Friday, November 23, 2007 @4:47 AM
Yinfei is back, with a dreadful sore throat and a heart which is about ten times more in love with Rafa than it was before! :) *sighs dreamily*
*sighs some more*
One thing's for sure: nothing beats 3D! :D
Live, Rafa's ten times cuter, ten times hotter, ten times handsomer, and even his voice sounds ten times more captivating. Thus I am building a bigger house for him in my heart and am kicking the other residents out into tiny little huts to make space for it. :D Unlike Zhihua's heart, mine is undergoing some major renovation here. XD
So, on the morning of the 20th, I woke up at 7.15 despite setting the alarm (or rather, alarms) at 7.45. So, um, turns out there's no need for the alarms, huh. I happily forgot about them while I washed up and stuff (stuff being yelling at my parents to get up), until they all started blaring at the same time. I switched off my phone alarm after taking note that I'd set it to say "C'mon, it's Rafa day!". Then I had to sit around getting increasingly agitated and impatient at my parents' apparent lack of interest in getting an early move on, as they slowly moved around doing last minute packing. My mum checked if the windows were closed about ten times! Sheesh. I swear, they're doing it on purpose.
Anyway we finally left at nine (NINE!), and met up with my uncle and family before moving on to KL. Suprisingly, thanks to no jam, we arrived by one, and went for lunch and stuff and whatever. We checked into the hotel at four, and my uncle (another one, who lives in KL) warned us to leave by five for his house, where we would then drive together to the stadium.
Dad: Don't worry, this type of thing you won't have to rush her one! (her being me)
Indeed. By four thirty I was done and screaming to leave.
Mum: Come on lah, it's only Nadal today what.
Ahem. PRECISELY!
So we left at five (yes, my parents are slow) and were caught in a massive traffic jam in the taxi. Here, Yinfei has numerous heart attacks. We eventually arrived at my uncle's house at five forty-five, which is actually a pretty long time, because from past experience, no jam needs only fifteen minutes to get there. I was all set to leave instantly, but my uncle and parents had different ideas and insisted on some dinner first. I might clarify here that the match starts at eight, and because I'd heard that in the case of massive jam, it takes two hours to get there, plus I wanted to be there half an hour early to soak in the atmosphere, we should have left fifteen minutes ago! No words can describe my state of mind at that time. I was on the verge of tears and heart attacks and suicide. Hello, this is Rafa, THE RAFAEL NADAL, LIVE! Ok, so I thought a little dinner would be fast. I refused to eat anything other than a piece of chicken, cos I didn't want to waste anymore time than they already had, and cos I seriously was in no state for food consumption. I paced the room and could not sit down, even when I was eating the aforesaid piece of chicken. I couldn't stop walking, couldn't sit, couldn't look at anything, the TV, the food, anyone at all, for more than two seconds. I couldn't talk.
Aunt: Yinfei, why are you so excited?
That was a question posed to me by practically everyone, including my four-year-old cousin.
Eventually, dinner was done, and my uncle went upstairs to change. And he took so long up there (or was it just my imagination) that I was almost inclined to think that he must have fainted up there. Finally, we were set to go (or so I thought).
Mum: Yinfei, Uncle needs to digest his food first. (uncle stretches and strolls in the garden)
Yinfei: I NEED TO BE TRANQUILIZED!
Everyone laughs at poor Yinfei who looks like she might faint any moment. Everyone fails to understand the mentality of a fangirl who might just be late for the first and maybe only time she gets to lay eyes on the guy she loves with all her heart and soul in living flesh. :(
Anyway, drama aside, food digested, we're leaving the house at six twenty. Caught in another massive jam, Yinfei contemplates suicide. Mum suggests that if Yinfei is so anxious, she might want to get down from the car and jog there herself. Yinfei thinks this might not be so bad an idea. Amazingly, AMAZINGLY, at seven twenty, the huge words STADIUM MALAWATI looms into sight of Yinfei's eyes, and a leaping feeling grows in her heart, and she almost cries in relief and pure joy, and a strange feeling grips her heart with the knowledge that she is now within a five-hundred metre radius of Rafa.
