'twas a packed but fulfilling day yesterday.

headed down to the official opening of the brand new Sengkang sports complex cum CC. The first of its kind. Good news for us living in Bukit Panjang, coz the 2nd of this new model, which is still being constructed, will be opened next year (April 2010), next to jelapang CC aka huEy's house. hahaha! gonna be awesome man.

After which, cabbed down to True Way Pres for Charity Not Enough mtg. After the mtg, cabbed down to office in Kallang. Settled some work while waiting for my bosses. We were supposed to meet at Kallang Macs before walking to National Stadium together for the match. At 530pm, Kallang Macs was filled with Liverpool fans already, and there was a huge traffic jam on the road leading to the stadium.

When we reached the stadium, the excitement grew. It was like NDP! haaha... The sea of red supporters made up the stands, and when they belted out the Liverpool anthem - You'll Never Walk Alone, my hair stand sia. They were trying to convert non-Liverpool supporters. hahaa...

I've never experienced this kind of thing before. I mean, it was the first time I'd seen an EPL team live in action. I've been to many sport events, but this experience was a little different from the rest. It wasn't like when Quah Ting Wen & Co. brought the house down at the Sport School earlier this month, and wasn't entirely like the National Inter School Track & Field Champs, when schools try to drown out their rivals by the loudest cheer. You know, the Liverpool game was watched on by Liverpool faithfuls, who sang the anthems with gusto and passion, and all wanting to get a piece of their beloved idols.

It wasn't a great game in terms of quality, fans were left red faced after the first half, when Liverpool fielded a team of mostly second grade players. It wasn't long before they made their impatience known with chants like ,'We want Torres'. hahaa. Rafa listened, and started to pour in the people's players, like Reina, Alonso, and Torres!!!! It was like an Eruption man, the lousy first half forgotten, and fans began to cheer at their loudest, especially when Liverpool stamped their superiority by adding 4 more goals in the 2nd half. whoa.. actually i feel kinda sad for Singapore, coz the crowd just wanted to see more Liverpool goals, at the expense of Singaporean pride. If can make the score 10-0, the crowd even happier. haaha.. some of our local players were quite pissed off.

As the match came to its final minutes, I grew increasingly nervous. Coz I knew this was my final chance to get Torres to sign on my jersey. 'Will I be able to get it? Will Torres stop to sign? AHH!!'

I just wanna share how the Liverpool jersey came to me. On Thursday (the day when Liverpool arrived in Singapore), I went to Oriental for the media conference. My boss (liverpool fan) went prepared and after jostling with the security, he managed to get Torres, and a few other players to sign on his jersey, after the media conference.

I was just sharing with him that my bro is a big Torres fan, but I was unsure of whether I should go get a jersey, coz I wasn't very confident of getting him to sign on it. I felt that the chances are low. Then on Friday, he surprised me when he went to buy a jersey for me in the afternoon!!! Thank God ! It wasn't cheap, it cost $109... Until now, I still think I wouldn't actually go buy one... Really thank God!

On Saturday, I was hopeful la. Went for their media conference again at the Oriental. But to my disappointment, I didn't get Torres' autograph. But I got Reina (Goalkeeper), Rafa (Coach) & Kuyt to sign on my jersey. hahaa... was rather unprofessional la, media not supposed to do that, coz we're like making use of our access privileges to chase down players. haaha.. but we're not gonna let our chances slip away!

So yesterday, once the final whistle was blown, my heart was racing like crazy. Torres was the one I was gunning for. We went to the pitchside, onto the mixed zone (for doorstop interviews with players). haaha... but most of the media people 'abused' our privileges, and wanted to get autographs. haha... we were acting like fans ourselves. haahaa.. then the fans who were on the stands above us kept begging us to help them get their stuffs sign. One fan was super happy when one media person helped him to get Kenny Daglish (English football legend) to sign on his shirt. hahaa

When the players streamed out of the dressing room one after another, heading to the team bus, I added their autographs onto my jersey. It was when Torres came out, that I ferociously lunged forward for his autograph!!! Thank you Fernando :D

Thank God for this experience. I'm gonna send the jersey for framing :)

haaha... when everything is done and dusted, when almost everyone had left the stadium, my boss was waiting to get the tape containing the highlights of the match (we purchased it to play it on our website). We went to raid the team's dressing room, haaha, got a few players' bottles for my friends.

