Wow, It's May Already!

Sometimes time passes so quickly it's unbelievable. Anyway, it's 3 days into May. More than a third of the year has gone.

It's not everyday that someone asks me on a date. Haha, not that kind of date, mind you, or at least I think it wasn't that kind of date. Anyway it was nice to meet up for a light supper and a post dinner walk. Haha!

I've been feeling quite happy since I got the news about the job. So happy that everything else in my life just seemed to go a little bit better than usual. Even a long Sunday on a week which wasn't meant to be so busy didn't do anything to hurt my morale. Instead, I felt strangely invigorated throughout the day, through PA duty at the 7:30 service, to a lunchtime YA committee meeting, to English class in the evening.

Uncle Eng Tian gave me a pool cue that his ex-tenant was going to throw away. I don't really need another cue but I couldn't really turn him down when he offered it to me. Oh well. It feels quite good in terms of weight. I tried it out on Sunday, mostly using it to break.

Monday was a nice slow day. Tuesday was rather strange. Being a public holiday, it meant that everyone was home. Anyway I spent the morning clearing up the mess on my floor. When I was done, my room looked better than ever. I was thinking of posting a photo but I decided against it. If you're really curious, you can request an invitation to view the room. Hahahaha.

On Tuesday night, Liverpool played Chelsea in the Champions League semifinal second leg. Chelsea was leading 1-0 from the first leg and only needed a draw to progress. Any 1 goal defeat apart from 1-0 would also see them through. 1-0 would mean extra time and a penalty shootout if the sides were still level after extra time. I was feeling rather tired so I didn't think I would be watching the game. Also, I wasn't too sure that Liverpool would be able to progress. It wasn't so much about the ability of the team, but I sort of felt that after Liverpool had beaten Chelsea at the same stage of the competition two years ago, this year Chelsea would win. You know, the Law of Averages.

So I went to bed. But for some reason, I couldn't sleep. At 3:15 in the morning I found myself awake, so I decided to check the score using my handphone. I found out that Liverpool was leading 1-0, so I decided to watch the rest of the match and see if they could hold on or score again. In the end, Liverpool did enough to beat Chelsea on penalties and reach the final which will be held in Athens, Greece.

In the morning, I was reading various reports and opinion columns on the match. Most gave Liverpool credit for their display and for their expertise in penalty shootouts. Some however criticised Liverpool for playing for penalties and said that they did not deserve to go through. Oh well, it's funny how England can go out of the World Cup or European Championships via a penalty shootout, and people say that since England were poor in the shootout, they didn't deserve to go through to the next round. It's not Liverpool's fault if they take shots on goal and the opposing goalie saves them, or if the ball hits the post, or if they are ruled out for marginal or even questionable offside decisions. If the tie goes to a shootout, can you blame Liverpool for being prepared? I must say that the Liverpool players certainly looked like they had confidence in their penalty taking.

Today, I woke up and checked the score of the other semifinal second leg match between AC Milan and Manchester United which was played last night. To my surprise, Milan had won 3-0 to book a final berth against Liverpool, a rematch of the 2005 final, which some consider to be the greatest ever European final, in terms of its drama and entertainment. I wasn't surprised that Milan had won; I thought they would win and progress, but I wasn't expecting them to thump Man U. I managed to see replays of Milan's goals and it was clear that they were down to Man U's comical defending. 2 years ago, Liverpool also defended comically against Milan, going 3-0 down by halftime. However, in that match, Liverpool came back to score 3 goals in six second half minutes and won on penalties. No such comeback for Man U, and they went out with a whimper.

This was the same Man U which thumped Roma 7-1 at home in the previous round. Back then, Man U supporters were crowing about how they were on fire and that they were surely going to win the Champions League. At the time, I thought correctly that the 7-1 result was meaningless as other teams had also recorded such scorelines and yet they failed to win the competition. Anyway, Man U supporters were pretty quiet today, except for a minority who have been taking pot shots at Liverpool, incredulous that Liverpool is on its way to Athens. Hahahaha.

Spent the morning doing some last minute retrieving of useful items from the former Thai office. Cycled to church and back after going through the miscellaneous items that had been left for disposal. Managed to find some good stuff which I moved to the storeroom for use by the Thai church that I serve with.

Looking forward to the next few weeks, to BSF training, exercise, nice meals, starting work, and of course, the Champions League final. : )