I stumble out of the car and cannot stop gawking at the huge stadium. Adults give me weird looks and tell me that we're early, VERY EARLY, and am I happy for getting them here so early? I ignore them, being in a mood so happy that mere words cannot describe it. At the stadium entrance, I gaze in awe at the four huge (and I mean HUGE!) banners bearing pics of Rafa, Fed, Gasquet and Sampras respectively. I want to whip out my camera and start taking pics, but adults say it's wiser to get in there earlier. I whip out the tickets (they were placed in my care, due to common agreement amongst the adults that I would be the last person to lose them) and present them, and we're in. We're seated in the south zone, row KK, seats 13 to 17. When the usher shows us to our seats, I scream in joy at the realization that our seats are more than good - they're excellent. 350 ringgit well spent. The nearest to the court are the corporate boxes, reserved for the sponsors of the event, and VVIPs. We're just two rows behind the corporate boxes. I am just so, SO excited. There are people walking around selling Haagen Daaz (I know I've spelt it wrong, who cares) ice-cream, and because I ate practically nothing for dinner, and because I am now in a very good mood to eat, I buy chocolate ice-cream. Then everyone else decides to buy too, and because my dad is such a traditional person, he buys strawberry (for anyone who doesn't know, it's Wimbly tradition to eat strawberry cream/ice-cream). There're huge banners of all four players hung around the stadium, and I hasten to take pics. I feel sorry for all those people high up with a lousy view, with 85 ringgit tickets.
Then the emcee comes out onto the court, and announces that we're going live in one minute, cos the match is going to be live telecasted in 58 countries. Hmm, is Singapore one of them? Probably not. Anyway, this means Rafa's coming out any moment, and I can barely sit still with the excitement. Then the emcee calls for cheers.
Emcee: Let's hear it from the Gasquet fans!
Yinfei: -keeps her mouth shut-
Emcee: And now let's hear it from the Nadal fans!
Yinfei: -screams her lungs out, louder than she ever did for the Raffles cheers-
Mum and Dad and Uncle: -stares at Yinfei like she's gone insane-
Mum: I didn't know you can scream so loud! Must be all the training from your school cheers! (to uncle) You know nowadays the young people ah, learn to scream very loudly from their schools!
Anyway, there're short performances from a boyband and a dance group, which Yinfei patiently sits through. Then, the emcee comes out again and announces, "Winner of five singles titles, ranked number eight in the world, blahblahblah, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Richard Gasquet!" I excitedly video Richie coming out and waving to the crowd, and marvel at how much cuter he looks live. I video him walking to his seat and sitting down. And then..."And now, winner of three consecutive French Open titles, 23 career singles titles, ranked number two in the world, probably the hottest guy in the world (ok, I made that up), blahblahblah, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Rafael Nadal!" Here's where Yinfei lost it. It was too much. Simply too much. If you were to watch the video that I took, you'd see a stable picture of Richie walking to his seat, and then, all of a sudden, the whole picture shakes like crazy and goes out of focus, before finally getting a clear picture of Rafa walking and waving to the crowd. That's because Yinfei at this point was so excited that her hands shook like crazy, and because she'd really rather look at the real thing than look through the video camera.
I practically went crazy, as I realized that I was finally looking at Rafael Nadal in the living flesh, all 185 centimetres of him, just twenty metres away from me! Then I shoved the video cam aside, and started applauding like mad, and screaming and cheering as if my life depended on it. As he sat onto his seat, I grabbed the binoculars out of my bag and stared at him through them. I was gawking when suddenly my mum grabbed them out of my hand and looks at Rafa too. When she finally gave them back to me, she said, "Aiyoh, Nadal is so handsome! On TV I thought he was ugly, but in real life he looks so handsome!" Of course I wasted no time in congratulating her on finally seeing the light, and then continued to look at him through the binos before taking about a thousand pics. Then he got interviewed by the emcee, and I was totally amazed by his voice. It sounds so much better live! :D So deep and manly and all. :D Then, the coin toss. I looked at it through the binos, and watched as he smiled and laughed as he talked to Richie. To give credit to Richie, he was really cute too. :) Then my mum grabbed the binos again to look too. Throughout the match, my mum and me continued to squabble over the binos, while my father and uncle looked on, bemused. I congratulate my mum on her fine taste, although it did come a little late.
