My First Involvement in Football Podcast

And i was, for the lack of a better word, shiet! Listening to myself utter rubbish was definitely a new low on my attempt to break into the male-dominated industry of football punditry/sports journalism. Who am I kidding? I’m not technical in my football knowledge and it does not help that I was ill-prepared. But rather than wallow in self-pity, I just have to pick myself up and work harder.

Hubby mentioned that I would need to take up a public speaking course because I stumble a lot on my sentences, and I took so long to find the right word sometimes. What can I say…I was initimidated. Neil Humphreys, Mayur Bhanji and Jason Dasey were season pros when it comes to footie talk. Chris reckoned I’d need a few drinks to loosen. He did give me a neat idea to have an all-girls podcast.

“So what do you think of mohawks everyone is sporting” “Who’s hotter: Torres or AVB?”

I wish I could impress Jason Dasey more but the nerves and mental exhaustion (read: lack of sleep) got the better of me.

In the meantime, feel free to have a listen. Let the bashing and facepalms begin: http://footballfeverpodcast.com/podcast/FootballFeverPodcast06_171011_BackbeatStudios.mp3

Liverpool Training Session @ Bishan Stadium, Singapore

Prelude: Blogger, her husband and friends had gone to watch the Reds thrash Malaysia XI the day before at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

We returned to Singapore at around 2pm after a non-stop 4-hour drive from Midvalley. Needless to say, we were extremely pooped and I was unsure if we should even drop by Bishan to catch a glimpse of the squad. We didn’t have any tickets but had this crazy idea of gate crashing or paying someone handsomely for the training passes. After a bit of coaxing from the husband, I garnered whatever strength I have left and headed to the northern part of Singapore.

Things got off to a shaky start, when we missed the turn into the stadium car park (I blame Google Maps). That’s nothing. Upon arrival, we asked around if we could purchase the admission tickets, but were told that they were only given to Standard Chartered staff. Major bummer! Nevertheless, hubby and I decided to stick around, and managed to find a sweet spot where we figured the team bus will stop. We would have been contented snapping photos of the lads (this was the exhaustion throwing in the towel).

My head turned to the left, and lo and behold, saw a dear friend who is an ardent Liverpool supporter. Yelled across the usual “Long time no see”, “Bo jio!” (The Singapore slang of “why didn’t you ask me along?”). Idzwan found out we didn’t have tickets and after a brief catch-up, he went in to take his seat. Head turned to the left again, and this time round, a middle-aged woman was announcing out loud if anyone wanted free passes, as she and her companion are not interested to watch the training session (WTF?!?). Before I could react, she gave them to a nearby couple, and I immediately conceded that there would be no chance of us going to watch Liverpool today.

Felt a pat on my left shoulder, turned around and Idzwan was flashing 2 pieces of red flyers in front of me. “Hey, I happen to have 2 extra passes, so you owe me now!”. Without hesitation, I snatched them, hugged him and punched my hand in the air, like as if I struck lottery. OMG…what are the odds!?! So in we went into the stadium, and immediately found seats above the dressing room.

It felt like we were at Melwood, watching Liverpool players train. They stretched, ran around the pitch twice, did shuttle runs, goalies did their own warm-ups at the goal post opposite where we are. Ian Rush came out to watch. Crowd was upbeat, but not too rowdy. At one point, it became a rather quiet affair, almost too eerily silent for comfort. There was a heckler amongst the supporters, and his main target was Jonjo Shelvey. Can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for the youngster, hearing his name being cheered almost every 5 minutes. Daniel Ayala got a “Como Estas” from the heckler. Claire from LFCTV was not spared either: “Claire, we miss you…2 years is a long time!” – a reference to Liverpool’s last visit to the Lion City in 2009.

The lads took turn taking shots and Andy Carroll couldn’t seem to get the ball at the back of the net, and this frustrates some fans, because out of nowhere, somebody shouted “Andy, you’re shiet!” Maxi and Kuyt had no problems netting goals; Martin Kelly acknowledged the crowd when he scored. A couple of observations: when training began, some players (Maxi, Insua, Meireles, etc) formed their own clique to juggle the ball amongst themselves. Aquilani looked like an outcast with his head hung low most of time and giving off the outcast vibes (perhaps because nobody speaks Italian?). Crowd favourites are Dani Agger (ladies love him), Kuyt (always acknowledging the fans) and of course, Jonjo Shelvey! Was a priceless experience overall, even though I cannot help but feel let down by Stevie G! Twice already, Stevie…when can I watch you up close in person!?! Photos coming soon.

Conclusion: Blogger hopes to get lucky and pull off the same “gate crashing” manoeuvres if she ever visits Anfield in the near future.

Our Wedding Video

Secial thanks to Jeremy, Jasmine and Kenny for helping out with the videography.

