Farewell Dinner for a friend going away

It was a gathering of old friends again, this time specially cos one of our uni bunch of people is going to fly to Taipei, and spend the next 2 years there for his job. Minus the usual bunster, there were 5 of us, cos the newly weds came.

It was rare that the main character was there early! Given that he usually would either be super late or MIA (ok la..understand that he is a busy man. My money in the bank depends on people like him). But basically the person nearest to the venue was late (yes..its me..but I had to send out one email mah...)

The conversation flowed to his's preparation for the trip, how and where is he going to settle in (free accomodation near to 101 in Taipei next time!), to badgering the newly weds to post their honeymoon photos on facebook (after they create their account that is..it may be a joint account by the way =.="), to reading fine prints for telco ads.

I guess in this so interconnected world, it doesn't feel too different knowing that the friend is going to be miles away, cos anyway, he's going to be uploading his pictures as and when he could onto facebook. So it feels the same, just that we probably couldn't meet up as often (well, not that much different since he's like MIA most of the time in the first place.heh~)

The world is indeed becoming smaller.

I got a date with Mayday!

I got a ticket to Mayday's 新歌飚唱会! Woohoo~

I just hope I didn't hurt my friend too much when I grabbed his arm the moment he told me he got extra complimentary ticket..HAHAH~

72 hours to the new year

So soon to close the chapter on 2008.

I was pondering over some matters along the PIE today, which resulted in a much longer detour, which led to ...more pondering.

Which led me to the ultimate question : what do I really want?

On what? A couple of things, that had been bouncing in my mind for a while already. Well, actually.."a while" is an understatement of sort. Some of the issues had probably been there for the past few years, while some..more recent, and probably more pressing, especially since I had to really decide in the next few days.

As I was pondering, I came to a conclusion that I had been fighting the symptoms to the issue in question, instead of really going to the core.

Like,

Should I go to the new department? And on what terms ? -->what do I really want?

Spend money to do stuff that I want to while I still can, rather than be really a prude and save up?-->what do I really want??

Enjoy singlehood, or go out to meet more people? --> what do I really want???

When was the last time that I was really sure? I cant remember. Sometimes I just wish to bite the bullet and plunge in, but the cautious side of me had always pulled the rein in. Life is so not fun this way :(

Seasons Greetings!

My HTC died-ed and was sent to hospital today hoping for some chance of bringing it back to life. So was using my trusted sony-ericsson spare phone for the time being. Since most of the contacts are in the HTC, whenever someone call or sms I would have to repeat the same explanation : "my phone died, and using spare phone now. So I dont have your number. Who's this?" Other that, if it is a phone call, I would just pause for 1 sec to see if I recognise the voice (so far that didn't work very well). So if I had sounded hesitant when I took your call, it's because of that.

Anyway pre-christmas there would always be the influx of christmas wishes, and most of them I dont recognise the numbers. So for the first 2 sms I repeated the same message (see above). After that I realised that it's just too troublesome. So whenever a sms come in I would just reply "Merry Christmas to you too! :)". The person may have been the jerk that I have been trying to avoid (which I had mistakenly taken his call this morning cos I didn't recognise the number), but I guess this is the season to just be jolly and share some cheer around.

So I appreciate those who had sms-ed, though I dont know who most of you are, but I sincerely wish you all a merry time with friends and family :))

Christmas Eve already?!

exactly.

But of course it's evident by the fact that there were so many people buying gifts everywhere! Did someone just say that we are going into recession?!

I just finished wrapping the pressies..I have been accumulating the pressies since like 2 months back, knowing that I dont want to be stuck in the last min shopping fix (okok..it was also an excuse to start shopping :p). But then it was a blessing in disguise as well since I was away for the whole of last week. Just that I had to scramble for wrapping paper today, and after running out of gift tags, improvised with my favourite notepad, which I had used sparingly since I bought it..like..10 years ago? and ribbons which I had a spare roll of.

Hope I haven't left anybody out..

Gemurah

Last Dec when I went to watch the SEA Games, I came back with Q Flure's song.

This time round at the Junior Asia Cup, whenever there were breaks - before game, in between games, after games, the sound system will be blasting with songs, usually the unintelligible malay songs or Queen's "We are the Champions", all on repeat mode until the skin crawled from hearing the same songs over and over again.

