Alright, I haven't been actively updating. Lots of activities occupying me.

But, I happened to have went overseas for an international paintball event. Being a first for me. I figured that I should blog the entire experience down. I think this is also going to be another long entry cause I'm squeezing the events of 5 days into one blog entry.

Let me introduce the event that I went to, it's the Paintball Asia League Series World Cup Asia. It's an international paintball tournament held in Langkawi, Malaysia. Being the World Cup, international teams from all over the world are invited to come over to this part of the world to partake in this tournament. What really drew everyone over to this tournament was the fact that it's an indoor tournament, a first for a major international event. It was held at the Mahsuri Hall. An exhibition hall, equivalent to Singapore Expo but a tad smaller.

The event was held from 10-13 of November 2011.

The location of the tournament venue was really appropriately placed. Heck, the whole tournament venue was appropriately set-up. Mahsuri Hall is facing the airport, and it is also right next to the official hotel - One Hotel Helang.

Most, if not all, of the local teams that were going to Langkawi via straight flight from Singapore. But my team was taking a bus-ried to Kuala Lumpur, then taking a flight to Langkawi from there. We were to depart for Kuala Lumpur by Grassland Express on the morning of the 9th.

However, on the 6th, which was also Hari Raya Haji, I fell terribly sick. The 2nd time I've missed a Hari Raya Haji. And I haven't recovered fully yet. So I went to WCA all sick and having a really nasty cough.

9th November 2011 Wednesday:

It was a real long ride to KL, but the bus was really nice. A bus service that I will consider for future travel. If I travel to Malaysia in the future (knowing how much i really hate to travel there). Reached some place in KL where we took the monorail, which was equivalent to Singapore's old mrt, where we had the use of farecards, to KL Sentral to take a bus to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) which took another hour.

Our check-in didn't take long. Right after we checked in, we were into our flight. My first time travelling on Air-Asia. There was a moment at the LCCT when we were lining to board the plane when I saw several caucasian dudes lining up as well. They looked somewhat familiar and I told Jordan that they were the Ironmen (an american professional paintball team). And Jordan, didn't believe me, he said that I was just tricking him just because I saw a couple of caucasian guys. But I really knew that they were the Ironmen. It was not until we were on the steps up the plane when Jordan looked up and went like "ehh!! ehh! hafiz! Ironmen! " -.-" .. We managed to take a photo with them once we reached Langkawi. We reached at around 5pm.

Heartbreakers with LA Ironmen

Me and Justin Schwarz

The official hotel was really close to the airport. It's right next to it. Just a short 3 minute walk. And of course, it being the official hotel. Most of the international teams stayed here. I took a room with Jordan, Scott and Cheeyong. Yazid and Atika was in one, and Kenny and Brinda in another. Since we reached in the early evening, it got dark pretty fast. We went to Marry Brown's for our dinner. After that, we hanged out at the swimming pool. And I also went to search for info about the Justin Rabackoff Clinic. Justin Rabackoff is a pro player from the United States.

Jordan wanted to join me for the clinic too. So we went to Ben's room to borrow markers. Ben and Jane lent us their Dye NT11 markers. Awesome stuff. The Dye NT11 is an impressive marker. Really, really light. And the milling is really very sleek and nice. But to my dismay, the clinic was cancelled!!! T.T .. An opportunity to learn from one of the world's best. To learn new tricks and drills. All gone cause the clinic was cancelled.

So we ended up chilling by the pool. Music was loud. Ahmad from Ballistics but playing for Rage City, was playing beer pong with some other dudes. Team Zoo was in the pool. And!! Directly behind the beach chairs that we were sitting on -- MODELS..!! Super hot models!! in their bikinis and such. Okay on first glance they were hot. But after a look or two. Not all of them are nice. only about 2 of the whole group of about 11 are worth ogling at. xD. The night ended early, coz i wasn't feeling too well.

10th November 2011 Thursday:

Can vaguely rmb what happened on the 10th. Morning breakfast. Then we went into Mahsuri Hall to check out the field. Walked the field. The turf wasn't really the turf i was expecting. Set up a gameplan that was rather similar to SPS. We walked through the expo. Of course we went to the pbfashion booth where they were selling all the HK Army stuff. Met Brandon Fort. Owner of pbfashion. Talked to him for awhile before we left.

The Paintball Expo was really really nice. Besides the heavily maked-up models. I liked it alot. I'm a sucker for all things technical and the equipment of paintball. A really mega big drooling time to see all the top-range markers and equipment in one place. All the gears, the loaders, the tanks, the t-shirts, the loaders, and of course the markers. We roughly just breezed through coz we were rushing for time.

Kenny had to go for the captain's meeting so the rest of us, courtesy of Josh who was playing for Blitzkrieg, travelled to the townside to get groceries like water and instant noodles and such.

Kenny returned from the meeting and told us that we have a total of 11 qualifying games. Which is really alot. And that tmr we have 6 qualifying games.

Was a short day as we spent the majority of the time walking the field.

The team walking the field

Heartbreakers at our Sponsor's Booth : Paintballer's World

Heartbreakers at the Hotel Lobby, going for the tournament!!

11th November 2011 Friday:

We woke up early to get the markers from the organisers. We quickly brought the markers back to the hotel room and started to tech it, to ensure that it was working properly. Our first games were in the afternoon.

Geared up and went over to Mahsuri Hall. The whole place was up in a really nice electric atmosphere. Some of the games were already being played in the morning. The air was cool with the air conditioning. The air smelt with the faint hint of sweat and perspiration amidst the thick crayon smell of broken paintballs. The hall was rampant with shouts of communication and buzzer's sounding as well as announcements being made over the PA system. It was pretty much clear that everyone came here to give it their all. On one of the worlds biggest stage - -The world cup.T he exciting atmosphere kinda made me jumpy and excited as well.

It was really cool to see everyone with their markers and all their brightly coloured jerseys. Especially the markers, it's such a privilege to see so many markers of the different brands. Markers are basically the guns used in paintball. As this was an international event, teams from all over the world was there and they brought along with them the markers that they were using.

