happy new year...

So it isn't a new year for everybody, but it is a new year for me! And what a year it has been; it's been a year of changes but also continuity. I've seen additions in my life but also had some subtractions. All in all it's really been an amazing year.

The highlight of the 25th year of my life? There was a few actually and I really don't think I can narrow it down to just one. Let see I went on several holidays; down to the Snows twice, went for a little getaway to the south coast, a weekend in the Hunter Valley, went up to the Gold Coast for a few days and my BIG trip was heading over to Japan for 3 weeks; which has most definitely has to be the big highlight in terms of holidays.

Another big thing for me during the past 12 months has got to be moving from being a Night Manager to a Manager on Duty; meaning no longer working permanently on overnights, but to tell you the truth, a part of me prefers working the overnight shifts, mainly because you have fixed shift, oh and because I met my life partner whilst working the overnights, which is about as good as it gets really! How do I feel at the moment? Like a person scoring his first goal for his club! And I'll tell you why soon!

#27 Yoshiya Nishizawa

Oh yeah, Urawa defeated Niigata 2-0 in the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup

one two three...

So it's finally official; Barcelona has claimed the treble and are the best in Europe. After winning the La Liga and the Copa del Rey Barcelona has defeated Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League final in Rome to be crowned the best in Europe!

The victory has to be credited to the industrious efforts of Andres Iniesta and Xavi in the midfield, whom have been the backbone of an amazing season for the team. Viva Barcelona!

so what's next...

So have you ever felt that you want to move on to the next square, but you can't because you just don't know. You're unsure if it's the right move or not. So what would happen if you stay, would a better opportunity come up if you stay, or are you missing out on an opportunity if you don't go. Questions start to whirl in you mind of the various situations and what might happen if this but what if this happens. Well that's how I'm feeling with work right now, well my career generally; and what I do next will determine alot of other thing. Like for example if I choose to settle down and "plant" myself in Sydney, that means I would do things that would begin that process, as in start looking for a house and buy a new car. That would also mean I might also start looking for a better paid work here in Sydney (not to say that I haven't done this yet).

Then if I decide that I do want to work abroad; then that would mean I would have to stop and ask myself where do I want to go and work? Actually I know the answer to that; somewhere there is snow! To be honest with you I think at the end of the day I know what I want to do next. I think I've been speaking about this as what I want to do next for yonks but I've just been saying to myself that the opportunity just hasn't come up yet. Now that the opportunity might arise, I think I'm abit nervous that I wouldn't get it.

You know what; I think ever since the time I went to Queenstown about two years ago, I've always said to myself that I would like to work there. I've declined an offer from Crowne Plaza Queenstown once and when I was looking for work there; they weren't looking for anyone. Then there was news that an Intercontinental Queenstown was opening; up till now there has been no mention of it. But now with a Westin Queenstown opening up next year, this could be my opportunity. I've also always said that I'd love to be apart of another hotel opening, so this would be the perfect chance! But what if I don't get it; well then I know it's not meant to be, at least I know that I've given it a shot aye. Of cause before I do anything or go anywhere I also want/need to consider what Ci does and want to do; but I know she agrees with this, so why don't we just stick with this for now aye!? Wow, it's amazing what happens when I clear my head and get the thoughts down on "paper". These past few weeks I've been going through some job sites seeing what jobs are out there, I think it's a pastime for me when I'm doing the overnights.

Actually, one other thing I've been thinking about lately is getting a "serious" car. My mum and now Ci has been actively hinting for me to get a more serious car that is more "suitable". So what's wrong with my car now? Yes it's only a two seater, it has no air con and that it's 17 years old; ok so I should start thinking/looking of getting a new car and I have been. At the moment this is my car of choice.
The Mitsubishi Outlander. So why have I chosen the Outlander? Ideally I do want a European car, but they are more expensive to maintain as are the spare parts. I do want a European car somewhere down the line, but not just now. Okies, so to me that would equate to getting a Japanese car - not even thinking of a Korean. Now, in terms of Japanese cars, I can't get a car that backs another J-League team. Most J-League teams are backed/historically tied to manufacturers. So I can't get a Toyota because they are linked to Nagoya Grampus or Mazda because they are linked to Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Now that leaves me with two car manufacturers, Honda (because Honda FC isn't in the J-League) and Mitsubishi, which is linked to the Urawa Red Diamonds, the club I support. When I looked through the Honda range, there wasn't really any models that stood out to me, so I thought, yes lets get a Red Diamond car. I would like the Lancer Evolution or the Ralliart Lancer, but I can't promise that I'd keep those cars practical. The car that appeal led to me was the Outlander - I think a year or two ago one a friend mentioned to me that they can see me driving one. So if I was to get a car now, I would get a Mitsubishi Outlander, but since I'm planning to work abroad, I wont get one now.

