Faith Tested

I was told that there was going to be a futsal competition at Samba De Futsal in PJ. The problem was, I do not know where the exact location was as my friend had told me that it’s either at Jalan 222 or 223. So I took off on my own hoping to locate the impossible but fate was not on my side. I circled the place too many times until I had to take a calculated risk of abandoning the search, head on to the mechanics to service my car as the next destination on my list was Genting Highlands.

Dishearten but refused to give up, I drove towards SS19 and Mr. Lim, my favorite mechanic worked on my car, putting it to great working conditioned, checked the tyre pressure as well as ensuring that the level of coolant was sufficient to last me for another 5000 kilo metres.

Once done, I drove off towards home, packed for the trip to Genting while waiting for Justin to drop off his feline wards for boarding at my place while he attended to business in Columbia.

On the way to Cris’ place to board Phoebe, I encountered a very bad jam caused by 2 major events held at Sunway. One was due to the maiden appearance of Jackie Chan at Sunway Pyramid for the official launch of his fitness centre and the other was caused by the graduation ceremony held at Sunway Lagoon. My usual trip to Cris’ place normally took me about 15 minutes but on last Saturday, I only arrived at her place after an hour in the car. By the time I got to Julie’s place in Brickfields, my feet were hurting so much, I felt a cramp creeping. I was on the verge of giving up but managed to talk myself out of it.

Going up Genting was another problem. I took the wrong turn and it lead us through a small village very packed with cars and trucks on the road. The result was another hour trapped on the road and my patience was seriously running thin. We finally arrived at First World Hotel to find it fully booked. Calls made to other hotels in the vicinity revealed the same and we had no choice but to change in the toilet instead of within the comforts of a room.





I had decided to put on a very old black dress and a red shawl to protect me from the biting cold. It was actually very funny trying to carry a life size cut out while walking on heels but I made it all with the help of Julie who had to lug around my heavy knapsack. The moment we hit the Arena of Stars, I immediately worked the crowd.



I approached everyone I met for a photo session and was very lucky to have met a couple of guys from AMP radio who helped us to score a few invites to Anugerah Era. I gave them my stickers and thanked them for their kind gestures.



We continued to take photos and out of a sudden, another recruit, Puteri, approached me and complaint about being chased out from the area by the staffs of ERA. When they saw us together, they told us that they could not allow us promoting Mix during an ERA event as it was against their contract with Hotlink and got the rights to confiscate our cut outs for 3 days. Reasonable, as I had earlier clarified with Mix and they had told me that during the Living with Ika, Serena C & Pietro competition, we are not allowed to promote anybody else in any way. Well, I may be shameless but I’m not silly. To have my cut out taken away from me would be suicidal as I had planned out my activities for the next few days. We decided to try our luck checking it with the bell service at Resort Hotel where I told the staff in charged that I was an invited guest to the Anugerah Era but no one actually told me that I could not take the cut out along. It would be my pleasure if Resort Hotel could look after my cut out for the next few hours while I fulfill my obligation to attend the ceremony that evening. Since I was not attired in my normal jeans & t-shirt, they bought my story and gave us a tag for checking in the cut in. Phew….








I was very disappointed for not being able to have my 3 buddies with me but sometimes, there are limits to what we could do. I consoled myself and kept on chanting about the day will turn better.

An hour into the show, I decided to hand out the stickers that I had printed earlier to those seats around me. We took a couple of shots when I suddenly saw another contestant creeping into the hall with his cut out with him. Both Julie and I were so heart broken as the marshals had told us to leave my cut out behind if we want to catch the show. I refused to get carried away by anger but instead to channel all my thoughts on how to make out the best of the situation.



That was when I got the idea to act out the part of a spotter and approached the recruit while pretending to take a shot with him. I told Julie about it and “MAD” was the word she used on me. Nevertheless, the plan worked and I got my shots plus a video.

To my fellow recruit, thank you for sharing your board with me. I’m sorry I had to pull such stunt on you but then again, I was only doing what I was asked to do – shamelessly generate the publicity required by all means as long we do not get caught in the process of doing it. Thank you very much.





To the rest of the recruits, just remember to have faith in what you do. The road uphill may be difficult but think of the rewards once you overcome it. During this competition I encountered many circumstances where my faith was sorely tested. I always remind myself the reason I joined the competition. I always think of the joy that I could see in the faces of the orphans as well how I could help the animal shelter with my contribution. Those plus the desire to further my studies in the animal related industry are really what kept me going. I thank God for a healthy body and the ability to think as these are very essential not only when I’m doing a competition but also in everyday life.