AC MILAN training camp, Dubai 2009

     AC Milan Training camp, Dubai 2009  >

Earlier this month AC Milan arrives in Dubai from Italy for their winter training camp sponsored by Emirates-Airlines.

The camp,which was part of the second half preparation of the 2008-2009 European season generated a lot of public and media attention...mainly because of a small time footballer by the name of David Beckham who just recently moved to the club, joining the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho and Maldini.

A week long training was held daily at Al-Nasr Sports Club, and as a huge Rossoneri tifosi it is only right for me to checkout them out. My good friend Jamel was there too.

<Kaka arrives

                           Ushar line >

Al-nasr sports club, dub

<...and the crowd

the squad...>

Maldini,ronaldinho,beckham,pato,senderos,kaladze earning their money

Mie with jamel

AC Milan match practice at Al-Nasr Sports Club, during Training Camp Dubai 2009 from jimlucky on Vimeo.

Il Capitano

after 2 hours of training/match practice the mob of fan waited patiently for players to come out for some autograph signing.
i manage to get paolo's...ronaldinho was very accommodating too, and he got the loudest cheer from the crowd. Becks? damn...he wanted to smooch my face...its a narrow escape though

<Star Player 1-Ronaldinho dribbling the crowd

Star Player 2- il capitano Paolo >

< Hollywood Star- David Beckham seeking attention

Becksy getting physical >

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< Stoked to see hamburg

Part of the training agenda was a friendly match against German Bundesliga side, Hamburg SV dubbed 'Dubai Football Challenge' , which was held at the Emirates' The Sevens Stadium on January 6.

Went to enjoy the game along with Joker, Sufian, Kamil and Munyra.  But damn...we were caught in a massive traffic jam leading up to the stadium and arrived there quite late...the match has gone almost halfway thru

AC Milan vs Hamburg SV, The Sevens Stadium

< Game on

Kamil,munyra,jim,joker,sufian >

The match ended on 1-1 stalemate, so we go to penalties

Ronaldinho converted AC's first penalty

Friendly- AC Milan 4-3 Hamburg SV (penalty, 1-1 fulltime), Dubai 2009 from jimlucky on Vimeo.

the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, and Milan prevailed 4-3 on penalties (matchnews here)

There was a funny scene after the match though, as Joker's car was stucked in the sand...fortunately a policeman manage to bail us out

Post match celebration

...I had to be a part-time police traffic while the vehicle was towed...haha

<Cruisin dubai-al ain route

The celebrity policeman and his entourage>

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flashback at the Al-Nasr Club training ground a few days earlier:
It's not everyday that you could get a photo together with Joker...apparently some football stars wouldn't miss this golden chance

Andrea Pirlo asked Joker for a snap

Then came Alexandro Pato's turn 

note- a slice of Joker's charm: a few days after this pic was snapped, Pato scored two goals in Milan 2-2 draw with AS Roma in an Italian Serie A match at Stadio Olympico, Rome (highlight here)

Zambrotta, Darmian, Shevchenko, Flamini, Ronaldinho

ALKALINE TRIO : 'nose over tail'

'crack my head open on your kitchen floor'

Alkaline Trio performing 'Nose Over Tail'. Matrix of archive footage compiled from 1998-2006

mr. asraf and mr. epi were in the dub**

Souk madinat, jumeirah

recently joker, pica and me had a mini-reunion with two of our Dublin-based besties who came down to Dub**n for a visit and some long overdue hi-fivers


 enemy no.1: Encik Asraf

The man had a limited time here so we took him to Souk Madinat for dinner and ushar awex2 arab session.  Btw he got an awesome photoblog,  go check it out here. His snaps are all aces

Asraf,joker,pica,jim

hopefully not another ikan jaket day at the dewan makan

those 3 pix above are courtesy of Asraf's magnificent D300, captured wide angled stylee.,,and u could compare them with my cheap crappy camera snap below

Pirlo is wearing no 21, same as Asraf

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enemy no 2: Encik Farid, also knocked as Encik Epi

Forced to entertain Epi (3rd from left)

We had a nice time with Epi, showing him a detour around Dub** and Abu Dhabi. 

something funny happened in Abu Dhabi though...apparently an old friend of Epi  kindly let us overnite at his awesome apartment, which coincidently happened to be located near the unit of Epi's old flame (back in the skooldays...hint for those who may knew: she got many bul*s)...yeah...its a small world indeed

AbuZhabi 01

AbuZhabi 02

to Asraf and Epi, thanx for bothering us...and please sent my warm regards to your xclusive "I KEEP MY OPTIONS OPEN" friend the next time you guys bump into him

>BACK and FORceTH<

As cliche as it may sound, sososorry for the lack of updates...and the usual lame xcuses that contemplate the sentence, both ends with -zy: la_ _ and acting bu_ _

