Forza Azzurri !!!!!!!!!!!!

Italy VS Australia (1-0)

I am so over the moon. Italy just qualified for the Quarter-finals after beating Australia 1-0 with Totti's penalty kick. They didn't really play up to their standards, understandably so, as gaffer Lippi is trying to save his best men who are already boooked, for the possible quarter-finals or even the Semi-finals.

It was really nail biting for me. Watched it at the mamak stall here near UTP, big screen and brought the girls, (mak budak seorang) - Aisyah and Aula with me. They're so sporting !!! Thanks for accompanying me, gals! I think I was the loudest at the mamak stall (can't help it, so much passion). Tatmi was also here, but he came alone, and no, he did not join us, nor did we invited him over. (He brought his notes with him to study!!)

No doubt, Australia was really good, attacking more than the Azzurris, but they just could not go past Buffon. Hail Buffon !!!!!!!!!!! He's voted Man of the Match, and rightly so. He's not conceded any goals yet for this WC campaign (the own goal against US doesn't count). Everyone was ready for the extra time, until the Socceroos' Neill tackled Italia's Grosso and the ref awarded penalty. It's rare that people are happy for being brought down but not for the Italians, (they were already on the ground rejoicing even before the penalty kick) as this was their golden chance. Totti converted the penalty into goal just at stoppage time. He celebrated by sucking his thumb (wonder why???)


The penalty

Totti hisap jari

Buffon da man

Portugal VS Netherlands (1-0)

This is really an ugly match with 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards !!!! Unbelievable !!! And it was really worthy for me to stay up til 5.30 am. I didn't plan to, I just wasn't sleepy yet. Try to beat this !! I suspect the Russian ref must have been carried away with wanting to become the star of the match and over zealous by flashing yellow and red like nobody's business. He oughta go on holiday with Graham Poll, another calamitous ref who gave 3 yellow cards involving Ukraine.
It's really tiresome and becoming a play for sissies as players are being booked for non-threatening offences. The casualties : Costinho & Deco from Portugal and Boulahrouz & Van Bronckhorst from Netherlands.
The red-carded boys sat in a bad-boys corner discussing their fate together after being sent off.
Only England benefits from this match (although they didn't even play in it), who is safe from Deco's assault as he'll be missing the next game.


The melee

Figo head butts Brommel

England VS Ecuador (1-0)
Dull, un-exciting match. There was no real battle, like what these Knights of the Round Table would have expected.


King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table

England not really into the game. What is Eriksson thinking? Poor Rooney the lone stiker. Escaped with a 1-0 win, with Beckham's bended free kick. You have to admit, his bended kicks are lethal!
Another quite bizzare fact - 2 England players got booked for delaying play - the goalie & defender (Robinson & Carragher), probably trying to keep the score 1-0

England would have to buck up after this - they're going to meet Portugal after this.

Cruncher game (1 sided view, heheh)

This is mostly going to be about the Italian job.

I’m soooo chicken (Le Coq) s*** scarred to watch the Czech VS Italy cruncher game – it’ll make or break both teams. So I take the coward way out instead by watching Ghana VS US.

GO GO Azzurri !!! Meanwhile, I arrange all Italian memorabilia we have in the room to show some support. (The 2 Goleos is not really related, but can also lah).



I also found out that the Fan of the Match is a girl who bears the same name as me, so I'm putting it here.

For Aida Apostolico, a midsummer night’s dream came true today. When the 24-year-old found out that she had been chosen as Hyundai Fan of the Match, she could hardly believe her luck. “Amazing! I’m over the moon to have been chosen as Fan of the Match. What an unforgettable night this is going to be. If Italy manage to win now, then everything will be just perfect!” Primary school teacher Aida, whose favourite player is Alessandro del Piero, flew in yesterday to Baden-Baden with three of her friends.


Aida Apostolico

Back to Czech VS Italy. Italy won the game!!! Yeah !!!!!!! But am sad that Czech had to go. They are a strong team and deserve to go further, but unfortunately are bundled together in a rather difficult group. I’ve always liked to watch the wonderful Nedved in action (with his flowing girlish blond locks).


Pavel Nedved & Francesco Totti in action

Materazzi scored first, although Czech was attacking more (OK, so I watched the repeat, that’s how I know meh). Not particularly spectacular, but what a high header !!! Then it’s goal-drought until the 87th minute when Superpippo got the better of the Czech’s defender’s offside trap and played the ball around Cech to shoot home. Poor Cech, he was crawling to get the ball from Pippo.


