February 13 is my birthday, and it is also the birthday of General Aung San (Aung San Suu Kyi's father) who negotiated Burma's independence from the United Kingdoms and was assassinated by his rival. This date can be written as 213, which, as some people might know, is my favourite 3-digit number.
There are a lot of reasons I adore these numbers so I'm here to write one of those reasons, and of course, this post is dedicated to that person who has influenced me countless times in every aspect of my life since the day we became friends.
As any sports person will do, I admired a lot of people who played basketball, most of them girls and all of them played the game with the poetry of a ballerina dancing to her a favourite tune and the skills of a master chef preparing his signature dish. To me, they were beautiful. It might seem strange to many that eventhough I cherish and love basketball as much as I do, I rarely ever watch the NBA playoffs and sometimes, I don't even know the name of some hot-shot players or popular teams.
Many people are of the opinion that when you admire someone truly and deeply, you have to know every last bit of info on that person... sometimes they even know how big their idol's house is or what's their favourite dish. For me, my admiration is solely based on the field where they excel in and my interest in them goes no further beyond those fences.
So, returning to where I left off. Among those people that I admired is Shir Ling. Back in high school, close to all of my friends knew who Shir Ling is (because of my constant rambling about all things concerning her). Now that my company of friends has changed, I guess I need to do a brief intro on her. Well, her name is Shir Ling, she's tall, she's smart, she's extremely and intimidatingly good at sports, she seems to have an interest in everything (because her recent activities in New Zealand includes volleyball, basketball, learning how to play guitar, tennis, breakdancing and a whole lot more I'm not aware of), she has a compulsive spending disorder and can wash away hundreds of ringgits every time she goes shopping, she loves blackmailing people and threatening them into buying gifts for her (just kidding) and she loves bringing me out to paint the town red. Well, I don't know if she enjoys doing so but we do seem to do that quite often every time she's around. Oh, no surprise here, her jersey number is 13.
Although there is a 3-year age gap between us, we are kinda close. She's one of the few persons I can tell all my deepest darkest secrets to without fear of being judged. The other thing is, despite treating me like a friend who could have been the same age as her, she still acknowledges the fact that she IS older than me and is often there to give me advice and encouraging words. I remember when I was in Form 4, she was the only one of my friends who continuously and unrelentingly reminded me on the importance of SPM and how, eventhough she fully understands our need to have fun and just let go of everything, we must never forget to study. She gave me words of encouragement to reignite my drive to read if I told her I failed another subject (again) or that I don't want to study for an exam. Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain because eventhough I really wanted to heed her advice and just start studying, the rest of my body never followed what my heart and mind told me to do. I'm surprised no one has ever awarded me the title "Rebel Without A Cause" till date because as I see it, not only do I rebel to any slight change in my surroundings that might incur my displeasure, I also rebel against any thought my mind produces that might actually do me some good.
As every philosopher will tell you, to every beginning there must be an end. First, she went to KL to study in college, then at the start of last year, she left for New Zealand to further her studies. It broke my heart to see her leave at that time, but the realisation that soon, her departure won't be as insignificant as just leaving Malaysia, the realisation that one day she will leave my life altogether shattered my heart. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
During her absence from Penang, my love for basketball grew deeper and I trained in every way possible... All with the thought that one day I'll beat her on court in mind. So you could say that the only reason I rarely missed a training or why I would stand every hardship or road-bump Yuan Yuan and Wei Jie (our temporary coaches) could lay before my path with such a willing heart was all fueled by the thought of Shir Ling. The fact that I "inherited" her jersey number only served to be a bigger intimidation to me, pushing me harder to do everything I could so I won't lose touch with basketball.
Message to Shir Ling : Basically, you could blame the reason I failed sooooo many tests on yourself because, just so you know, the only time I would stop training is during exam week. Even the week right before exam, I would still show up on court without fail all just so I could kick your *toot* when you get back. Oh, I still haven't given up yet.
Ending :
Si cha bo~! Don't forget our plan to go backpacking together, OK? I'll forgive you this time for going to LA without me but the next time, you better be buying 2 plane tickets. The next time you come back, you should also be ready to have you *toot*ing *toot* kicked by me because I'll be ready!
Thanks for giving me such a filling meal during my last birthday and also for treating me to the best dish of prawn I've ever had. I'm still waiting to go have some dim sum for breakfast, laksa for lunch and ais kacang for tea so come back as soon as possible, K?
I know sometimes it's hard for you to smile, but if you feel alone and in need of a friend, remember that I've always been here, and will always be here. Don't forget who you are, because I still admire that senior of mine with the "I-did-it-my-way "attitude.
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