Stomache

charity_18, originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

I just got these pictures from my buddy, who was there yesterday to help me “cover” the game. I think I looked awful. Haha… Or maybe, Timo made me looked good? He shielded me very well when I went up for the ball. Thanks, mate! I’m not feeling too well now. Tummy’s been grumbling and its like this stomache feel, but somehow it isn’t. Hmm… Weird? Think I shouldn’t skip my meals too often. Haha… Wonder if its some form of food poisoning? Let’s try and recall what I ate today. Morning woke up (late), rushed to office. Didn’t eat anything except 10-12 pieces of waffle biscuits. Head to the canteen for rice with luncheon meat, potatoe & beans. Tats it. Nothing else went in my mouth, other than air, between 10:30am and jus awhile ago(9:30pm to be exact). Will you get stomache if you dun eat? I tot it should be gastric pain? Hmm.. Oh… Or was this gastric pain? *scratch head* Never had one before, thus I won’t know. Anyway, I think I should be fine after a good nite’s sleep. So its time to hit the sack! =P

Its Red

ESPZEN Cup Final, originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

I had a great game today! Though I only featured in the first half of the game between Barbarians and Racing FC. The pitch was excellent! Kudos to Lee Taylor, the Espzen director, for organising the match at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Barbas started slowly in the first 15 mins or so, and later gathered some pace but were not that sharp with our finishing. I didn’t have much stuffs to worry about at the back (my defenders were excellent!). Except for a scorcher from Simon, the Racing midfielder, which skimmed my crossbar, I only had to gather some loose balls and tame shots in the first period. We’ve got about 18 players(reminds me of last week’s game) and its a Charity match, therefore I was told beforehand I’d only feature in 1 half. HT, 0-0.

Second half got underway and we started brillantly. Midway thru, we broke free and Andy Taylor stucked his boot in to give Barbas the deserving lead. 1-0, Barbarians. Just minutes later, Andy T again rounded the entire Racing defence and thought he had scored, but Jonny Wright was in an offside position. As a matter of fact, Wrighty didn’t need to be there. He shouldn’t have touched the ball. Oh well… Anxiety got the better of him, I guessed.

Just when we thought we’d wrapped the game up, Richie(Racing FC) caught our defence napping and punished us with a clever chip over Paul to equalise for Racing FC. 1-1. It was end to end stuff from then, but neither team managed to capitalise and full-time it was, with the game at one a piece.

Penalties were to follow. Paul took the first one and blasted it to the roof of the net. 1-0, Barbas. Simon took the next kick for Racing and he skimmed the upright this time. 1-0, Barbas still. Chister strode up and toko the 2nd kick for Barbas and smashed it in. 2-0, Barbas. Racing got 1 back in their 2nd kick. 2-1, Barbas. I actually lost count by then, but I know Timo missed his kick. But Racing missed theirs too. And so, we won. Haha… Barbarians hasn’t been receiving any silverware for while now, so its heartening to be getting something. We played well today, lads! *pat on our shoulders*

The 1NiteStand Cup Final match between Screaming Irish and Remix followed our match it was a definitely a thrilling match with lotsa action. Remix were reduced to 10-man after their defender got 2 bookings in quick successions. Bad luck to Remix, I guess. But it wasn’t easy playing against the Irish, though the majority of their team doesn’t consists Irish. They’ve got like 2-3 ex-S League players in their stables. But Remix did put up a good fight. Mike, you did well. You guys came this far and you should be proud of yourself! But then again, nobody remembers the losing team in a cup final. That’s the cruel fact of life…. and how ironic for the game to be played at Jalan “Bizarre” stadium.

Wake Board

Showing the ropes

Originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

Its been quite awhile since I went for my wakeboard session at ponggol. Its a fun and thrilling sport, to start with. But what may turn people off would probably be the costing. But then again, you wouldn’t be riding the waves for the entire 2-3hours alone. Most times, each guy would be on the board for about 15mins or so, and then you rotate among your group of wakeboarders.

Its much more different and challenging than water-skiing. There’re thousand one one tricks you can do with wakeboarding. I’ve not been a water sport person in the past. But after my wife (then gf) introduced this amazing sport to me, we’ve never looked back. I’ve not mastered much of the tricks with the wakeboard(yet), though I’ve been wake boarding for about 3 years or so now. You need lotsa practice and therefore you need plenty of time, which unfortunately, I do not have much to spare.

