Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

I graduated from JC with pretty good results... 3 As' and 1 C6 for General Paper and also secured my place in the Engineering course in National University of Singapore (NUS). Things were going bright and rosy for me, both academically and socially (you can check out my previous blog posts regarding that). I was doing well in bowling too, playing well and looking forward to sign up myself for any upcoming competitions to pit my skills against the Singapore's best.

Then came the dreaded nightmare for every 18 years old Singaporean boy..... NATIONAL SERVICE!!!!! When I was enlisted in NS, I had to give up many things.

I gave up my long flowy hair in exchange for the traditonal botak head.

I missed out on much of my friends because we were all posted to different army units.

I stopped bowling in exchange for catching wild boars in Tekong during BMT days.

My dreams of becoming a national bowler finally came crashing down when I cracked-fracture my right wrist in army while running the Standard Obstacle Course (SOC), a 10 minutes ordeal which every army boy hated at that time. That was it, I could never bowl anymore.... I could still bowl recreationally for a few games, but not at the competitive level because my wrist couldn't withstand the heavy weight of the ball. I even comtemplated that maybe I should just become a professional "Go-Li" (marble ball) player since the style of playing is similar to bowling, just that the ball is way lighter.

I was pretty depressed those few months when I was on MC after the operation on my wrist. The thought of an unfulfilled dream just tormented me. The amount of time, money and efforts I have invested in... now they are all flushed down the toilet bowl.... wasted. Then suddenly at these dark moments, I felt as if an angel gave me a knock on my head....

"Am I just gonna sit here, sulk, sob, be depressed and rot my life away? Can play bowling anymore, can always try something else right? It's not the end yet!"

When I came out of NS, I started learning guitar. Bearing in mind that I am someone whom is not musically inclined, and can't read music notes nor scores, this was gonna be a great challenge for me. However, with hard work and much tolerance from my friends and family for the initial stages of clanging noise, I did it! Within 4 months, I was playing the guitar in my youth group, leading a sing-a-long session! Amazing!

Back to bowling... last thursday, my office organised a staff day outing and we went bowling. A 13 pounds ball and over games, I managed scores of 133 and 168! Not bad for a former broken wrist fat boy yeah?

Remember, hard work DOES pay off! Pick yourself up even after you fall down. It ain't over till you give up on yourself!