


The first reason is because I believe there's always 2 sides to a story. Lots of people know it but not many practice it. Which is why I won't automatically agree with you if you're ranting to me about how the world is so unfair or how someone is such a moron. It'd be a lot more helpful to you if I step back and offer you an honest outsider's perspective rather than nod blindly along with you.


The other reason is because I'm just past the stage of forming cliques and marginalizing people whom the "gang" doesn't like. Partly because I'm not gonna let popular opinion in a group sway my judgment of a person. I find that the argument laid out is often very one-sided to whoever you're hearing it from. But also because I find the whole concept of bad-mouthing someone you dislike to a group of somebody else to be very distasteful. Almost like you're trying to get them to dislike him/her as well. Fair enough if they're sheep. Just leave me out of it.


Also, it's never a good idea to burn bridges. I know from personal experience that fate's a cruel bitch and somehow, sooner or later, you're gonna have to go to the person you "hate" for help. Of course, I'm contradicting what I said in the first paragraph i.e. being two-faced but it doesn't have to be that way. Most of the time, I find that whatever I hate in a person is really very trivial and it's often much healthier for me to be the bigger man and just shrug it off.


Plus, I'm against negative environments, especially at work. Everything can be worked out in a mature manner. There really is no benefit to be reaped from antagonizing someone or resorting to childish name-calling as someone from the university did recently. He must be in his 30's, acting like a little child in his e-mails. Frankly, I felt embarassed for him.



Yeah, this is really starting to feel like another moral high ground moment for me.