Materazzi header

Superpippo pips Cech

No outrageous goal celebration this time though, just Buffon over-excited with the first goal when he came gushing to his team mates and then quickly ran back to his goal post.


Over-excited Buffon (in gold)

Nedved was the last to leave the pitch, it must be very emotional for him as walked arm in arm with Juve team mate, Buffon for 20m. He knows the Italians well, and vice versa, after having played in Serie A for 10 seasons.


Nedved and Buffon... besh mates

Next, Italy will meet Australia in the first knockout stage. All the best !!!

I'm also putting some exciting goal celebrations here. Check it out !!

Miroslav Klose's somersault : Ger VS Ecu, 2-0, 20/06/06

Ivan Kaviedes pulled a Spider-Man mask from his shorts (ECU vs CSR, ECU won 3-0) as a tribute to Otilino Tenorio, a teammate killed in a May 2005 car crash in Ecuador. Tenorio, whose nickname was "Spiderman," used to pull the mask from his shorts during his goal celebrations.


Thierry Henry cups his ears - FRA vs TOG (2-0), 23/06/06


Juergen Klinsmann , the coach over excited. GER vs SWE (2-0), 24/06/06

Fusbal, calcio, futbol, bola Mania!!!

The fever is here..World Cup fever and exam fever !!

Pros & Cons of the World Cup fever
Pros
1. Late nights – can study longer hours (in front of the tv ? yeah, right! Eh, but can what..)
2. More topic of conversation
3. Good excuse to go for mamak
4. No more boring nights for the whole month!!
5. Excuse for not attending weddings ! (But bear the consequences later when your friend / relative bugs you on your absence )

Cons
1. Sleepy day, because of late nights
2. Can’t concentrate in class (the lecturers are monotonous anyway)
3. Put on weight becos of Pros # 3 (teh tarik, munchies etc)
4. Loss of voice (too much shouting )

The opening match between Germany VS Costa Rica is superb...makes you want more of the action!! Give me more yeah !!

I'm rooting for Italy, although it seems quite remote of them winning the cup. I'm guessing Argentina will win it, based on their beating of S&M 6-0.


Mama mia!! Looks like a slice of pizza

It's really painful to watch the Azzuris drawing with US, because of their own goal!!! Maybe they were too confident of beating US. But Totti didn't deserve the yellow card! (Trivia: He cut his hair short 4 hours before the 1st match against Ghana).

And from the video footage, De Rossi's elbow did land on McBride's face, but how did it end up with blood and needing 3 stitches? McBride must have an old injury where the elbow hit him. I mean, our elbows aren't that sharp to cut the skin.


That own goal-Buffon: What did you just do??!! Zaccardo : Pls forgive me..

And that match ended up with 3 red cards, reportedly to be only the 4th time in a World Cup finals. Never gonna see that again for quite some time. I have reservations with the referees. (For the Italy VS US match, the referee is parrot breeder by job). The last WC 2002, it was bad refeering for the Azzuris to have lost to South Korea. And that particular referee is actually already banned by FIFA.


Totti wondering why the Parrot breeder gave him the yellow card

But one thing I enjoyed, is the air Violin playing goal celebration by Gilardino. Any takers for air guitar after this? I think I'll start collecting goal celebrations...that would be fun !!


Gilardino playing air violin

I'm also watching for Stevie G for his far-range-shot-into-the-goal-at-the-last-minute. It did happen in injury time against T&T. You can always bank on him. I was hoping Crouch would do his robot dance, but I guess he forgot about it when he scored..too excited to score first time in World Cup history. Hey, kewl...2 goals from Liverpudlians !!!


Gerrard's far-range-shot-into-goal-at-the-last-minute

Terry-fic save

Crouch-ing tiger, hidden goal.


Do the Crouch yoga (Panjang betul kaki pakcik ni)

Short term memory...anyone got a cure for it???

The curse of Azni's memory loss disease is spreading fast... I hear Nani & Jue have been affected (forgetting ATM PIN number is chronic)

And to my disbelief, I f***** to renew my driving licence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been driving for almost 2 weeks with an expired licence until one fine day when I remembered (don't report me to JPJ pls)

But not to worry, I have renewed it to 5 years (maximum period), and no, I have not f*****ten how to drive.