Anyway, one of the songs got stuck in my head. Asked one of the girls for the title which was "Gemurah". And although I dont understand what the song was about, it sounded quite upbeat for a tournament setting :))



But the MTV for this ballad "Sampai Sygur"(which was also on the repeat play mode at the Seremban II Stadium), also by the same guy Faizal Tahir, is nicer.




Guess what? I went to buy Faizal Tahir's CD on the last day before coming back to SG. Haha~ Yes, I still dont understand what the songs were about, but they sounded not bad I must say. Now, to find a kind soul to help translate the lyrics...

JAC Day 9 and Final Day

We won Pakistan 1-0. So that qualified us to the 5th/6th placing match against Malaysia this morning. So it was another day waking up at 5am plus for breakfast.

Malaysia got the 5th, and us the 6th. But somehow the girls seemed happier than the Malaysian winners after the match. Think the Malaysian team is dissappointed that they didn't manage to finish in a better placing for this tourney.

So it was back to the hotel, pack and check out of the hotel, giving us a good 2 hours for lunch before leaving the hotel for the stadium to watch the 3rd/4th placing match between Japan and India (No team meetings! Finally!). The girls had their last Seremban wish of eating at A&W again, and had their fill of rootbeer floats, coney dogs, curly fries, waffles...

We reached the stadium just in time for the start of the match. India won the game 3-1 as they converted their chances, whereas Japan had no luck in front of the goal. Maybe it was the weather. It was so *&^%$& humid that everybody was fanning themselves and dozing off at the grandstand. I was telling GM who was sitting next to me that perhaps this was why India won, cos the weather might have suited them to a T.

It was home sweet home when the game finished as we went back to the hotel for our coach. So began the journey home :)))

I never thought I'll be so happy to be in my room again.. after camping in a hotel room for the past 10 days.

JAC Day 8

First pitch training for this tourney. Yes. First pitch training on the 8th day since we set off from Singapore.

The good thing about the first team to use the pitch was that there's no one earlier than you and you have the luxury of warming up on the pitch directly. Only an hour's slot was allocated to us, 20 mins were spent passing and hitting to each other.


Anyway, it was a beautiful morning with cloudless sky. Which was the case for the rest of the day. Which means it was super hot by the time we got back to the hotel and when we walked out for lunch.






The girls have their video analysis in the afternoon followed by a briefing in the evening, before we had to go to the official hotel for the dinner hosted by Malaysian Hockey Federation. Music was blasting throughout the whole dinner together with cultural dance items, which made talking almost impossible other than to just the person sitting next to you. It was probably on purpose, as Juanma commented that he noticed that Asians dont like to talk while eating (hence the loud music so that people were not made to feel awkward while not talking), which was quite contraryto the European culture. Looking at the composition of the people at my table (managers and coaches from the different participating teams), it was probably a darn good idea too to mask the fact that conversations may not last beyond "how are you" and "how is the dinner" in halting and smish smack English.

Actually, on second thoughts..I would have rather attempted the halting conversation rather than having the music blasting non-stop for the full 2 hours. My brain felt a bit concussed now after being kept hitting by the high decible sound waves =.="

So..early day tomorrow against Pakistan, at 8.30am. Going to play on the second pitch which we had not trained on before.

JAC Day 7

Rest day..although was being kept on the toes depending on the outcome of the India v Chinese Taipei score. Looking at how Korea played us yesterday, we were wondering if the Indian team is going to also pull back on their attacking, so long as they secure a win. The plan was to do some pitch training from 6pm to 7pm should we go into penalty playoffs, so all the playing gears were brought down to the pitch as well.

Thankfully for us, they crossed the 8-0 mark 20 mins before the end of the game, before finishing at 10-0. (Ok, I feel sorry for the Chinese Taipei team too..having to play at 4pm under the hot sun and have to struggle for their last game too). Btw, when I got the news of the 8-0 score, I was actually on the way back to the stadium from the hotel..cos of some blur idiot who forgot to bring the hockey balls and I had to go back during half time so that I can make it in time for the pitch training. In the end, the girls who was supposed to be taking charge of the balls paid for ice cream for the whole team :p

So we are going to meet Pakistan on Sat morning at 8.30am (which means that the team has to wake up by 5.30 to start eat..which also meant that I have to wake up at 5.15 to get ready for them to come to my room to take the food), and since the classification match on the last day is going to be either at 8am or 8.30am..that would mean that for the remainder of the days of this tournament, I will be waking up at 5 am thereabout everyday.