All the Geos, the Egos, the DMs, the NTs, the Clones, the Cyborgs, the Minis, really really all sorts of markers..!! A feast for my eyes. What would be better is if I could try them ALL out..

We bought paint. Settled down in a corner and got ready for our games. We bought Dye and Evil paint. It was also great to get to try paints that are used by the pros out there. GI Sportz 4 stars, 3 stars. RPS Evil paint is popular with the pro teams due to it's consistent ball sphere and thickness of paint as well as the famous, anti-wipe paint formula. Evil paint has a green shell and yellow paint fill.

We played a total of 8 games today coz they brought forward 2 games form saturday. We lost 2 games out of the 8 games we played. The lighting for the Division 4 field was really bad. I could barely see anything clearly. And given the fact that I was sick. I didn't play at my best. Even though i made some good moves. I knew i wasn't playing at my best, like how i did during the past SPS. I got shot out practically for most of the games. Rather dissapointing performance I must admit. But with the condition I'm in. that was the best i could give.

Went back to the hotel. Bathed. Cleaned the equipment and quickly slept.

Me and my girlfriend!!!

Nahh. Just a model (Sophia Goh)

12th November 2011 Saturday:

Played the remaining 3 qualifying games.

There was a particular incident against Jogja United that I would like to highlight. We were already 4 up and then Chee Yong gave me the call to go. So i went up and got shot up by the dorito guy. the same thing happened to kenny and from a game that we were supposed to win, we ended up losing.

I was so pissed off after we went out the field. I just left the marker at our area and went off to the toilet to cool off. After coming out of the toilet, I was still fuming mad. So i thought to cool off by just hanging out in the nearby Division 2 field.

So i just stood there and watch how the Div 2 teams played the field. It was really great. I had my fair share of having paint splattered on me from the netting. But it was really nice to watch the Div 2 teams play. Their gameplay. I was particularly watching how they play the Home Can, so that I could bring it over to help with my team's performance.

It was a real eye-opener to see the different teams' approach to the game. The way their crew handled stuff. The way they communicated. And Especially the way they played the different bunkers.

Later on, I realised that Big Ben was standing beside me. He must have stood there for some time, but i was too engrossed in watching the Div 2 teams play. He asked about our team. I know we went on to the Top 16.

Spending the time there at the Div 2 field, allowed me the time to calm myself down. I know eventually jordan and yazid joined me. and we went back to our area.

And we're through into the top 16. The top 16 teams are divided into 4 groups. the top 2 teams of each group go into the quarterfinals.

We were grouped with fellow Singapore team, The Outlaws. Pfft. and our first game in the top 16 somemore. We were also grouped with Ghost Cobra, and a team from India.

The game against outlaws was rather a grudge match i should say. I never liked the outlaws, they're labelled to be one of the most professionally run team. I can agree to the fact that they have the biggest number of people in their team BUT, they also have the highest turnover rate. Meaning that they have the most people quitting them too. Ouhwell.

We won them in fashion. It was easy. We know how their team works. Their captain Ollie would go into the snake and control the team from there. Giving instructions from there. Like Pfftttt. Laned him out and the whole team crumbled.

The next match was against the team from India. Boy that was a long game. We played it out to a stalemate. Coz right when they were about to grab the flag. Time was up so we draw.

The last game we were up against Ghost cobra. We changed our line-up and put scott in, in place of chee yong. So now we have an aggressive advantage. A much better style of play that I like. I never liked sitting down and holding it down. It gave the opportunity for opposing teams to pick us out one-by-one and the game would drag on, losing us time.

Anyways. Off the break. We were already on G2 and i moved up all the way to the brick and held the snake down. I know scott went up and shot 2 guys who were going to the M. And next thing i went up toe the M and we won the game very very fast. It was a landslide win. 5 -up.

It turned out that we were the top scoring team. out of all the top 16 teams. we were the only team that scored 7 points (2 wins and a draw). A good way to end the day.

While we were walking back out of the field, we sort of realised that the Inter-Continental Cup (ICC) was being played in the Div 1 field.

The ICC is a competition where they had teams representing their continent nations. Teams like LA Ironmen and Toulouse TonTons that represented North America and Europe respectively. The Ironmen and the TonTons are famous pro teams.

After being knocked out the tournament
(Scott's crying in this pic)

I managed to take pictures with Brandon Short (LA Ironmen) and Axel Gaudin (TonTons). We stood by to watch the first ICC game. LA Ironmen against Team Xtioneers (Malaysia). We stood by the Ironmen pit area. It was really interesting to see how they did things in their pit area as well. One guy would be always filling the pods up and others had their separate tasks to attend to etc etc.

We watched as they played their game. Quite intense. With Malaysia being the Home team. Soon we found ourselves helping the Ironmen out. Coaching from the pits. Ahahahah. It was really fun.

But we had to get back to the hotel. Our quarterfinal games were in the morning.

Unfortunately, amidst all of this. Something slipped my mind. The most important day for someone. I really forgot. I was tired. I was sick. I had a big day of paintball. ouhwell. I forgot about it. And i have no excuses for it.

Me and Yaz with Axel Gaudin (TonTons)

Me and Yaz with Brandon Short (Ironmen)

13th November 2011 Sunday:

We had to play the next 4 quarterfinal group stage games in the morning. Every morning was a drag for me. I was very very sick. Only the top team would advance through to the semi-finals.

We didn't do very well. It was all very very vague to me. We were grouped with CMX Badai, Ghost Cobra and Jogja United. We lost against CMX Badai, they're a division 3 team in MY-NPL. We lost to Jogja United which had a very big controversy. Coz they had a player who played on despite being shot and shot out kenny and chee yong and before a ref could go up to him to pull him out, he called himself out. Somewhat playing with the rules.

Knowing that we lost the first 2 games. Our chances of getting to the next round were pretty much gone. So I let it all out in the last game. I only realised now that the better position to lock down the snake was from the brick.

