Just downloaded this new software blogbuddy which i think is just so damn cool. I got the link from this other blog that i came across just now and decided to download the tool myself and give it a go. So, please do excuse me for having some minor spasms of cheap thrills while i type this blog into this new toy of mine. Its like so darn convienient, since it minimizes into your system tray and can be recalled anytime i have an urge to write something (which is in fact not that often lately). However, i don't think it would appeal to the more "advanced" bloggers out there since you can only perform text-like entries into it. Also, now that i realize it, i don't think i would be able to preview my post before i actually post it either. Oh well, but i guess for my personal use, it should be more than sufficient.
Just decided to come online since they just finished the first half of the Newcastle and Blackburn game which i find myself just mildly interested in. Who decides what games they show on the television anyway? I wonder why they decided to show this one particular game instead of the Liverpool Man City match which one would presume would have a lot more people wanting to watch it? Or maybe not? I guess it's probably because the live telecast games are streamed live from Sky Sports in UK and in UK probably there are a LOT of people who would want to watch Newcastle and Blackburn fight it out at St Jame's Park. Oh well.
My brother just told me that they have an update of the Liverpool match and it seems Liverpool are one down already courtesy of a Nick Anelka goal. Shucks. Oh well.
Later.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Friday, December 26, 2003
It's been a busy busy busy week
I haven't been writing in here for quite a while already. One reason for this is that works been pretty hectic already as my current project has just started to get rolling this week and hence the ultra long hours in the office. I am still trying to get up more updates as often as possible, but I don’t think it will be as often as before, (like when I was still having my cheap thrill of just getting a blog and putting in entries every 5 minutes or so).
The other reason for me not finding any time to get my creative juices flowing would be due to me indulging myself in the writings of one of my favourite authors, Messer Nick “Arsenal Supporting” Hornby himself. A friend of mine passed over to me “How to be Good”, since he found out that I really really really enjoyed the last three Hornby books I read, About A Boy (which I also watched the movie, the one with the flopsy haired one in it), High Fidelity (which I ALSO watched the movie, which was ALSO a pretty good movie in itself, but not as good as the book), and also Fever Pitch, (no, I have not seen THIS movie yet, although I have in good authority, that the movie is pretty good but AGAIN, not as good as the book (actually, which movie has EVER been as the book that it is based upon?), the first of the Hornby’s that I read. Actually the only reason I actually bought Fever Pitch was because I was waiting for a friend in the MPH in Bangsar and by random chance actually picked up the book, started reading it and then suddenly laughed hysterically by myself in front of absolute strangers while I was reading it.
I think I truly enjoyed Fever Pitch since it is a true story about Hornby himself, writing about his life as an Arsenal supporter, and me, being a fan of another particular English team could easily relate to the emotions and feelings that he was trying to express in the book. I actually recommended it to some of my non-football following friends, but they seemed to think it was pretty dry though. But there was on part in the book which I still find absolutely hilarious until now. It was during a match in which he watched in the stadium where he brought his at that time girlfriend, and some other friends. He was absolutely totally engrossed in watching the match and cheering and supporting the Arsenal, that when his girlfriend suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground, the other friends that came with him had to pick her up and bring her outside to get a breath of fresh air. He was totally oblivious to what had happened, or he just didn’t bother to help since supposedly when he is cheering the Arsenal, nothing else get in between him and shouting to the top of his lungs whenever one of the player misses yet another sitter in front of the goal. I guess it was just a way for him to demonstrate how absolutely fanatical bordering on psychotic he was when it comes to his Arsenal.
“How to be Good”, on the other hand, is not a true story. According to some reviews I read on the net, it seems that this isn’t as good as his other works. I actually haven’t finished the book yet, probably around ¾ done already, but I can say that I am not disappointed by this one at all. In this book, Hornby writes from a first person perspective (AGAIN), of a woman who is supposedly a self confessed “good person”. The only reasoning for her being a good person is because she is a doctor, and doctors heal people, save lives and hence, a good person. She, however, is married to a “not good” person, David, who is actually not a very nice person. He is a columnist who writes a column as the angriest man of some town which I don’t really know the name of. Anyway, his job is basically to just complain and rant about anything in the world, making him seem like a very angry person. So, seeing that she is married to a bad person, she sorts of justifies herself having an affair with this other guy, which after the first night together with this other guy, she realizes that it is absolutely wrong. Oh yeah, she also asks for a divorce with David. Anyway, once David finds out about the divorce, he goes and sees this faith healer friend of his, weirdly named, DJ GoodNew, and hence he has been transformed from the angriest man in… wait let me check the book… ah yes.. “The Angriest Man in Holloway” to a person who actually calls up every person in the neighborhood and starts an “Adopt a homeless kid into your empty room of the house” program. Anyway, since I haven’t actually finished it yet, I can’t write much more about it. However, from what I have read so far, David (the former angriest man in Holloway) has now started to do more and more selfless acts of kindness in which just seems to be angering the main character even more than before. I think what the main message that comes out from this book is that you will never know what you really have until you have lost it, and you never know what you wished for, even though it seems better, would be the best thing for you in the long run. What the main character wished in the beginning was that the husband would change and not be angry anymore. In the end, the husband did change, he is not angry anymore, but he gets up her nerves even more, by doing his selfless acts of kindness and goodness.