Oh dear...

JAC Day 5&6

Day 5

Was our rest day, and girls were made to expend their extra energies during pool recovery with the sports trainer Geok Mei (GM's and my conspiracy to make the girls tired so that they wont stay up late at night watching tv/surfing net/chatting...). In the afternoon, we went to watch India vs Korea. Real interesting, watching the nimble India team pit against the compact Koreans in style and tactics differences. I think the best thing for me for this trip is having the chance to watch teams like China, Japan, India and Korea play against one another, whose games gurantee would have been interesting.

Dinner was again at our "favourite" shopping complex, and having lost for choice where to eat, the team settled for the Chicken Rice Shop, which sells...chicken rice..

Anyway I can only say..girls between the age of 16-21 are the most difficult to rationalise with sometimes. Sigh...


Day 6

Game vs Korea today. Somehow the energy of the girls seemed different today, and it showed during their game, when almost all the girls kept chasing down opponents and and passes. The half time score was promising, as we wrapped up the first half 1-0 (of course the Korean team was obviously not going all out, since they had already topped the table with their win yesterday against India). But the lack of fitness and focus showed during the second half, and we finished the game 6-0.

Now, we have to see how much India is going to win Chinese Taipei tomorrow for their 4pm match (which we are going to watch) to know who we are going to play on Sat. If it's going to be anything 7 or less, we are going into strokes since Chinese Taipei and us are tied on points, goal difference and goals for. The stroke is going to take place after the last game at tomorrow, which is ending at 9.30pm. And that would mean logistical hell for me since that would mean that I would have think of how to feed 19 players and 4 officals (including myself of course) at the stadium. Not to mention the erractic timings of our arranged transport..which makes planning super challenging.

I think I need a holiday after this trip.

JAC Day 4

Today is a &^$%^^$ day..That is a story that if i start blogging abt it today, I will puke blood once over again..

But anyway we drew with Chinese-Taipei 1-1. A very unlucky defensive lapse which resulted in a goal against us, and an overdue call for a penalty stroke which we converted.

We stayed to watch the China team play against Malaysia. By the first half, China was leading 2-0, but I must say that Malaysia fought very hard as they tried to maintain the scoreline until the last 5 mins when China took another field goal.

And cos one of the vans which was supposed to come to pick up had one of the tyres punctured, we had to wait for a good 50 mins before the vehicles finally came for us and by the time we reached the hotel, it was too late to eat at the nearby food court and so...the girls had a treat when we went to the 24 hours A&W. Girls who were complaining of cramped legs suddenly made that little leaps and walked 2 steps faster =.="

Tomorrow is going to be first real rest day...the previous one having played the postponed first game. Next game, against Korea on Wed.

JAC Day 3

The team was supposed to wake up at 6am this morning, and start eating their breakfast by 6.30am latest so that they have got enough time before their first game at 9am. Geok Mei the sports trainer and me had done the "Maria" duty of buying breakfast food (bread, banana, apples, muesli bars, the night before, at the nearest Giant supermart, which was a good 15-20 mins walk away, further than the supermart at the basement of the nearer Parkson superstore, as we couldn't be sure if we could get enough bread for everybody, since their supplies are noted to run low by evening. The food was left in my room and the rooms were supposed to get their food from here after their wakeup.



After all sleepy eyed players got their fill, we set off to Seremban II stadium for the team's first match. With our own outriders!



(I got photo! But loading pix onto blogger.com seems to be quite impossible on wifi here)



We lost our first game to India 0-8. Think the girls were a bit upset at the big scoreline, but considering this is the first big outing for them, thought majority probably handled it quite alright.



