Been quite emo these few days. No idea why. And I think the gloomy weather is adding to the feeling. But no time to think about that; I'm just too busy. I think max really needs an ego boost. She has no confidence about herself, but actually I don't have a right to comment because I have no confidence myself either. Well, I guess we're facing the same problem. Sigh. Fortunately we have a bunch of friends who are very fun-loving. Oh and I can't wait for the class T-shit, House T-shirt and Tennis T-shirt. Currently, I have a shortage of shirts.

I'm so afraid I won't be able to continue with NYAA Gold. Yesterday, my mum was prompting me to withdraw. In December we are planning to go to Chiang Rai for CIP. Apart from the danger of dengue, my mum mentioned that she plans to organise a tour to Melbourne or somewhere during that period of time. So obviously the timing might clash with the CIP trip. I told Wen Guang and he said he was considering doing a local-based CIP just for me. Can you imagine, he is willing to forgo the Chiang Rai trip just for me! Of course it also saves a lot of trouble and planning. I hope they do a local one then I won't have to withdraw from NYAA Gold. See, so many things to worry about.

22/07's birthday

Francis sent the class an sms saying, "Happy B-day 22/07!". HAHAHA today's date is 22/7/07 so it's my class's birthday. Damn funny. Not celebrating though.

More Than I Could Ever Dream Of

And my God will
meet all your needs
according to His glorious
riches in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4:19

God gives me everything
I need and much,
much more - more
than I could ever dream of,
more than I
could ever ask.

I came across this card my father gave me months ago. Sometimes I have to constantly remind myself this. Come to think of it, God has given me a lot and there are some things only He can provide. I'm really grateful to Him.

Boring Life

Ok, I shall not talk about tennis, at least not for now. Or else every entry will be about tennis. The thing is that life is so boring so that's why sometimes I need tennis news to perk me up. But as promised, I shall not talk about tennis. Haha. Today's econs test was horrible! I didn't get to study at all, not even read the notes. I mean when I came back yesterday it was so late and I was dead tired so I couldn't get myself to stay awake after dinner. At 9 pm, I was on pg 7 reading the first few lines. At 10 pm, I was still on pg 7 reading the next few lines. At 11 pm, I was still on pg 7. At 1 am, I finally finished pg 7. You can imagine - I was struggling to keep awake. Failed duh. So what to do? Go to sleep at 1 am when I could have slept at like 9. Completely wasted my energy. It's not that I didn't want to study. I tell you, the feeling when I sat for the test was like a primary 6 pupil sitting for an econs test! I didn't know a shit! Oh and I realised something about this school. The teachers always tell us in advance about any test so that we have no excuse for not studying. But it's actually a trick. The fact is that whether they inform us in advance or not, we will still not have enough time to study for the tests simply because we have lots of other homework to complete. Arghh! I feel so drained. I have lost all the enthusiasm and 'fire' I possessed at the start of the term. I mean there's so many things to worry about like problems with the class, problems with teachers and problems with results. You know at the start of the year I always looked forward to going to school every day. It's like I'll just jump out of bed willingly when the alarm clock rings. Now, when the alarm clock rings I will frown and force myself to get out of bed. Seriously, the only thing I look forward to every week is just tennis trainings. Oops. So when Monday is over, I practically dread the rest of the week. Sigh. Fortunately, they are finding another day where we can have a second training within a week. What a relief! Now I can look forward to two out of the five working days. Oh ya, didn't tell you why I came home so late yesterday. I had to do av duty for house com investiture rehearsal. Ended at 6. I was so sleepy when I reached home. Sigh.

Justine Henin claims Eastbourne International title

It has been such a long time since I last blogged but I have to tell you something about tennis again. Just after the French Open (clay court), Justine Henin took the Eastbourne International (grass court) in her title sweep, beating Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in a nail-biting match. This test will be useful for Wimbledon which is also on grass. It takes a while to get used to grass after playing on clay. Clay is the sport's slowest surface.

Under the typically heavy onshore winds in the seaside town of Eastbourne, this year's final looked to be about which player had better control over handling the rougher North end of the court. The signs didn't look promising for Justine in the first set as she battled in practically all of her games against the wind for placement of her immaculate shots. The more physical style of Mauresmo didn't fare any better than Henin in the gusty conditions, and the Frenchwoman's serves were slightly more vulnerable in the latter stages. Justine took the first set 7-5 by breaking, and standing stronger from 1-4 down.

Mauresmo took a more cautious approach in the second set, and chose to utilize the safe, and secure volleys simply blocking returns as Justine started to go astray with her higher risk, and low margin shot making. Belgian percision simply didn't work well against French stability. Mauremo won the second set with a confident tiebreak display as Justine made a tactical change too late after falling behind and saving four set tiebreak points at 4-7.

The match went into a lower gear in the start of the third set as both players held serves without much resistence until Mauresmo looked to have taken over with a deja vu of last year's Wimbledon final in a 2-4 lead. But a very different Justine emerged, one that's less removed from 2006 and more in tuned to the classic spirited fighting 2003 tennis season version. Justine levelled things at 5-5. The gauntlet was again thrown down with another tiebreaker, but this one was all Henin as she again changed tactics and went back to the hyper aggressive rapid passing shots, and crosscourt winners mode. This switch in plans by Justine left Mauresmo stranded and off guard up at the net in the midsts of following through with volleys. Justine won the tiebreaker 7-2.



What a beautiful volley!