So final game. Off the break. Lane out the can. Then i quickly went up to the brick to lock down the snake. I was constantly watching the snake side that I didn't realise that scott was till alive. I thought he was already shot out coz there was no one in temple 2. So i dived into temple 2 and found myself in the 50 dorito. Little did I know that there was another guy in the same bunker as me on the opposite side. I made a move in-field and i was quite surprised he was there so he shot me out.

Everything was in a mess later and we lost that final game. So we're out of the tournament. It was a sad moment, but one that I saw coming.

Scott was already sobbing non-stop. He had been playing with only vision in one eye. Guess he felt like he couldn't give his best. Chee Yong cried too. I came to know that Kenny cried too. He wore his mask out to the toilet. And jordan said that he saw kenny sniffing. Ouhwell. It was kinda sad to have come this far and lost it in such a way.

We went back to the hotel to wash up and get our clothes washed by the laundry service. And i was asked the date to be written on the laundry bag. And only then did i realised that I missed the day, yesterday. I was frantically fumbling for my phone. To call her. I couldn't explain myself. There were no excuses for forgetting.

Bathed. Got dressed. and we went out to have lunch.

I know the guys went to play go-karts. But i was sick so i passed the opportunity. It was a funny sight. Cheeyong, kenny and jordan had to wear shower caps, for hygiene purposes. What was even much more funny was me and scott trying to tempt brinda to try the cherry cigars!! ahahahahaha!!

We went back to the expo to get last minute deals. Not much of deals though. I know i bought quite a couple of HKArmy shirts. And also i bought a DC Arsenal Jersey made by Style Supply with Rabackoff's name on the back.

Jordan and Kenny bought the last 2 remaining Dynasty Jerseys from Brandon Fort. They were the Millennium edition made by Maxsimum Customs. The nicer version, in my opinion.

We went to watch the rest of the Div 1 games. It was really interesting to see how the play, much like the div 2 games but this one happening at a much higher skillset level. I know, me and yaz and atika watched the games from the benches set for the spectators.

We were watching the 2nd semi-final match between Reapers from South Africa and Infernal from Thailand. It was really interesting. We were sitting on the Reaper side. They didn't use those high end paint. They wear only using the cheapest paint available -- Gelkaps Ignite paint. Maybe this should be something my team have to consider. Going for the cheaper paint. And Ignite paints are not too bad. Reapers used them and got all the way to the semi-finals of Div 1.

It was really an eye-opener watching the Div 1 games. Reapers always sent someone to the snake corner, which was an interesting move coz we didn't send anyone there in any of our gameplans. It looked as if the guy was controlling the snake wire and also wrapping in to blindly lob into the Home area. And only did i realised that he actually got the magic side home dorito shooting from there. Something to think about and assess in future.

We watched as Reapers beat Infernal. We had no time to watch the finals of Reapers against Datis. There was a really funny incident. Atika seems to have a problem with me. AHAHAHAH. All the wags of the team does. Even brinda. So we had to climb down the benches. As i went down. Atika tried to push me. I was like "okay, u go down first", So i watched as she hopped down the benches. and before either me or yaz could say "No, Don't Jump "

She jumped down onto the floor and instantaneously, she slipped and fell and rolled on the floor. AHAHHHAHAHAHAH!! She screamed as she fell. making it even funnier. She literally rolled into a pile of paintballs.

The floors of Mahsuri Hall were slippery due to the paint on the floor. The areas closest to the fields are the most slippery coz of the paint there. Since we were sitting at the back of the Div 1 field, there were piles of discarded paintballs at the base of the netting. So Atika slipped and fell into that pile. And her white top that she wore intantly turned orange and yellow. AHAHAHHAAH!! So much for trying to push me down. ahahahah!!

Yazid quickly brought her back to the hotel to have a change of clothes for her. I also went back to the hotel to catch a quick nap.

Apparently, the rest of the guys were already at the hotel room and most of them were already dozing off. Tired from the tournament's toll on them.

When i woke up, it was already evening, and we went to have dinner. After that, we hung out at the lobby for the wifi, to book our bus tickets home. Most of the WCA participants were at the Player's Party located half an hour away in some other resort. We didn't want to go there since we had trouble with transportation.

After awhile. Me and jordan went to the poolside coz jordan wanted to smoke. Then we chatted. We chatted till very very late. Till everyone went back up to their rooms. We chatted about our performance for WCA, we chatted about the future of the team, we chatted about the markers. We chatted about practically anything and everything.

Until about 2amplus did we finally go up to the hotel and slept till the next morning.

14th November 2011 Monday:

Woke up rather early, woke the rest of the team and we had breakfast. Most of the participants have already gone home, taking the morning direct flight back home.

We went back to the hotel room and packed our stuff and were ready to fly back to mainland malaysia. The flight back wasn't as bad as the flight to langkawi. I was so tired, I slept throughout the entire flight and only the landing of the plane back in KL woke me up.

We took a bus to the KLIA Transit, where we were to take it all the way to Bandar Tasik Selatan where our bus service is. It was a nice ride to BTS, the train was very fast. Faster than SMRT. We reached Bandar Tasik Selatan Bus Terminal and then we had a rather heavy lunch at Kenny Roger's Chicken.

The bus ride back home was long. We were so tired, most of us slept throughout the journey. I know we were caught in a massive jam and also in a electrifying thunderstorm with lightning and thund everywhere.

It wasn't long before we reached back at Woodlands Checkpoint. How dismal it was when the moment we touched down in singapore, most of the girlfriends were waiting and my respective teammates hugged their gfs as i stood there -- And hugged my luggage. ahahahahahha!!

Most of the team went home form Woodlands checkpoint coz the bus was going to back to beach road. Only me and kenny and brinda continued the bus journey back to beach road.

My parents were waiting to fetch me from beach road. Reached beach road, said goodbye to kenny and brinda and walked to the bus stop to be picked up by my parents.

