Tail end of 2022. Hello 2023.

 Quickly, and as often said here or elsewhere, in a blink of an eye, here we are at the tail end of 2022.

When I was young, I always felt that time seemed to be moving faster with every year. I was sure that there must have been some mechanism that makes everyone dizzy while time tries to go faster every day such that its job is completed when the end game comes.

When I was serving my national service, I still remembered the above. Although time seems to be draggy, it didn't change what I had thought about time. The amount of nostalgia felt for my NS days is something that cannot be explained in a few paragraphs. If I still feel so attached to my NS days and remember that so many things happened, surely time could not have moved faster and faster.

For the nearly the past 3 years, life has been a blur. With so many of life's usual practices stopped, changed or revised, life can't be treated like how we live in an endemic. To try and get back our old lives as much as we can, we learn how to live with Covid. Ie, learning that taking vaccine and wearing the masks are part of the minimal protection and living with the risk of being infected on a daily routine. Some day or another, there would always be someone nearby who would lying in bed and recovering from Covid.

The year 2022 will end with the hanging up of my soccer boots eventually. While it was really fun and challenging to pit my fitness weekly on the soccer pitch with several soccer kakis, ultimately all good things have to come to an end, no matter how good it felt. As a young boy, I took it upon myself to form my own soccer team at 13 years old after seeing a flying newspaper notice in the New Paper about a soccer 7s at Sentosa. After making several friends and getting the privilege to play with several skillful players, I was glad to have managed to play in a couple of 11-aside games which at the age of 43. 30 years on and a broken ankle, I have only the Primary 6 interclass trophy to boast of in terms of accomplishments. 

Be better than the Best! This is the mantra I remember by heart. It was taught to me during NS, when my platoon commander Mr Pritam Singh made us come up with a water parade chant. Although it doesn't make any sense in English, it is a phrase which I have kept close to my heart, believing that one can never be the best for more than 2 seconds. The minute you think you are the best around, it's time to be that better. So in short, these 2 words better and best can never cohabit. You are always trying to be better (than when you were best). I believe this was also what the entire company bought into and took it as their own mantra, to be always outstanding in what we do and be proud of it. The minute we let ourselves an indulgence, standards will drop. it is the same in work. Why be second best and when you can be the best?

2022 is also the year that Argentina won the World Cup again after so many years. I can't really be bothered about Messi, but Argentina and Maradona were my heroes when I was only 6 years old, and my dad and brother brought me to a place outside the National Stadium for a Panini Sticker Book event. I was so happy whenever get to see Diego Armando Maradona's sticker. He was my favourite player and I loved seeing the Argentina soccer team in their famous light blue and white stripes jersey. The final was one of the most exciting and nail biting games ever and now I hope that Arsenal can also do the same and end the season with the title, something which this great club has not won for a long time.

Everything resets in a few days' time. I would say that 2022 has been a defining year of sorts. It is the year Singapore and rest of the world (China, albiet a little later) have come to cope with Covid and resumed most of the normalcy before Co19. Will life be the same again as in 2019? I seriously doubt so.

Renewal

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.

 On the 7th day of October 2022, yours truly has finally contracted Covid 19. Whilst being annoyed at being infected, I am most thankful to Lord that I didn't contract it at the early times, when everything was so unstable and when most of us including even the authorities have little knowledge of how to combat the virus. 

After hearing so many stories of how some would cope, I am thankful that other the first 2 nights which were rather torturing, I find myself regaining strength from each day and knows that it's only a matter of time before I am back to my feet.

Isiah 40:31 comes to mind easily as I have often prayed this verse for all my senior folks, loved ones whom I have grown to appreciate more as years gone by. Even if we do not interact often, these are people whose names have been on my lips and ears since I was a child and I pray that their energy be renewed like an eagle's when they rest their laurels with the Lord.

As I have also come to the realisation about my own physical limits in terms of soccer recently, I finally understand why it could be difficult for professional sports people to give up their sport competitively. Be it a professional or an amateur sportsman, I guess the decision to "come to terms" is often not an easy one. I pushed myself hard but while I have had the heart, the body doesn't respond as well and after several rounds of poor performance, I have come to accept that perhaps the standard has dropped so much that I would not like to remember myself as the Chinese player who can only hoof the ball out. I have a nice amateur soccer outing for 13 years old and I think I can have no regrets about not playing the game in person anymore. 

