Copa IBA 2007

Yes, I know. I'm a really slow blogger but better late than never. I had too many people bugging me for the photos, so here they are.

Anyway, Copa IBA 2007 kicked-off just recently. On the 14th of July, hundreds of the young (and young-at-heart) congregated at the Real Sports Arena in Klang for the annual Brethren Assemblies youth sporting event. After many years of having the event at RRIM, I guess the committee decided that a change would be good. Speaking of change, this year also saw the introduction of futsal as one of the main competition events, which made perfect sense since the venue was an indoor futsal court.

Gasing fielded a junior captain ball team, as well as futsal teams for both junior and senior categories. Overall, we did pretty good with all teams getting pretty far in the tourney. Kudos to all who participated this year!

It was our junior captain ball team however that surprised most (if any at all) of us by reaching the finals of the competition. This was the very team that one point (pun not intended) was staring at the brink of elimination from the qualifying round after scoring only, yes, ONE (1) point after the round robin matches. By God's grace, and a miracle too, really, we qualified.

And lo, that wasn't the end of the story. With the team all pumped up with their entry to the quarter-finals, they pulled together some fancy moves to post a convincing win over Kelana Jaya in the final 8.

We faced SSGC next in the semi-finals. Up against a very competitive team (and team manager too!), it certainly wasn't a walk in the park and there weren't many chances to score either. The Gasing team had to pull out pretty much all stops to clinch this match, which they did. The narrow scoreline of 9-6 says it all.

And there we were, in the finals again. Our second consecutive one too, following our last Copa IBA appearance in 2005. In an ironic twist of fate, standing at the opposite end of the court was SJGC, who gave us our lone point in the round robin stages with a 12-12 draw. It was a tough match and both teams gave it their best. Nevertheless, Subang turned out to be the better team that day and walked away deserving champs.

Besides the fun that I had watching the matches and cheering the teams on, Copa IBA also presented an excellent opportunity for me to test my then half-day old toy. I hadn't familiarised myself with all the controls and functions as yet, especially the manual settings, but I went back fairly satisfied with the results.

So this is when I step back and let my pictures tell the rest of the story.


Our super catcher in flight.


Shadowy steps.


The Gasing senior futsal team in deep discussion.


Our private BKT eating competition!


David leading the way.


Go Gasing!


Supporters in wild abandon.


Supporters in deep concentration.


The junior captain ball finals - PJGH vs SJGC.


Our junior captain ball team with their Runners-Up medals and Fair Play Award trophy.


SU-SING! A play on SUbang and GaSING.


Smile =)


For more pictures, simply click on the link below:-

2007.07.14 Copa IBA 2007

dive @ Perhentian - day 3

On the morning of Day 3, I decided to wake up a little earlier than usual to spend some time alone. After getting past the initial struggle of pulling myself from under the sheets, I took a shower, got dressed, and then headed down to the beach with my Bible.

The Sunday morning heralded the new day with beautiful hues of blue, yellow and orange. There was a light breeze in the air and it was quiet.

Picture doing your quiet time with this view!


Silent rays breaking the dawn.


After breakfast, I spent the next couple of hours sitting through some more classes with the OW gang. Wasn't too interesting. Blah blah blah...

Later on in the morning, the leisure and AOW divers had gone out for their morning dives, but since the OW gang didn't have dives scheduled for the rest of the morning, it was time for a late morning siesta (if there was such a thing)!


At about 11am, I thought about the faithful mulling about their usual business back in church. It would have been Coffee Hour so I sent back this tempting picture through MMS with the caption, "This is me on a Sunday morning!" Haha!


Lying on the hammock, just a tilt of my head to the right and this is what I see. Maybe I should have sent this picture instead.


The OW gang having lunch at Samudra Cafe. Had a nasi ladna, which turned out OKAY.


The rest of the afternoon was packed with our dives. We did a few more "confined" dives at Teluk KK where we practiced a few new skills. Also had a chance to swim around a bit as the area was fairly deep. Yeah...so much for the term "confined" dive.

My group even saw a turtle swimming around! A green turtle...I think. Did I fail to mention that before this dive, Irene and I had been jokingly complaining that the best thing that we had seen so far was sea cucumber?! Sea cucumber that we had even given the quintessential generic name "Bob". Today wasn't Bob's day unfortunately, as he was bumped off his pedestal by our new turtle friend.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...


End of Dive #1.


A short rest and soon we're switching our air tanks for Dive #2 at Shark Point!


Of course, some decided that sleep was more important.


Gotta feed 'em hungry divers.


Han Ther, me, Hooi Teng and Poh Sim

driving home last night

Oh refuge of my hardened heart
Oh fast pursuing lover come
As angels dance around Your throne
My life by captured fare You own

dive @ Perhentian - day 2

Day 2 of Le Tour de Perhentianne started relatively early by holiday standards. We had to wake up at about 7ish, wash up, chow down breakfast, and then head to the dive centre for the day's activities. For the OW divers, the new day started with 3 quizzes on the material that we were supposed to have gone through the day before.

Great. Just great.



But no sweat. Perfect 10 for all 3 quizzes, baby! Haha!