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World Cup Asia 2011 was a real eye opener for me. My first tournament played overseas. I've learnt and experienced alot from the past few days. A huge learning curve. There were many things that I have seen, many things to improve my game. The experience itself can't solely be expressed in just words alone. They're just too much. It was really and awesome event. And it could have been better if I wasn't sick.

Pictures can be found on facebook!!

Ouhwell. Looking forward to the next World Cup..!!

Heartbreakers WCA 2011

Heartbreakers:

Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Leg 2 Champions.

Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Overall Champion.

My last entry was dated October 1st Saturday. One week after that, is the Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Leg 2. And you can pretty much guess that this entry will be about it. And it'll be long nonetheless.

Singapore Paintball Series (SPS) 2011 Leg 2 was held at East Coast Park on the 8th and 9th of October. Since the first leg of the tournament was held in Jurong. It would only see fit, if this leg was brought over to the east side.

This Leg was really special. Due to the local paintball community gaining increased renown, it would only deem fit when the event would be graced by Acting Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports, MG (NS) Chan Chun Sing.

Not only that, Division 1 teams from Malaysia -- Team Xtioneers and Demonz Red would also be coming down for this event. They would be playing in the Open Division. And, they also would be playing in an All-Stars game against the All-Stars of Singapore paintball which would be watched by the Minister.

It would be great to go up against these Division 1 teams, these guys are technically semi-professional. Paid to play. I would be honoured if I could get on the All-star team to play against them. But then, I'm only a Novice Division player. The All-Stars are only open to Open division players. Maybe next year.

Following the series of unfortunate and depressing events leading up to SPS. I was determined to change things for the better and play at my best, if not, my very best for this tournament. Having clinched 2nd place for the previous tournament was not good enough for me. And I was psyched up to win this tournament. I was confident with my teammates, and also with the gameplan that we had.

So Saturday, we only played 4 qualifying games. Our first game was against the experienced Ragdolls. We won that. Not before we almost lost it. Their snake guy was already in snake 3. Our entire snake side was down and i had to trick that snake guy that i was in the dorito when i already moved up to the god, and shot him out from there.

2nd game was against Iscreamwar and the 3rd was against vengeance. Won both of those games as well.

The last qualifying game was against our closest rivals and defending champions, Rampage Onslaught. Very controversial game. Being a rivalry game, I sought out to shoot my marker non-stop, at a price. halfyway thru the game, i realised that I had run out of air. We already had an early G at the start of the game. But as soon as i ran out of air, all hell broke lose. Everyone was running all around the field, having run out of air, i figured that i had to bunker someone. So i ran up and got shot out. Then as i returned to the deadbox via the side, i could already hear zai saying "yes! yes!" from outside the field. When i reached the deadbox, Kenny was raging and hitting the starting frame. I didn't know what was going on. I only knew at that point of time that we had lost. And when were leaving the field, the head ref called all the refs over together with the captains of the teams, Kenny and Wayne. Some sort of discussion was going on. All in all. Despite our loss, we won..!! Kinda confusing right? After the dust settled, it came to my understanding that one of the rampage players played on despite being obviously hit, and the head ref clearly saw that. And said player went on to play and shot out both Kenny and CheeYong out. That's playing on and shooting not one, but 2 players out, changing the course of the game. A 2 for 1 penalty, so the result was overturned in our favour. So we won all 4 games on Saturday. A real good start to the weekend.

Sunday started off late even though we came early. We were to play our remaining 3 qualifying games and see if we would make it thru to the quaterfinal bracket. Our 4 wins on saturday gave us a good point advantage.

I was determined and focused to unleash it all on sunday. It's go hard, or go home. And i don't want to go home empty handed. Despite the sorrow and frustration of the past few weeks, I made it a point that i was going to channel all of that negativity to improve my performance on the field. The fuel to my fire.

So the first game on sunday was against Explicit. I remember myself running up from the home bunker, and going up to bunker snake 3 and i proceeded onto tonton down the snake and go up and shoot the last back left guy. So we won that.

I made such an impact with my moves that even Benguin and Greg had to congratulate me. I also remember Benny from Ballistics Aftermath asking who Fizzy was and shaking hands with me too. Looks like i'm out to make an impact *smirk*.

2nd game was against Ballistics Origins. It was a rather friendly game and we took them too lightly, we ended up losing that game. I remember getting shot out by a random ball.

3rd game was against a new team, Natural Born Killers, Being new, we didn't know how they played so they were a team to look out for. I wanted to somehow 'get revenge' on losing the previous game. Off the break, scott got laned out and their magic side front player managed to reach our 50s and was shooting at me. I was pinched in like mad. I had to do something. That guy went up to our 40s and so i made a move to go up and bunker him, i move up to the 50s where i shot another guy who was moving up. I wanted to shoot the home guy out too but he saw me coming up to him and shot me out first. But we won that game too.

After the qualifying games. We won 6 out of 7 games. And after everything, we were ranked 3rd, with ragdolls and ACES above us. We were put into a quarterfinal bracket together with Ragdolls, Blitzkrieg and Raving. All teams too watch out for.

First game against raving was rather easy though i got shot out early as i moved up to the brick. Won that game. Yazid had to leave us coz he had to go submit and present a project. So cheeyong was playing his position.

2nd game against Blitzkrieg was one to watch out for coz we lost to them at the previous tournament. They would clearly go for Kenny. I remember I had a ball break in my loader and i spent nearly all the time trying to clean it. Even the ref came up to me and asked whether the marker was good to shoot. I basically spent all the time in my bunker cleaning my marker up. We won 4 up

3rd game against Ragdolls wasn't easy. They shot out our front guys. We were already down to only me and kenny left. and I even had to fill in the snake where i was rather impressive. I was caught up with a snapshooting contest with Joshua of ragdolls

I ran up to bunker him out. but once i shot him out, he spun around and shot me. I turned over to the ref and was like "eyyy ref come on..!!".

