Could It Be True?

Just a quick share of a random thought here.

After observing the titles of Grudz's and Molly's blogs, I have realised that both of their blog titles contain the word title. Now, I may be getting over myself, but could it be possible that I have started that trend?

Thoughts please.

You Want the Truth? You Can't Handle the Truth!

Or maybe you can.

*ahem*

Lame reference aside, I shall shed some light on the seven ludicrous statements I made in my previous post.

• Statement 1: I taught myself guitar by reading a 'Teach Yourself Guitar' book.

I'm sorry, Feathers, but this one's a lie. I tried to do it, but I gave up for a while before I took lessons. On the other hand, this is now pretty much what I do with other instruments (I've taught myself some piano, among others), which is quite a lot easier now that I have some form of musical knowledge. I'm sure you can do it :D.

• Statement 2: In Year 8, I got 2 and a half weeks of lunchtime detention for not being able to draw a human face.

Contrary to Bruce's guess, this is completely true. My Year 8 Art teacher was evil - at least, to the people of lesser aesthetic ability (and more so if the student possesses a Y chromosome). Don't get me wrong, I swear I tried my best; apparently that's just not good enough for her. I didn't have it the worst, though: two poor kids got FOUR WEEKS of lunchtime detention for the same reason. O_O

• Statement 3: My reason behind making a Sparklife account was so I could take the Sparktests.

Absolutely true (The Personality Test and The Death Test in particular).

• Statement 4: 1984 by George Orwell was what led me to Sparknotes in the first place.

No, Bruce, this one's a lie. It was, in fact, Animal Farm that led me to the site where notes sparkle.

• Statement 5: I was actually born in the US of A, making me a legal American.

Another incorrect guess from Bruce. On the 21st of November, 1994, on a cold winter afternoon (apparently) in Columbus, Ohio, a little baby who would turn out to be yours truly was born. Apparently, that was enough to grant me an American citizenship.

• Statement 6: I have, on a couple of occasions, sleepwalked to my TV and switched it on. On all said occasions, my parents believed I was doing that consciously and minded their own businesses.

Total lie; I just wrote this because I couldn't think of anything else.

• Statement 7: I own a pink flying elephant in my basement.

This one was a suggestion for a dear friend of mine, who I turned to for help when I ran out of things to say. Therefore, no, Feathers and Grudz, it has no grain of truth in it.

And there we go. The truth is out.

Thou art my life noweth.

This Post Doesn't Exist (Featuring Up to Six More Lies)

(instruction three complete)

Sky (instruction two complete) has used the power of technicalities to force me to make one of these posts. Thanks, Sky, really (instruction one complete). I would dearly love to accomplish instruction four in sentence form, but I don't think I have that cranial capacity. Nevertheless, here come the lies (and possibly truths):

1. I taught myself guitar by reading a 'Teach Yourself Guitar' book.
2. In Year 8, I got 2 and a half weeks of lunchtime detention for not being able to draw a human face.
   
3. My reason behind making a Sparklife account was so I could take the Sparktests.
4. 1984 by George Orwell was what led me to Sparknotes in the first place.
5. I was actually born in the US of A, making me a legal American.
6. I have, on a couple of occasions, sleepwalked to my TV and switched it on. On all said occasions, my parents believed I was doing that consciously and minded their own businesses.
   
7. I own a pink flying elephant in my basement.

Like Grudz, I shall disregard instructions five to seven, as most the people I know have done this anyway. However, if you read this and you have not done it, make one. There can never be enough liars in the world.

Note: Funsize has definitely not done this, so she's tagged.

The Jabulani

There has been a lot of controversy about the use of the Jabulani ball in the 2010 FIFA World Cup - how it's too light, how it moves too much in the air, etc. This is my opinion about it: a couple of Jabulanis were used in the school football tournament I had taken part in (see previous post). Playing as goalkeeper, I had no such problems - in fact, I managed to concede a mere 1.33 goals per match over 3 matches, one of which was a penalty. Admittedly, the attacks of international (not to mention professional) football teams are slightly more menacing than the ones I have faced, but surely, if a goalkeeper of my stature can keep that low a rate, international, professional goalkeepers should have no trouble bettering me. Therefore, you men need to step your games up.

Sincerely,

Adhit Sutresna

Note: I hope you have noticed that this is very much a joke. A rate of 1.33 goals per game is absolutely shameful, especially against 12-16 year olds of relatively mediocre talent, thus rendering my opinion completely and utterly invalid.

Caution: Long Post Ahead

This is probably one of the longer posts on the blog, simply because a LOT happened on Friday. So brace yourselves.

Today might well be my last day of school at the school I had been enrolled to the past four years and I must say it was about as good as a last day can be. I was supposed to perform some songs with a couple of guys, but it was scheduled during a break in the sports competition (we'll get to that later), which, my school being itself, ran inexplicably late, leaving us with no official break, therefore depriving me (us) of said performance. That said, the events of the sports competition more than made up for it.

At the end of every semester, our school stages football (that would be what you Americans refer to as 'soccer') and basketball tournaments (they are played simultaneously). The formats vary, but this year, it was teams of year levels competing. With the Year 12s away, there were only 5 competitors.

