The one with the first tennis match of 2012

So last night I completed my futsal-basketball-tennis back-to-back-to-back tri-fecta. It felt great to be back on the tennis court.
My game however, did not go too well. My forehand wasn't working. I mistimed some shots and even miscued some of my shots too. My backhand still remains a weakness. My serve wasn't sharp enough.
We only managed one set of play since we spent the first hour trying to get our games back. In the end, me and Effi lost to Raez and Shahrin 2-6.
Hoping for a better performance in the next game.

The one with the first basketball game of 2012

Last night was the first basketball game for 2012.
It was the basketball Wednesday session and also the first time we were going for a 2-hour session. Sadly the joint messed up our booking and allowed us to start 8:30pm.
Another sad note was the reduced playing time. Turnout last night was 19 players and we were playing 4-on-4 halfcourt. So I only managed 3 games and I left at 9:30pm.
I couldn't find any rthym and only in my 3rd game I managed to put points on the board. First was a low post hook shot and second was a textbook executed mid-range jumper. I finished the night with 2 points 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
The organizer will try to get a 2-hour slot and try to manage the numbers. As fun as it was to play, the limited playing time is no fun.

The one with the first futsal game of 2012

Kicked off my futsaling activities last night. First game for 2012 and first futsal Tuesday kickoff for the year.
A very open game with plenty of end-to-end action. Goals galore since no one really cared about defence. I lost track of the final score.
I bagged a hat-trick and also laid out one assist. The first was simple enough, I collected a through-pass from Shanaz and side-footed the ball through the keepers legs. The second was an ESPN worthy highlight. Collected the ball in my own half, dribbled the ball all the way to goal beating everyone. Managed to squeeze in a shot when I stumbled after the keeper saved my initial shot. My third was scrappy. A goal-mouth scramble after I hit the post from a yard. My assist was a defensive clearance to Nasim who banged it home.
A good fun game overall.

The one with the year that was 2011

Happy 2012 people. May the new year bring you health and happiness.
Planning to post a review of my 2011. No outline of how I'm going to write this, so I'll just write as I go along.
First the main highlight of the year. The birth of my son, Aidan Danial. He came to this world on 5th September 2011 at 6.06pm. He came in weighing in at 2.65kg and 47cm in length. He will be 4 months in a couple of days, and the last check-up before Christmas he weighed 6.1kg and grew to 60cm in length.
On the sporting front, this year was the first year I decided to keep track of my stats in futsal and basketball. Yes, after all these years of playing and I've only decided to keep track of my stats when I'm past my prime.
In futsal I played a total of 64 games (eat your heart out you overpaid-footballers-who-say-you-play-too-many-games). In those 64 games, I racked up 108 goals and 112 assists, averaging 1.7 goals and 1.8 assists a game.
I've participated in 2 futsal tournaments. The KHR-organized tournament was ill-fated but the EPL supporters club fared better for me.
In basketball I've made 32 appearances and averaged 7.1 points, 15.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.4 blocks and 2 steals a game.
While I didn't keep track of my tennis stats, I did feel this was the year I improved. I felt I stalled in 2010, but think I got it together in 2011. It might not be on Roger Federer's level, but enough for me to enjoy the game.
Career wise, this year was a lost and wasted year. Nuff said.
For my beloved Spurs, 2011 was a roller coaster with plenty of ups and downs. Among the highlights was reaching the Elite-8 of the Champions League and being 3rd in the league going into 2012. The low-points was missing out of the Champions League as well as too-many dropped points in games where we should be winning especially when our rivals have lost. My player of 2011 is Luka Modric, followed closely by Gareth Bale.
A lesson I learned in 2011 was finding out who my friends are. And this was a majority of friends from when I was working in the treasury line. It seems after I left the line, I was discarded and cast aside. Only one person from the line remained a true friend. The rest, just choose to forget me. It was obvious they only needed me for business relations and nothing else. Even during the days leading to the 'decision' a lot of them called me up, but then stopped calling after I didn't take my talents to the 13th floor.
2011 was a mixed year, with the birth of my son being the highlight. May 2012 be better than 2011.