Recently, I have had the opportunity to finally attend a 2-day course to learn about the ropes of the things/regulations to opening a fish shop in Singapore. It has always been an aim to attend a course where I can pick up more knowledge about fishkeeping. Although I would say that the 2 days are too short to cover everything in depth, I was glad to be able to use the course to inspire myself to find out more what was going wrongly for my community tank and also to determine what was wrong with my fishkeeping routine for the bettas. Every time when I thought I have got it going for the bettas, something will happen to tell me that I hadn't got it right yet. So, for a long time, it seemed that I have only managed to get it right on the surface despite keeping bettas for a long time. Without a filter in those tanks, it's always a challenge to go against the norms of water chemistry protocols, ie, filter, bacterial colony system etc. It's a challenge to go down to the root and try everything to get it right. Perhaps the most knowledgeable line I have heard at the course was: "Every fish has disease in them. It's a matter of time and when their immune system drops such that the disease is allowed to take over". As such, prevention is to be exercised at all costs, rather than cure. At this age, the grand trophy is not to have many trophies or winning fish. I would like to think that the grandest prize for fishkeeping would be to enjoy the companionship of the fish I bought for as long as possible without shortening their lives or getting them sick. It doesn't matter if the fish is super comp grade or not. If a hobbyist does not know how to enjoy the simplicity of fishkeeping, then he must have wasted his time. Fishkeeping is not about having 100 comp grade fishes and screwing everything up but knowing how to keep 1 fish healthy and enjoying the process. I have come to accept that every fish be it comp grade or not; it will end up dead earlier if we do not know how to take care of it properly.

On the Covid front in Singapore, everything has nearly gone back to normal except for people who are still required to wear masks on public transport. I feel personally that wearing the mask has been my sole protection for a long time until I got infected last week. I could only think of the time I had spent playing with futsal with 20+ people and other than that, having lunch at my own workstation, where there are colleagues who walk around maskless. Well, I could have gotten it from anywhere, but I just feel that it is insensitive not to be wearing mask when your neighbouring colleagues are still wearing them for obvious reasons: to protect oneself and loved ones. If my colleagues have that in mind, why would I want to disrespect them by doing the opposite and not wearing a mask myself? I suppose most anti mask people would think that well, you can wear them all you like, but I ain't wearing them. Thus, I feel as colleagues, we should also be sensitive about this and not just think, well its endemic, to hell ya with the masks. I have come to be a firm believer of the mask. Even if not for covid, can you imagine breathing in all the germs/bad breadth/fart from someone's a** whenever in the public? I only wondered why mask was wearing not educated to us more accurately - that it could actually prevent most people from spreading the disease and getting it etc.

Well, this world continues to amaze me with people and stuff these days that I won't even bother batting an eyelid about anymore.

Mr Ussenal

July 2022

 With a blink of an ey... No, it aint a blink of an eye this time. 

Once more, quite some stuff have happened since the last update.

Trying my best to remember them in chronological manner:

1. Arsenal nearly finishing the top 4 in 2021 to 2022.

2. Resumed weekly futsal. Missed only 1 game since government relaxed the rules totally from May 2022? 

3. Resumed back the crazy game GTA 5 PC mode

4. Bought a new laptop after 10 years.

5. Departure of several colleagues, some not too bad some I dont know well

6. Sang ktv at home

7. Realised I couldnt sing as well as I would have liked

8. Doing social work at ARC Children's Centre

9. Parents getting Covid and going through the ordeal of 9 days

10. Michael be turning 3 in Oct 2022

11. We got our team's BBQ session back on track again. Incidentally, it was fixed back in July , the same date as our very first bbq nearly 10 years ago

12. I still love Chopin

13. Forgetting Im turning 43 and tried to play 3 futsal games in 8 days

14. BTO block finally about to be completed

Although it is easily seen from the above list that travelling isn't there, I have practically no regrets. It's nice to travel but after a few years in our own backyard, somehow the urge to travel has died off and I have grown used to the routine or no longer bound by the " I need to travel to re-charge ok" mantra.

I have grown to be grateful for the the little things I have and are still having. In every family and life, there are problems, no doubt. But there underlies also things that we have that we can be happy about as long as we look for it.

In today's messy world dominated by stuff such as:

1. Weekly shooting kills in USA

2. Mindless war

3. Increased protectionism

3. Increased insecurity 

4. More virus ie, Monkey pox

5. Inflation

6. Size of chicken drumstick now smaller than my hand sanatiser

7. Clients' representatives who are still acting like 20 years ago thinking that the world world owes them a living

8. Journalists saying that its okay for children to draw the wall

9. what else.

20 years ago, I remembered the world being friendlier and life was easier as a young adult. Another 20 years from today, things will get even more drastic no matter how optimistic we try. It's kinda scary when I be in my sixties then and I wonder what's in store for us old folks then.

Anyway, July is always a good month, with the new launch of Arsenal's jersey and of course our anniversary and also some birthdays. Its slightly dreary these days when its another year and another year. 

Well, to the next time again. Song playing on Youtube (Kiss the Rain, Dont know how the autoplay went) is just too melancholy to continue writing. A curse or gift?

Mr Ussenal.