We Year 10s played football first and we drew up against the Year 8s, who are known for several rather skilled players (well, a hell of a lot more skilled than us, anyway). Me? I was the goalie. It's sad, really, when someone as uncoordinated as myself is the best option for possibly the most important position in the team (I say this, because my year level, barring one person, is effectively inept at this sport, thus making us vulnerable to constant attacks). So, our mindset at the start was "we're bloody screwed".

We started off better than we thought we would have, having more shots than them. Then things started to get a little more predictable when they scored the first goal. Needless to say, we reverted back to the mindset.

About two minutes later, we got just the kick-start we needed: during a scramble up front (our front), an opposition defender, in desperation to clear the ball, stuck his leg out. The most incredible thing then happened: the ball floated into their open goal. One-all at the stroke of half time. It was AMAZING.

It was pretty much ping-pong-esque for the second half, so we had to go into golden goal. But before the account of that ever-so-crucial period, a shred of controversy. One of the 'star' players from the Year 8s was running down the flank when a teammate of mine, who was chasing him down from behind, slide-tackled him. In my opinion, it was totally legal (he absolutely made contact with the ball first, the 'star' just wasn't quick enough to jump and avoid the tackler). They got a free kick and got pretty ticked off, but nothing happened from it.

Back to the golden goal. About two minutes in, we had another scramble up front. However, the ball was somehow crossed into the face of the goal, which was dutifully met by the boot of our striker. Two one at full time! Suffice to say, we were pretty wild after that.

We played basketball next, again against the Year 8s. We lost. By two points. And got knocked out. Moving on.

We then played against the Year 11s in football, who also had some 'star' players. This time round, we were a little more gung-ho, seeing that we've already won one game with our 'losers' tag (some would have used the term 'underdogs', but seriously, we're that crap). Funny thing happened at the beginning: the 11s took a shot which I saved, but it rebounded off me and bounced pretty high. My teammate, more accustomed to basketball, proceeded to catch the ball in his mitts. Had he been playing basketball, I would have applauded him. That not being the case, I had a penalty to save (I didn't, but I'd like to think I was only centimetres away).

Anyway, we managed to get to 3-3 late into the game (we were surprisingly efficient with our opportunities), when the ball somehow landed at the feet of a girl on my team, who duly dispatched the ball into its rightful place (the opposition goal). We won. Again. And this time we're playing in the final!

Our opponents in the final were the Year 7s. In spite of their (lack of) size (barring this one HUGE player [I'm not exaggerating, he was taller than all of us 10s]), they managed to clobber the Year 9s NINE FREAKING ONE. So yeah, we weren't about to take them easy (especially with our 'underdog' status [come on, two wins should promote us a little bit]).

Our plan was straightforward: our one good player (he's on the school team) says that they depend a lot on one player who wasn't very fast. Therefore, we had a defender sticking to him like a bad smell. The plan worked - we ended up winning 4-0 and we ended up as the champs *cue confetti*! After four long years, our year level has won something in this department. It was a very, very proud moment.

How did I do, personally? Well, over the duration of 3 games, I managed to only concede 4 goals (one was a penalty described earlier) and the number of fatal errors were kept to a minimum (that said, I almost made a total fool of myself by leaving a ball I had expected to miss the goals, only to hear a loud clang from the goalpost). I can safely conclude that, while I suck fundamentally (I can't dive to save my life), I did make some pretty good saves and took (some) appropriate risks. I also got injured! Not really, as the worst thing that happened was that some skin on my toe got peeled off and I scraped my knees, but I am left hobbling two days later. I'm very proud of myself.

This being my last day, I also had to say my goodbyes, in particularly to some notable teachers. Some threatened to burst into tears on me, but I'm thankful they didn't (else I would have too). One teacher in particular I've known since Year 1, so it was pretty emotional for the both of us. We also had an assembly of sorts, where awards were given out. To my delight, I got one for the highest score in the Personal Project, as said teacher used the opportunity to broadcast my leaving in front of all the students from Years 7 to 10. It wasn't awkward at all.

Towards the end of the assembly, one of my classmates comes barging in with a cake. It turns out to be a surprise birthday party for that teacher! It turned out to be extra appropriate, as there is now cake on her birthday as well as three of our last days (two other people are leaving). As a result, amongst the hugs and handshakes, cake was also smeared on our faces.

It was only after school when it all really sunk in. I had to go back to school to return my locker key and grab some paperwork when I just took some time to really take the building in. I gotta admit, I almost teared up then.

It was also then I learned that destiny works in funny ways. There were some people who I hadn't said goodbye to (like a janitor whom I have also known since Year 1) who I did end up saying goodbye to after I had to go back (again) after I thought I was missing some documents. It's nice when things play out like that.

So I went home that night very, very happy. A little sad? Of course. Proud too. But mostly very satisfied with the day that had been.

That's it for now,

Thou art my life noweth.

*is back*

So I realise I haven't blogged in over a week (not that anyone would notice). This could be due to my star attraction, the Sparkvention posts, has not been updated in AGES. No, I am not discontinuing it. In fact, I need your opinions: In the comments section, please suggest possible villains for the Sparkvention (I'll try to make it work) and I'll pick the most suitable ones. Thanks.

Thou art my life noweth.