The one with the EPL Supporters Club Futsal Tournament

Last Saturday 10th December 2011, was the EPL supporters club futsal tournament. I was selected to represent the Malaysia Spurs futsal team. This event is arranged by the EPL official supporters clubs in Malaysia. Five team participated in this event - Spurs, Newcastle, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. To my surprise, Chelsea, Man City and Blackburn were missing.
The Spurs contingent was merry as ever, similar to the Newcastle crowd. Arsenal were pretty much quiet while Liverpool and Man Utd as expected had a large following. All teams kept a friendly banter among each other, but it was nice to see Spurs and Newcastle getting along really well. I believe this is due to the fact we invited Newcastle fans to come watch the Newcastle-Spurs game at our home viewing joint a couple of months back. Safe to say we became good friends since then. Also due to the similarity that our fan-base is loyal unlike glory-hunters who support red teams or whoever is winning or whoever is richer.
The Spurs squad consisted mostly of experienced players, while other teams had youth on their side. We had Hisham VP as our goalkeeper, Craig our captain, Hisham Talib, Shahrul, Syazwan, Suria, Sharmel, Ean, Amir, Leonard and myself.
Our first game pitted Spurs against our arch-rivals Arsenal. We lost that game 0-1. Our second game was against Man Utd. Hisham Talib gave us a early lead. Suria scored the second goal which was assisted by me. The win came with a price, our youngest player Syazwan dislocated his shoulder in a collision with a Man Utd player. We lost our 3rd game to Liverpool 0-3. All their goals came in the 2nd half. We controlled the game in the first half. I hit the crossbar after some nice piece of skill and hit the post with a long-range blockbuster. We narrowly lost our last game against Newcastle 1-2. Leonard scored our goal from the penalty spot.
Overall group standings we were 4th, edging Man Utd on goal difference. We were pitted against Newcastle in a game for 3rd place.
The 3rd placing game was a tight affair. I for one had a chance to win. I received the ball in space and fired home a blockbuster which was inches over the bar. The game ended 0-0 and went to penalties. Leonard missed our first kick, which came off the bar. Hisham VP saved Newcastle's first spot attempt. Craig scored our 2nd kick and Newcastle scored theirs. Shahrul scored the 3rd. Newcastle missed their spot kick and we won the shootout 2-1. Good for 3rd place.
The final was between Liverpool and Arsenal, which Liverpool won 5-1.
A good outing for Spurs, being first timers playing in a tournament together.

standing L-R : Leonard, Craig, Hisham VP, Ean, Feiszal
sitting L-R : Suria, Syazwan, Amir, Shahrul, Hisham Talib

The one with the dead-end

Again, a long hiatus from the blogging. Mostly due to juggling my new role as a father as well as FM2012.
Anyways, lately I've been having a rough time with my career. Its not going anywhere and I fell stuck. Worst of all, I feel that this was a wasted year in my career. I didn't progress anywhere and failed to get any recognition for my efforts. Due to that, these past couple of months I admit I've been slacking at work. And till today, I regret my decision in The Decision.
As much as I want to blame the system and management, I know enough to know it is all my doing. I failed to establish contacts and expand my network as well as maintain the network I already have. With that, I feel truly alone in this organization. Even looking for a way out, I don't have any friends who can recommend me for gigs.
Sadly, all this eats me up everyday. I immediately switch to a miserable-emo-disturb mode when I step into the office. I am glad that I can turn it off when I'm at home with my wife and son. Though I am not sure how long I can keep doing this. Already last night I had trouble turning if off and probably my son sensed it and cried and didn't want to play with me.
I've come to terms that this is all my fault, but I want to blame the organization for one thing. It isn't very baby-friendly in terms of medical and health care. My colleague told me I can claim my son's portion of the hospital bill, only to be rejected on grounds which was not explained to me. Also, the monthly vaccinations for my son is NOT entitled for reimbursement.
Career wise, I've really hit a dead-end. To make things worst, the new leadership in my department has no direction on where he is taking us. Also, he stated my job is too easy which is why he went back on his word to promote me and give me a raise after I decided to stay after The Decision. And yet, the revenue is coming from what I do.
I guess I've reached the stage where I need a fresh start. I had one during The Decision but I stupidly turned it down. Sadly my skill sets are limited and the field where my skills seem fit do not want me back.
At the end of the day, as much as I want people to tell me it will be okay in the end, the realist in me knows, it will never be, besides who do I have that will tell me it will be alright in the end?

The one with my return to tennis Thursday

Last night, I made my return to tennis Thursday. After a long hiatus, which I just explained I have something to do. Though most of the guys believe I went for some secret training.

Well, I made my return because the guys say they miss me. Our group of 'Whackers' (as Nasir calls us) consists of 6 players - Effi Federer, Nasir Nadal, Shahrin Lendl, Raez Becker, Azraai Djoovic and myself which somehow they call me Verdasco. Even since my absence the numbers have dwindled and sessions are less. For the past few sessions, its only been 3 players which is and odd number for tennis. The two guys who have been missing in action are because one has moved to the other side of town and other has other interests and activities since he bought a Harley - its seems to be a chick magnet for him.

So last night, we managed to play a set of doubles action. I was paired with Lendl while Djokovic and Federer were on the other side of the net. The matchup you could say was a pairing of Wilson and Prince rackets against each other.

I served to start the game which we won. The Djokovic's serve was broken and we had a 2-0 lead. Lendl's serve was off and we were broken and Federer served to tie the game at 2-a-piece.

I then served and won my service game. Djokovic then served some bullets to tie the game at 3-all. My partner Lendl won his service game and we went up 4-3. On Federer's serve, it went to a few deuces for finally we won the game.

Now we were up 5-3 and I was serving for the game. Which proved to be a nail-biter. We were down 03-40 before we forced deuce. Then began a rally of deuces as no of us could finish off the game. Then finally after gaining the advantage, I hit a backhand-slice which Djokovic misjudged to win the game. A thrilling and fun game of tennis.

The guys said it's been a while since they had so much fun playing and hoping for more of the same for next week, which will be the last game before the fasting month of Ramadhan.

I for one really enjoyed myself, especially with the week I was having. It felt good to be where I belong, on a court or field doing my thing.