It will be sad when you go.

The smell of cup noodles takes me back to overseas training trips - freshly-cleaned and cold, aching subtly from three training sessions and the sting of bitter humiliation, coupled with the haunting promise of many more days such as the one that had just passed, with a group of wet-haired friends, huddled together with steaming cups of instant cup noodles between our boney, tired, calloused hands, talking about everything. Tabletennis, mostly. But also of other stuff.

I kinda miss it but I know that I'm perfectly fine where I am now. And even then, I'm glad I went through all of that. Being an athlete, like a proper athlete, and a young one at that, molds you in ways you never thought positively of, but always in ways that serves as a healthy dose of clarity.