Anyway, Richie won the coin toss, and chose to serve. The practice rally was totally amazing. On a totally non-Rafa-related note, the tennis was really something to watch. This was my first time seeing world-class tennis live, and because you're so near, you can actually see just how good it is. The speed was fantastic. I've never seen a ball travel that fast before. Malaysia's number one player had rallied with Rafa the day before, and he reported that the balls that Rafa hit were like "bullets". Richie was really good too. Then, the match started. Of course I can't exactly describe how it was like, just that it was fantastic. Although I must say it was pretty obvious that Richie wasn't really trying on those overhead smashes. Because I'm such a fair person, I know that if Richie had really tried on those smashes, Rafa would have lost that point. But I suppose since it's just an exhibition match, they both didn't take it very seriously, and Rafa was able to return Richie's smash and win the point at that. But my favourite shot of the match was this overhead smash that Rafa did. He totally jumped up in the air and smashed the ball down in such a cool way, and with so much power, that the resultant bounce was so high, and Richie had no answer to that. I screamed like crazy at that point.
The linesmen were horrendous. In ball shout out, out ball never say anything. If this was a real tournament, Rafa and Richie would have countless challenges. One spectator even shouted, "Linesmen, janggan tidoh!" which means "Linesmen, stop sleeping!". Then there was one shot which Richie hit in, but which the linesman called out. Rafa, being the fair and just person that he is, told the umpire that the ball was in. The umpire looked down at him, smiled, and said, "The ball's out." Rafa laughed and raised both his hands in mock surrender, and bowed to the umpire. The whole crowd laughed and so did I. Rafa's just so cute, isn't he? :) He did loads of funny stuff too, like bouncing the ball on his head, and kicking it playfully. There was one shot which he hit in, but which the linesman called out. That ball was so obviously in! I shouted "It was in!" real loudly, which made some people laugh, and my mum and dad looked at me in amazement and demanded to know what had caused me to act so out of character. Apparently they didn't know I had the nerve to shout out individually in front of such a big crowd.
Well, I did that throughout the match, shouting "Go Rafa!", "Vamos Rafa!", and yes, I did remember to pronounce the V correctly, Rita, "C'mon Rafa!", "Vamos!", "Rafa you rock!" and other variations. Had my parents and uncle not been there, love declarations and possibly marriage proposals would have come out too. And I swear, those weren't weak little shouts which no one could hear. I really did shout very loudly, and suprised even myself. And I waited for a time when it was all silent too, so obviously everyone could hear me. :D Of course I didn't do it the match, I didn't want to distract anyone, so I did it before points and during change-over breaks. :D I was pleased to note that there were many Rafa fans in the crowd, because of the numerous shouts that rang out, including a crazed-sounding "I LOVE YOU!" when he first walked out. There were banners which read "VAMOS RAFA!" and Spanish flags in the crowd too. In fact, there was this group of Rafa fans sitting just directly behind us. It was a rather old lady with her daughters and one son. She kept ordering them to hold up the Spanish flag and poster and letters spelling out "Rafael Nadal" up high.
Her: C'mon, hold up your letters!
Her: (to her daughter) Zoom in some more! Some more!
Daughter: Cannot! This is the most I can zoom in!
Yinfei: -smirks at her camera's superior zoom-
Unfortunately, they were all too shy and embarassed to shout. The mum said to her kids, "Ok, one two three we all shout Vamos Nadal, ok?" Then she counts one two three, and they all give a weak shout of "Vamos..." before she alone shouts "Nadal". I roll my eyes, mutter "pathetic", before shouting real loudly, "VAMOS RAFA!" The mum decides that she will not be outdone by me, and starts shouting louder. The daughters and son start shouting louder too. Good for them. My mum is now covering her ears every time I shout, and my dad is telling me to shut up or I'm going to need cough drops. My uncle is very amused. My mum later complains that the Spanish flag behind keeps brushing against her hair.