And kudos to Jemo for waking up early despite getting smashed the night before at his brother’s wedding reception.

More Wedding Links

Our wedding photographers posted wedding-related photos on their respective blogs/websites/fb:-

Kiera Roxanne (aka Natasha Salleh) posted a picture of my henna-fied hands on her tumblr
http://kieraroxanne.tumblr.com/post/3677120902

Update on 18/03/2011: Nat just posted our wedding photos on her Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kieraroxanne/sets/72157626162761001/

Wee Lian posted our pre-wedding photoshoot on the blog of his official website
http://www.weelian.com/blog/bryant-nadia.html

My cousin, Izhar, posted a photo album teaser of the wedding reception.
He can be found in Facebook under Izhar Rizman.

More photos on the way…

How my wedding speech should have been

So recently I got married (legally this time) on February 13 at Tepak Sireh Restaurant, and during the reception, my husband and I had given our thank you speeches right before our cake-cutting. Bryant did a wonderful job (as did his Best Man), giving an eloquently-delivered speech that irrevocably moved me to tears, but I on the other hand did a terrible job at conveying my gratitude towards those who helped us make this event a success and even more special than it already was. So naturally, I began to feel regretful for not preparing my speech beforehand, and the irony was, we planned the wedding program ourselves! I should have given my speech a lot more thought. Later that night, I lost sleep thinking about what I should have said and how I could rectify the situation. Hence this blog entry.

Family:
I should have thanked my parents more in my speech. My mom and dad stepped out of our ways and allowed us the freedom to run the whole show (though they did help out with the gubahan and wedding favours). Mama, Ayah, I love you both with all my heart and soul. I should have professed that to everyone, and I hope you are proud of your daughter.

My bro looked sharp that day and I’m glad he came through for us. I deployed him as my digicam photographer, and he did…a somewhat ok job on it =P

In-Laws:
Flying more than 20 hours across the globe just to attend a 1-day wedding is such a sacrifice and I can’t thank my mother-in-law and brother-in-law enough for doing so. I believe Sherard misses his wife and son everyday, and I wish they could come along as well, but am glad I’m getting this opportunity to get to know the Griffins better. Sincerely hoping they will enjoy their stay in Singapore.

Cousins:
Notable mentions to the following cousins

1) Zhafri for being my operation manager, tirelessly running all over the place with a clipboard, making sure everyone execute their roles well.

2) Rizman for being my unofficial photographer, carrying himself well while working alongside my 2 official photographers and videographers.

3) Dayana and her fiancee, Mirza for taking care of the reception table. I wasn’t there most of the time, but am absolutely confident they did their best at counting the number of people, as we were worried we might exceed in the number of guests (which we did, but they did damage control).

Dayana – you didn’t have to help, and for all i know you didn’t want to be there, because you and your family might still be grieving over the loss of your beloved Mother, but I’m truly grateful that you got involved regardless, so I’m all yours for your wedding this December! Mirza – thank you for sucking it up despite the knee brace. Owe you guys big time.

I mentioned my girlfriends (who were there for my bachelorette party, henna night, etc), The Craigs and The Pervs in my speech, and I also briefly paid tribute to the faithful departed. Should have also included the people behind the scenes such as

Andaman – Bella Sue Bridal Couture (http://bellasuebridal.multiply.com/)
Excellent job in beautifying me. Love the dresses and suits.

DJ/MC – Ramli from RZ Entertainment (http://rzentertainment.multiply.com/)
Interacted with the crowd seamlessly and got them to participate. Love the bubble machine!

Our 2 official photographers – Wee Lian (www.weelian.com) and Natasha (http://kieraroxanne.wordpress.com/)
Can’t wait to see the edited photos from you guys.

Videographers – Jeremy Low, Jasmine Zeng and Kenny Tan
So fucking efficient. Can’t wait to see the finished product as well.

Wedding cakemaker – Kak Yani from Fantazia Yani (www.fantaziayani.com)
Yummylicious cupcakes and creative cake decoration. Everyone was impressed.

My henna artist – Parveen from Saheli Bridal (www.sahelibridalhouse.com) People seems to admire my henna.

Corsage and bridal decorator – Lindt Tan and family from 85 Flowers (www.85flowers.com.sg)
Love love love your decors and designs; reasonably priced as well.

Our other wedding card – Mas Shafreen from Wanton Doodles (www.wantondoodle.com)
We love it, strangers love it and even my frenemy loves the card…how’s that!

Last but not least…

The wedding venue – Restoran Tepak Sireh (www.tepaksireh.com.sg)
It was a shaky start initially but Moe & co managed to pull it off without a hitch.

So there, my wedding speech could have gone on for half an hour with me pausing with “erms” and “errrs” and “ahhh”, but it’s never too late to make acknowledgements…will be back with photos!