YiXin, I've got one for ya! Not trying to convert you to be a Liverpool fan haaha!

Thank God for last week, it was very very tiring, but a lot of paparazzi experience haaha...

i've not been converted to be a fan of Liverfool.
i'm getting baptised end this month.
vin

(i'll post some photos here, but I've left my cables (both my camera & laptop) in the office yesterday)

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2:11-14

I'll pray that since i'm living in the grace of God, I wanna live self-controlled, upright and godly lives, while waiting for the glorious hope.
vin

In light of all my struggles, and difficulties, Let's rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. I've been reminded that through these trials, what will result is good christian character being refined. We can rejoice in having this unshakeable hope that one day we'll be transformed into our end state. No longer struggling with sin, no need for any more worries. Coz we'll be perfected in our new bodies.

Lately I've felt so inadequate. I felt that I wasn't able to challenge my christian students. I felt stuck. It made me feel so disappointed with myself, coz I feel that I'm not being effective in this ministry that i'm in. I want to mobilise and encourage students to share the gospel, but I dunno why I just can't seem to challenge them to do that, and most of the time I will give in to their reasoning, or excuses for some. I pray that God may grant me wisdom to be able to plan for them (What is best for them), and faithfulness in seeing that these plans are being carried out. Right I know that I should not be discouraged at all, but continue to be faithful in the work, while trusting God.

vin

Saving the Best for the Last

The Games are practically over now. No more competition tmr, no medals to be given out tmr, all venues are being derigged. The shuttle buses between venues have operated their last day today, and only a few athletes still remain here in Singapore. Tomorrow is officially the final day of the Games, there's only the Closing Ceremony left on the schedule.

As the Games wears on, our spirits get lifted, our faces furnish more of smiles rather than tired frowns. We feel relieved that the Games is going to be over, and with that so does the craziness which everyone has been put through the past few months in preparing for the Games. At the same time, we glow in satisfaction, seeing the product of our hardwork. We are well aware that this Games has fallen short in many aspects of people's expectations, and it may not be that well organised in some parts. But hey, you know when was the previous time SIngapore organised a multi sport event of this sort? 1993! To put together a show in a short span of something less than a year is hard enough, to deliver a great show after 16 silent years is too much to expect isn't it?

I find it hard to find the reason why I love the nature of these multi sport, cross culture kind of Games. There's so much that I enjoy about it.

Quah TIng Wen & her girls will grab the headlines at home, and people will sing praises of our contingent's performance.Student volunteers will return to school and compare their collection of pins and post up facebook photos taken with the cute and handsome Koreans. I will hang up my accreditation pass, take a break, look forward to school.

What I will remember most to last through time will, incidentally be the last of the competition action at this Games. At a few minutes past 9pm, one hour after Ting Wen & Gals ended off the 5 days of swimming action on a high, and minutes after the Majulah Singapura was being played over at Bowling, I tuned in to the live streaming from Jalan Besar Stadium, where the football finals was being played. I watched the final minutes of the game between the 2 Koreas. I rested my chin on my hands as the final whistle was blown. What proceeded on after that got me all emotionally stirred up. After the customary handshakes, both sides mixed as they joined to form a line, and raised each others' hands to acknowledge the crowd. It all felt like they were a team. Not only that, the players from the South wrapped their arms around their neighbours affectionately, seemingly to tell everyone that they are brothers.

I hope the political leaders see that. The North may have lost out to the South, but I believe they've gained a kinship.

Thats the most beautiful thing that happened this Games.
vin