Dubai Duty Free Tennis

Went to see some Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships live matches last Saturday. Since we've already seen the world's top men tennis players sweating it out in Abu Dhabi, this time we decided to watch the top women tennis players in action pulak. Actually it's also because Rafa's not playing in this championships hehe. If not, memanglah that's the first tickets I'd buy. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are among the well-known male players (at least to me lah) playing in this championships, but no thanks, I prefer Rafa =p.

Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova were supposed to come too, which got dear SRB excited, but they pulled out at the last minute due to some illness boohoo! So have to watch the game for the talent lah ye pakcik, not for the hotness or beauty hehe.

We bought tickets for the women's semi-finals since it's on a Saturday. Would be great to see the finals as well but then it's on Sunday, which is a working day here in UAE. Tu yg selalu tak best tu. Most final games of sports tournaments are usually held on Sunday, the last day of the weekend, but since dear SRB's working on Sundays, kena amek cuti aa plak kan if nak tengok. Kinda rugi when we're actually saving up cuti for vacations. Well, he is saving his cuti. I'll be on leave for the rest of the year bebeh woohoo!

So first semi-final match was between Caroline Wozniacki, the current world's no.1 and Jelena Jankovic. Followed by doubles semi-final between Victoria Azarenka/Maria Kirilenko and Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik after that. Tongue-twisting, yet beautiful names! And look at those well-toned legs! I am soo jealous!

We also got see Novak Djokovic, world's no.3, played during his practice session. He was in such a good mood, laughing and goofing around. It's nice to see these sportsmen lighten up once in a while. It makes them seem more human, more like the rest of us who don't have any mind-blowing skills in sports hehe.

I love the setting of Dubai Tennis Stadium; very green (which is a rare sight here) and very homey. There's a small lake and some nice restaurants in the compound which also makes it such a warm, cozy place to chill and hang with friends.

Definitely gonna come here again next time for a relaxing lunch or dinner.

Tee Time with Tiger

When I was in high school, I had the biggest crush on Tiger Woods even though I was completely clueless about golf back then. I had a couple of clear folders filled with newspaper and magazine cuttings of his pictures. Sometimes some of my friends would give me a heads up, "Rina, ada gambar Tiger Woods kat paper today" or some would simply leave newspaper clippings about him on my desk when I wasn't around - how thoughtful!

Then in late 2009, news on Tiger Woods' sex scandal exploded in the media and like the rest of the world, I was shocked, angry and disappointed with him. When sponsors started to drop him off, I thought, humphhh serves him right! When he started to play horrendous kind of golf (for his standard), I thought, well too bad, you've got bad karma now dude!

However, when dear SRB bought tickets to see him play at Dubai Desert Classic recently, I couldn't help but feel excited! I mean, I still think he deserved all the bad consequences after cheating on his wife big time, but it's sort of a dream come true to finally be able to meet my teenage crush, to watch the 'fallen king of swing' in action chewaahhh!

To be honest, in all those years that I was konon2 crushing on him, I had no idea how golf is played. I never understood the rules, how points are counted, that whole eagle, birdie and par business until about 30 minutes before I met Tiger Woods - thanks to Phil, SRB's colleague who patiently explained to us how it all works and who also helped us get 50% discount on the tickets since he's a member of the golf club hosting the tournament. He will be forever carved in my memory as the one who made me finally understand the game of golf.

Then, it's time to join the crowd trailing Tiger Woods and I gotta say, it was totally surreal to see him in real life! I have to stop myself from poking him or something every time he walked right past me. It was so hard to get a good picture of him even though I was just a couple feet away coz photography was actually strictly prohibited, so kena curik2 amek gambar. He looked darker in real life, but everything else, the macho-ness and all, was just exactly like in those Nike & Tag Heuer posters yo!

We were lucky coz we got to see the world's current top 3 golfers played that day since they were grouped together, although honestly, I never knew who the no.1 and no.2 players are until that very day hehe. Tiger Woods is now world's no.3, kasihaannn.