It doesn’t take long to learn how to get up from the water and ride the waves. But you will need to have some coordinations in order to do that. And you need to concentrate alot. But if you have my instructor(Amanda), you might not be able to “fully” concentrate on what you are doing, if you know what I mean. Hahaha…. =P

Heroes of LaLa Land

Heroes of LaLa Land

Originally uploaded by Lobinhoot.

The Heroes of La La Land was a piece by Singapore’s Local Fire Twirling group – Fireflys. We had alot of fun during the performance shooting and here we were after the all the dust has settled, doing a post-event shoot. Guess what? It was just as fun doing that!

Thank you, flies! For all the wonderful opportunites to allow me to shoot you. =)

EPL is back again!

 - Andy Johnson scores for Everton on his premiership debut.

What a way to start the premiership for my beloved Everton! A much-improved side certainly(but some may say its still too early to judge) this season. I’m rooting for them to be challenging for a European spot come the end of April 2007. It was nice to have the English Premier League (EPL) back! Was reading the papers today and saw an article about how the EPL actually bonds a family together. Without EPL (or the World Cup), the family might be disintegrated. Hmm… So what’s the harm of having a little wager between siblings and having the all-important family bonding while spending a Saturday evening watching footie? I say go for it!I’d surely enjoy a bustling Saturday night watching my favourite team playing(of cos, and my wife’s fav too).

  - Big Geoff and “Crazy” Martin, pondering over where did the Barbarians did wrong in their last match against Maykha, a Burmese outfit.

It was a disastrous sunday for me! Wasn’t exactly the start I wanted to have, and definitely not how I wanted it to go on that day too. Oh well, let me just run through the events on Sunday. I was awoken by my mom at 6:30am(yes, the sun’s not even up then). She needed me to fetch her to the Goddess of Mercy (Oh! Have mercy on me too!) temple at Middle Road. Me being the filial son and all obliged to send her there and back, despite the fact that I’m gonna have a big match at 9am, at Clementi Stadium. Anyway, after dropping her home I made my way to the stadium with thoughts of how to celebrate the victory should we triumphed over the opponents. But alas, all did not went as planned. I think what I’ve learned in After Actions Review(AAR) and Coaching methodology will help me explain further. 

What was supposed to happen?  – We were supposed to “whip” our opponents, with the HUGE squad present that day. 18 players to be exact. By far the healthiest strength in a Barbarians’ match this season. (Check out www.espzen.com )

What exactly happened? – Well, actually the opposite happened. We were humbled 4-6 by the Burmese. I let in 3 goals in a span of less than 10 mins. I think Anti Niemi, the Fulham keeper who played Manchester United, will emphatised with me. All in all, I made 4 blunders! How can I have 4 stupid blunders in 1 half of a soccer match? I was rightfully “dropped” for the 2nd half, but the damage had been done. We fought hard (earned 2 penalties, converted 1) and chased the game till the very end, but was too little, too late.

What went well? – Hmm… Though I didn’t play pretty well on the whole, I did make a good safe when the score was 1-1. And the second goal I conceded, I had a touch of the ball too. Third goal I anticipated, but took too long to react. And my view was partly blocked by my defender’s body. 4th goal was defeintely an off-side decision the Ref failed to award!

What could I have been done better, or What are the improvements to be made? – I think I’d put the blame on my mom waking me up at 6:30am. Yeah! That’s the ultimate reason. Haha! Kidding… Oh well, I should’ve been more alert. It was a larger field as compared to the ones we were previously playing. I should’ve communicated more with my back four and marshaled the defence better. I think it all bores down to communications. I shall remind myself not to make the same mistakes again. 

 I think this AAR and coaching thingie really works! It made me thought through the entire process of the game I played in yesterday. I would wanna share this fantastic tool with my peers and loved ones. Definitely a good way to iron out stuffs with your partner. :p

Just wanna “stressed” how early it was yesterday.