The head ref called josh out and wiped me clean before i ran up to shoot out the remaining 2 guys out.. But then. i was unfortunate that i didn't have enough time to grab the flag and the game was held to a draw but with the ED in our favour.

Fortunately, we ranked top in our group and blitzkrieg took 2nd.

So in the semi-finals, we were up against Rampage Onslaught. We weren't supposed to meet them..!!! We were supposed to meet them in the finals!!! But ouhwell.. We were super confident coz we already had beaten them the previous day. And since the semi-finals was a best of 2 game. we had to win twice against them. We were all over them in the first game. I remember laning their snake guy out, a new player to rampage. and we won the first game. Another game to win and we were thru to the finals.

Off the break i was laning out alot of people. Managed to shoot out the snake guy off the break again. I knew i shot alot coz i ran out of paint and was only left with a loader full. I even looked around to see how much pods I used. When i looked around. I saw the 4 pods that I brought it on the ground behind me. And cheeyong was also shouting that he had only 1 pod left. So i went up to the M and managed to shoot the last guy out of the dorito

I remember taking the flag and running it back. The first time i've ever hung a flag.

And Heartbreakers knocked out the defending champions and are now through to the finals.

Cheeyong was already celebrating like we won the tournament. He should be happy, this is the first time i'm playing with him. He missed out on the last leg. He should be happy. I remember coming out of the field and having Shark of Contract Killers put his arm around me and congratulating me. He noticed that I ran out of paint. I still rmb the words he said to me "When you run out of pods, that's a good thing, coz that's when you're laying down the firepower". Awesome encouragement.

We were up against Blitzkrieg in the finals.

The finals were later in the day. They still had to play Open division semi-finals, Corporate division bronze medal match as well as the final. They also had to play novice division bronze medal match which Rampage Onslaught took beating ACES. Open division also played their bronze medal match which Contract Killers won, beating Team Enraged. Awesome job Killers..!!

Throughout the waiting time. I was just sitting down by my lonesome. Taking a chair to watch the games. I was just lost in my own thoughts. There was the occasional shoulder rub from derek and yazid who told me to don't be so stressed up. I wasn't. I wasn't stressed up. I was just pumped up. I was just lost in my own thoughts. The realisation of where I am and where it would lead me to. Honestly, I had the feeling that my team would win it. I had no doubt about it. I knew we were going to be champions coz we deserved it. I deserved it. For all the shit that's happened in my life over the weeks leading up to this moment. It all cumulates into this one defining moment.

"Heartbreakers, Blitzkrieg to the tech area Finals Game 1"

The first game. We started off good but we lost a couple of guys and i rmb i had to fill in the snake again. I didn't know that there was only one guy left in the home dorito. It was only down to kenny and me again.

I was in the snake and kenny was on the magic side. I don't know what he did but he got shot out and i knew i was the only one left and i got shot right in the mouth!! I tasted the paint. it wasn't what we were hoping for. we were suppose to take away the first game but we lost it instead.

The 2nd game was about the same. they managed to draw our fire to the snake side. But we also managed to shoot a couple of guys out. I also had to fill in the snake corner and fill in the snake as well. But we ran out of time. so it was a draw.

We really really had to win the next game. I cannot settle for 2nd. I want first. I've had second. Time to get first. We were also running out of paint. I had to even ask from my darling syikin to give us some paint so we could use it for the final games.

Kenny was already raging. As per normal. I even had to tell him to calm the fuck down. It was no use to the team if he was raging at everyone, and most certainly no use to himself if he got shot out coz he made irrational moves. Kenny called me over and told me to run it thru the middle for the next game.

And so i did. 3rd game was win it or go home 2nd. which would really compromise us coz rampage who took 3rd place earlier was to get overall champion coz they were ahead by a few points if we took 2nd place. I rmb we did the HBK cheer and the moment we finished it, i turned around to do a stare down with Blitzkrieg. intimidating them.

So i ran it up thru the middle. Adrenaline pumping slide into the middle. I could lock down the snake side and switch it up and lock down the magic side as well.

So i kept the snake guy really busy and Blitzkrieg were trying their best to get me out. That drew fire from them which allowed my teammates to move up

They managed to get all the guys out and it was only left to one guy in the home dorito where i ran up to him and gave him 3 shots to the back of his neck. That sealed it. 1 win and 1 draw in the finals.

it was sudden death, no time limit, 4th game to win it all. Everyone was helping crew for us. Fazrul from Contract Killers was on hadn to lend us some pods as well. Faizal from ACES was on hand to wipe me and my teammates clean and also to pod us up. Even Kiko came up to us and gassed up our markers as well as lent me his mask coz the mirrored lens on mine was too dark and it was already getting late and we were losing light.

This was it. I've come this far with my teammates. As I looked at them, I knew they were gonna give their all as much as I would give them mine. This was it. One game to win it all... or lose it.

4th game. Same gameplan. Run it up thru the middle. Their snake guy was prepared for me. So he kept me locked down, but that opened up an opportunity for jordan to move up the snake. I rmb switching sides to the magic side. And i saw that there was a guy in my mirror in the brick. I had to get him out coz he was onto jordan in the snake. I just had to get him out. I rmb seeing kenny on my right side in the 40 aztec. I signalled to him that i was gonna bunker the guy infront of me and i did the slit the throat gesture indicating that if i was to do that, i was going to get shot out. I didn't know if he understood what i was saying but i did it anyway. I ran up the middle, shot that guy in the brick out and proceeded to run up to the backright to get him out too. But he saw me and managed to shoot me but i was moving at such a fast speed that i was falling when he shot me and i remember falling head first onto my marker tank. As i lay there on the ground. The ref picked me up and brought me to the side. I could hear my teammates wrapping things up, the chaos i caused was enough diversion for them to make the push forward.

As i sat there in the dead box alone. I just sat down. Leaning against the netting. This was it. I had done my best for my team. It was up to them to mop things up. I didn't even dare to take a peek out to see how things were doing. I just sat there. Then there was silence and next thing u know. I saw cheeyong hang the flag over me.

