In the search of the meaning of Life...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Mutombo part (ii)

19:58

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Muuuuuutomboooooooo

20:41

today is a sad day. because today marks the end of the career of one of the most valuable NBA players in history, Dikembe Mutombo, whose name in full-length is Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo.

you may wonder why his name is so weird, because he is an african. Being a 7 feet 2 (218cm) 42-year-old african, he speaks English, Spanish, Portugese French and five other African languages. then, you may also wonder what is so special about this 7+ foot old man. Though he is already 42, he is still playing in the NBA, one of the most intensive sports leagues in the world. Not only is he still playing on the court actively, he is still making history. in his 18 years of career in NBA, he was named 4-time NBA defensive player of the year, 8-time all stars, 2nd in all-time blocking in NBA history, and many many other accolades... unlike his long-retired teamates or rivals, his presence on court still acts as a stabliser to his team, getting rebounds and making amazing block shots. even blocking and shaming younger players who are 18 years younger than him, and much more enegetic and powerful than him. and the reason why he is still not retiring is that he is still fighting for the Champion ring. and it is the yearning for the ring that pushes him to such height in his career...

outside the court, his is a great kind man who is a renowned humanitarian. he started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997, which won him the NBA's humanitarian award in 2001. Besides being the first Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program and being referred to as 'the Son of the Congo" by G.W.Bush, he personally donated $18.5 million for the construction and completion of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Africa.

Not only had he touched thousands of hearts on the court, he moved thousands off the court as well. but sadly, today might be the last day of his NBA career, with a knee sprain in the first quarter against the Portland Trailblazers in the 1st round of the NBA Playoffs season 08-09.

"For me, basketball is over," he said.

"I cried so much about it when I was laying on the floor," said Mutombo. "But when I got in the locker room, kids talked about I need to be positive and thank God for the wonderful 18 years I had."

"I've had a wonderful 18 years of staying injury-free, so I just want to go out with my head up, no regrets," he said.

tears almost gushed out of my eyes when i saw these photos of his injury and discovered that today will be his last day on court. actually, what is so inspiring of him is not his fame and titles, but his tenacity and perserverance that despite encountering failures at gaining a champion ring, year after year for 18 years, he is still fighting strong on court despite his old age. It is a pity for him to end his career like that, but this is life, or else there won't be tragic heroes...

LET'S SALUTE HIM!

Mutombo's signature gesture (back) he does this every time he makes a blockshot.

Mutombo's signature gesture (front)

Friday, April 17, 2009

22:46

today's GP lesson was quite crap (as usual?), after completing her mission of going through the compre, ms lim suggested a "game" for us to play, 'game' was quite a cunning terminology to use i would say... haha

all of us lined up in 2 roles where ones in opposite faced each other, leaving some space in between and space enough for a step backward. so here is how the game goes, she throws out statement and we are to respond to it by stepping forward if you feel strongly for statement, step backwork if you feel istrongly against it, and remain on the spot if your stand is neutral.

eg: "You know what your goal is" and we were supposed to step forward/backward/remain on the spot.

i saw what was coming when the first round of the 'game' came, and the subsequent rounds further confimred the trickiness of the 'game'.(maybe 'trickiness' is a wrong word to use) haha, she was using the 'game' to observe and study us, which was quite ingenious in a way...

i don't know why, i just didnt want her to know me better and didnt want to reveal so much of myself, so for certain rounds, i didnt reveal my true opinion of course. and then came the last round which was "I'm glad to be in this class", and the class reaction to this was pretty fast, in fact, i felt that it was unusually fast. of course, 90% of the class stepped forward. actually i had an urge to step forward too. but i've decided against it. because to be frank, i have mixed feeling about our class, a feeling which is very hard to describe. i think even if i was in another class, i would have the same feeling too and i think i know the reasons why... so for this round, i've decided not to follow the flow and just stayed neutral...

i wonder if the result be different if all of us were to be blindfolded and the blindfold taken off only after we resumed to our original position.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

20:04

the past week was ok for me i guess.. nothing special had occured except for a few revelations i have discovered..

one of them is that the expense of a family is awefully and unexpectedly high. since my mum went back last week, i have to assume the role of treasurer for the family (again). Though it is just my sister and I, the expense this time round was (duno why) much higher than that of the previous times. the notes in my drawer is like depleting very fast this time round, i could really feel the pain of drawing money from the drawer again and again. Now i could finally understand why sometimes i feel that my mum was overly spendthrift. now i know why...

then another important revelation is actually the notion of "herd mentality". actually it didnt just dawn on me last week, it was more of the cumulation of experiences and observations of last year that led to this realisation in these few months of JC2 life. maybe i should discuss it on the following post because i think i need time to sort out my thoughts and find a way to express it first...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

23:35

just sent my mum off to gz again. there wasnt a strong sense of reluctance this time round, maybe i have matured, maybe i got used to living independently already, so my body and mind do not crave strongly for any dependency on my mum anymore...

just made a timetable for my A level examination... the whole thing lasts 2 + weeks for me, and fortunately or unfortunately, there is a day which we'll have chem and history on the same day. :S

then blocks results are more or less out for my subjects, i got stomped by elephants and stung by urchins so far, which isnt a good feeling i would say, i would rather get bitten by aligators or stung by bees, or get scratched by a cat...

anw, life still goes on