The Road to 40 Day 149/365: Game Day Sunday

It was Vino’s first game of the new season, but the games are now in the afternoon instead of the mornings.

We planned on going to church early in the morning, with 10am being the most ideal timing. However, as the morning went on, I could feel that we weren’t going to catch the 10am mass. Che immediately agreed that we should do the 5:30pm mass after Vino’s match.

For the morning, at least, we could take it easy. Vino did his homework while we watch the Philippine version of It’s Okay To Not Be Okay. Both Che and I weren’t too hungry, so we decided to bake the frozen pizza cups she ordered online.

It was surprisingly good, so we held off eating too much because Vino might like it as well. He ended up eating about five, I had three, while Che ate one. I’d expect she would be hungry early while the games are being held.

When we were packing our bags, she put a bag of Ruffles and some Dewberry for snacks while we watched the games.

We were a bit late for the call time, but it was pretty hot, so we weren’t exactly rushing to get to the venue. The game was at 3pm, and we were there at around 2:30pm.

The team went up to Division 2 after getting a couple of wins in their last tournament day last season. However, they were thoroughly outplayed by those boys despite their improved play. While the coach understands that competition will make the kids better, he felt that going down to Division 3 would suit their skills better and at least get some wins that they deserve.

It seemed like a good idea, but the drawback was that the games were now going to be played in the afternoons. We thought either way, Sundays are going to be for football anyway, so we just went with it. They only had one game this day.

It was an exciting match. The other dads and I were watching near the pitch, and the parents of the other team were right there with us. We were all cheering our boys to do well, but it’s all fun for the parents.

Vino got a clean sheet in the first half before he was pulled out for the other goalkeeper in the team. They scored on a corner kick after their free kick specialist hit it near the goal and hit one of the opposing players and bounced inside the goal.

In the second half, we watched a small guy from the other team navigate his way inside the box and shot an amazing goal over our goalkeeper. Even Vino wouldn’t have saved that ball, I think. Heck, I wouldn’t be able to save that ball. We applauded with the other team because that was a brilliant goal.

Both teams had chances, but ultimately, it ended in a 1-1 draw.

We decided to go to Great World to have a snack before mass. Vino was hungry because of the match, Che was hungry because she had so little to eat so far in the day.

There was still time left to burn before the mass, so we walked around to try and find gloves for Vino again. This branch of Uniqlo also didn’t have it, but luckily, we found one in Daiso. Che also found things we might need, and Vino just played around with the Halloween decors and costumes.

We were just in time for the mass for the first time in a long time. We usually go to St. Bernadette because there are times the priests at St. Theresa get too preachy. On this service though, the mass celebrant deviated from the gospel a bit and got a little bit too preachy for me again.

It’s frustrating to be a Catholic sometimes. I grew up to be Catholic and I’ve learned so much about it. Studying in Don Bosco saved my faith, I feel like, because the priests there taught me a lot through their guidance inside and outside the classroom, as well as their homilies in our weekly masses.

I wouldn’t say they were not traditional, but they exuded the energy which, I believe, Saint John Bosco wanted to share with the world.

I want Vino to learn from homilies and ask questions, but at this point, there are times that I want to ask questions to the mass celebrants.

We went home immediately after the mass and had a light dinner. Afterwards, Che said she wanted to bake some pandesal again. It’s been a while since she’s been in the kitchen to bake – so long that we already sold off most of our baking stuff.

But she had fans of her cheesecake, and I guess she needed an outlet, so she found her way back to baking again. Vino wanted to help, so he slept a bit late again.

I had to tell Vino he had to sleep already because it was super late. Che had to pull out the bread first, so she stayed up a little bit longer. We had a quick test run of the bread before turning in. She wasn’t satisfied with it – the flavors were there, but she didn’t like that it wasn’t as airy as she’d like.

Thankfully, she has enough ingredients for another batch, so I guess we’ll see how that turns out tomorrow.