Kutless in Manila

Okay. I noticed I've been blogging most about sports lately. Can't help it! I love sports. Hehe! But today, Imma blog about one of the things that I so much love as well, which is music. And the Only One who will forever be a first to my heart, God. :)

So, yeah, Kutless is here in Manila! Yay!!! They're doing a 3-night concert for free (because Ptr. Sumrall believed that sharing the gospel is free)! In Cathedral of Praise (where I go church to, btw! I feel super blessed!:>)! Their first night concert last Friday was a blast according to my Mom (yes, she's a fan of rock music too!) and an awesome number of a thousand people got saved! Wow! And last night, I attended their second night concert here! I was alone because the person I invited to the concert didn't make it. :( But then I didn't feel so alone at all. How would you be able to feel that when you are so overwhelmed with praise and worship towards God? :)

I've known about and had been listening to Kutless for years now since I heard one of their songs sang in our church which is "Strong Tower".

After that, I googled them, looked for their songs online and saved in on my mp3 player. ;)

Last night was one of the best nights of my life. I've never had so much fun worshiping God on a rock concert as much as I did last night!
Seeing so many people coming and responding to the invitation of receiving Jesus in their hearts was just so awesome and amazing feeling knowing that God is moving in their hearts! I felt so much blessed! :')

Thank you Kutless for coming to Manila! And thank you so much COP for bringing them here! Most of all, thank You, Jesus for looking out for our souls and for loving us unconditionally. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. <3 To God be the highest glory!

PS. Please come back to Philippines soon, Kutless! :)

PPS. Now playing: What Faith Can Do (on repeat! LSS na ako last night pa;) )

PPPS. You can check 'em out online: here. :) Or you can follow them on Twitter! Thank you!

I Can Serve Invitational: Kaya FC v Philippine Azkals

So, what is I Can Serve Football Invitational? It is a charity football tournament featuring the Philippine Azkals and top United Football League clubs; Global Smartmatic Futbol Club and Kaya Signal Futbol Club. Scheduled on September 19 to 24 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the tourney is a single round format with Azkals like Aly Borromeo, Anton del Rosario, Jason Sabio, and Nate Burkey of Kaya Signal FC and Misagh Bahadoran, Paolo Pascual, and Angel Guirado of Global Smartmatic FC playing for their respective clubs when they face the national football team players like Phil and James Younghusbands, Mark and Matthew Hartmanns, Chieffy Caligdong, Ian Araneta, et al. Proceeds of the tournament go to the ICanServe Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes early breast cancer detection through community-based screening and high-impact information campaigns.

As much as I wanted to watch all the three games but my sked wouldn't allow me. It was just only yesterday that I was able to see the last I Can Serve invitational game between Kaya FC and the Philippine Azkals, together with my friends: Jean, Mel and Kate (extended friend hihihih! Nice to meet you, Kate!).

Being the ever sluggish that I was, I came almost late but not quite. I came just in the nick of time! Thank goodness! :) My friends and I got a free tix each as Kaholeros (yep, we've that perk! But just for this invitational games hehehe!) but we didn't use it because the seat we were designated to seat was in the white bleachers and the sun was scorching hot yesterday that we thought of just buying an upper grandstand tix para di masyadong mainit. Arteh? Hahaha!

The game started so slow with both teams couldn't find a chance to strike a goal until "Mark Hartmann opened the scoring parade of the national squad in the second half via free kick in the 55^th minute. The 19-year old Fil-British striker sailed his attempt above Kaya Cignal’s wall defense to score the stunning goal.

Fil-Spanish Angel Guirado, who just arrived from a brief vacation in Spain two days prior to the match, made the second goal with a crossover fake off his defender at the 67-minute mark of the match. Three minutes later, Chieffy Caligdong followed up a saved shot by Kaya Cignal’s goalie Saba Sadeghi to hike Azkals’ lead, 3-nil.

Phil Younghusband, who aggressively attacked Kaya Cignal’s defense all throughout the match, finally gained ground with two goals – a great feed from his brother James in the 82^nd minute and the final goal four minutes later.

Fil-German goalie Roland Muller also made a good account of himself in his debut with the team, saving four attempts of Kaya Cignal." (from here)

I super enjoyed watching this game! It was so much fun! Thanks to all the people who came up with this idea and made it possible. The real winners in this tourney were the fans who watched and all the women fighting against breast cancer. :)

The Dream Is Still Alive: On To The Semis Baby!