Afternoon was spent watching the other 2 teams in our group - Korea and Chinese-Taipei (7-0), followed by 15 mins of China vs Thailand. I was quite surprised at the different standards of the Thailand U21 and their national team, having watched the national team played during the last SEA Games in Dec 07. Hmm..maybe there is hope for our team for the next SEA Games.



Tomorrow we are playing against Chinese-Taipei. There could be a chance for us to score some goals.

Day 1 had past..and Day 2 just flew by

It had been super busy since I reach Seremban. Photos uploading soon!

Day 1

8.30am - coach set off from Textile Center

9.30am - &^$&*(&..stuck at Tuas Check point

10.30am - ok..option A - if I reach seremban at 12 plus to 1pm, maybe there is still time to check into our hotel first, then go for the manager's meeting which was at another hotel (that is another story by itself..). Option B, if I reach about 1 plus I'll have to go straight to manager's meeting.

1.00pm - saw the sign "Seremban 93km". Ok..Option C (and the only I guess), be profusely apologetic and hope that most of the other team managers probably left by the time I reach the manager's meeting after dashing there once I alight from the bus.

2.10pm - I can't believe it when the bus driver suddenly shouted "Seremban!" What?! Wasn't the coach supposed to go to a terminal or something? This is a super ulu road lor..hey..that's Madhavan! Hey Madhavan, you here to help the tournament? You going to the official hotel Resort??want to share a cab? When I told him that I was there as the manager, he mentioned, "No wonder I find you a bit familiar..." (oh shit..it better not be from incidents whereby I had scolded him on the pitch when he was umpring our games...)

2.50pm - after a ride with a dingy old cab with no meter/no aircon/no receipt, dashed into the meeting room and of course..was profusely apologetic.

The rest of the days was sent recceing the areas around the hotel and visiting supermart to buy food, since the team is going to arrive late and probably need some bites later that night. Had a chance encounter that reminded me that this place is not Singapore..and it's probably rare (and not that safe!) that a female walks alone on the road.

I think the 30 mins rest watching The Guardian on AXN was the last 30 mins that I had chance to rest. ..

Day 2

Match day!~ vs India @ 6pm.


We are in Group B, the same group as India, Korea and Chinese Taipei. Group A has China, Japan, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand. So...we are very luck not to be in Group A :p

Too many things happened..that it's prob too long to blog. But the main thing was that the game got postponed to tomorrow due to heavy downpour..but we were at the stadium for 4 hours from 3.45pm before we left at 7.45pm...
Now the team has to wake up at 6am to eat in time for the game at 9am. So going to hear team first hoorah "Majula!" tomorrow, in a different position on the bench ..hmm...come to think of it, feels quite weird.

Ok..more next time. Sleep! (I need it..)

Off to Seremban!

As my debut appearance (cameo?) as manager for the U21 team. I have been told I can finally put my fiery disposition to good use. Hmmm..

It has been quite a madness 4 days, especially the last 2. I must say..whatever the experience, it has made me thankful for what the many managers had done in the past - Xiuhua, Wanzhen, and heck..even Ruby. So many things happening in the background just so the players can just focus on the games.

But I wonder..things were so much straightforward and more well planned last time. Somehow "stretching the dollar" is real important now, and I have to be always on my toes for last minute changes and happenings (one of which resulted in me having to travel alone tomorrow ahead of the rest of the team..Yeah..what an adventure.). And..I probably have to draw out the "appropriate management skills" (still fresh from Bintan), to appeal to 19 juvenile girls to exercise their common sense. Things like "lights out at 11pm" will prob be the top of my list to do every night, after I saw how it drew many exasperated expressions during the admin brief..

Ok I exaggerate. Maybe half of them will be sensible enough..the rest..are just happy go lucky.

I guess I have to bring out the devil-with-pitchfork attitude, and probably try to stretch the morning grumpiness through the day.

I hope I can come back with my sanity in one piece.

I will survive

although I want to wring a few necks along the way...

国境之南

特爱电影原声带，因为觉得听到某一首歌特别有画面感。

如果海會說話　如果風愛上砂
如果　有些想念遺忘在漫長的長假

我會聆聽浪花　讓風吹過頭髮
任記憶裡的愛情在時間潮汐裡喧嘩

Things I learnt from my first half marathon

(i) Sometimes there may really be somebody out there, keeping a lookout for you..

