Followers

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I am Man?

"Walaupun sejengkal," Keroncong Untuk Ana 2012 by AG & Co feat Noh Hujan.


So it was my birthday a few days back. I am apparently 22 years old, if you subscribe to the Gregorian calendar. I have very little idea of how old I am according to the Hijrah calendar, and I'm in no state to Google it.


2012 has been a year of many things, but one of the firsts would be being called a "man" by other people, particularly strangers who come to the store in which I work in. They would say to their friends or kids (or vice versa) "try asking that man over there," and I would conceal a giggle and a blush upon realising that they were referring to me. Needless to say, I took it lightly.


But now that I've turned 22, I have to ask that very serious question. Am I a man? My father got married when he was my age. Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh conquered countries when he was around my age. What do I have to show for myself? What makes me a man? Am I a man?


22 years old. So old. Yet, still so young. So much yet to do, so little to show for myself. If I've been a disappointment to anyone, it would be to myself more than anyone else.


But what does one do when one is down? What one can do. Get up. Crawl, if one has to. One needs to. For themselves. For the love of God.


May peace be upon you.


Cheers!



Friday, July 13, 2012

Last NCG for Me

"But that's okay," That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) by Panic at the Disco.


So I'm back home in Marsfield. I've been home for more than a day now, arriving in Sydney yesterday evening.


The final results for the NCG 2012 (Queensland) rugby competition is as follows:


1. Victoria
2. Queensland
3. New South Wales (my team)
4. Western Australia
5. Tasmania


Le spoils.

We dropped a place from last year, effectively ending my brief participation in the National Conference Games in a negative gradient, result-wise.


As for performance, I managed to play all four games this time round, which is a big improvement from last year's one and a half, alhamdulillah. Our scrum-half got injured in the third game, so I had to fill in that role, since the team was short on good scrum-halves. I miss being a scrum-half. Scrum-halves see so much more action than standoffs do. 


Even though we ended up dropping a place from last year, I feel that this year's team was actually better than last year's. This was because the training was better, the playing was more organized (not perfect, but better than last year's, in my humble opinion), and the boys worked really hard on the pitch. We won the first two games (WA & Tas) but due to spills in the rucks in the opponents' twenty-twos, we lost the other two games (Vic & Qld). They were very efficient in capitalising on our rare moments of sloppiness, and we paid the price.


Having said all that, of course I am to a certain extent saddened by our losses, but I am certainly happy I got to play four full matches with a good team. Alhamdulillah.


My whole body is still hurting.


God I missed rugby.


May peace be upon you.


Cheers!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

First Day of NCG2012

"It is not your fault should you lose. It is your fault should you not give your very best."

So I'm here at Bond University, Goldcoast watching the handball competition. The picture is of a guy attempting a shot at goal in midair. It was shot with the phone camera, so please forgive the less the optimal picture quality.

It's the first day of NCG 2012, and I've been the spectator to four sports now, namely football, basketball, netball and handball. After not being in sport for so long, I have rediscovered why sports is so important to me. It teaches me a lot of things, but the most valuable lesson, in my humble opinion, is the quote that I started the post with.

It's never about winning or losing, because that's pretty much predetermined by the Planner of Plans. It has everything to do with the effort we put into our game. The preperation, the training, the communication, the performance, that's all left for us to do. It is our responsibility to give it our all, however much or little that may be. And leave the rest to Allah.

May peace be upon you.

Cheers!