28th SEA Games Singapore Closes

The 28th Southeast Asian Games has finally concluded and Thailand was reigned as the overall champion.

With fireworks and neon lights, the center stage of Singapore National Stadium lit up to mark the end of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games last Tuesday, June 16, 2015. This 12-day period of sportsmanship, friendships, and outstanding performances in 402 sporting events in 36 sports has been a declaration of each athlete's triumph and defeat.

The games here were featured in several video presentations while delegates, the host country, and the mascot, Nila, greeted the spectators. There were as much as 50,000 people who gathered to cheer for their home countries and congratulate them for their collected medals. Then the SEA Games Federation President Tan Chuan-Jin delivered his speech which was dedicated to the victims of Sabah Earthquake. He pertained to the games as "memorable" and "showing the spirit of friendship". Upon thanking the volunteers, two athletes were special mentioned for having the courage to battle much older competitors (11-year-old swimmer from Myanmar, Oo Shun Lei Maw) and showing fairness regardless of being in a competition (marathon runner from Singapore, Ashley Liew).

A few more medals were bestowed during the final day of the games: Badminton men's singles and women's doubles both went to Malaysia; badminton mixed doubles went to the Indonesian pair; and badminton women's single was given to Thailand.

Aside from the awarding of trophies and medals, the event also featured a dance party. Athletes, volunteers, and spectators alike enjoyed the colorful enormous rubber balls and strobes of laser lights while dancing to the beats by DJ Ferry Corsten.

As for the Philippine SEA Games team, they have performed competitively and had achieved the greatness at their best by bagging 29 gold, 36 silver, and 66 bronze from major group events like basketball and rugby, and individual sporting events like wushu and triathlon. It was a big moment for the Gilas Cadets because it was the 17th gold medal since the country participated in 1970s.

Singapore SEA Games President Tony Tan's speech was to close the ceremony closed the games by doing the closing ceremony tradition of putting off the fire from the symbolic SEA Games cauldron and handing over the SEA Games official flag to the next host of the biennial even in the Southeast Asia region. And last July 2012, the country of Malaysia was decided to host the 29th SEA Games in 2017 that will be held in Kuala Lumpur.

Another upcoming sporting event this year is the 8th ASEAN Para-games on December 3-9, 2015 which is also going to be hosted by Singapore.

Warrior Champions

Warrior Champions
June 18, 2015
Roxanne Joyce A. Javier



After 40 years, the Golden State Warriors has finally brought the trophy back home and proved that home-court advantage wasn't always the lucky charm.

The NBA Season Finals Game 6 was brought to an end by 105-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio last June 17, Wednesday. The Warriors maintained the three straight lead from Game 4 down to Game 6, giving just two game wins to LeBron James-led Cavs.

It was the Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry tag-team, who were both crowned as the final's MVPs for garnering 25 points. On top of the 25 points, Curry was able to grab six rebounds and lend out eight assists during the last game. The Warriors started strong at the first quarter, scoring 28-15. Come the second quarter and the Cavs gave 17-28 finish to it. The third quarter was once again to the Warriors by having 28-18 score. The last quarter were measured as 32-36 performance.

The 32-point performance wasn't enough for LeBron James to once again lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory. Seems like dejavu from the battle against San Antonio Spurs last Season 2013-2014 that he showed immense strength and passion but it didn't paid off since it was considered as a one-man show. It cannot be helped to say that the shine of the once thought to be "Jordan the II" is catching shadows now. James still and always be on his top performance. He also remains as one of the greatest athlete in basketball. He even calls himself "greatest player of all time" in one of his interviews. Unfortunately, his strategy doesn't meet the ends in basketball - a team sports. Maybe LeBron needs a bit of reminding.

It wouldn't be always about "the one" but just as the Warriors motto is "Strength in Numbers".

(C) NBA.com

Return of the Comeback

SING: It's been a long day....

Or for me, a very long time since the last post. Forgive me self. It has been a busy life for me (well, I'm always busy) since we moved to my husband's mother's residence. It is because we had a new member of the family, my one and only son Fio, and we had a new car and paying it in installment.

So now, I'm back, not to update anymore but to a job for my friend. To write for news updates about sports. It's kinda new to me since I don't have a vast vocabulary about certain sports but I can report all thanks to BS DevCom training back in the university.

It's going to start this Father's Day (21st June 2015) and I'm hoping it's a good "FIRST WRITE UP." So help me that it would have no more editing!

Cheers to writing again!

Clixgrid reward: 7 more chances

May We Have A Cooler End

My Fair May,

Today it rained. It's the first rain of May. And we Filipinos believe that this could bring good health to people, especially to children. So they are encouraged to play, soak themselves in the rain water. 

However, it's more of thundering storms and a drizzle of rain. It's not much of a rain but just a shower. 

Luckily, Zami's asleep or she'll be forcing to play in the rain even though there isn't much water. She just looooves being in the water.

This first rain of May can also signal the end of summer. And that, is a cooler way to end it. 

Korean Spag for BF

Bibing Myun (instant Korean spaghetti) for breakfast

I'm very adventurous when it comes to food. I like to try and see for my self if that new innovation to food is satisfying or simply delicious. One of my favorites is pasta.

One day, I saw a TV commercial of an instant spaghetti with a new flavor - Korean Bibing Myun or simply spicy spaghetti. So my latest grocery included this one for testing.

Since it's instant, just three minutes in boiling water and the noodle is done. The sauce's label is Bibing Myun, it's red and almost smells like kimchi. It spicy but tolerable. The aroma somewhat painful to the nose, maybe because it's chili peppers. There's also another sachet and looks like black flakes or pepper. I mixed everything up and realized the black flakes were actually seaweeds. Just blacken by preservation process.

The tasting process begins. I smelled it first and boy it was PAINFUL in the nose! I sneezed and sneezed and been sneezing until now (achoo!-gazantai!). I recovered from the series of sneezes and began tasting. It wasn't that tasty to me. I cannot find the right taste. But it gives me the kick of spiciness. And....that's all. I can feel the texture of the seaweed flakes like more of whole black peppers. I.Don't.Like.It. (sorry Koreans!) But I have t finish the food because I'm starving and I don't waste food - a principle I keep until I die.

How adventurous are you when it comes to food? Did you ever had to finish the food even though you don't like it? How was your experience?

OAW Club

My husband and I have the same group of friends and we actually called it "The Once-A-Week Club" (OAW). It was called that way because we usually only see each other during the weekends and the husbands can only drink alcohol once a week. Moreover, we go travel once a week or once a month.

I had these set of friends just when I met my husband. I'm lucky enough to still have friends who I can a relate to because my old friends are all living in Manila and working in the office. The OAW Club maintains an easy-going, laid-back kind of aura and I really like that. Before my single years, I was very much uptight and strict because I'm the second in the family and expected to be always responsible. So now, meeting these OAW guys, it lighted me up.

Do you have new set of friends? Do you also name your group? Thanks for sharing!