Then it was time to get our diving gear sorted out.


Learning how the pieces of the jigsaw fit together.


Mine!


The OW gang with Mazlin, of the 2 OW dive instructors.


Shadows in the sand. Irene and I snap away.


Powder white sand sifting through our toes. And azure blue waters ever beckoning us to jump in. Simply picture postcard perfect.


Now THIS is what holidays are all about! Part of the gang all zonked out on the beach.


Ok, that's all I can remember for now. It's been quite awhile since the trip and my memory is starting to fail me. Still 3 more days to cover. Yikes!

Until Day 3 then!

the good

Teeny weeny glasses of oh-so-lethal grape juice.

Coming face to face with a "slinging" Singaporean.

The cup of long island tea that runneth over.




Shook! with the Trio was...SHOOK (syiok-lah)!!


For some reason, we jumped into spiritual conversations of the "other" kind that night. Yeah, who doesn't like a good ghost story anyway, right?

Riiiight. But seriously, I had the hairs at the back of my hand standing up!


I'm telling you, IT was right here!!


*shudder*


To top up the night, it was nice to find a note on my windscreen left by the kind people of JW Marriott who had cleaned my car.

Talk about 5-star service, baby.


*****


Turns out I had fathered more than just a few children over the weekend and hence I have been given the name "Jason the baby maker". Hey, noone said it was easy, but well, just trying to honour the divine commandment to "go forth and multiply"!!

Such is the life that Bing has accorded to the current chief "producer" of the land of Isola in his game Virtual Villagers.

Didn't manage to get a screen shot of "Jason" but here's showing how important my role is in ensuring the village survives through the generations...


No baby maker. Village dai.

the bad

Decisions, decisions.

Too many.

Too soon.

dive @ Perhentian - day 1

After receiving so many requests from crazed fans asking to see the pictures from my recent diving trip in Pulau Perhentian (hoping to catch a glimpse of gleaming hot bods in the sun perhaps?), in my kind benevolence, I have decided to come up with a series of posts that will feature some pictures as well as a little log of what we did over the 5 days that we were there.

Day 1 started off in the wee hours of Friday (incidentally the 13th!) morning where I really had to struggle to peel myself out of bed after only managing to squeeze in a few hours of sleep. Took a quick shower and then woke Eu Bing up, who then gave me a ride to KL Sentral where I was to meet up with Angie, Kathy, Irene and Joanne. Kat however, who is normally Miss Reliable, surprisingly overslept today and so ended up heading to KLIA on her own.

Well, fast forward through the bus ride and breakfast at McD’s, we finally made it to the runway tarmac all ready to go!


C-c-can’t control self. H-h-have to do lala pose for the camera.


On board the plane…


Some slept.


But I did the kiasu thing by studying my scuba diving material!


Before long, we arrived at the land of tudungs and keropok lekor…


Kelantan!!


As there were 23 of us (yes, our original group just grew, and grew, and GREW), good ol’ Kelvin (a.k.a. our de facto tour leader) chartered a bus to take all of us from Pengkalen Chepa Airport in Kota Bahru to Kuala Besut, where we were to hop on a boat to the island.


No prizes for guessing what most of us did on the bus.


Upon arrival in Besut…


How long, O Lord???


I was bored so I took a stroll around and took this picture which I really like. A fitting addition to my collection of window/door pictures!


Time to board the boat…finally!


After approximately 40 minutes of heart-stopping moments on a crazy boat ride that left our knuckles white, our destination was finally in sight.


And we have arrived!


Our home for 5 days – Arwana Perhentian.


Welcome to paradise on earth!


Our dive centre…Alu-Alu Divers. Most of our daily activities revolved around this little shack.


As you can see, island life is pretty casual. They even have the communal si hang. Here, Kathy and Angie try to fit in with the local culture.


After dumping our stuff and having a short time of rest over lunch, it was down to serious business! Can’t waste precious holiday time! Erm, but well, unfortunately for us aspiring Open Water (OW) divers, it was the classroom that we had head to first of all.


So there we were watching videos…


…filling up forms and going through our notes. *SIGH*


While our leisure diver friends were all suiting up…


…and heading out to sea already! BOOO!!


Anyway, fast forward to dinner on our first night in Perhentian. We took a stroll along the stretch of beach in front of our resort and ended up at Fauna, which was one of the few other resorts dotting the beachfront of Teluk Dalam. The place was packed with people but we managed to get a few tables set up on the beach that had enough space to squeeze most of us in.


Dinner at Fauna.


Well, that was about the end of Day 1 as I remember. We spent the rest of the night just chatting before retiring early to bed. No drinks. No hanky panky. Such wholesome and decent company indeed!! Haha…

take me to Qba

Here I am in the office absolutely refreshed by the mid-week break, although I can't say that I really look the part. No thanks to either the cold and flu medication that Eu Bing gave me (can't remember its name) or the dust that was flying around his room when he was cleaning it, my body reacted with a terrible disfiguring allergic reaction on my right eye causing it to swell to some ginormous size. You'd think I should have gone to see a doctor or get some rest, but NOOO. We did the worst thing we possibly could do (at least in my very self-conscious opinion) by going out for supper at McD's Centrepoint at probably the very peak of its swelling! Arrghh! The embarrassment! I hope I never see those people again.

