sore toe, more foes and core woes

after an all-too-long hiatus from the street bandy, we laid out the arena and began battle again this evening... due to the sorting of logistics for the upcoming camp, an assorted number of characters appeared in the court -

Wei Hong, not known for his regularity in the game, showed off his dazzling moves reminscent of footwork witnessed in soccer, while Li Kuan and Grace utilized their vocal powers to the maximum, belying their actual skill and acumen. Kai En was a fixture as usual, with his uncanny accuracy and class oozing all over his close control and deceptively relaxed demeanor. But while his accuracy was unmatched the whole evening, his slackness was surpassed by none other than Wei En, with the exception of certain actions which involve leaping.

As I emerged from the changing room to join the fray midway through the frenzy, Wei Hong and the girls decided that enough was enough and headed home. Not long after, as if on cue, Cheng Hung arrived and completed the quartet of regulars. The stage was set.

With all solemnity and seriousness we thrust our palms out to determine the teams. As the draw was revealed, I took up my stick, booked my place, and looked into Cheng Hung's face. Us two against the world. Rugged determination and energy was bursting from its seams. Without much ado, the game kicked off. At once, the pace was electric - no gentle build up, no testing and feeling of the other team, just pure dashing, swishing and crashing around the court. We were only interrupted when a rather sickly looking Zhiyang decided to risk his health in order to experience the adrenaline rush of a lifetime. I gather that he was not disappointed, for he looked even more sick at the end of it and it could only be due to that adrenaline rush. Ok, nevermind.

Anyway, with more foes on the block it was getting difficult for CH and myself. Due to my extreme defensive frailities in front of goal, CH had to defend for most of the game, thus nullifying to some extent his extreme attacking powress. That left me to face the fearsome trio of KE, WE and of course the sick Zhiyang. We battled valiantly, but were left chasing the score for most of the game. Whenever we threatened to go on a scoring run, the replies were swift, either through the power and accuracy of KE and the ineffable move of WE which constitutes jumping and whacking the ball with a backstroke while in the air, or simply by being intercepted and not having a man to cover up behind.

CH made several crucial interventions when a certain goal appeared imminent. With gravity and special relativity-defying leaps that would put Einstein to shame and please an aminator to no end, he rescued many a lost cause. But the irony of the day was that one of these actually creeped in in the end due to a very complicated miscommunication and miscue from the both of us, resulting in unmitigated laughter all round. With such elementary mistakes becoming rather common, we tried our best to redeem ourselves - CH with some quick interceptions of his own which almost inevitably ended the ball in their net, and me with a sublime slice of the ball off CH's pass that was a contender for goal of the day.

Alas, our efforts proved insufficient as KE, WE and ZY trudged on with ruthless efficiency and the advantage of the extra man. Even my hopefully hilarious impersonation of an Italian commentator enamoured with CH's skill failed to level the score, although it caused some distraction and a few goals. In the end, the game ended at 24-26. Kudos to our worthy opponents for a spirited show.

For my efforts, all I had to show was a sore toe, which seemed to be hurting a bit more just a while ago. Speculation abounds as to whether this situation would lead eventually to the nail dropping off or simply to another black patch underneath it. I wouldnt expect anyone to stay tuned, though. so my core woe seems only to be that we should play more often.

on a different note, thank God for the packing and buying of logistics today. It was good to have the car as we went to 5 different places to procure the necessary goods. and by 6, everything was done nicely and contained in the container.

for those it concerns, do pray for the camp response, last bits of logistics and the tying up of all loose ends. above all, a heart to glorify the One and delight in letting Him lead the whole thing.