Even though Tiger has been receiving bad publicity for the past 1 year, there's still a huge group of people rooting for him. There were a lot of "Go Tiger!", "You can do it, Tiger!" and not so much cheering going on for the other 2 players. Dear SRB even managed to get a personal thank you from Tiger for his in-your-face "Come on, Tiger!" cheer. I gotta say, I was proud of dear husband's stalker-ish behavior that day hahah!!!

Unfortunately, the support and encouragement from Tiger's fans still couldn't stop the bad karma from biting his ass. He was not even in the top 10, he finished in the 20th place instead adoiiii! I guess he still have a LOT of work to do in order to climb his way back to the top.

Chasing Tiger at every hole di tengah hari yg panas was quite tiring (I think golf is the only sport that makes the audience move and sweat as much as the players), but I felt like it's worth every drop of sweat and sunburn endured. It was totally awesome to finally get a chance to meet him and see him play, however good or bad it was.

And I'd like to say a big fat THANK YOU to dear SRB for making it possible. This might sound so cliche and corny but you certainly made my dreams come true, babe! *Cue Hall and Oates' You Make My Dreams Come True song now, just like in 500 Days of Summer hehe*

P/S: There's no other reason behind this blog's silence in the past month other than I was just not in the mood and the right state of mind to share/write.

Love Lost

Too cute for words!

Temper Trap RAWKS!

A Fraction of the Whole

"The futility of the attempt was obvious; when you put so much effort to forget someone/ something, the effort itself becomes a memory. Then you have to forget the forgetting, and that too is memorable."

It's All About Presentation

Tighten: This town isn't big enough for two supervillians!

Megamind: Oh, you're a villain all right, just not a SUPER one.

Tighten: Oh yeah? What's the difference?

Megamind: PRESENTATION!

True dat! Hence, tadaaa...

* An effort to make ordinary food looks super delicious eheh *

Recently

Read a really good book recently, about a 5-year-old boy and his mother who lived in a 11-by-11 feet locked Room. It's sooo heart-breaking and felt sooo real that it made me kinda claustrophobic while reading it that I had to go outside. First time a book had such an effect on me like that.

Had a great time hanging out with an oldest friend recently. It's been a while. To be honest, that's one of things I miss the most around here - having those face-to-face, heart-to-heart talks with good friends who know you well enough not to judge anything that comes out from your mouth. The next thing I miss the most is of course, my bubbly little niece (ever since our farewell at the airport a few months back, I've been told that whenever she sees an airplane flying by, she'd wave her hands to the sky and go, "Bye bye Auntie Na! Bye bye!" Iskkk!)

Also, I've developed an obsession towards Bloomingdale's red velvet cupcakes recently. I'm not really a cupcake-person before, I'm not even a cake-person. But those Bloomingdale's cupcakes, they're beyond delicious, they rock my world! What? I've already told you losing weight is not one of my New Year's resolutions this year, haven't I? =p

Men from the Boys

"It was a different life now, a different way of being a father and a son. It is not the things you do with them that count - the Lee Marvin double bills, the trips to football and the theme parks, all the fun family outings that are so much fun that you never have to actually talk to each other - it is the day-to-day confluence of everyday life that matters, the unadorned fact of living together, that is what makes your souls stick to each other." -- Harry Silver, Men from the Boys --

Stay Cool

For dear SRB...because you think it's beautiful =)

I realized as long as I just concentrate on being alive,

and stop worrying about

the future that I couldn't predict,

the past I couldn't change,

then my time on earth would be a hell of a lot more enjoyable.

- Henry McCarthy, Stay Cool -

A Date with Nadal

On the first day of 2011, we woke up early to catch a bus to Abu Dhabi (we're still in the process of getting our driving license here) for our date with Nadal, chewahhh! Well, we'd be seeing him in real life (seeing, watching, they're all the same really eheh), so technically it could still be called a date, couldn't it? It just so happened that a few thousands people would be there as well hahah!

