18 December 2008

Well, I am counting the days to 20 Dec when we fly off to Malaysia and I am really excited. Can't contain my happiness that I will very soon see my families and friends again. It won't be long now...

But so much has been happening this week. This whole week has been lots of tennis thrown into my schedule on top of being "Santarina" delivering gifts to all my precious friends here in the Bay Area.

Pictures paint a thousand words so, am just going to post photographs so as to share with all of you. Firstly, I have found my newest BFF in Svetlana or fondly known an Sveta to me. She's Russian, 39 yrs of age and she and her family has been a blessing to us as a family. We came to know them at the bowling alley where Sam bowls her weekly Saturday league at Homestead Lanes @ Cupertino. Sveta's daughter, 14 yr old Anna is a very sweet and demure girl and she's very down to earth and we love her. Marty is Sveta's husband and he is a silver certified coach himself. All these while, he has been coaching Anna and occasionally does coach Sam too. Marty himself is a great bowler and he competes competitively but works full-time at Oracle. The 3 of them are just such wonderful people and we are so blessed to have known them and most importantly, we all clicked right at the start as if we have known each other for a long time. Sveta and me shares a lot of things in common and both of us can relate to each other. I guess that's why we are such bosom gals with one another. Now, during bowling competitions, I am not so alone anymore as there's Sveta to keep me company and I am just so glad that God sent her my way. So, without further ado, here's the pics:

That's Sveta with me at Homestead Lanes on Sat, 13 December 2008. Doesn't she look beautiful? I love her eyes, they are so captivating.

Hmm... picture is kind of dark isn't it? Where's the flash when we need one!! L-R : Chris, Edward, Marty, Victoria (Sveta's sister from Texas who was visiting), Sveta, Anna, Sam and Victoria's 1.5 yrs old son (he's so cute but sorry, didn't get his name).

Next, I want to introduce to you our gardener. His name is Hector Rodriguez. He's a very nice and humble man and he keeps our garden well. If you've looked at the pictures of our house b4, you know he has great hands.

And most important of all, are my tennis buddies at Clubsport Fremont. They are the ones who helped me stay sane but they are also the ones who drives me insane, hahaha. They are a bunch of fun people and they are the ones who kept me on my toes, whacked the daylights out of me, gave me challenging balls that I couldn't retrieve and gave me good advice when I needed it most.

Richard is my hitting partner on every Wednesdays and he teaches me mixed doubles strategy and he's really an experienced player. Hits the ball really flat but it hardly flies out. That's what exasperate me half the time, hahaha.

Ralph, Jim, Ken and Edward are the 4 guys who's always feeding me donuts and man, are the donuts good. These 4 guys will play almost everyday with each other and they can really foul up my game when I play them coz they can give you the darndest kind of ball that I don't know how to handle. In other words, they frustrate me, hahaha! Naw... just kidding. They are a bunch of great guys and I loved being in their company coz they make me laugh.

Then, there's Susan Tam who's a 4.0 singles player and she's very good and consistent and she's my "sifu" on court and she is the ony one who supports my whacking at the ball. She's whopped me 6-0, 6-0 consistently whenever we play singles with one another. She unbeatable for now!!! I'll get there someday.

And Emily, her last name is Sah and when I first met her, I thot that was a very peculiar surname coz it's uncommon. Then, she told me she married a Chinese and apparently, the surname is part Mongolian as his husband's family has some ties there. Both of us a great buddies with each other and I love playing with her coz she hits the ball hard too and she's always so much fun to play with. She just moved here from Chicago and the darling of the court. I love being with her coz she's also my partner whenever we play with the ball machine. And she loves playing singles too, so, that's why I love her, hahaha. Mentally, both of us think very much alike and I guess that's why we get on well with one another.

Then, there's also Shawn. He's Indian and a 3.0 player altho I think he's sandbagging the rating coz he definitely doesn't play like a 3.0 player. Yesterday, he played Colean Tang who is a lady 4.5 player and tho Shawn lost in 3 sets, he can hold his head up high coz he managed to push her to the limit. Shawn is also on our mixed doubles team and I love playing with him coz he's fun and have a great sense of humour and a big heart. Did I tell you he lost $100 playing against Colean as that was his bet but he took it in good stead and even bought everyone in the team food and drinks. A big applause for Shawn for his generosity.

Last but not least, there's Larry, my coach at CSF (ClubSport Fremont). He helps us with doubles strategy and he fine tunes my game and strokes and I love his finesse on court. So, to cap it all, here's the photos:

Cecelia Hernandez with Chris, the 3.0 ClubSport Fremont champions. Yay, we've earned our bragging rights!