September 23, 2011. Around 9-ish pm, Philippine-time.

Do you know that this is an epic day for all the basketball fans and all the Filipinos in the world? Why? Because Smart Gilas Pilipinas -- Philippine Men's National Basketball Team -- clinched one of the 4 spots for the national teams who will advance to the semi-finals of the FIBA Asia 2011 as we ditched Chinese Taipei off the competition via a 17-point-lead, 95-78. Yes, Philippines is back, baby!! :)

After 24 looong years, (1987 was the last time we booked a spot in the semi-finals of FIBA Asia) Philippines reached again the semis of one of the most important league/tournament in the world of basketball, FIBA Championship. The overwhelming surge of joy, gratitude and Filipino pride just rushed through me when the final buzzer was heard and the clock stopped; indicating we survived and won the crucial game (we are down on the first quarter and keeping up with Taipei at the second) that I actually teared up. Most especially, when I heard Mico Halili, one of the commentators said that Philippines is now one of the top four teams in Asia. :') Finally, all the hard work of Gilas boys has paid off! I can't help but feel so proud of Smart Gilas!

You might probably won't understand why I reacted the way I did (but for some of you, basketball fanatics and sports freaks, you probably know and feel the same thing), that's just because I've been a big supporter of the team since they started playing for our country and since no tv networks would wish to televise their games. ;) I've been a long-time fan that I've seen their dedication, hard work, and improvements just to bring honor to our country. Not only that, throughout the years they're playing, I've also seen how skeptics have doubted (some of em still do, btw :| ) their abilities to compete against other national teams in Asia, how haters have flooded their fanpages on social networking sites with insults, pointless criticisms and other 'words of discouragement'. But they proved em wrong everytime they go out on that court and play; all out, all heart.

And now, seeing Smart Gilas winning against tough teams in Asia, I wish and pray that these doubters will start to believe and support our national team. After all, it's our flag that they're sporting, right? :)

As for the players and staff of Team Pilipinas, congratulations! You deserve to be where you at now. The whole nation is so proud of you! The dream to qualify for the Olympics is still alive and I believe in you guys! We believe.

Keep the spirit up. Seize every opportunity. Never surrender. Focus. Eyes on the prize and that is to bring pride and honor to the Philippines. Laban para sa bayan! Go Gilas!!

Mabuhay ang Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! :)


PS. Watch Smart Gilas' semi-finals game tomorrow against Jordan* live at 8pm (Philippine time) on AKTV IBC 13 on free tv and BTV on cable and support our national team! :)

PPS. *Note: Philippines had already beaten Jordan a numerous times before; including the recently concluded Jones Cup 2011 and even in the first round of the FIBA ASIA 2011. So, I'm pretty confident that we can beat them again and book a seat to the finals. :D But it won't hurt if we will pray for their victory, right? Right! Lezdudiz! We're in this together! :)

Better Late Than Later

I rarely do blogs about celebs or other personalities alike -- which I'd like to coin as CeleBlogs. Wala lang. Pauso :D -- but one can do exemption to the rule, right? :)

So, this is for my favorite Azkal player who celebrated his birthday just the other day, err two days ago?... James Joseph Placer Younghusband.<3 Before I give my message to him, puhlease lemme share you some bits and pieces about him ;)


James plays as right midfielder. He was recently part of the San Beda-Rizal Team in the Smart Club Championships. He was born in Ashford, Middlesex, England on September 4, 1986 to an English father and a Filipina mother.

At the age of 10, he signed up for Chelsea and made appearances for the youth and reserve teams. He had stints with other English teams such as Wimbledon (2006), Staines Town (2007), Woking (2007), and Farmborough (2008). His family moved to the Philippines in 2008.

In 2005, James was called-up by the Philippine Football Team Federation and participated in the Southeast Asian Games held here. From then on, hd has become an integral part of the team. His recent goals were in March 2011, against Mongolia during the away game of the play-offs for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and against Myanmar during the group stage qualifiers of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.**

Belated happy birthday James! Thank you so much for representing the Philippines with all your heart through your passion and dedication to football! You are one of Philippines' sports pride and you deserve to be idolized by many. May you keep inspiring the Filipinos, most especially the youth to play your most-loved sport -- football.

I wish you good health all throughout the year. More blessings to you, your family and of course, to the Azkals team. Keep smiling! :)