So on that bombshell... good night!

it's the end for some; here's to the young guys...

So while the European football season is wrapping up, there are still other football leagues around the world continuing; one of them being the J-League. I know that the J-League isn't one of the "big leagues" like the English Premier League or the La Liga of Spain, but in my opinion it's possibly one of the most exciting leagues to follow. It's possibly not the easiest leagues to follow; but defiantly not impossible.

Even though the J-League season continues, it is however on a break for about a month. During this time the Nabisco Cup (League Cup) will be played along with some international games; including the World Cup Qualifiers, Asian Cup Qualifiers as well as the Kirin Cup (International friendlies).So I thought it's a good time to reflect on the progress of the Urawa Reds so far this season. We are sitting 2nd on the table 4 points behind league leaders Kashima; Kashima does have a game in hand though. I think one of the most exciting aspects of the season so far has definitely the injection of youth that manager Volker Finke has installed into the team. This isn't a regular occurrence in the J-League; where alot of young players struggle to find playing time as they don't have the "trust" of their managers, but it appears that manager Finke has adapted to this kind of J-League mentality. Youngsters Genki Haraguchi and Noaki Yamada has been a regular feature in this years starting 11, Sergio Escudero & Shunki Takahashi are beginning to receive regular playing time and Yasuke Hayashi made his J-League debut this season.

Genki Haraguchi

There is another player that I do want to see alot more of this season though; Tsukasa Umesaki. He's out at the moment with a Lumbago (lower back injury). I was regularly playing in the first few games of the pre season before he was injured, so I do hope he is in the managers plans; or else I need to buy myself a new Urawa jersey and find myself a new favorite Urawa player.

As the season restarts again in late June, I do hope to see Urawa close in on Kashima, but there is still a long away to go in the season and we don't know what will happen between now and then. I'm also hoping the manager Finke will continue to infuse the younger players with the experienced players, as the focus isn't only on the current season but also on the coming years.

the big two one...

Well firstly just want to wish my little bro a big happy birthday! He's just turned the big two one today; yeah I know it felt as though his birthday was on Saturday since he had his party & opened his pressies on Saturday, but no his actual birthday is today (25May).

So to celebrate on his actual birthday, the family went for a nice family dinner. We went to the Botanica Brasserie @ the Sheraton on the Park to have the "famous" buffet. Did we all stuff ourselves silly. At the end of the night the birthday boy was having trouble breathing. We also got him not just one birthday cake, but 21 cakes, well 21 cupcakes (those fancy looking ones) . I'll post the cake as soon as I get them of Ci. All in all had a great night feasting and most importantly my princess is integrating more into the family.

Happy Birthday lil' bro!

at home but away...

Ok, I'm here just to give you the result of the Saitama derby; the day when Urawa plays at home (Saitama Stadium) but are the away team. Actually it ended up being a disappointing turn out in terms of the crowd numbers. The game "only drew in" 37,027. Ok, it was the most attended game this weekend, but Urawa has been averaging 47,000+ for their home games @ Saitama Stadium this year. It ended up a 1 all draw; Urawa's goal scorer was Hajime Hosogai in the 35th min.

I can't wait for the the next Saitama derby, the return fixture, on October 25th. Why? Because I'll be in the crowd! I can't wait!

mes que un club...

I woke up this morning and found one more thing to add on to my Japan shopping list. So as the European football competitions starts to wrap up, it begins the fun of the off season. You wait in anticipation for any new signings and hope no big names leave. Of cause the big one for the off season is the unveiling of the uniforms!

As you can see Barce home shirt has gone back to it's more traditional striped shirt and I'm really liking the look of the keepers jersey (the black one). The away jersey has been the same "idea" for the past few years; bright fluro colours.

Onwards to Rome!

on and on and on...

So, it's been about 10 years or so now since it has started and it's still around. I've tried and tried to get rid of it, but it just doesn't want to go away. At times it's very frustrating and to be honest with you it brings me down big time! I've tried this and I've tried that, sometimes it does work and goes away, but only to come back again. Argh it really frustrates me alot and drives me insane!

Psoriasis; that's what it is, something I wish would just go away! [/rant]

so it's just a game...

So how much do you want your team to win? Do you want them to win so much that you want the other team to lose? The other night when I was looking up the results for section 12 of the J-League; these words slipped out of my mouth. "I hope Kashima loses" Ci as always responds with "Bad Sportsmanship!" Normally I would be like yeah yeah, sure; but this time it really did get me thinking. To be passionate for your team, does it mean that you would want every other team to lose and so much so that you would rather see the other team lose then seeing your team win (hopefully that means your team draws).

