Come out and play!

Alright, people! Let's go outside and kick some... football or soccer or whatever. I'm really itching to go out and play. The snow has virtually melted away, the weather's been gorgeous (knock on wood!) and the grass is sprouting up. So, what are you waiting for? It's not like I mind playing indoor soccer; far from it. I love soccer so much that I play the game in any shape and form.

What I have been doing consistently nowadays when I'm a bit stressed or hit upon the proverbial concrete wall while writing papers is kicking the plush toy ball around my apartment, from the living room to the kitchen, and back. I use the front door and the kitchen table as the goal posts on both ends, respectively. One can be mildly surprised at how much creativity is involved in this seemingly childish play. I arrange chairs, and sometimes even move the sofa, to serve as a wall as I try to bend it like Becks and target the upper left or right corner of the goal. Or, I would arrange a row of plastic mugs on top of the kitchen table and try to knock them down through freekicks from the other end of the room. Sometimes, I even put my bike up as a wall and try to kick the ball through the frame of the bike into the goal. Yes, I know what you're saying. This guy is so damn pathetic! He needs to get a life! I have no life, damnit! It's part of the Faustian deal one makes when entering graduate school. Academic and soccer ARE my life!

So, to any Madisonian Malaysian guys who happen to read my blog--by sheer boredom or simply dumb luck--let's go to Far West field this Friday for some fun-filled soccer evening. By the way, the UW Malaysian soccer team has lost quite a few key players these past couple of semesters: Meon (right-back), Nicky (centre-back), and our very own supersub nonpareil/attacking-mid, Badul aka Vikash Dhorasoo. After Malaysian Midwest Games in Northwestern University this May the player loss will become more chronic as many of them will be graduating. With hardly any freshman player to supplant the outgoing seniors, we are certainly witnessing the gradual decay of Wisconsin Malaysian soccer tradition. One can only hope that there will be one or two soccer players in the next incoming freshman batch.