drifting apart like a plate tectonic

i always dread opening my letter box. unlike in the past when i could get fanmail, ok normal written snail mail from friends saying hi, now what i get is either bills, payment reminders and in case of today, notice of house loan interest increment.

man, apparently the interest rate will be increased to 5.25% per annum instead of current 3.5%. let's see, that works out to be about $260 extra i must fork out per month.

damn.

i was kinda bumped out for a moment, staring the letter in disbelief feeling as if i got robbed in broad daylight but in a totally legal way.

but then in the end, after i came back to my senses and the ringing of 'what? noooooooooo....' already left my head, i realized this is the kind of thing that you can never do anything about.

nothing. you know, like the weather. you can bitch about it all you want but when it's going to rain, it will rain anyway.

maybe i should pick up squash or something and try to win the prize money. i can always do with an extra income considering all the surmounting expanses around me. i've already ruled out stocks and shares cause i'm a brain dummy for stuff like that.

i went to kallang squash center last week to catch the 2007 singapore women masters event matches. ok my intention was to actually watch nicol david play. she's a malaysian and she's the current world no-1 player.


see, anything in possible in this sport. i'm sure she doesn't give a damn on any bank's increase of interest rate.

it was the first time that i watched the sport, i mean really watched the sport. and i must give them due respect. unlike tennis when you can pick your butt while awaiting the return ball, in squash the ball comes back so fast you need to be mentally and physically alert all the time.


plus, the rallies are long. if roger federer can serve and kill on the next stroke in wimbledon, in squash you can go to toilet and return and the rally still goes on. seriously.

it was a joy to watch. except i found it harder and harder to get seats as the tournament went deep into the draw. mainly because it was a free seating so people tend to bring their whole clan to the hall.

2nd round : nicol david(mas) vs rebecca chiu(hk)

i was all comfortable on the 5th row during the 2nd round match. in quarter final i was already at the last row. during the final, i had to stand on the concrete wall of the balcony with my hands holding tight the metal holder of the roof for my dear life because god knows it was 2 levels down on my other side.


i was that determined alright, and luckily it was worth it. nicol gave us a lot to cheer for. she thrashed her opponent, the world no-2 australian natalie grinham in straight sets, which was a delight especially because i didn't think my arm would hold for another 2 more sets.


still, i woke up in horror the next day because my arms muscles were all painful. the company open bowling masters for previous league players was that morning at 9 and i really wanted to cause a ripple at the very least.


either it was not that bad in the first place, or due to the magical properties of squibb's counterpain balm that i rubbed all morning before the competition, my arms were fortunately holding on fine.


in fact, i came out stronger than a powered up pac-man. i started off strong at 188 pinfalls, and maintained 170-ish pinfalls throughout and got 209 pinfalls at 6th game. by when i was the suprise leader of the pack.


i mean, i was never one expected to win this, especially after coming off just 3rd in deparmental game last tuesday, you know, considering the level of play there. after all, what can you expect from a competition that awards you $10 cold storage voucher?


but nerve got better of me. some bugger let slipped that i had a good chance if i were to maintain my level of play for the next 2 rounds, which automatically made me think of the congratulation notes and respect i was going to get. i was totally counting the eggs. plus, they stopped the game for awhile to recalculate the current standings and changed my lanes so it kind of broke my momentum too.


so before i knew it i was drifting apart like a plate tectonic.


i finished off 2nd, which is still good too. i mean, if you tell me i'm gonna be a serious contender for the title, or even to get top 5 yesterday, i'd say blahh.








so i have to be grateful. it's easy to feel down instead considering the chance i've let go but i'm not gonna ask for more.


except, you know, wishing if only they had given us a million dollar prize money instead, so i can be all like, 'house loan interest up? who cares...'



..ed