seeing candra & tony play
it was a saturday afternoon. i was preparing for my usual badminton game in pasig. and as i was dressing up, i was watching the live telecast of the korean open. before i took a bath, i watched the mixed doubles and the ladies doubles semi-finals match. both won by china. the commentator announced that the next game was the men's doubles... and she announced that indonesia is up against korea. i was actually curious who's the team from indonesia... and then she said those magical names... candra wijaya and tony gunawan!!! i literally screamed in excitement! i watched these two play (courtesy of youtube), and they were just phenomenal!
as a pair, candra and tony (naks! first name basis! close ko sila!) won gold at the 2000 sydney olympics. after that, they seperated because they were both given different partners. i don't know, but when i watched them play against each other, i felt sad, (naks! affected tlga ko noh!) because i thought they should've been partners.
later on, tony left indonesia with his wife and migrated to US. He continued to play and was representing US. he paired off with bach, a vietnamese-american. candra continued to play for indonesia with sigit budiarto. and if i am not mistaken, they got to play against each other at the world championship, and it was won by US.
after candra retired from the national team of indonesia, he reunited with tony and joined tournaments representing US (by Tony) and Indonesia (by Candra). Last year, they bagged the championship crown at the Korean Open. This year at eh semis, they bowed down to the young Koreans.
It was awesome watching them, they have not lost their magic touch in terms of defense (best i have seen so far, besides that of Taufik of course!), their smashes, they dropshots. I was actually in a dilemma when i was watching them. i have longed for this match, to see these two play again as partners (you can actually see the bond they have in the court), but on the other hand, i had to go already to pick up somebody for my badminton game (arghh!!!!) i left after finishing the 1st set.
i hoped against hope for a replay of the game. ( did i tell you guys that my body clock wakes me up anytime between 2-3 am just to check on solar sports if there's a re-run, baddict!) and just this morning (30 january), as i was dressing up for work, there it was!!! the replay of the game (only the 3rd set though) and this time, i stayed to watch (di baleng ma-late sa office! hehehe! bibilisan ko na lang magmaneho! hehehe!) and though they lost, i still enjoyed seeing them again. there's actually a request from Candra and Tony to the Olympic Committee and the National Badminton Team of Indonesia ( i think) to allow them to play together to represent Indonesia at the Beijing Olympics. Wow! that's something i will definitely look forward to! ;0)
polsci peyups peeps
last january 17, i attended a reunion of the polsci block of UP batch 96. though this is not my block, i got invited because i was close to them. most of the members of this block are my orgmates and sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. i have long been invited to join their get together, but it was only last jan. 17 that i got to attend. thank goodness that the reunion was set near my area, and though it was a wednesday, (i have class on wednesdays) i said yes to the invitation.
i met them at superbowl after my class. i have not seen most of them in years!!! and vise versa. they were unanimous in saying that i lost weight, that i was thin (di nakakaflatter ang comment na to ha, hehehe) and i replied that i was not thin, they just gained weight, hehehe.
it was great to see these people again, i grew up and survived UP with this people. i closely worked with some of them during my volunteer work at the student council, and these people were also with me during my campaign when i ran for CAS Student Council Chairperson ( i lost the election to Mr. E, who some said was gay... hay! they voted for him, i guess the UP Constituency was not ready for a Thai-created lady to run student affairs, hehehe! joke! )
it was great reminiscing college days. i was with the most "notorious" people in school, people who were termed as "latak", people who go to school with only a ballpen and a pack of cigarette on hand, wearing white shirt, shorts (yung 3 for 100 ng SM) and our ever reliable mojos, people who were master crammers, who would rather go to Mrs. Wongs (inuman to sa old robinson's place) than attend a class, who would use the fire exit to go to class, who takes a philosophy midterm exam after having a debate with the "pilosopo" of the tambayan (and mind you, they were able to ace the exams), people who at first sight would let you ask yourself "estudyante ba to" or worst, "matapos kaya tong mga to ng kolehiyo", people who take their snack by collecting coins from the people in campus ( o yes, kahit hindi nila kakilala!), people who treated me as if lalaki din ako, hehehe! but these were the same people who are now well-established in their chosen field, some of them are laywers already, and some are finished and/or still pursuing their masters. (who would have thought, may future pala kami? hehehe!)
i hope to see them again. it was great touching base with my roots.... tough steels forged in the hottest furnace ;0) nice to see you all! sa uulitin!
you're one of the nicest and sweetest girls i know...
happy birthday didi!
because of driving....
this shall be my first attempt to go back to blogging. Gosh! it has been awhile.i know i lost a lot of interesting things to write about ( i am hoping against hope that i will "recover" them in time (sigh)i grew up in a time where there was an increasing number of female drivers. And so i asked my parents if i can take driving lessons ( this is actually a way to get my frustration out, kasi di ako marunong mag bike, kaya magmamaneho ng lang ako ng kotse! hehehe!)i was in college when i took up "formal" driving lessons at A1. and as far as i remember, i didn't enjoy it... sungit kasi nung instructor! hmp! not to mention the fact that some drivers honked on me and some even drove their vehicles close, in fact too close to me coz they know i am a student driver. ( driving schools put a sign at the back of the vehicles, announcing to the whole driving and traffick system of the philippines that you are a student driver!)but nevertheless, i learned the basics of driving.
after that, i never got the chance to really drive. There were some occasional trial driving (often times in the province) but i wasn't able to pursue it (kasi naman, most often than not, my father and brother were using the car... hay dapat natuto na lang tlga ako mag bike, hehehe!)
but my circumstances now pushed me to drive and thank God for that masungit na instructor of A1 and the tips from my friends, i am now driving ( but i always disclaim i am no pro!)
the more interesting part of driving is not the driving itself, but the learnings and realizations i get whenever i drive. i learned how bad our roads are ( sabi ni bok dapat daw i complain ko to kay PGMA, as if!)... i learned that there are sooo many undisciplined drivers in the Philippines (sana later in my driving life, di ako masama dito, hehehe!) especially those of the PUVs, buses who use their size as their might on the road, kahit anong busina or ilaw mo sa kanila, deadma sila!) jeeps and taxis who stop in the middle of the road to get/negotiate (in the case of taxis) with passengers. [i can forego of those who cut me, but my gulay! those taxis and jeep who stop in the middle of the road are simply unforgivable and very inconsiderate!!!] i also learned that motorcycles are the real KINGS of the road - they cut you from nowhere, they always stay in the middle of the road, they swerve from one lane to the other without any warning, and when there's a collision with them, you're the one at fault! grrr!
but nonetheless, there's still a positive side of driving, it's very empowering (sorry for the somewhat political term) especially for women. now, i can go wherever and whenever i want to go (mahal nga lang ng gas, hehehe!) it's also a test and training for having much much patience, especially during traffic and my encounters with not so nice drivers ;0) we have nice roads din naman, although not to many, sa NLEX at Zambales pa lang ako natutuwa ;0)
i look forward to driving. every chance to drive is a new learning experience for an amateur driver like me. here's to more driving adventures xyrille and more driving blogs! ;0)