Spread love girl, not the f***** bug

p/s- On another completely different note, I hate that OSIM I-Gallop advertistement!!!! Jue, pls ensure the offshore people don't order those !!!!

K Lina & Fendi's wedding - A Journey

Brace yourselves!! This is going to be lengthy
New addition - Check out the solemnization video !!! Scroll to Rapat Setia, Ipoh section

Thurs nite, 01/06/06
Shahril's (parent's) house, PJ

9.30 pm : Where are they? Hmm..supposed to arrive already if they take off 4pm from Kerteh. 2 teams supposed to be arriving – Team GenGen & Team Myvi.

10 pm: OK, finally ! They are here !! And Shahril have upgraded the walkie talkie to 4 units!! So we’re going to Shahril’s house. His mom is cooking !! “Are we there yet? “ (That infamous line by Donkey in Shrek) Repeated 100x by Team GenGen, only to be countered by Team Myvi 1000x more !! It sounds more like “Taufik Hidayat” when repeated continuously. Try it if you don’t believe me.

10.30 pm : Finally we are here !! (Sorry, I can’t describe Shahril’s house to protect his privacy, hehe. But I can assure you I can even sleep in the ***, sorry again, tempted to divulge, but can’t do so.. the rest is up to your imagination ;-)The girls – Azni & Ju are starving by now! We have a hearty dinner, together with Shahril’s mom.

Here kitty kitty.. Brownie is sooo cute and manja gile, enjoying every minute of our attention. We have a nice chit chat session with Shahril’s parents.


Glamorous Brownie

Happy family,(although Hatim doesn't look too happy). Sorry Shahril not in pix. After all, u offered to take the pix

Obviously this is one very happy bloke, after a nice dinner, report updating to (ahem)!!

I suggest to start recording, (we’re going to make a CD movie of our journey leading to K Lina & Fendi’s wedding in Ipoh onSaturday) but the gang are already tired, so we’ll start fresh tomorrow morning instead. But I record myself anyway, (can’t resist…) but hey, wait a minute, ada pelakon tambahan pulak!! When did Noi get into the recording???!!!! I say my goodbye for the night, and we’ll meet back tomorrow morning.

Friday morning, Shahril’s (parent’s) loft , 02/06/06
(Sorry, I got carried away with the videos. No pix!!! Shoot!)
We have nasi lemak for breakfast in the garden..so nice!!
It’s now time for recording – camera roll…action !! Azni’s turn comes first with Brownie. So far so good, takde pelakon tambahan. Then Hatim (Noi as extra), Ju aka “Pengacara Nona” with Brownie and 2 “gardeners” (Hatim & Noi)..OK by now, there’s no escaping the gardeners!! They are in every single recording. Wonder how much they’re payed for ? Next is Shahril, then me. The gardeners are now changing roles to fish feeders!!

Arwah Izma’s parents house, Kajang

10.30 am : We are now heading to Kajang, where Nue & Yuz will be joining us. Mscle decided to forego the trip though.
We head to pusara Arwah first, sedekah Al-Fatihah & Yasin. Izma, look, the whole gang is here to visit you. None of us shed tears, (we know she wouldn’t want us to) we remember our happy moments with her instead.

Baby (arwah’s baby sister) can’t wait for Kak “Arni’s” arrival (it’s Kak “Azni” lah Baby,.) She challenges us to have a go at her computer games, and the gang need no persuasion to agree. Baby also shows us her slides of her fave big sister in different poses. Arwah is so beautiful, she could be a model, but we know she wouldn’t because she is not a person to flaunt herself and is never vain. She is a natural beauty, not merely outside, but inner beauty more so. (I say “is” because she is “still with us”, although not physically, but deep in our hearts)

Me and Ju have a chat with Auntie Azizah (arwah’s mama) instead (too chicken to take the challenge ). She tells us that they had dreams of arwah coming to visit them and sensed flowery fragrance whenever she comes to “visit”. Piah (arwah’s other kid sister) also dreamt of arwah telling her that she’s free on Friday, and that they could spend the day together. See..this is evidence of how caring arwah is, taking care of her family, although from far away.