"TIME!!"

"GAME OVERRR..!!!"

This was it..!! This was it..!! We won..!! We WON..!! Heartbreakers clinched the top spot for the novice division. I started breaking down into tears like I knew I would. This is it. Champion. Overall Champion.

I picked up my pods. and walked out of the field. But the head ref called me to sign the gamesheet, coz kenny had already left the field.

As I parted the netting to get out the field. Scott was there to greet me. So i hugged him. Then derek came up to me. he took the pods away. and we hugged. I didn't say anything at all. I just took off my harness and dumped it into the loader box then walked out. Yazid was like "lah lah lah.. leave him alone.. ".. I just walked out the players area with my mask still on. I was crying silently.

The realisation just sank in. I've won it. I've given my all for this tournament. Was fate so merciless? Did I had to lose her just to win this? It's just not fair. You Lose Some, You Gain Some. Those words keep on ringing in my head. It's just so so damn sad. I found a nice spot to lie down. And finally took off my mask and my beanie and my headband. I just held my head in my hands and wept. The impact of the realisation really hit me hard. I wasn't sad like last time. Last time, I was sad coz i was so close to winning. But this time it's different.

I was joined by derek and benguin. They asked me why i cried. And I told them. I told them abt her. Benguin felt so touched he even asked me to stop coz it's starting to make him cry too. Funny. ahahaha.

My team eventually joined me outside. But they left me alone to gather back my senses. The rest of the Contract Killers came up to me congratulating me on our win.

Then one by one. My teammates came up to me. I remember chee yong coming up to me and asking me why i cried, and I told him about her. He was quite shocked, coz he had met her on 2 occasions -- one for the time she came down for training, and the other where she came down the day before. He didn't expect that we weren't together. I remember Kenny coming up to me. I still remember his words. I knew he thanked me for joining the team. He told me about him giving up hope on the team and considering to join Red 7s ever since zai left the team. He thanked me again coz ever since I've joined the team, Heartbreakers have improved and achieved alot. 2nd place last time round. And now. Double Champions.

Ouh yah. Having won champions for this leg. We are also Overall Champions this year.

Prize presentation up next. Gosh was it so fun and exciting. But of course. We're now champions. The podium finishers of the other different divisions were up first. Then came my division. The runner's up were announced and presented their medals. Then came our turn.

Novice Division Champions -- HEARTBREAKERS..!!!!

Gosh. That rumbling feeling of going up to get the champion medal. Contract Killers were going "H-B-K!! H-B-K!! H-B-K!! AAWOOO AWWOOO AWWOOO ".Awesome cheer..

I lined up last to take the medal. My teammates before me. It was a great feeling to have the champion medal put around my neck by Ben Todo Boggy from Demonz Red.

And then we were also presented the Champion Trophy as well as the Overall Champion Trophy.

We didn't take as much photos as compared to the first leg coz brinda was too caught up in crewing for us.

Then it was our turn to cheer for Contract Killers.

After that, it got dark really fast. So we had to take our things out of the players area to somewhere with much more light.

I remember i was with Jordan and he said something that i was kinda surprised. He thanked me for joining the team. For making the team as awesome as it is now. =D

This is it. One of the longest entries I have ever written. This is the emotions and details of that weekend. A weekend of awesomeness. A weekend where champions were made.

All thanks go to our sponsors Paintballers World, Red Dynasty Paintball Park. Thanks to Ben Seow, Jane Koh, Arthur Chan, Jose Cerda and many others is helping us during our trainings leading up to this event. Many thanks to the staff of Red Dynasty Paintball park, Damian Li and Kiko.

Through thick and thin. My teammates were there for me. And I was there for them. I was quite surprised how well I did. I just let instinct took over and just unleashed it all. I have managed to turn some heads with my performance. And I have proved my worth to the team.

I still don't know why everyone is pointing at me.. *smirk*

The scary thing is, we're only gonna get better.

Like I mentioned in my earlier SPS Leg 1 post.

Everyone will remember The Heartbreakers.

And everyone will know my name.

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Consider it as a waking up call.

Certain things did not turn out as I had expected. Such pain to let go. But circumstances deem otherwise. Definitely I will take some time to get over this. Definitely.

But through the excrutiating frustration, helplessness and pain, lay something of a wake up call. Though it really kinda hit quite hard, it is the hard, ugly truth.

In the competitive world today, it's all about the qualifications that make you successful. In this world, it's all about the money. It's all about being able to provide for yourself and maybe also for your family, if you come to decision to start one. It's all bout being good enough.

And currently, i'm don't have much of any of the above. I cannot provide. I'm not good enough. That's the hard, ugly truth.

For all the negativity and angst and anger. Lies a drive I've never felt before. A drive to prove all of the doubters wrong. That I am capable of something. I know it. I can feel it inside of me. I want to be successful. I want to be so successful that when one day, when all these doubters meet me on the street and see that I am successful. I want them to regret. I want them to regret ever having the smallest hint of doubt in me.

I want to get a university degree. Yes I want to. I really want to. That's what seems to be the qualification that everyone wants and would offer me a better range of job opportunities.

There are a wide variety of choices to choose from. But over the past week, I've met friends who have got me thinking of the choice of degree that I should take. These friends are taking/ have taken courses that are entirely different from what they studied before.

It's more of choosing a degree that has a very good offer of a wider range of job opportunities. Like what the market demands now. I do have some in mind.

But for all the choosing and selecting, it all boils down to whether I can manage to get admitted into a university. My GPA score is not that good enough to secure a degree.

But for all that, I know of a friend who didn't pursue a degree. In fact, he dropped out of a good degree course cause he lost all interest in it and found a better calling which suited him. And now, he's really succesful. Just bought a car. And still young. He is sort of an inspiration to me that it is possible to be successful without holding a degree.

I really really aim to be successful. This drive in me, it's really positive and I kinda like it.

I really hope things will work out for me. And I hope that this drive never dies in me no matter the obstacles that I face. For all the hope that I have. It really feels that I have hit rock bottom now.

