YOG 2010.
I gave my first time to Jalan Besar stadium yesterday, 25th August 2010. It was very different from watching football in the comforts of home, and it was loud and noisy and everything. There were no replays and many WTF moments because some goals were scored without your knowledge, fouls were committed at your peripheral and you simply do not know what happened because you were engaged in conversation with your penis, I mean friend, et cetera.It was fun in the sense that the atmosphere was totally different from home. You could really feel excitement from the crowd, something that cannot be reflected through the TV. Suddenly standing up when Singapore scored was quite fun and making noise and shouting and smacking the clappers together randomly and shouting 'FASHA' or whatever the Singapore goalkeeper's name is was fun (I wanted to distract him, I failed).
And looking at the medic attached to Singapore run out whenever people on the Singapore team got injured was orgasmic and every said moment was historic, simply because the angmoh girl was cute <3>
I know I've been quite skeptical about the success of YOG as in my former blog post about the Opening Ceremony and the cost, but being subjected to the YOG atmosphere itself kinda changed me. So what if it did cost us a lot? So what if we don't get the international recognition we hoped to get? What's wrong with spending money to put on a show for ourselves? It may not not be like the best way to spend the money, but my anger at the waste of taxpayers' money has been dissipated and I find it a justifiable way to spend the money. The time spent there made me feel even more patriotic towards the country somehow, and I really do love Singapore despite my previous cynicism prior to this episode.
The way the crowd cheered Singapore on was very...irritating though. Like, the way Singapore booed Haiti when they came onto the field for warm ups was very...unsporting I guess, if there's such a word in the first place. It was quite scary and embarrassing, like how they totally booed with passion due to the loss Singapore suffered when they faced Haiti. I didn't watch that match but I understand why this anger, but this anger was quite overboard. Why are Singaporeans such?
And guess what? I totally enjoyed the way they booed Haiti. It was a liberating thing, Singaporeans though overboard are not pretentious--they hate and they love and they discriminate between the 2 feelings very well, and they are not afraid to express this. This protectiveness Singaporeans have towards the Singapore team was outwardly exhibited by this anger against Haiti. Although I never did watch that match between Haiti and Singapore, I do believe that Singaporeans are objective enough to not make so much noise against a country who played fairly against us. Others may call us sore losers, but really, I am proud to be a Singaporean and everything that makes every Singaporeans Singaporean.
As things were, Haiti got thrashed, we were cheering Bolivia on, we booed whenever Haiti got near the Bolivia goal. This didn't happen often as Bolivia was a much better team, they were fighting with 10 men after one guy got sent off for elbowing a Haiti dude and still managed to score another 4 goals while not letting in any. It was orgasms.
The only drawback about watching soccer in the stadium itself is that really, goals can be scored without you knowing how it happened. There are no replays. But the atmosphere can make one jizz in his pants.
Fi and I stayed back to watch the presentation of the medals, and as mentioned I was busy snapping (OK, not snapping, I know my camera doesn't make any 'snapping' noises the word 'snapping' encompasses) pictures of the angmoh medic, but after awhile I realized it was 11.10PM and it was late and I had to go to Promenade (on the Circle Line) to watch the YOG flame before it gets extinguished today. So I hurried off with Fi, didn't even walk him to the bus-stop he was heading for (sorry Fi I will suck your cock) and I just went to Lavender while considering the possibility that I will not be able to get on a train that can bring me home--to Sengkang.
When I reached Dhoby Ghaut MRT station I asked the person as the passenger service place when's the last Circle Line train leaving Dhoby Ghaut for Serangoon. He said '12.04AM'. It was 11.30PM at that time I asked, so I decided to take my chances and just go for it.
Upon reaching Promenade (at 11.50PM) I took some time to find my way to the floating platform, or whatever it's called. I jogged there (yes I fucking jogged there with my bag weighing me down and it was quite a sweaty scene), and I marvelled at that spinning flame, and I was really really awed by the grandeur of that source of light. It was...awe-inspiring, really. It doesn't seem like much, but it really moved me in the sense that I cannot think of a better way to spend that fuel or gas or whatever keeps the flame going. That majestic presence of the solitary lighthouse was enough to shut me up about taxpayers' money, once and for all. I just gaped in awe for a few minutes, but I remembered the fact that I have a last train to catch. Regretfully I turned to leave, but not without taking pictures of that historic moment, and even a video because I decided that it's of utmost importance that the flame should be captured as something moving along with the winds, and that it shouldn't be caught simply in a single, immobile frame. The towering lighthouse, the shining beacon of light, the illumination from the surrounding buildings and spotlights on the floating platform itself, all these set in the shade of darkness 12AM afforded was..I don't know. I just..felt awed. Damn, the lack of vocabulary for me to use to describe this emotional scene is glaringly obvious. I never knew that a fire could be so symbolic, so important. I know, I can't really capture the essence of what I felt at that moment in time, but...yea. I guess you people should get what I mean.
Here's a video I took of the flame:
Regretfully I had to turn to leave. I really didn't want to trouble my parents to fetch me home, and it's retarded to want to stay behind to stare at the flame for 5 hours before the train service resumes so that I could go to school/home (if I wanted to pon), so I just turned to run back to Promenade to catch the last train home. I did manage to get back on time, but the guy at the passenger service told me that the last train leaving Serangoon to Punggol would leave at 12.14AM, and I'd be too late for it.
Upon alighting at Serangoon MRT station I was faced with these glaring barriers informing anyone ascending the escalators that the Purple Line has ceased its services.
It was a sad scene and with a heavy heart I decided to walk home from Serangoon. The entire 'hike' took me around 90minutes, and here are pictures as proof:
I know, I screw up often but I normally clean up after myself. I got home at 2AM (;
I watched the YOG Closing Ceremony today. It was..infuriating, in the sense that my father keeps changing channels, only to come back to Channel 5 after missing a bit of the ceremony. But the extinguishing of the flame was..kinda sad. My sis and I were groaning in unison (don't think sick =.=) when the intensity(?) of the flame was lowered till it was simply gone, extinguished. I cannot believe that they simply murdered the flame, but I guess all good things comes to an end, and I have to learn to accept that.
I remember reading a quote from Fi's wallet. It was about cynicism. I will edit this post once I get the quote from him, it succinctly describes what I feel about YOG, about everything in particular. =\
Hope was a pathological part of puberty, like acne and surging hormones. You might sound cynical to the world, but that was just a defense mechanism, cover-up coating a zit, because it was too embarrassing to admit that in spite of the bum deals you kept getting, you hadn't completely given up. –The Tenth Circle
Here's another one:
Inside every cynical person there is a disappointed idealist. -George Carlin
-- 8/26/2010 10:28:00 PM