Coaching

What’s the difference between a Mentor, a Counsellor and a Coach? A Mentor is one who is of higher authority(usually), giving advise and guidance to someone junior. A Counsellor is one who listens and provides solutions. A Coach? Well, he’s someone who will draw out options from the Coachee. Its not that he doesn’t have any solutions for the coachee, but if he’s providing all the options, then the coachee will not be using his mind to think very much. Its not easy being a coach. I see a coach as someone who will be able to motivate, push, suggest, share whatever that his knowledge has to the coachee. Kinda complicating, eh? Let’s just say a Coach is someone who is a little bit of a Mentor and a Counsellor, somewhat “rojak” into one. There are other factors to being a good coach too. Building trust, being approachable and a good motivator are 3 traits I feel a good coach should possess. Knowledge and others could be gained and realised, but those 3 things are definitely crucial as a coach. Pondering time?

David Moyes, Everton FC’s Manager. A fantastic coach too!

Curry puffs

I think I ate about 8, or 9, curry puffs jus awhile ago. Yep! I dunno if its dinner or supper. But its the kind of food that you can’t simply just stop munching. I think I can be quite a match in food eating competition. I’ve had like 19 “Chwee Kuehs” at one go before. Wow?! The news just mentioned that there’s a cat killer in the Old Airport Road area. WHAT IN THE WORLD was that guy thinking?! WHAT THE F***!!!!! The 28 year-old guy should be shot! Cruelty to Animals in Singapore is liable to fine up to S$10,000 and , or jailed a year (or so). That’s too little!! Its a life this man has taken! Wrong! He’s been taking the lives of a few cats! I cannot believe what I am hearing! I say hang this chap! How can someone be so cruel? I don’t really like cats alot. I mean I like dogs more, but this is insane! If I can get my hands on him, I will !@$@#$%@#$^$#$^!@#*&^%&

Firewerkz 2006

I had an exclusive pass to the SFF 06, at the Merlion Park. Cool eh? Well, I tot so too in the beginning. There weren’t much photographers in the “exclusive” area, less some press and media photographers. But once you turn your head over your shoulders, you see TONS (yes, TONS) of people standing shoulder to shoulder with huge tripods and large cameras. Phew! Thank goodness I had my pass. The fireworks was impressive to me, but some people did utter abit, saying it wasn’t as good as the previous ones. Oh well, I didn’t get to see the previous 2 presentations, so I wouldn’t know. But I got what I wanted, so its fine by me.

Today’s been a lazy sunday for me. Played keeps for my team, The Babarians. We came off 3-2 winners, thanks to an Andy Taylor thunderbolt tat left my opposite number flapping and pushing the ball into his own net. Half time score was 2-1 to us. I came on as a 2nd half sub and I’d like to blame it on no “warming-up” in letting the opposition putting one goal into my net. But as the half went on, we held tight at the rear and perhaps we could’ve added a few more goals, but the finishing weren’t exactly wat we were looking for. Anyway, a win is a win. 3 points in the bag!! Check it out! www.espzen.com

Poor old Lancer

 

Sigh… Just last week, I placed an order for a new car which will be due to arrive in Singapore in late September. But 2 days ago, my present ride decided to die on me. Imagine driving in the middle of the road and your car stalled? I dun think any driver will wanna be in my shoes. To make matters worse, my mom was in the car jus now when it stalled. I’m sure she was being nice to nag at me and remind to do my servicing, check my radiator, or perhaps I had too much load in the boot, blah blah blah… Its as if I “staged” the stalling of my car. I told her to take a cab. Haha… Of cos she didn’t do it. Hmm… I guessed I’ve to send my poor lancer to the automobile clinic tomorrow. Gonna burn another hole in my pocket(again).

NDP 2006

Its about 8-9 hours more before I have to wake up the next day. Or is it gonna be today? Hmm… Lost track of time lately. Been trying hard to juggle a couple of stuffs at once. And I realised its quite impossible. Especially when all of them requires me to use my brain alittle. I dun quite like to use the logical part of it. I prefer using the creativity portion of it. But sometimes, the juices just dun seems to flow very well. Oh well… If all else fails, jus do within my means. I remember one mentor telling me this “If u have time to perfect something, do it. But if you do not have time to perfect the job, compromise with quality.” Its true. No matter how much you wanna try and improve on some project, you will end up not being satisfied with it. Cos its never perfect. Expectations will be high. You wanna do well. But if the dateline is fixed, heck it!

 (This was the best I could squeeze out of the spot I got)

Couldn’t find the spot to capture nice fireworks tonite. Damn! Gotta try harder on Sat. Time to go kiss my dog good nite and tuck in. Long day ahead tmr….