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Looky looky..

I haven't updated in some time. I'm kinda lazy. But i realised that this blog, which has been going on since 2006, has tracked my progress through my life. It's ups and downs. My chain of thoughts. Especially this part. I've noticed how my chain of thoughts has evolved over the years. Matured actually.

Ouh well. So this blog will be up and running. But honestly, it will be with less-than-frequent updates.

And so the most important update on my life now would be that i have finished my mandatory national service. Yeah. I'm back to being a civilian again.

On one side, I am glad that I have finished national service. Honestly, my stint as a sergeant was one of the most stressful times of my life yet. And i'm relieved that it's now all over.

But as one ends, another begins. My life is now thrown into limbo. I had it all planned out. End of service, i go into NIE, and juggle that and work at Red Dynasty to get extra income. But that didn't happened.

So now, i'd have to wait again until next year to try my luck again, hopefully this time i'll get it. Dumb interview.

Right now, I'm working part-time at red dynasty and that doesn't do much just cause for my income. Get a fulltime job? Nahh. i won't coz i have made up my mind to go for Paintball World Cup Asia happening in Langkawi in November. If I took up a full-time job, I don't think I would get overseas leave for 5 days in November given that I just started on the job. So i'm taking it easy for now.

But the easy part never was easy. As I mentioned earlier, a part-time job can't sustain me. I'm like barely living on the income I get from the part-time job.

I hope I can last with what I earn. It has to last.

But for all the sad, sorry things that are happening in my life..

Something good has happened over the last month leading to my ORD.

Something real good. And I want it to last. =)

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A lot of people have been asking me about the thumb and index finger hand sign that i've been doing in the latest pics on my facebook and especially seeing my paintball team doing it.. like every single member of The Heartbreakers had a form of the sign..

Here's another picture of me rocking the "H" handsign

First and foremost. It is not a gang sign. LOL!! Does anyone call that 2 finger, peace sign a gang sign..? apparently not. So the handsign that i do has absolutely no relation to any gangs our secret societies.

Basically the aforementioned handsign consists of the thumb and index finger in a L shape. But with both hands doing it so it forms sort of a |_|

This handsign is basically the top half of the letter "H".. and when an up and down movement is done, it will form a letter "H"..

So what's up with this "H" handsign, people ask. For those unfamiliar, I would just tell them it's "H". The initial for my name Hafiz.

But for the well-informed and those that i bothered to explain to. This "H" handsign represents the HK Army.

Then it leads to another question. What is this HK Army?? Being asian, most people would just blurt out "Does HK stand for Hong Kong..?? ".. Hong Kong being a popular holiday destination for asians.

It's a NO..!! HK Army does not stand for Hong Kong Army..

The HK in HK Army stands for Hostile Kids. So, HK Army means Hostile Kids Army.

And then another question: What's this Hostile Kids Army..??

Essentially, the Hostile Kids are a paintball team which exists today but by the official name of Hollywood Hostile Kids..

Hollywood Hostile Kids?? Then wat about HK Army??

Here comes the part. HK Army is basically the supporters of the Hostile Kids movement.. What is this movement people will ask..

The Hostile Kids were a paintball team that existed in the past, and were infamous for their lackadaisical and unprofessional approach to paintball. They basically went up against the best paintball teams in the world knowing that they'll get the crap beaten out of them but yet they were at it again the next week, and the week after, and the week after the next..

Basically, despite being beaten by every known paintball team that plied it's trade in the paintball mecca of California, the Hostile Kids still kept on coming back.

Officially the team disbanded due to political/business issues. We all know how that goes.

But one thing's for sure. The spirit that the Hostile Kids brought to the paintball scene never died. It never will. It will always be there.

What is this spirit that i'm talking about..?? This is the spirit of loving the sport for the sport. Supporters of this spirit became known as the HK Army. So much so, that it became a movement.

The HK Army movement is about people, not only kids, who play for the love of the game and do whatever it takes for the opportunity to come down to a field to play paintball. It's getting out with your friends and just tearing it up on the paintball field.

The HK Army is about people who see the sport of paintball as more than just a hobby, it's something more serious and they wish to live it everyday. These people make the effort to come down often to practice in order to become better. Because paintball means alot more to them. Paintball no longer becomes a sport. It becomes more than a sport. It becomes a lifestyle.

So you can say that the HK Army is just one big paintball team. And the answer to this is no. The HK Army is a movement. It's about getting together with people who you don't necessarily share the same beliefs and feelings as you, but all the share the same cause and do what you have to do to keep it going. And that cause is Paintball.

And HK Army is often, if not always, represented with that "H" handsign almost often accompanied with a verbal HHHHHHH.. Like whenever you're feeling happy and jovial you put up that 2 finger peace sign like mentioned earlier. Likewise, when we're feeling "HHHH".. we put up the "H" handsign.. This "HHH" feeling is basically the feeling of bringing that HK Army movement.. That feeling of giving your all for the thing that you love the most and that is paintball..

The "H" handsign can be represented in many forms as shown by The Heartbreakers here in this pic..

The HK Army movement has been brought up such a huge fanbase that the original members of Hostile Kids have set up an entire clothing line just for it -- PBfashion. Selling all stuff HHHH.. From T-shirts with many forms and graphics embodying the HHH movement on it, to headbands, sandanas, sunglasses, stickers, even carabiners.

The HK Army is often represented by it's most common form "HK Army" as commonly seen on it's headbands and also a pirate skull with the initials "HK" emblazoned on the skull like this:

So here's me, explaining what the HK Army movement is all about. So the next time u see me, or any other form of HK Army, don't be afraid to just put up your hands in the "H" handsign and go HHHHHHH..

here's a pic of the Pros rocking the HHHH..

Bobby Aviles and Zack Wake of Team Infamous...

Hafiz HHHHHHHH |_ (^.^) _|

Heartbreakers Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Novice Category (Division 4) Runner's Up.

Epic epic weekend.

