Rafa has just won a Gold Medal for Spain beating Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets: 6/3, 7/6, 6/3. The real challenge was beating World No. 3 & Aus Open Champion Novak Djokovic (6/3, 1/6, 6/4) in the semis. Roger, on the other hand, won the Gold in doubles. I’m very proud of both Rafa & Roger for winning Gold Medals for their countries.

What an amazing year it has been for Rafa, winning the French Open for the 4th time, then Wimbledon and now the Olympics. He’s the best tennis player at the moment. He’s been ranked no. 2 since 25 July 2005 and as of tomorrow 18 August 2008 he’s the new no. 1 replacing Roger Federer (no. 1 since 2 February 2004).

Rafa has been playing consistently and improving his tennis……Yes, he can win on hard courts so far…He won Masters Series of Canada a month ago and now the Olympics…We will see him next in the US Open (25 Aug - 7 Sept)…This year’s tennis schedule is really really packed plus Rafa is winning almost everything…I’m actually not used to him winning so much. But being no. 1 is not easy, it means that he has to be consistent in every single surface.

I’m very proud of my Rafa…well deserved no.1.

VAMOS RAFA!!!

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THE REST OF GOD’S GIVEN LIFE?”

SATURDAY WAS FULL OF ACTION!!!

Rafa in Masters Series of Canada

I was watching Rafa’s match today …Quarterfinal against Richard Gasquet at the Masters Series of Canada. Before Rafa played, Djoko lost his match against Andy Murray. One would have expect Djoko to win and hence play the next around against Rafa. But he’s out. Anyways, the good think is that Rafa beat Richard Gasquet, who has a new coach and played really well in this tournament, in 3 sets. The first set Richie played really well….he was on fire with his single handed backhand, forehand and volley, and covered the court really well. But when Rafa was 5-4 serving for the set, Richie broke his serve and it went the the tie break. The set could be for anyone…it was so tied and it was in a very high tension and level of tennis…..Rafa gave me some heart attack moments ..both seemed to be playing the final set…but it was just the first set…..Eventually, Rafa made a mistake and the set went to Richie, who was born the same year as Rafa but just a few days apart. They must have met many times when they played in juniors.

Another aspect of Rafa’s improvement is that Rafa has this ability to adapt his opponent’s game. He’ll be slow at the start but once he figures out his opponent’s strategy and game, he’ll give his opponent hard time. This is a very different Rafa from the one we saw at the Aus Open Semis against Tsonga. Rafa’s been always good in defense…he’s a wall…. and now he has improve his offense…

Rafa is never good in hard courts and now it’d be interesting to see his improvements in hard courts. At the moment, Rafa is the best player on men’s tour…he has most wins than anyone this year….but still ranks number 2…if he wins this week and next week’s Masters Series of Cincinnati, he has the chance to be the new number 1. Rafa doesn’t want to think of being no.1 yet, he’s goal now is to play his best tomorrow in the semis. Whether he will be no 1 or not, he’ll always be my Rafa!! hahaha
—

The Dark Knight

After tennis, I went to watch the Dark Knight with my flatmate & company. We bought the tickets online last Tues. (I have promised some other girls to watch it with them in IMax…i don’t mind watching it again).. I’m a huge fan of director Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale and therefore, I really enjoyed the movie. It’s about 3 hours. Christian Bale is so handsome!!! hahahhaha….Heath Ledger was very convincing as Joker…and it was a pleasure to see Michael Kent, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman in it. I’m so happy the Katie Holmes wasn’t there…..I’d say that Nolan’s mistakes were casting Katie Holmes in Batman Begins and Scarlet Jonhanson in The Prestige….:P

My fav. scene in the Dark Knight is the 2 boats scene towards the end of the movie…I can see the metaphor and the meaning in it……….

I can’t wait to get the DVD.

However, I could not help noticing that the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman looks sad…….he looks sad in Batman Begins and also in The Dark Knight….I do really feel sorry for Christian Bale’s character…..I hope director and writer Christopher Nolan can make him happier in the next sequel.

Batman is my fav. super hero character as long as it’s played by Christian Bale.

And…thank God for my flatmate who’s a film student and we can always talk about movies…though, I have no idea about technical side of film making….She also plays tennis very well as she’s trained when she was a kid and is still willing to play singles with me as I’m not as good as she…but above all, she’s a sister in Christ who has been a great encouragement to me….And ..oh..she’s 2 years younger than Rafa…

Here I am babysitting little Anna and Elsie…Everything is cool at the moment as they are sleeping. Last time I blogged while baby sitting was March last year before Elsie was born.

I’m blogging some unforgettable moments in words…sorry that I don’t have the pics for all these moments. They are listed in chronological order…from old to most recent.

Kodak moments:

1) Knitting on the sofa: Steff, Laura and me each of us with our own knitting. All of us were knitting a scarf. It’s unbelievable that they know more knitting than me…they are only in the first year of jr high.