The crowd

Then I started to think, so all these Urawa supporters, are they more interested in Urawa winning or seeing the other team losing? I think to be a good supporter the main thing is you want to see your team winning and seeing the other team "not winning". Then you get into the rivalries where you hate the other teams guts, but that can be left for another time. Naturally at the end of the day you need to congratulate the team that won, which to me shows whether or not you have good sportsmanship or not. It is just a game after all...

#34 Naoki Yamada & #3 Hajime Hosogai

Oh and the game against Gamba Osaka, it ended 0-0. Naoki Yamada had a good game, hitting the woodwork twice.

a clean start...

There has been soo many times in my life where I felt as though I just wanted to have a clean start, a new beginning, to be able to press the "refresh" button. So today i gave myself a clean start & that took me about 4.5 hours. Yep that's right, I have finally cleaned my room! At the end it felt good, I felt rejuvenated, I was able to refocus and I was able to reflect. Here's the final product;

I wish I actually took a before picture as well, because I had to throw out alot of things. There was alot of the old boxes from shoes and electronics, I threw out my Fideleo training manual from when I was back at the Hilton and all the "crap" I've been collecting (ie. things that I didn't want to throw out but really was just junk). I also went through almost all of the cards (Christmas, birthday etc) and that really brought me back through memory lane. I wanted to throw some of them out, but I didn't have it in me to throw them out. The amount of dust I collected was alot and the amount of gunk I vacuumed up. It felt good though at the end of it and it really does feel like I'm giving myself a clean start!

I actually only planned on cleaning for 2 hours max, because I wanted to medicate before going out to dinner with my Ci. Lets just say it ended up being somewhat of a tight squeeze; but I did make it! We went to Busshari for dinner; Ci's favourite restaurant. It's a Japanese restaurant in Potts Point which has a very very nice seafood sashimi Salad and probably one of the few places in Sydney that has Yebisu; well it's the only place I know.

Well so that was my day; it was good having my "Ray time" where I can reflect, refocus and refresh but also it was good to spend the evening with my princess.

happy birthday mr policeman...

Well he is another year older (but defiantly not wiser), so how else can I show him that I care but by "sharpening his axe"; well restring his tennis racquet. It wasn't just restrung with any other ordinary string, no my dear friends, his racquet was restrung with; wait for it... ALU POWER! Yes that's right, the strings that has been etched in all our brains by the Master (Willy's) wife. As she says, it's the best string out there! Anyways here's a photo of his axe with the Alu Power

Prince Ozone Pro Tour with Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 1.25 @ 27kgs

And the feedback from the man himself; "I need to practice more on my forehand".

the game of life...

Sometimes, when I begin to think and ponder, I really end up in a world of my own. I can really zone out whats happening around me and just be engulfed in my own little world. At times I do enjoy that, but it's a hard cycle to get out of. So it is something that i really try to avoid. Alot of time this happens when I just keep to myself and really don't interact with people. I try to keep my mind occupied with other things and really don't focus what is at hand.

This is the game I play alot with myself. Growing up I always wanted to be someone I'm not, mainly because I really didn't know who I was and who I'm going to be. I use to create my own little world, population me and my imagination. Today, more sure of who I am, I still "warp out" now and then to imagine what my life could have been if this and that. But to be honest with you, I really can not complain where I am in my life. I have an awesome family who love me, a group of friends who's there for me, a job which isn't a dead end and my beautiful Ci who loves me for me.

It's funny what happens when you put words floating in your head down on "paper". For me at least it clears the air, or so to speak. Sometimes in life we think of only what we don't have or what we want and of the ifs and buts. Sometimes you just need to look at what you have and you can see how blessed your life really is.

so close but yet so far...

Well after 2 weeks of pulling out last minute wins, the tide has finally turned, Urawa was defeated 3-2 to Ci's Kawasaki Frontale. We were leading 2-1 up till the 70th min when Frontale scored 2 goals in succession and that's the way the story goes sometimes.

There was some silver lining in the defeat though; Urawa are begining to bring in alot of youngsters into their games. Regular starters Naoki Yamada and Genki Haraguchi were joined in the starting line up this week by Sergio Escudero. Another youngster Skunki Takahashi also came on as a substitute.

#15 Sergio Escudero

The thing I'm enjoying alot with Urawa this year is how many of the younger players are "given a go" by coach Finke. There's another "young" player who I'm excited about, but is yet to play a game this season; Tsukasa Umesaki. Defiantly a player to look out for when he's back fit.

drive on by...

