Ibyang
Ibyang

Juan Martin Del Potro Wins 1st Grand Slam Title

15 September 2009 0 Comments Category: Sports

Is Del Potro the new dark horse of Tennis???? Dark horse or not, he deserved to win. Having been able to beat Nadal in the semi-finals and Federer in the finals of the US Open 2009, there’s not much to say but “Well done and congratulations!”

Juan Martin del Potro did what many thought unlikely, if not improbable.

He dethroned Federer as the US Open champion, ending his five-year reign as the King of Queens, in a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory for his first major title.

It was the first five set men’s final since 1999, when Andre Agassi defeated Todd Martin and one of the biggest US Open upsets in recent memory with the No. 6 seed defeating the 15-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 1. It was also del Potro’s first career victory over Federer in seven matches.

Del Potro, just 20 years old, became the second Argentine in history to win the US Open, joining Guillermo Vilas, who won in 1977. He certainly earned it, taking out six-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the semifinals before defeating Federer in the final.

He collapsed on the court on match point and with tears in his eyes he took the trophy, completing the dream of winning his favorite tournament. Read more.

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Musings From The Sidelines:

* Roger Federer’s unbelievable shot during the semi-finals, considered as his best shot ever. During his match with Novak Djokovic, he returned a shot in between his legs and surprisingly the ball landed past Djokovic. Watch the video below.

* Will Rafael Nadal be able to bounce back from injury? I was hoping to watch another Federer-Nadal game at the Finals but had my doubts on Nadal’s health. During interviews, he kept on avoiding questions about his health/injury. I’m not sure if that was his way of being positive–psychologizing himself perhaps that he is perfectly well and that nothing’s physically wrong with him??? But I had a feeling that sooner or later, if his body’s not in good shape, he will eventually be in pain–and I was right–he had a problem in his right abdomen during the semi-finals. Which conjured up more questions in mind: Was he really physically well when he started playing in the US Open?; Is there anything else wrong with him other than his knee and abdomen?: And why the secrecy when it comes his health?

* If Del Potro is the new king of US Open, Kim Clijsters makes a comeback and wins the Women’s Finals. Read more here.

The US Open is the last Tennis Grand Slam for the year. The next (and first) Grand Slam for 2010 is on 18-31 January in Melbourne, Australia . For tickets, click here.

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Michael Jackson CDs

11 September 2009 2 Comments Category: Entertainment

Since MJ died, his CDs have been on sale at the shops. I bought a few to add to my CD collection.

There’s the History album which comprises of two CDs, the first one containing his hits during the 80’s while the second disc were his most recent songs like “Earth Song” and “Childhood”. I specially like this album because this was when he and his sister Janet Jackson (who is also my favorite) sang the duet “Scream”.

In 2008, MJ’s “Thriller” celebrated 25 years in the music industry so they decided to release a 25th Anniversary Edition of “Thriller” that contained songs from the first “Thriller” and some new unreleased bonus tracks and remixes by Akon, will.i.am, Fergie and Kanye West. We have a vinyl record of the “Thriller” album at my parent’s home so I bought this one so we can have a CD copy.

The third CD that I bought is “The Essential Michael Jackson” album which contained two CDs that had all his hits songs from the time he started with the Jackson 5 (“I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “Ben, etc.) til the time he released “History” (You Are Not Alone”, “They Don’t Care About Us”, etc). This album has a great collection, a good memoir of MJ’s musical ingenuity.

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Thursday Thought Bubbles

A month ago, to my horror, I broke one of our Canon lens. It was just the 18-55mm kit lens but it was one of my favorite and trustworthy lens and one that I used mostly for blogging.

Two weeks ago, we found out that our other lens was causing our DSLRs to crash. I don’t know how or what to call it. Simply put, every time we use our 28-135mm lens to both of our DSLRs, it makes an error, making the body of the camera turn off and dysfunctional. We’ve been using the 28-135mm lens together with the 30D but since the 18-55mm broke, we used it with the 400D as well. Whenever the 30D crashes before, we thought there was a problem with the body of the camera. However, when we used the 28-135mm lens with the 400D, it crashed as well. So that’s when we discoved that there’s nothing wrong with our 30D…it is most probably the 28-13mm lens.

As if fate is playing a game on me, this all happened towards my Husband’s birthday. Since we don’t have a proper point and shoot camera, I cannot let it happen that we don’t have a good camera on his 30th birthday. And yes, as OA as I may seem, I cannot live without a DSLR these days. We still have our telephoto lens and the 50mm lens, however, having no other lens used for shoots and events, patay ang negosyo hehe. So I had to order new lens this week.