I had remembered to set my alarm at 4am. But somehow, I woke up at 3am at the tail-end of some weird dream, and after realising that it was still early, I went back to sleep again (the dream continued..). But somehow I felt that I was going to be late, woke up and realised that the clock was at 10 minutes pass 4am..and my alarm didn't go off! Thank goodness..

(ii) It is possible to run more than 1 hour.. without stopping..

I think I would called myself mad if I said it 2 years earlier. Anyway for today, I decided to just listen to my body and stop only when it says so. And so I went on to the 2 hours mark...I was pretty amazed at that especially since I hadn't train for it.

(iii) and your body does talk to you..sometimes all at the same time.

The ankles say.."See lah..wear heels lah.."

The knees say.."I have not seen poundings like this since..like never?!"

The hamstring and glut say.."Wee! Work it baby! But if this goes on for too long, we think we need to rest leh..."

The back say.."Hmm..not bad..still surviving..better dont surge too much hor..if not..you know"

The arms say.."When was the last time you work us out?! Of course we are not used to swinging!"

The head says.."Come on..Come on..run your own race....Dont listen to the rest.."

(iv) There is no way to complete the race comfortable if you never train for it!

Did I say I didn't train for the run? Serve me right.

(v) Sometimes we are too fast paced for our own good. We miss the nice sights and sounds that surround us everyday

Like how the morning sky gather light.

Like how calm the water at Kallang Basin is.

Like how the Singapore Flyer had added to a new dimension to the Singapore skyline.

Like how solidatory is Shenton Way, without its maddening office crowd.

(vi) The things some people carry in their hands (hands..not as if they strap it to their arms or something)

Digi cams, video cams, handphones, wife's handbag (i'm not kidding)...

(vii) What did they teach us during Senior Officer Training? No matter what it is, it's always important to at least have some $$ on you.

Especially when shortly after finishing 21 km and the one of the first delightful sights was an ice cream man selling ice cream. And you have naught moolah on you. Darn.

(viii) Wardrobe malfunction can cause painful experiences post event

Especially when it caused raw skin area, on the torso, and makes it &%&$^*!# painful whenever water touches it.

(ix) Ice Mocha is nice after run :))

(x) A phone cam is always handy for catching post run shots. Should have done so pre-run, but it's too early..I think the phone will reject my morning grouchy face look..

Happy People After 21km (Photos courtesy of CK's phone cum music player)

Enough is Enough ..sometimes too "enough".

..when you said "I think CXX is like a dumping ground for people who cannot make it in SXX"
(Thanks.. I really need that kind of statement now.)

..when you said "What you think you could have done better? Maybe if you have done something different you wouldn't end up in this state"
(Again, thanks. I didn't know it has become my fault that things have turned out this way. And as if things will turn around by going through this process)

..when you said "you know..you are really a difficult person to get along"
(Just great. Not only professionally challenge, characteristically challenged now too)

..when you said "You know..(ex-flame's name) is getting married..again". Paused silence.
(You sound just too happy to tell me that. What were you expecting me to reply..)

..when you said "What I said is all facts what..why you cannot accept facts"
(Facts according to you. And even if they are factual, that don't make them right)

..when accusation starts to fly when I declined your help, and it becomes my fault for acting up. Again.
(I didn't know that your help comes with the condition that I must accept whatever you say, no matter how hurtful they are)

Enough is enough..

..when there is obviously a communication gap understanding what is the cause of this whole fiasco

..when the option is so callously planned and communicated

..when whatever agreement didn't hold water at all



Gosh..how I hate it, especially the last one. Things are starting to not make sense. Or maybe they do. Telling me that it's time to snap out of it.

Post W Dinner rantings

Another wedding dinner attended. Another night whereby the night owl refused to go to bed, and spent (wasting?) time in pensive thoughts.

In summary,

• Want not, grief not
• 对的不来，来的不对
• Don't stray from the decided, if the alternative is not fantastically favourable.
• Things will take their own course, whether you like it or not. The only way to deal with them when they come....is to deal with them when they come

Well, at least there is the Dec trip to focus on..10 days with 18 girls, 1 ang moh. At least I got the asst coach D to fall on..or can I??