1 May 2009

Blessed Anniversary Khin Mien. I thank God everyday for a wonderful 17 years of marriage. We've gone through smooth patches and we've gone through rough edges. Through it all, you've been my best friend, my lover, my confidante, my listener, my punching bag and the best dad to Sam. Thanks alone is not enough. Just know that I look forward to many more years of journeying together with you. I love you very much....

I want to praise God for journey mercies as I drove for 1h22m to Antioch and arrived safely and on time at 8.15pm. Checked into the hotel. Am in Room 114. I also want to praise God that the AT&T technician came at 1pm yesterday thus, reducing my stress level coz, had he come between 2.30-3.30pm, I won't be at home as I will be out fetching Sam from school and to Dr Tran's and that would've been disastrous and we have to schedule another appointment. But God heard all my grumblings as I vent it all out on my blog. I told him the issues we have with our internet connection as it's very unstable especially in the evening hours. He checked and reverted that we have many wires in the telephone box thus, causing interference and he has put a splitter in there thus, eliminating the problem. I thanked him profusely. Phew, at least now I can rest easy knowing that the problem is fixed.

Did I get a good night's sleep in Ramada last night? Well, couldn't sleep till about 11.30pm. Just as I was about to nod off, I heard voices saying "I am not drunk" outside my room. Then, there was banging on the wall and the door next to my room. How inconsiderate of them. That jolted me from my slumber. Someone tried to hush the drunkard but I was too tired to get up to kay poh. Don't want to get into trouble with anyone here in Antioch as it's not the safest place on earth! Went back to sleep. Woke up many times at 3am, 5am and finally, got out of bed at 6.45am.

After continental breakfast at the cafe, Al and me headed off to Deer Valley High School for practice. Managed to locate it with no problem at all. While Al was calling on the others in our team to check on how their commute was coming along, I went out to practice some serves. After serving 3 balls, it started to drizzle and then, it got heavier and heavier. That was all I could play. 3 shots. How miserable as very soon, the entire court was wet and I had to run back to the car.

Then, we headed off to Diamond Hill Sports Club at Oakley. Oooohhhh.... this is a beautiful club and it's the best I've ever seen. They have 17 blue outdoor courts and their standards and quality outclassed that of Club Sport for sure.

Al checked in and got his captain's package. He handed me my tee shirt and a lapel pin that says "Local Champion." Oooh...what a privilege to feel that way, hahaha.
As we walked around and try to get our bearings, I can see everyone there talking and resting and some were practicing their volleys in the basketball courts. Everyone had to wait for the rain delay.

Finally, Rudy came along and so did Shawn. We stuck around for a while seeing if play will resume. I pity those guys who have to dry the courts as they have quite a job on their hands. With 17 courts to dry out, that's a lot of work. Finally, stomach beckons us to go out for lunch coz we were informed that for now, play is delayed for 1 hour. That means, our play at 1pm will be delayed till 2pm. So, out to lunch we went to this place called the Black Bear Diner. I had turkey sandwich with mashed potato and lemonade. Lunch cost $15.

Midway through lunch, Michelle called Al to inform that the organizers have just announced that play is cancelled for the day. So, after lunch, we headed back to the sports club and I managed to watch some tennis on TV - Gonzalez vs Monaco. It was tied at 1-1 with Monaco winning the 1st 6-2 and Gonzalez coming back to take the 2nd 6-3. When I was watching, they were tied at 3 a piece. Hopefully, Gonzalez gets through but Monaco was playing a pretty solid game there.

So, back to the hotel we went. Tried to take a nap at 3.45pm but sleep was interrupted by phone calls. Finally managed to catch 1/2 an hour's nap after 4.15pm when I switched off my phone. Woke up and Al called to say that Michelle, Rudy and Linda are in his room and asked if I wanted to join them. Al also asked me to check the status of the USTA announcements for tomorrow's match. I went to the norcalusta website to check and found out that tomorrow, we have our 8.30am match as usual at Diamond Hills SC at 1510 Neroly Road and have to play another at 3.30pm at Freedom High School at 1050 Neroly Road as made-up match for the rain out yesterday. Right now, doesn't look too promising as I just checked the weather channel and it looks like rain again although it is anticipated to be from 3pm onwards till Sun noon time. So, hopefully, we can get our 8.30am match underway.

After that, went to join Al and my teammates and chatted a bit. Went out for dinner at Outback Steak House across the road from Ramada. I had clam chowder, caesar salad and a 7oz steak for dinner. That was quite a portion. Except for the steak, can't finish the soup or salad. That costs me US$25 per person.

After dinner, sat around and watched Prison Break and played with Rudy's chihuahua, Niu Niu and then I went back to my room at 9.15pm and took my shower and hit the sack. It's another long day tomorrow....