One of my favorite pass times / hobbies would definitely have to be driving; it's just something that I enjoy! For me it's a good way to relieve stress and no I don't mean road raging. Just driving; I don't need a destination to go to, the best roads would have to be the empty, long & winding roads. Just me and my car. I really don't know why, but it clears my head, gives me a chance to think things through and get the frustrations and tensions out of my system.

raysir part 1

I've had a lot of good times with my old car and I do miss it. Sometimes I wish that I didn't swap cars. I loved to drive that car. The modifications on the car is what I wanted and had to spend my hard earned cash to purchase them. From my bucket seat to my suspension set up, it was just the way I wanted it. It really was a lot of fun to drive. It definatly wasn't the fastest car out there in a straight line (heck it was my snail), but as soon as it went around the corners, oh it was bliss!!!

raysir part 2

Now this is my current drive. I must say, I don't have as much of a connection to this car as I did with the EK; mainly because I didn't build it. In a straight line I must admit that it's alot more fun, but when it comes to the corners it doesn't compare. I do like the fact that the roof can come off though; targa top ftw!

until the last moments...

Wow. This morning during the Chelsea-Barcelona UEFA Champions League semi-finals, I thought, "that's it, it's all over now, no chance of winning this. We're one man down and most importantly we're a goal down". There's no hope. Well that was until the ON porter ran into my office yelling, "we did it, we did it!" That feeling was WOW. With the only shot of the match that was on target, it went in. We didn't win the match (the match finished 1-1), but we're through to the Champions League Final in Rome.

The final shot

I've been feeling that feeling for the past few games actually, especially with Urawa! Like I reported before Urawa defeated Niigata with a last moment header, and this past round we defeated Kashiwa 3-2, we were down 2-1 until the 84th min!

The victory march

I think if I have learnt anything these past few days is never give up because you never know what might happen in the last moments.

keeping it going...

I really didn't know what to title this blog, I think that's as close as it gets. This idea has been running through my head for a while. You know when you start something new, you're excited about it & motivated to do it. You'll be willing to go out of your way for it. These things could be picking up a new hobby, starting a new job, starting a new coarse or even starting a new relationship, the first few weeks are great; you have your "honeymoon" period. But then you get lazy, bored, it's no longer the trend, you just don't have time for it anymore or what ever the reason you decide to stop doing it, you give up on it.

For me that, I think, use to always be the case. I think it's just human for us all to do that. One thing that I've learnt is that it isn't how well you start the race, rather it's how strong you finish the race. Yes, I do agree you have to start the race strongly as well, but that's easy isn't it? You're full of energy and excitement, but as the race goes on, you need to start digging in deeper and that's when you know if you want it or not. You start to dig in deeper. How much do you want it?

It's not easy aye, but I'm learning...

This blog is still going (it's only been less then 2 weeks though), and I'm starting to play tennis again on a "regular" basis. Actually went out to play tennis this morning with W. Played for 2 hours plus and actually played my first set against him, which I won 6-0. And to freshen up afterwards, I had an L&P; YUM!

urawa won, ray nil...

Last night I was trying to convinve my body to stay up to find out the result of the Urawa Niigata match, especially after I figured out that Japan is no longer 2 hours behind Sydney, rather it's only one hour behind. So basically I thought I could stay up till 21:30 so I would know the result before I head to sleep. Well one minute I was thinking that, the next I was off in lala land. Besides I promised Ci that I wasn't going to stay up and she promised that she would sms me the result as soon as the match finished. I thought I would have awoken when she sent me the sms. Nope. So I didn't find out the result of the Urawa Niigata match until this morning.

I predicted a 2-0 victory for Urawa; Urawa defeated Niigata 1-0.

The winning goal

night out in town...

And what a night out it was! I'm not the type of person that goes clubbing, get drunk and stuff, so for me a good night out means good food and good company. I was spending the evening with Ci, so that's as good as it could get in regards to company, so all I required was good food. Did I have some good food? Oh yeah, we went firstly to Prime, which is a steakhouse on the lower ground floor of the GPO building. I've heard alot of people raving on about this place, especially the concierge team at work & I could definitely say that I had the best steak I have EVER had. Period. And it really had to be the best steak I've ever had, because it's the most I have ever had to pay for a steak; $160 for a Wagyu Chateaubriand. We only had the grade 6+ Wagyu, and it was oh so tender and delicious.

Prime

There was also the grade 9+, the highest grade of Wagyu beef outside of Japan, but @ $250 thought that was a little bit too much. Oh and the next time I do go to Japan, I want to try a grade 12+ Wagyu beef, which is the highest grade possible and only available in Japan!

On the topic of Japan; Urawa is playing Albirex Niigata tonight, unfortunately I can't stay up to find out the result of the match because I have a 07:00 start tomorrow morning. Anyways, I'm predicting a 2-0 win for Urawa. Here's the starting line-up

Back: Tulio, Tsuzuki, Edmilson, Abe, Tsuboi, Hosogai

Front: Nobuhisa Yamada, Ponte, Naoki Yamada, Haraguchi, Suzuki