Then it’s lunch time. Auntie cooked so much for us. She is just so sweet, it’s not a wonder where arwah got her traits from. She even packed our favourite chocolate cake for each for us ( each pack is half of a whole cake, it’s no mean feat to finish them all up). We’ll give some to K Lina & Fendi tomorrow then.

4pm : It’s now time to go to Lumut. We’re behind schedule already, but we just don’t feel like saying goodbye yet to arwah’s family. They are so warm and friendly. I just wish I had taken the effort to know her family well when she was still around. We always take things for granted until the person/thing is taken away from us for good.

Kajang – Lumut

The road trip begins. It’s a blazing (Blazing Glory Ju? Bon Jovi song) hot afternoon, so we don’t talk much, except for the mandatory Quiz session, with questions prepared by Prof Datuk Dr Hatim S. and answered also by the Prof himself as his questions have very remote possibility of anyone knowing the answers !!! ;-) So now you know why Team GenGen won the Quiz ! (Team GenGen : Noi, Hatim & Juice. Team Myvi : Shahril, Azni & me )
We have the walkie talkie, that’s how we have the Quiz session. This is our tradition since our trip to Putri’s wedding last year. (Actually only the 2nd trip)

Not much singing in Myvi. This is because :
1. The driver is Shahril, so he doesn’t like switching radio channels. (Too much talking on the radio nowadays)
2. The DJ is sitting behind, so the DJ has no access to the radio / CD player.
Wonder how GenGen fares in the singing department? (Banyak nyanyi tak Jue?) I hear they even switch to Tamil radio. I can’t imagine the husky voice of the Prof singing to Tamil songs.. quite a horror ;-p

Have to scrap the Cendol session (famous Cendol stall run by husband and wife team who dress up as complete with bow tie) plan in Sitiawan as we are running very late. It’s already 7pm by the time we arrive at UTP. We have to stop by because my pengapit uniform is at UTP. And luckily we stop by!! Aisyah is left alone at the hostel ( I thought Aula was around) The undergraduates are having their semester break. So Aisyah joins us to Damai Laut and dinner at Teluk Batik.
We find the Ikan Bakar Lumut Restaurant with not much difficulty and tuck into the dishes, ignoring the rest of the world. ( Warning : We are a bunch of big eaters, especially Prof H ). I record the dining session a bit too late. By the time I focus at the ikan bakar, there’s no more flesh. These people eat like horses!! I ignore the people staring at us (we are really loud).

Next task is to find Damai Laut. I swear I saw the signage to take left at the 2nd junction after the restaurant to Damai Laut 21 km ahead. We take the junction, but decide to U turn as the signage shows the road is leading to Pantai Remis / Taiping. We then spend the next hour trying to find the way to Damai Laut, but most of the locals don’t seem to know. Until the Prof stops by at a grocery store to ask for a map, and finally someone knows !! Phew…it’s already 10.30 pm and we are in dire need of a shower (at least for the girls. The guys can make do without though)

After what seems like another (torturing) hour, we finally reach Damai Laut. Quite a beautiful view from the cliff up here, but where’s the beach?? It doesn’t really matter now anyway, we just want to know where our rooms are. (I don’t even remember the room number).

Our rooms are so (erk eeew) in poor condition. Topological maps (eergh) on the pillow (without cover), no carpeting, so unkempt. We re-arrange the bed to get full coverage of the air-cond (No wonder it’s only RM50 / nite and no difficulty to book albeit the school holidays) Someone ought to report to Petronas of the condition of the apartment room. While we arrange our bed and shower, the boys are probably already slumbering (it sounds abnormally quiet next door).

Saturday, 03/06/06 – K Lina & Fendi’s big day

Rise and shine!! Easy wake up for all. Probably we’re excited that K Lina & Fendi are getting married today. Our sister, our mate are getting hitched. It is going to be so exciting!! We promise the guys we’ll be ready by 8.15 am, but we got a bit carried away (with the make up). I can’t believe Jue & Azni have a complete set of make up !! (Never under estimate Jue & Azni. )
Akad nikah is in 1.5 hours !! We move straightaway after our group recording at the swimming pool. Since we still have space for more recording, we decide to record the whole wedding into the CD.

Rapat Setia, Ipoh

We reach Masjid Solatiah 10.30 am, half our early. We haven’t had breakfast yet. Stomach is already growling, but never mind, we can eat later. Fendi arrives at almost 11.30am, followed by K Lina. We interview both bride and groom, and also Fendi’s parents.

