Azkals vs Kaya in ICanServe Invitational Football Tournament

The last match in the series promoting awareness on Breast Cancer featured the star-studded A and K teams. It was already in the middle of the first half when I get to switch the channel to IBC but the score was still nil-nil.

It's difficult to manage a team where everyone wants to be in the limelight. Why is that?

When Hartmann hit the first goal, the other team strikers started to deliver too. After Chieffy and Angel, it is apparent that Phil already felt the pressure of making one as well. It was funny. There were two occasions when Phil made two attempts just before he hit the penalty box. Either he didn't see Hartmann behind the kaya defender, or he desperately wanted to kick the ball in.

Coach Weiss must have seen the trouble about so many strikers on the field and got Hartmann replaced. Soon enough, with the able assist from big brother YH (who did a great job defending and distributing the ball from the right flank), Phil contributed two more to the team's first 3 goals.

The Azkals finished with 5-0, and everyone thinks our team is ready to face the friendlies scheduled for this week and next.

Anxiety Attack!!!

Here I was, consciously thinking that I'm not up to something serious. I am dead wrong. My actions say otherwise.

Sleep was elusive last night. Failure to convert string to number (military time to decimal) prompted me to hit the sack and look it up first thing today.

Before the clock hit 10:00 this morning, the garden looked decent having been cleared of weeds where it needed weeding. The bathroom walls gleamed as the day it was put up. A ton of laundry hang on the the line hoping that the overcast sky doesn't forecast rain anytime soon.

Procrastination is over. Time to do some hard work.

It must be the Autumnal Equinox...

...that is why:

... I find myself cramming for a National Certificate assessment which I was not trained for. Barely two months ago, I didn't have an inkling about Java. Seeing though that it just might be my way to a paperless distribution of grades (with option to print) , a latent seed of interest germinated in me. I mean, how difficult can a payroll system be when I have done dozens of payroll already in the last eighteen months. My thought is, it's knowing what goes in and out of the system is most important. The rest would be translating these figures into something that the computer understands.

...I find myself marketing and cooking on a weekday. This afternoon, I bought half a kilo of large shrimps which I peeled (and marinated for a much anticipated shrimp tempura breakfast) and the head removed (and boiled in ale, paprika, peppermill, and a little salt). In addition, I had "bulgan" and "uli-balay" which I am inclined to see swimming in hot soup glistening from molten fat at tomorrow's dinner.

...I find myself in glitches of my own making.

...I find myself asking a lot of questions.

...I find myself with nothing more interesting to write.

Well, maybe because I need to take the exam seriously. And study, I must.

where's the okra?

Last Sunday, dad has scheduled weeding for his vegetable garden. Morning came and went with his hired help (uncle bong, his little brother) nowhere in sight. It turned out that he was engaged elsewhere (down at sis, repairing the kitchen skylight, reportedly still reeking of whatever alcoholic beverage he imbibed the previous night; i forgot it was a payday weekend; I should have known better).

Casting a cursory glance at the backyard, true enough, the place was in a pretty bad shape. The okra seedlings were overwhelmed by the fast-growing weeds following the nightly showers over the week.When the sun has almost reached the horizon, I set myself to doing the job myself. Despite the 98% germination claim by "eastwest", i counted a fair number of empty hills. But of course, there's the ant factor. The red ones, at one time, connived to get me out of their comfort zone but I was relentless to get the job done. Barely two hours later, all hills were cleared of weeds and the okra roots aerated.
Though I managed to get the laundry done in between gardening, I have completely lacked the time to bathe Cuchi who has been eyeing me the whole time through the slats of her bungalow.

torn between staying or going home for lunch, i left before i could change my mind twice.

at home, i was greeted by a freshly bathed canine whose tail wagged in welcome. then, i realized how much i missed going home at noon for this.

One of the downsides of eating at home is unlimited rice.
It's not about the viand. lunch consisted of mild tilapia curry and vegetables in coconut milk. though conscious to control my rice intake, i wasnt able to stop myself from having another ladle; and another ladle; and another one.

Though the sun looked menacing, the heat it suffused was tempered by the cool breeze coming from the west. Had I indulged, I might have ended napping on the dad's seat watching eat bulaga on tv while scratching cuchi's side.

azkals in town

There were a lot ofnew faces on the pitch today. A standout was Paolo Pascual. It was his smile that caught my attention in particular. I thought it mustbe his perfect set of teeth. Looking him up on the net tonight revealed that his parents were bothdentists and that he has to quit school when he made it into the national team. He came from Springdale inCebu. I might have seen him play in the 08 thirsty cup in the under 17 set. He's just 20.

Just as young was Camcam, whose potential I wasn't able to witness. With his long arms and legs, he can defend the opponent's goal as well as etheridge does.

The game itself didnot hold my interest for long. For one, the performers (the african trio of Global Technika) in the Azkals vs PFFSelection a few months ago did notdeliver in the first half. So fifteen minutes into the culmination of the first half, off to the driveway we went and had some pictures taken.

By a stroke of "luck", two players went our way. The fan, caught off guard, had the cam trained on the subjects but without much attention and with mouth gaping in wonder. Hence, the blurry output.