ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup Championship

Last night was a big night in Malaysia!!  Malaysia's soccer football team was in the Suzuki Cup Championship against Indonesia.  Jonathan is a big soccer football fan so on the ride home from work yesterday he told me there was a big game.  I really didn't think much about it until Gary and I walked across the street to one of our favorite restaurants, MOJO, and they were working on getting the screen ready to show the big game.  Still that didn't really make me realize what a big deal it was, but when I looked around  and everyone else sitting on the patio had a Malaysian flag ready to whip it out and wave it proudly when their team did something amazing, then I knew this was a pretty big game!!!  Mojo was having some technical difficulties when we first got there, a little before 8.  They kept blowing a fuse and all of the electricity would shut down for a minute.  Finally, right before the big kick-off everything was up and running and we caught the end of the National Anthems.  Malaysia was already up by 3 coming into this match, but you can never underestimate another teams power under pressure.  Indonesia came out hard in the first half and they even got a penalty kick.  However, the goalkeeper, Khairul, made an amazing stop.  Up until that point the crowd at Mojo had been quite relaxed, but once that ball fell into Khairul's hands the screaming began.  My heart jumped out of my skin and beat extremely fast for the next few minutes because it scared me so bad!!  You think I would be used to that living with my parents for as long as I did, they're big sports fans if you didn't know.  Gary and I decided to head back to the hotel after the first half and actually didn't turn the game on when we got back, but we learned this morning that the Malaysians pulled out the victory!!!  This was the 1st ever victory for the Malaysian team.  The Indonesians were, I'm sure, heartbroken since this was their fourth loss in the championship game, but we don't care...WE WON!!!!!

I'm guessing that before this year, Malaysia didn't honor New Year's Eve as a Holiday and since it is on a Saturday this year we heard yesterday (before the big game) that Friday is not a Public Holiday in Malaysia.  However, we recieved this email from HR today...

Dear Colleagues,

As you may all be aware, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Naib Tun Razak, has declared Friday, December 31, 2010 as a one-off national public holiday, as the result of Malaysia’s 1st ever victory in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup championship.
We are please to announce that ServiceSource will observe tomorrow, December 31 as a one-off public holiday.

Man, I sure wish I had the ability to just up and declare a holiday...It's "I don't have shoes to match my outfit" day...or..."I stayed up too late and can't get my eyeballs to stay open" day...or maybe..."My church league softball team beat the she-man team (The Elite) last night and we deserve a day off" day.  Whatever the day, I just wish I had that kind of control, but since I don't I will simply enjoy what I can get!!!

 
*P.S. Just so you know I do have to work tomorrow, on the holiday, but at least I get paid OT for it whereas before the big win I wouldn't have.  There's always a brightside to working, I guess*