Dear SRB was so excited to watch Roger Federer in Abu Dhabi's Mubadala World Tennis Championship, coz well, he's a tennis legend. Me? I gotta be honest here, I don't watch tennis that much, but I watch music videos alll theee timeee and that clip of Nadal in Shakira's Gypsy is just too HOT for words yo! So yeah, I'm shamelessly admitting here that I agreed to go just because he was so gorgeous in Shakira's music video. The fact that he's the world's no.1 tennis player is a huge bonus =p

The first match was between Robin Soderling (world ranked no.5) and Tomas Berdych (world ranked no.6) for the 3rd and 4th place. I wasn't paying that much attention to the game at that time coz I was busy looking at other people - Arab teenagers with big RF printed on their jubahs, mat salleh kids with cute little Nadal T-shirts and girls with banners, proclaiming their love to Rafa - and soaking up the new experience as I've never been to a live tennis match before.

Then the most awaited match, Nadal vs. Federer, finally started and I couldn't sit still (this is why I cannot watch sports and especially a live game - I'd be soo nervous as if I'm the one who's playing, and I'd be soo heartbroken if the player I'm supporting lose the game). Macho giler aah Nadal, seriousss! Jeles gile dgn budak yg bagi towel lap peluh to Nadal tu hahaha - how gross is that? But superficial-ness aside, in my humble, non-tennis-follower opinion, it was an interesting match, agak fight jugak and totally different compared to the previous 3rd-4th placing mild match. I guess that's why those two are the world's number 1 and number 2.

In the end, Nadal won but since it was a really good game, nobody was disappointed. And dear SRB made a vow to go watch them play again, whenever they come to UAE.

Well, as long as I get to see Nadal in action, no complain here, sir =p

Welcoming 2011 with a Big Bang

I had the most amazing New Year's celebration the other day. Had to pinch myself so many times coz seriously, I couldn't believe I was there, couldn't believe that dear SRB and I would be fortunate enough to have the opportunity to experience all these, Alhamdulillah...

We got an invitation from dear SRB's colleague to a little New Year party at her place. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but considering 'her place' is in the world's tallest building, omg sgt excited and sgt jakun okkk, so yesss, of course we'd be more than happy to come to your party, Tammy!

It was our first time stepping into the Burj Khalifa Residence (At The Top is of course an entirely different experience). Thought the security was gonna be a bitch, but surprisingly we made it to the lobby and up to her apartment without any hassle. They didn't even call up the resident to confirm or check if the names on our IDs matched those in the guest list. Maybe coz we looked like nice people instead of some terrorists? Eheh...

Tammy's apartment is on the 26th floor of Burj Khalifa, with a view of the edge of the Dubai fountain and some constructions - tak taulaa ape lagi they wanna build around here. To me, it's a classy and elegent apartment (ke I was being biased? Because it's in Burj Khalifa, teros the apt nampak cam cun giler), with a minimalist concept and very color-coordinated; white and turqoise - memang lawa lah!

At a quarter before midnight, all of us went down to see the fireworks - the coolest and most awesome I have ever seen in my whole life. I mean, the fireworks exploded all over Burj Khalifa, it looked like they were set off from the building itself! How did they do it? Seriously, it was crazy and jaw-droppingly amazing! I was in awe the whole time, I couldn't close my mouth.

Once the show was over, the building was covered in smoke and sure enough, the alarm went off and we couldn't use the elevator to go back up to the apt. Well, at least we know that the fire alarm worked hehe.

So yeah, I had a great time welcoming 2011 and hope to continue having a great time in 2011, Insya Allah, Amiiinnn.

P/S: I now completely agree with Karl Pilkington about that hole and a palace philosophy - It's much better to look out of a hole at a palace, than live in a palace looking at a hole.