So, whats up recently?
Well, for my part, i'm back to the old country for a 3 week break after 7 months in UAE land.  Not sure how i coaxed the people up there to grant me such a marathon leave,of which i managed to celebrate Eiduladha backhome in early December, and then back to Sheikh's territory at the end of the month...just in time to pick up my salary...apparently i was being paid for vacationing...sweet...

i am not alone though, as 4 other colleagues joined in the scam

the clan of Dubai-AbuDhabi-KLIA : Airozi, Romzi, Ishak, Munawir, KS

a recrap of whats on during the break:

eiduladha with family - spend quality time with long lost nieces and nephews - buy things ordered by friends back in UAE - balik kampung - buy things ordered by friends - my beloved auntie passed away - spent consecutive nights with their family - buy things ordered by friends - nightly catching up with friends at the new Pelita restaurant in section 9 (i have to keep myself up-to-date with local artiste topix eg: Mawi, Siti Nurhaliza and misai Dato K) - buy things ordered by friends - went to Singapore - ...and hangout with some Japanese - apply for international licence - deliver package as requested by a friend - went to Penang - buy things ordered by friends - Mawi's wedding was live on Astro (kind of a big deal for me) - primary skool class of '89 Reunion (at...McDonalds! yeaaaa....) - farewell dinner with friends at TTdi - buy things for myself
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< Masjid Sultan hood

some pix of the Singapore trip
(solo-rider journey, therefore some of these snaps were shamelessly self-potrait)

board a nitebus from KL, arrived there at dawn
went straight to Sultan Mosque area for prayer, bath and breakfast

Breakfast at the famed ZamZam restaurant

apparently the egg paratha of the mat saleh next to me was hijacked by his gf...she practically emptied the plate to the horror of the man...quite a scene...haha

Burpppp...wandering off to Bugis area to find a place to crash

Lost at this backpackers for $12 a nite

Found one at Cozy Corner. A bed at an open air rooftop for $12, with complimentary breakfast and internet. A backpackers heaven located in the heart of the city...sorta like an international hostel.
Some Rastafarian Japs from Yokohama and Tokyo has stayed there for days. had some interesting conversation with them

The Bugis area as viewed from the rooftop

another view

The Japs percussion tag team

i was entertained by their sublime casual mini performance...like a small scale Kitaro set...later (below), checking out the city

Orchard Road was bustling with Christmas sale

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glad that Muzzamil, an old friend of mine is organising a reunion i wrote earlier in the entry...hangout with primary skool classmates from the wonder years era (a pre-puberty time when Aliph and BM2000 skoolshoes were considered cool, and julia rais was royal hot..haha).
I haven't met some of them for nearly 20(!) years....and due to this short period of time we had loads of catching up...too bad i couldnt bring any offspring though

REONION, Class of 1889

attendees (l-r): muzzamil, nazarul, aziah, tahir, razak, aleh, rafidi, ks, erlena, rohana, along(back), azrin & azmi (not in picture)

just before i flew back to UAE, had a great time dining with my best-mates

yosz, joeneng, idora, amir, jos, scott, ks, sedi ; TTDI Plaza

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The Lubuk Corner R.I.P

just days before i went back i was informed by my colleagues that our department in Sheikh Essa Tower along the commercial stretch of Sheikh Zayed road has been transfered to the site office in Nad-Al Sheba

(rumours about the relocation has been going on for quite some time, wrote about that here)

i definitely will miss my innocent little workspace ;(. some pix below, snapped on the last days before the shift

Suite#801,Sheikh Essa Tower: Xtreme Environmental Design Labarotary (XEDL)

XEDL members in picture: Det, Sook Teng, Meow, Ninien, Alex, Sharifah, Ezlin, Saiful, Aie, Mamat, Fadhil, Jamel, jim

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soon...

AC Milan Training camp, Dubai 2009

ATV Quad Bike desert challenge, Ajman

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HAVE HEART - Boston Hardcore

Vox Hunt: 2008 Mix Tape

If you were to make a mix tape to sum up 2008, what would the first track be? Please share that song with us.

Here's to the unhappy endings and all the false starts

"Thank You"...

Descendents

...perfomed by Descendents

LAGWAGON - "May 16th"

Lagwagon performing 'May 16th' at Metro Theatre, Sydney 20-11-8002

No more waiting on them,As you rise inside new rooms,
Its official,you've gone,You can live for no-one else,
Man the guilt must behuge,Theres no gain in failure,
You succeded at being mine,Yeah, old friend, see ya there,
I will be proud from a far,I can't paint a picture,
In a moment, of memories theres not many left,
I am extrodited,uninvited.
Its just another Saturday.

Stream the entire set here

Serie A 08/09: top goals of the year

Featuring goals from Antonio Cassano(Sampdoria), Javier Zanetti(InterMilan), Acqufresca(Cagliari), Ronaldinho(Milan AC), Lavezzi(Napoli), Kaka(Milan AC), Mauro Zarate(Lazio), Di Natale(Udinese),  Del Piero(Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic(InterMilan)