That's me and Richard, my therapist and hitting partner on Wednesdays at CSF! I know he loves DOING (this is our secret code and Richard knows what I am talking about) and besides tennis, he loves poems.

From the top: Jim, Ken, Edward (with his donut and trying to tempt me to grab a bite) and Ralph.

Susan Tam has a beautiful BH stroke and she hits the ball really hard. I like hitting with her coz her ball has pace but when it comes to playing singles, she's very competitively fierce and will have no second thots abt bageling the opponent at the other end of the court, hahaha. I have been at the receiving end numerous times so, trust me, I know her well, hahaha.

Chris & Shawn on the left and Shawn & Terry Chuang on the right. Terry is another wonderful hardhitter on court and I love to stroke with her altho we hardly do it anymore these days as her schedule doesn't fit mine. Terry is a net player and she changes direction on the ball so well at the net. I admire her volleys, they are very crisp and precise.

That's Emily Sah and me on the left and Larry, my coach at CSF.

Did I tell you that I was such a "katak di bawah tempurung" the other day when I saw frost on my lawn when I woke up in the morning? What happened was the night before, the temperature dropped to 28degF (-2degC) and the next morning, frost was everywhere. It was so cool. Don't believe me, look at this picture!

The white powdery stuff on top of the lawn is the frost. Cool eh?

27 November 2008

We have lots to be thankful for and am glad we had a 4 day short break with no school and no work as it's Thanksgiving holidays. We were invited to Belinda's house for Thanksgiving. We started our day by going shopping for all the good deals that's on sale coz we had a shopping list for 60 people and I can tell you it's no joke trying to fit a gift for everyone and be creative at the same time.



But, we slept in late and got to the store by 10am by which, the item that we wanted was all sold out. Just my luck! I guess it's because we are inexperience coz a friend actually went shopping at 5am to take advantage of the slashed prices off the goods she wants to buy. So, gotta go and crack our heads some more for new ideas as to what to buy to replace what we missed (grumble, grumble, grumble)!.



And the next few days, it was more shopping till we drop coz all the stores was spread out all over the place. I can tell you all now that I am totally "jelak" from shopping but the good news is finally, on Dec 9th, I am finally all done with Christmas shopping for all the 60 people on our list but now, alamak, gotta worry about how to carry all those gifts back home to Malaysia so as not to attract any unwanted attention from the customs, argh!!!



Here's our pic from Thanksgiving at Belinda's. Her turkey was real yummy and we had a blast playing Wii and Sam beat us all in the Wii bowling game.

5 December 2008

Well, today was my 1st singles tennis tournament held at Mission San Jose in Fremont which is approximately 1/2 an hour's drive from home. Match was supposed to start at 8am. My opponent is Michelle Myzell-Chapman, quite an experienced player coz I could check her play record online.

Anyway, didn't sleep well the night before. Woke up many times. Guess I was excited and was afraid I would oversleep altho the alarm clock hasn't failed me thus far. I was all in my tennis gear and about to leave when Ed told me to take my sweatpants with me just in case coz that day was chilly (4 deg C). I took his advice and chucked it into my car and began my journey.

Reached there at 7.45am and walked onto court to do my check-in. It was really windy that day and as I walked, my teeth were chattering and I was shivering. Now, what was I thinking about - I must've been crazy coz everyone who's there was in their thermal wear and here I am, like a heroine, only dressed in tennis skirt. As the check-in desk wasn't ready, I quickly ran back to my car to wear my sweatpants. I was thankful I listened to Ed's advice.

The 1st set was horrible with the wind blowing through the court and my fingers felt numb due to the cold and wind chill. Both Michelle and me struggled with our ball toss and I struggled mostly with being able to hit the ball coz the wind kept carrying it away from me. Footwork was all fouled up. I lost the match 5-7, 5-7. Not trying to make excuses but Michelle was a better player and she could adjust to the conditions better than I can.

But, it's just my luck. The one condition that I've never trained in and here I am being tested to the fullest in my 1st singles match. I've learnt a lot from that experience tho and hope that in the future, I would be able to handle this condition better.

I can't tell you how happy I was just to get off the court after losing. I was just so glad that I won't have to go back there again the next day coz had I won, I would've to play in the semis and no way am I going back there, hahaha.

So, story of my life - Won 1, lost 1. Oops! sorry lah, no photos to prove I've lost coz remember, I was in too much of a hurry to get off court, hahaha.