Been away for way too long. My weekends are fully packed with activities since after CNY, I have something on almost every week. From trainings to tournaments to outstation. I'm glad to say I'm living my life to the fullest! So here are a few events that happened while I was away, others are on instagram if anyone's interested (nobody, i believe).

HELP Sports Carnival
Last year, we lost in the final to business department. It was a disappointment to all of us because apparently we were the only team who trained every week before the tournament which was why this year we trained a lot harder and were well prepared before the tournament. Unfortunately, on the day itself, we were the only registered female team that turned up. Which was yet another disappointment for us because we really wanted to fight for the title this year. However, we still won by default and got first place for female category. I don't know if this was good or bad but another achievement for me i guess. On the other hand, psychology department was crowned overall champion once again. So proud of my department!

Psychology female futsal team

CHAMPIONS!

Psychology Department

LOTW 

Abbreviation for Light of the World. This is a camp organised by the Chinese-Speaking Young Catholic Society Coordinating Committee, Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur (pheww such a long name), which consisted of youths from different parishes and I'm one of the committees, representing SIC. The planning of this camp started end of last year and I'm really glad that we managed to put together such a big camp in just a few months time. God's been amazing (always is) for bringing 208 participants and 51 committees together. It wasn't easy from the beginning as we faced challenges with the venue, budget and number of participants, even during the camp itself. However, it was a miracle that everything fell into places and who else to thank if it's not Him? Truly grateful for the opportunity given to be in this big family of Christ. Although i had to leave on the third day of camp because i had mini tournament, but I experienced so much in just two days. Besides, some of these people I worked with are people I met many years ago but never had the chance to get to know them better. Glad we reconnected in camp, and I'm thankful for that :)

Partner in crime for the first two days of camp

God's children <3

MINITON

Soljabiru futsal mini tournament which took place last sunday in Penang. From Port Dickson, which was where I had camp, I had to take taxi to terminal one in Seremban and then take bus to Sg Petani, Kedah. It was my first time travelling alone so far and honestly, i was a bit scared at first. A friend of mine offered to drop me off at terminal one instead of taking taxi but i didn't want to trouble anyone. So anyway, i managed to reach Sg Petani safely to meet up with the others because they had family day in Kedah but I couldn't join because of camp. The next day, they drove to Penang and I followed one of them. Had so much fun meeting new people in Penang because I've never seen some of these members of Soljabiru before this. The ladies were supposed to play a four-way futsal with some female teams in Penang, but they called off last minute so again, we won by default. Anyway, we still got to play futsal with the kids, and we still had fun :)

Soljabiru family

My life's been all about futsal, church activities, football, university and futsal again. I have nothing to complain about but to thank God for all of these amazing things. Taking all of that into account, friendships made along the way are what I treasure the most, and will forever be grateful for having all of them in my life. 

Never ending blessings.

Can't thank God enough for all the blessings He has showered me with. I know I've been repeating myself for too many times, but no harm saying it again, I'm blessed!

So, I went to Kuching again! This time with the USJ BEC. The last time I went to Kuching was three years ago for Easter Rally. One thing that I missed the most about Kuching was their food. Unfortunately, this time I wasn't really satisfied with the food maybe because the places we went were different. I still enjoyed the trip all the same. One thing I like about this trip is that we got to visit loads of different Catholic churches in Sarawak. Among all the churches we've been, the one I like the most is Mount Hosanna Chapel, which is called the healing church as well. It is a chapel situated on top of a hill where you have to climb 100 over steps to reach the chapel. Unlike most of the churches we have now, this is only a very small chapel but it is one of the most beautiful I've seen. There were no servers, choir and hospitality ministry, only one commentator and lector each, and of course the priest. That was the first time I attended a three-hour long weekly mass.

It is a must to visit the well known St Joseph Cathedral

Carmelite Monastery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (which is where the archbishop stays too)

Catholic Memorial and Pilgrimage Centre

I forgot to take photos of St. Peter :(

Four days were definitely not enough for us because there were so many other places that we didn't manage to go, even though I was exhausted after the trip. Given a chance, I would definitely go back to Kuching again. However, the worst thing about going on a holiday is missing work. Hahahaha

Until next time. 

Definitely a dream come true

The Paradox of Our Time

By Dr. Bob Moorehead

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We have higher incomes, but lower morals. We have more food, but less appeasement. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication. We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology has brought this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete.

Last week...

I had been so excited to see the Blues in Malaysia for the past few weeks. Ever since they announced the news of them having a tour in Asia in the beginning the year, I could not wait for this day to come. I started saving money for the tickets and keeping myself up to date with the tour news. I could not stop thinking about meeting the Blues weeks before the tour. After months of anticipation, this day finally arrived!

On 20th of July, we went to watch the training session at Shah Alam Stadium. Despite everyone telling me how boring the training session would be, I still wanted to go so badly. I knew there would be less people so it would be a good chance to watch them closer compared to on the matchday itself. However, we were late so we did not get the front seats, but it was good enough. Just by seeing the players so close to us, everything felt right. I can't describe precisely how I felt.

The players greeting the fans after training

The next day, which was the matchday, we reached the stadium around 6.30pm in order to get a good seat. But we did not know we got Grandstand (numbered seating) instead of Red Zone (free seating). And we had to wait till 9.45pm for the game to start. Oh gosh! I don't know how we were so patient to just sit there from 7pm and talked about football all the way. Thank goodness, we only had to wait until 9.15pm, where the players entered the pitch for warm up. I really love the excitement of watching the game live! The feeling when the players did some skills right in front of you where you can only watch on television normally and everyone cheered. So great!

Second half players warming up right in front of us

Not going to elaborate much on it, but the experience of meeting the Blues is something I will remember for the rest of my life. What a shame that some of the players that I really wanted to meet did not come but I had fun all the same. All the waiting and anticipation, getting stuck in jam, getting lost on the way, and everything you can never imagine to have to go through just to meet the team you love is worth it. Ahh things we do for Chelsea! When you support a team through and through, you will do anything and everything.