2) Little Jordan with his Star Wars collection: Jordan showed me all his Star Wars related toys, books and he also knows that George Lucas in involved in Star Wars and Indiana Jones…How smart!!

3) Little Anna & her first tennis lesson: this pic can be seen in facebook. Auntie Amanda sponsored a Wilson Aus Open Racket to Anna but she was more into princess and her bicycle.

4) Rafa winning Wimbledon: I could see on TV that his parents were crying….and I did too…I was so proud of him. According to the tennis experts, that Wimbledon final is the best final of all times…

5) The facial expression of my new boss: he asked me if I wrote to Rafa, and I said NO…he was really surprised and I was laughing out loud!!! Firstly, I’m not a teenager who writes to their beloved celebrities….Secondly, if I wrote to Rafa, that’d be feedback on his tennis skills and NOT a love letter. Thirdly, Rafa is my step son…hahahah…i’m not that old but I watched Rafa grew up from a 18 years old nobody to become a champion of Wimblendon and Roland Garros. Rafa has improved his tennis and I’m so proud of him.

6) Little Anna & Rafa: I showed little Anna a pic of Rafa and I asked who he was.
Little Anna: it’s Aunty BB.
Aunty Amanda: No, Anna. He’s handsome, it can’t be Aunty BB.
Little Anna: It’s daddy…

We could see Scott’s facial expression. He looked very happy… and all of us on the table were laughing out loud!!!

7) Coffee shop chat about relationships: 5 of us ..Christians guys and girls after church trying to work out biblical/godly answers on trivia questions on relationships, a topic that was forgotten by me…Questions came from M. who tend to have church friends who like to consult him on BRG. There was something that caught my attention…and it was from a brother ….he said that he would not want a girl to ask him out and it was agreed by other brothers….Well, yeah….there are Christian books on relationships that advice girls not not ask guys out….But where does the bible say that??? But then, yeah…it’s linked to the leadership issue…..but hey, some guys are so blur so if don’t ask them out, they will never realize that you are there….and I know friends who asked the guy out and now they are all happily married. I think it has to do with personality issues…but well….God works in different ways to bring Christian couples together in the holy matrimony…:P

Me eating with pilgrims: My friend H. from work who attends the Catholic church at Randwick invited me to a bbq held by her church for the pilgrims. I thought I could be helpful if they had certainty issues…

9) Me running with my 2 workmates from the Opera House to St Mary’s: it was during our lunch break last Friday. It was the World Youth Day and I was after a Swiss Flag that was sold in a merchandise store. H. got me the Spanish flag on Monday and I thought It’d be nice to have a Swiss flag as well. We learned that there was this merchandise store in the Opera House, which is closer to our office, so we walked from 1 York St to the Opera House but we could not get in cos we didn’t have a special pass for pilgrims…so we had to run all the way from the Opera House to Hyde Park where St Mary’s Cathedral is. There were many people in that store and H. bought more WYD souvenir for herself and her husband, while I got my Swiss flag…Only $10….it’s so cheap and it’s so huge!! I hope to use it when I go to Shanghai and Melb to see Roger Federer…I hope to get his signature on the flag…before he retires…This year hasn’t been his year…There is no other tennis player in this planet that I support except Rafa & Roger. But when they play against each other, I support Rafa.

—–
Can’t believe Yang Papa & Yang Mama are back!! So quick!…will continue blogging at home…
—–

10) Me with E., non-Christian work mate and S., a non-Christian friend sitting together in the same row at St Andrew’s Cathedral listening to Andrew’s talk.

Michael Chang was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame on Sunday. The article on the Yahoo tennis website came with a picture of Michael and his fiancee. Finally, I know what she looks like…Our sister, Nancy X. already saw Michael and fiancee early this year when she was working at a Cafe in OC. Michael and fiancee were having afternoon tea at her shop and she served them…She told me that they prayed before the meal.

Michael’s fiancee looks decent…. sweet, pretty and very young….actually, she looks a bit like Michael…but above all she is a Christian…the most important criteria…. I’ll pray that she’ll be a good helper to Michael (She’d better be or else …I ‘ll kill her!!!!!!).

When are they getting married??? No idea…but I hope it’ll be soon…
——

Yesterday, I went to visit ABC at St Andrew’s with a workmate and the topic of the bible study and the talk was the last commandment, Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” This is the last talk of the series on 10 Commandments.

In the question time, M. asked an interesting question: the commandment is saying wife and not girlfriend…does it also apply to girlfriend too? Andrew gave an interesting answer…

Somehow more questions about relationships…(trivia questions that requires bible knowledge) were asked by M after church…so some of us ended up in a cafe chatting about this topic. I’m so glad that my brothers and sister were looking for the answer from the bible…I was reminded by them of many things….And so glad that they all know that they should marry someone who LOVES GOD first.

—
How about coveting stuff??? The financial year end sale is everywhere…I did buy a lot of stuff….

—

On Sunday morning, I went to RPC morning service and Grant’s talk was about real satisfaction is in Christ…and I was reminded that even Rafa wins all the tennis championships will not give me the real satisfaction.