Thursday Thought Bubbles (sharing with you some of my thoughts throughout the day)

8:03am
morning tea number 1: half a slice of margherita pizza from Baker’s Delight.

8:55am
wow, too early for my package to arrive. it’s not even 9:00am.
not expecting the package til after lunch time.
they (the online store) are really good. will buy from them again.
must call husband to tell the good news.

9:01am
voila! my new baby wrapped in styrofoam wonderland.

9:49am
i wanna go home. i wanna go home. i wanna go home.
i wanna go home and play with my new toy.
i’m so excited, it’s been a loooong time since i’ve bought a new gadget.

10:00am
green tea time. cup no. 1 starts now.

11:14am
i really wanna go home. now na.
green tea cup no. 2.
must eat the other half of my margherita pizza.
need nourishment.

11:25am
email received that a former “workmate” is going back to the office after resigning for two weeks.
what the hell just happened??? freaking unbelievable.
according to the email, he deferred his resignation and will be back next week.
naloka kaming lahat kasi mega-organize kami ng going away party and gift niya
at mega-dalamhati kami tapos ngayon babalik siya. isang malaking kalokohan.
not that we don’t want him back, not that we can turn back time.
it’s just unbelievable.

1:12pm
i forgot about lunch again!
second time this week.

1:40pm
my wormate just gave me this heart-shaped stress ball.
baka sa inis ko sa trainees ko, instead of just squeezing the stress ball in my hand,
i might throw the ball at them. god help me.
don’t get me wrong, i love what i do but once in a while they really get on my nerves.

2:30pm
yay! an hour and a half before dismissal time (parang school hehe).

3:47pm
Ayoko na magtrabaho!!!!! I really just wanna go home.

3:50pm
Will go home in 10 minutes. 🙂 🙂

4:33pm
ngek! nandito pa rin ako sa office.
will really go home now.

Presenting our new baby: Canon 17-85mm IS USM Lens

I can now shoot as far as this…

and as near as this…

Photos taken from our balcony, us being on the 3rd floor of the building.

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Affirmation: Live in the Moment and Enjoy Being

I will

live in

the moment

and enjoy being.

photo from vulcan75

Tips on How to Enjoy “Being”:

(these are advices I give myself whenever I forget to just enjoy my here and now. I hope these will help you too)

Be always in the present. Wherever you are and whatever circumstance you are in, enjoy it, savor it…cherish it.

Count your blessings. While it is okay to dream or want something in life, it is never healthy to obsess too much for things you know you can’t have at the moment.

Be grateful for your NOW. Remember two things: (1) Each moment passes by quickly–it may be over before your know it and (2) your next moment may not be as great or as happy, so live each moment as if it’s the best moment of your life.

Keep in mind that challenges are a part of life and that it is meant to teach a lesson. Embrace it the way you cherish your joys in life and always find the lesson each challenge conveys.

Never take shortcuts. An unhappy moment is part of life and the only way to live fully is to manage feelings such as fear, grief, frustration, disappointments, etc. Give yourself time to heal. Cry and wallow if you must, but don’t be a slave to your unhappiness. Being able to rise up and learn from an unhappy moment is a sign of growth (take note: there must be LEARNING as without it, growth will be futile).

I’ve shared this before and I will share it once again.

“My concept of ‘Being’ means embracing whatever life brings you…it may be joy, sorrow, pain, hardships—the key is to cherish it (even if its painful) and learn from it. We honor our joy, we might as well honor our pain too. Life is so much sweeter when you know you’re able to go thru happy or sad moments with no shortcuts.”

– an ibyangism i learned when i moved in Sydney and found out that life is more beautiful when you have gone thru cherished tears

Here’s wishing everyone a happy week ahead!

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Everything May Change But True Friendships Last

One happy Friday night with my girls Hilda, Ara and Chloe as we met up after work for coffee and dinner.


One realization that night: my, how we have grown!!!!

Used to be that we talk of boyfriends, past relationships, work, fashion and any other thing that single ladies talk under the sun.

Nowadays, we have moved on to talking of our love for our partners in life, managing a home, sharing recipes, insurances, travels & get togethers that involves family and sometimes, we even talk about our health and appointments with doctors.

Yes, we are getting old (hehe). But it’s amazing that we’ve been in a journey together for a long time now…as friends and as sisters. And it’s awesome to look back that during our younger days, we were there for each other…and now with the many changes in our lives, we are together still.

In a woman’s life, a lot of things may change—careers, dreams and even one’s partner/husband (yes, pwedeng mapalitan ang asawa hehe)…but it’s very possible that TRUE FRIENDS will remain constant.

For more photos of our dinner and coffee date, click here.

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