Welcome to the personal blog of student,
writer and occasional bum Eli James. More...

Friday, March 30, 2007

Photo Log

Goldon At The Food Fair (Anne Wong not in pic)

Sandwich Girl

Primary School Superman

Charlton. Bullied.

Chong Bullied.

Douglas being raped, urm ... bullied.

Lousy Lighting - Garrick and Tang at bowling

Tang. Samurai blade not for sale.

Garrick, Tang, Me. Haraigoshi, Taiotoshi, Osotogari.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Smack In The Face

I spent the weekend blissfully offline, immersed in first life, talking and thinking and moving about, not confined to a screen and a keyboard.

It was blissful.

Several things have happened lately. I miss my 2nd-last chance to represent Sarawak in the National Judo Championships, after failing to attend the weighing in ceremony. Nobody told me about it. Or perhaps they did, but I failed to understand. Now I've one last year left to do so, after which I'd be too old to compete.

Vincent competed in the state selections. The guy who broke his collar bone twice. The haraigoshi specialist. The guy whose belt I'm still wearing, after he passed it on to me.

His hair was brown. My hair was green. The dojo, naturally, burst into good natured grass jokes. Gary coined the term 'hot like Wasabi'. It stuck.

I watched them play, at the sidelines.

I saw opportunities that I could've manipulated. I fell when they fell.

Vincent has quit Judo. His girlfriend told him that it wasn't good to train, and so he listened and stopped.

Douglas's girlfriend has converted to Islam. She tells him that he doesn't love her when she calls him during training, and he doesn't pick up.

Tell me: who can pick up a phone when you're sweating all over and your hands are shaking from the kumikata?

Garrick leaves in two weeks for KL, for hospitality management at Taylors.

And then there were three. Taiotoshi, Uchimata, Osotogari. Tang, Desmond and I.

Life goes in cycles. When will it be our turn?