It is the moment. The Tok Kadi looks garang, with the Makjun bag. We record the akad nikah. Fendi says his akad in one breath, flawlessly. Impressive!! He must have practiced the line thousands of times. It is now official!! Fendi and K Lina are now husband and wife !!!


K Lina before akad - waiting for the moment

K Lina with the glamour girls

We now head to K Lina’s house. The guys have to fetch K Lina’s Aussie friends – Hun Chul (Korean guy), Bhavna (Aussie of Indian descent) and her husband, Paul (Aussie).
The girls try to help prepping up K Lina, but only Aisyah knows what she’s doing. Haha.. the rest just stay guard of the door. About 1pm, Fendi informs the groom entourage are coming to the bride’s house for the mas kahwin handing and membatalkan air sembahyang ceremony. The groom is taking forever to arrive, as it’s almost 2 pm already (although Taman Golf is just 10 minutes away from Rapat Setia)

Waiting for Fendi. Where is he???

Finally the groom arrives. We record the simple ceremony, with the camera shy K Lina asking us to make the recording quick (the membalkan air sembahyang part).
Membatalkan air sembahyang/memakai rantai

K Lina with her Aussie mates
(L-R) : Hun Chul, Bhavna & husband, Paul

Then it’s the bersantap ceremony (aka our much needed meal from the last food intake more than 16 hours ago!!) We got good shots of the pengantin menyuap each other. K Lina confesses she’s also deprived of breakfast and very hungry !! She asks her one of her aunties to save the delicious prawns for her. Pity her, she wanted to have it so badly but have to keep pretty at the same time. How can you prise open prawn shell with fork & spoon gracefully ? There’s no other way than to use your bare hands !! And it will not be the prettiest of sight! The dilemmas of a bride trying to have a nice meal ;-)

Fendi suaping K Lina. How romantic !!!

And vice versa...aaa...

mmm..yummy...

Pengantin diraja + pengapit

With the parents
L-R : K Lina's mom, K Lina's stepdad, Fendi, K Lina, Fendi's parents

With the clan

Malas nak control ayu dah..

Us with pengantin

Kerteh + Aussie

We stay a bit longer and chat until 5pm when Jue starts to look restless. Our next stop is Jue’s house in Chemor, so she’s already itching to see her family. So we say our goodbyes to the Aussies and wish them a nice trip in Malaysia (they’re staying a few more days and plan to travel around). They are driving, so I hope they don’t get heart attack on the road (you know how the general Malaysian drive).

Chemor, Jue’s house.

First thing – the kandang kucing, which Jue is famous for. Heee…so many cats, so cute from the side view (front view also cute).
Jue’s mom serve us Laksa Penang, which I feel is much better than the overrated Laksa Kuala Kangsar people often talk about. (Perhaps we went to wrong stall last March).

Since it’s getting late, we decide to visit Putri the next morning instead. So we head to Jusco. Jusco sale is going on – Ju must be very happy!! Azni suggests to watch Over the Hedge. So we got the 10.15pm movie. A fun, cute movie. I couldn’t help make some comments. Jue makes a louder comment than me.. reminds me of the Nokia advert – “Don’t talk to the screen!” But something doesn’t feel right, why is it so quiet on my right ? No wonder it’s quiet. Azni has already doze off, too tired probably.. but she was the one suggesting to watch the movie!!

We have a short mamak session afterwards before going back to UTP to sleep. The guys are bunking at Kabi’s room (whose room mate is Mr Tatmi) for the night. Everyone sleep like babies that night, what a long, but wonderful day!

Sunday, 04/06/06 – Time to say goodbye
Nobody likes to say goodbye – sigh, but I have class tomorrow and the gang have to go back for work. It’s drizzling, sombre mood to say goodbye to. But before going back, we have our breakfast first. Too bad I can’t remember where the restaurant recommended by Kabi is. So we just eat at Taman Maju. Then proceed to Putri’s house to see baby Amanina. So cute !!

The gang is going to another wedding in Kampar next (Nas’ wedding). So, this is farewell for the time being. Thanks Azni, Hatim, Jue, Noi & Shahril for the excellent journey !

The journey continues in August for Nue and Nani’s wedding. I have a lot of planning to do. And this is going to be challenging – one is in Shah Alam, the other is in Kedah.