Well, thankfully the swelling has been subsiding gradually by itself (didn't use it as an excuse to take any steroids like you, Richard =p). Right now, I guess it just looks like a case of late night puffy eyes. I'm certainly hoping it completely subsides before this weekend with Benj's and Janice's wedding coming up on Saturday.

Apart from that, checked out Qba (at Westin, not to be confused with the dodgy Qbar!!) on Monday night with Bing and Steph. Was good fun yakking away over the din, being trigger-happy with our camera phones, staring over the balcony observing the action below, picking out "stereotype" East & West couples, watching an enthusiastic aunty do her thang next to her rather kayu companion, enduring horrible music between band performances.

Who knew Monday could be anything but blue?

conquering fears

for a
moment
deja vu
Lord why?
not again?
this was getting
all too
familiar
disappointment
reigning

but it's
a different
storyline
clouds clearing
reveal the sky
words spilled
speak honesty
the tension
now diminished
replaced with
renewed commitment

conquering
fears
Your child
humbled
awed

need 48hrs in a day

So much to say
So little time
So I guess that's all I'll be saying for now.

Until next time then!

love crucified A ROSE

Yesterday, a friend told that he would be celebrating Easter and observing Qing Ming together at his grandparents' grave this Sunday. Basically, he said that his dad would be leading the family in a private Easter dawn service at the grave itself.

I thought...wow.

Sure gives a different perspective to both death and resurrection.

It's Good Friday today. May we never lose our sense of wonder towards a God who willingly gave Himself to be beaten, ridiculed and hung on a cross...

because He loved us.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life - John 3:16

fourteen, thirteen, twelve...

I'm counting down the days...

Think crystal clear turquoise waters and powder white beaches.

And above all, a whole new underwater world beckons!

Take me.

showers of blessings

There's something strangely liberating about walking in the rain.

It's that conscious decision to ignore the fact that we could be tucked under nice and dry warm covers on a dreary Saturday morning. Forgetting that our clothes are getting heavier by the second, and that our shoes are going *squish squish*. Feeling the pitter patter on our faces and not shying away but embracing every falling drop.

There's something strangely liberating about walking in the rain without a care in the world. Throw in a good companion and these become almost

the best of times.

Doing Round 3 of the Bukit Kiara loop wasn't such a bad call after all, was it? =)

tripartite

Think about His love
Think about His goodness
Think about His grace that's brought us through

...He satisfies my desires.

*****

Great times spent with friends from the present. You have been a blessing to me so much more than you could ever know. Thank you for being simply, you.

Close friends of yesteryears re-establishing contact (THREE in TWO days!). It's been TOO LONG. I'm looking forward to catching up with you again soon.

And You. You continue to amaze and baffle me. Your ways are truly higher than mine; Your thoughts than mine. Thank you.

*****

The last couple of days have been a testament to God's surmounting grace in the things that I had been facing lately. God does indeed answer prayers, sometimes in ways more than we could ever hope for or imagine. Let us also pray however, that we may be patient enough to wait out the period that he wants us to spend in the "wilderness" before He comes through and saves us.

safe havens

I typed out a whole post and then deleted it thinking it might be deemed too "sensitive" or too "personal" for public consumption. Yup, I guess good ol' Discernment tapped me gently on the back to remind me that certain things are just not meant to be shared openly. Failure to adhere strictly to the unwritten code could result in certain uncomfortable conversations, or weird stares from people.

And so I shut the door once again waiting for Safe Havens to come by.

Until then, the boy shall remain

silent.

franciscan benediction

I didn't get to go for the entire Friends in Conversation: A Quiet Revolution of Hope last weekend due to YF and worship commitments, but I did manage to at least make it for the open Saturday night session. That night, Brian McLaren spoke on Discipleship, and more specifically about spiritual formation. Many good thoughts flowed freely, especially during the conversation between McLaren, Tan Soo-Inn, Dr Alex Tang and Dr Voon Choon King, with Sivin Kit facilitating. Will try to post more on my thoughts later but until then, I'll leave you with this benediction that was read at the close of the meeting.

It simply blew me away.

*****

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships...

...so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people...

...so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war...

... so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world...

... so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

random thought

You are God and I am not.



... it's just what we need to be reminded of sometimes.

stop this world

It’s pathetic.

To see plastered smiles on the faces of the hurting.
To live constantly watching our backs.
To think that we can hide sin beneath clothes of fig leaves.
To build walls around us to keep others out.
Only to find that we are trapped within.

Is there room for honesty?
Does genuine honesty exist?
How much honesty can we take from others?
How much honesty can others take from us?

I'll start by confessing.
I’m pathetic.
But I will try.

To carry your tears.
To watch your back.
To accept you despite your sin.
To break down your walls.
In order to reach the captive within.

And I hope you'll do the same.


This is dedicated to everyone who shares my disillusionment with the way we have reduced community living to an elaborate drama where we all play lead roles in a seemingly perfect world.