Final result: Rafa wins 3-6 6-3 6-2. Toldya he had a superb record against Richie. Anyway, when Rafa won the match, I saw a guy below jump up and turn a full 360 degrees in the air, and I shoved bag, camera and binoculars into my dad's lap and jump up in joy. And so did everyone else. I clap and scream and cheer and shriek so much that my dad tells me that it's quite enough shouting and that he's going deaf. Rafa, after taking pics with Richie and waving, makes his way back to his seat, and starts towelling himself. I video this. I'd been wondering throughout the match when he was going to take his shirt off, and he does it at that moment. After towelling himself, he starts to tug his shirt off. Screams go around the stadium as everyone realizes that Rafa's going topless soon, which I of course join in. And because like I said, I was videoing this, so anyone who watches the video can hear the loudest scream coming from me (duh, because I'm nearest the cam). And because that makes me sound like some sort of perverted sicko, I am not showing that to anybody unless it's muted first. Unfortunately, the dancers come out onto the court again, holding long sticks with some kind of crazy deco at the top, which totally covers the beautiful view. I go totally mad that I should be denied the sight of Rafa taking off his shirt, and those stupid dancers stand there and do not budge. I hear similar complaints coming from the mum and her daughters behind me. For some reason, her son is unperturbed.
Then, the interview comes, which I unfortunately can't see either, because of aforesaid dancers. But I still video it, so that his voice can be captured on my cam. The emcee requests "a few words in Spanish" from him, and he jabbers away. I don't know what it means, but I cheer anyway. Finally, he has to leave. I don't remove my eyes from him until he is totally gone from sight. Then it's over.
All over.
My parents have to practically drag me out of the stadium, where I then take pics of the banner with Rafa's pic at the entrance. I go into the car, smiling as if I'd never stop smiling. By now, my throat is totally sore from all the screaming, and my mum and dad and uncle all argue over who gets to take the furthest seat from me on Thursday when it's Fed's match. I assure them that I would not be screaming as loudly on that day. My mum and dad bemoan their unlucky fate that they had to be sitting on either side of me that night, and that they'll remember to bring ear plugs the next time we watch a Rafa match. They wonder how on earth I had so much voice in me. Later, we go for drinks, and my dad recommends a series of drinks to me which he says will help with sore throats. I am in dire need of cough drops.
Later, at the hotel, I show my cousins the pics and videos I took of Rafa, and tell them every one of his numerous virtues, with much help from my mum, who because of this exhibition match, is now a Rafa fan too. Ok, not as much, but she describes him as "a very tall and handsome boy", with "very handsome features", and "wild hair". My cousin declares him to be quite hot, although she says he's a little too muscular. The next day, I spotted a magazine with Rafa on the cover page, which I of course buy. My mum buys another copy too, which she later gives to my aunt. Inside, there's a list of "interesting facts about nadal", which I already know. I find this one very interesting and accurate, "Is the subject of mythical admiration by his legions of female fans". :D I also quote from the magazine, "Rafael Nadal is a fascinating player to watch for more reasons than just his good looks, muscular physique, and long dark hair. Strong backhand, well-angled accurate top-spin, and fast court mobility, he plays left-handed despite it not being his natural preference, and is one of the sports great counter-attackers thanks to his sheer strength and speed." In the interview, they asked him, "How do you feel about being a sex symbol to hundreds of women around the world?" He replied that he doesn't consider himself a sex symbol, but that he really appreciated the support from all of his fans. Too modest, Rafa! If you've got it, flaunt it. :)
That night, when I was going to bed, it suddenly hit me, and I fully realized for the first time that I had actually just seen Rafael Nadal live.
And I'll never forget it for the rest of my life. :)