The past weekend was the Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Leg 1 held at Jurong Central Park. Being in Jurong, and this close to where I stay. It was rather like a home event.

Saturday was qualifying rounds. So we had 5 matches to play. The first against our arch-rivals and also defending champions Rampage Onslaught. We lost that one. in total for saturday we won 3 games and lost 2. Really really compromising our run for the crown.

It was do or die on Sunday. We had a remaining 3 qualifying games to go thru. We won 1. Lost 1 and drew 1. So our chances of making it to the quaterfinal bracket was really like sitting on the edge of a cliff.

And we made it. By a point difference of one. We made it thru to the quaterfinal bracket with the last ranking, 8th. Our quaterfinal bracket consisted of (again) Rampage, Lunatics and Explicit. All teams that we've met in the qualifying round. In the qualifying round we lost to lunatics too.

We could only manage one loss and 2 wins to make it thru to the semifinals. The one loss would have to only come from rampage. But we lost our first quaterfinal game against lunatics again. Kenny was already doubting our chances. To him, it was like a repeat of the past SPS. The past SPS, The Heartbreakers didn't manage to go thru past the quaterfinals. We won our next game against Explicit. And we were left with our last quaterfinal game against rampage. And guess wat. We won that.

It was a major uplift for the team. I could clearly see that the win against Rampage meant alot to my team. We now had to wait and hope that explicit could beat lunatics for us to go thru to the semi-finals. And guess what.. That happened and The Heartbreakers stepped into a region they've never been in before. The Semi-finals.

We were up against Team ACES who were ranked overall 2nd. Semi-final onwards, all the games were played best of 3. Since we're in unchartered territory. Kenny was like telling us to "give our best" kinda motivation. We lost our first game. That was a real hammer blow to the team. But somehow. I just had to put it some never say die attitude to the team. Hell. If we're gonna lose. We're gonna do it with style. And in the 2nd game, We won. Bringing it to a 1-1. Putting us straight into the 3rd game to win it.

We brought the same mentality and heart into the last game and we won it..!! Cementing our place in the Final..!! Guess Team ACES wasn't prepared for what we were throwing at them. The revitalised effort that we threw at them was kinda shocking..

We were thru into the Finals against Rampage Onslaught, the defending champions.

Everyone was rooting for us. Our closest team, Contract Killers was rooting for us, after they clinched 4th in the Open Division. The Staff of Red Dynasty were in full support for us too.

This was it. A chance at being champions. Finals of the SPS 2011 Leg 1. My first ever paintball tournament and I'm already into the Final. I've never achieved such heights in archery or soccer. This was a first for me. And i wanted it so badly. Really really wanted it.

We lost the first game. But not after i put on a prolonged fight from the back centre, in the home bunker. The rest of my team were already eliminated. And i was the only one left alive against 4 others. I put up such a fight with so much heart. I took out 2 guys while at it. Switching sides. And gunfighting. I was holding it down for quite some time. But i was eventually bunkered out. We were demoralised.

But BBen came over to us while we were waiting for our 2nd game. Guess he really really wanted us to win too. He gave us such a inspiring motivational speech. It was so inspiring that we won the 2nd game with 5 man alive.

That brought it level. It was a real do or die moment. It was gonna be a fairytale ending for me.

My return to paintball.

My first paintball tournament.

Now I'm in the finals. So close to getting it.

And it all came crashing down as fast as the 10second countdown. A dubious call by a certain "infamous" referee.. that pulled a penalty on us. My instantaneous fill in was also penalised. And my whole fairytale ending came crashing down like a meteor. I was real upset and distraught. Even if we had to go lose. It wasn't like this. Not like this.

I just crouched there in the deadbox. Head held low. My teammates standing around me. Yazid was already consoling me. I could hear Rampage clearing the field. Literally lighting up the home bunker. Guess they lost their G-count and were afraid of a repeat of the fight I put up against them from the last point that they took.

Game Over. It was all over as well. I picked up the pods that I used. And walked around the field to shake the referees hands.. Contract Killers-SG were shouting "HEARTBREAKERS!!!", and the rest of the crowd were cheering for us.. And I instantaneously broke down. I was crying behind my mask. Dismantled my rotor from the marker. Passed it to Damian. Shook his hand. I could see that he was also sad with our loss. Sofie gave me a pat on my back. He was from Rampage but still he's my friend. It just had to be that our players' area was right next to rampage's..

I just sat down and wept. All my teammates were consoling me. it was a real heartbreak for me..

A heartbreak for a Heartbreaker..

The championship slipped thru our fingers. It felt like I let everyone down.

It took some time for me to console and compose myself.

It really helped that Yazid, Derek and Greg as well as many others were there to console and told me it was alright, and that we're gonna get it the next time.

after that it was prize presentation.

after we cleaned up. Some of us went to jurong point KFC for dinner together with Fuzz. Talked about the events of the weekend.

So many will ask why does any of this even matter?

It matters because of all that you put into it.

It matters because that plastic trophy represents a nearly unquantifiable collection of hours spent practicing, getting shot, arguing with each other, and waking up early despite the previous day's physical toll for the chance that everything can crystallize into something tangible.

And it matters because it's hard.

It matters so much that even after a crushing defeat. Making it all the way to the doorstep of your dream, only to see everything that you've worked for smashed to pieces.

And you're gonna come back and do it all over again..

Heartbreakers SPS 2011 Novice Category (Division 4) Runner's Up.

I'm definitely gonna build up on this.

Now i know where i stand amongst others.

After the events of the past weekend.

Everyone will remember The Heartbreakers.

And everyone will know my name..

Why do you have to appear in my dreams when my mind and body are at it's weakest..?

Why do you have to appear in my dreams when i was never thinking of you at all..?

Why do you appear at all..?

I haven't been thinking bout you. Lots of things occupying my mind now. Paintball, the army, my return to archery, my future after army.

Why do you have to appear?

Why do you always have to appear when i'm on the verge of completely forgetting bout you..?

Is there something behind it..?