Hornby isn’t the only writer that I sort of follow. When I was in standard five, when all my other friends were reading The Lord of The Rings (I have just watched the Return of the King, and I must say I am absolutely impressed by the whole trilogy. In Christmas 2001, when I watched the Fellowship of the Ring for the first time in Mid Valley, I just couldn’t wait for the ending. And now that it has actually ended, I must say that it was not disappointing at all. An absolutely breathtaking example of cinematic mastery. Actually I think if I had read the book before, probably I would have said that it was not as good, but what the heck. The only time I had actually attempted to digest the book was when I was in standard five, around 10 -11 years old, and the sight of the thickness of that book which was absolutely daunting. The book itself was also too complex for me at that time. Probably I should try and read it now, come to think of it),I read ALL of Roald Dahl’s books, from The BFG, Mathilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Witches. Out of those, Mathilda, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and Witches have all been converted on to the silver screen, but I still enjoy the books much more. I think it’s because when I was small, my imagination can just run wild when reading story books, and when you read those books, you just imagine this absolutely wonderful world that you create that the characters live in. Seeing the movies just limits your imagination to what the director wants you to see, and not what YOU think it should be. I’ve also read all the Harry Potter books so far, and I also still think that the books are definitely much better than the silver screen versions. Its just that some of the things that happened during the movie, I just imagined it to be so much much more spectacular, I guess. Other books that I have read this year would be the three novels by Tony Parsons, Man and Boy, Man and Wife, and Something (?) for my Baby. Three pretty good books as well, but after I finished the first one (Man and Boy), the other two just seemed a tad bit repetitive since it deals around with the same issues and all. I read somewhere that people are thinking of converting these to the movies. We shall wait and see.
Anyway, gonna make a move now. Probably am a bit late, but just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Will probably have another entry before the New Year since there is a lot of stuff I still want to write about.
So, take care of yourselves, and each other. Laters.
The other reason for me not finding any time to get my creative juices flowing would be due to me indulging myself in the writings of one of my favourite authors, Messer Nick “Arsenal Supporting” Hornby himself. A friend of mine passed over to me “How to be Good”, since he found out that I really really really enjoyed the last three Hornby books I read, About A Boy (which I also watched the movie, the one with the flopsy haired one in it), High Fidelity (which I ALSO watched the movie, which was ALSO a pretty good movie in itself, but not as good as the book), and also Fever Pitch, (no, I have not seen THIS movie yet, although I have in good authority, that the movie is pretty good but AGAIN, not as good as the book (actually, which movie has EVER been as the book that it is based upon?), the first of the Hornby’s that I read. Actually the only reason I actually bought Fever Pitch was because I was waiting for a friend in the MPH in Bangsar and by random chance actually picked up the book, started reading it and then suddenly laughed hysterically by myself in front of absolute strangers while I was reading it.
I think I truly enjoyed Fever Pitch since it is a true story about Hornby himself, writing about his life as an Arsenal supporter, and me, being a fan of another particular English team could easily relate to the emotions and feelings that he was trying to express in the book. I actually recommended it to some of my non-football following friends, but they seemed to think it was pretty dry though. But there was on part in the book which I still find absolutely hilarious until now. It was during a match in which he watched in the stadium where he brought his at that time girlfriend, and some other friends. He was absolutely totally engrossed in watching the match and cheering and supporting the Arsenal, that when his girlfriend suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground, the other friends that came with him had to pick her up and bring her outside to get a breath of fresh air. He was totally oblivious to what had happened, or he just didn’t bother to help since supposedly when he is cheering the Arsenal, nothing else get in between him and shouting to the top of his lungs whenever one of the player misses yet another sitter in front of the goal. I guess it was just a way for him to demonstrate how absolutely fanatical bordering on psychotic he was when it comes to his Arsenal.
“How to be Good”, on the other hand, is not a true story. According to some reviews I read on the net, it seems that this isn’t as good as his other works. I actually haven’t finished the book yet, probably around ¾ done already, but I can say that I am not disappointed by this one at all. In this book, Hornby writes from a first person perspective (AGAIN), of a woman who is supposedly a self confessed “good person”. The only reasoning for her being a good person is because she is a doctor, and doctors heal people, save lives and hence, a good person. She, however, is married to a “not good” person, David, who is actually not a very nice person. He is a columnist who writes a column as the angriest man of some town which I don’t really know the name of. Anyway, his job is basically to just complain and rant about anything in the world, making him seem like a very angry person. So, seeing that she is married to a bad person, she sorts of justifies herself having an affair with this other guy, which after the first night together with this other guy, she realizes that it is absolutely wrong. Oh yeah, she also asks for a divorce with David. Anyway, once David finds out about the divorce, he goes and sees this faith healer friend of his, weirdly named, DJ GoodNew, and hence he has been transformed from the angriest man in… wait let me check the book… ah yes.. “The Angriest Man in Holloway” to a person who actually calls up every person in the neighborhood and starts an “Adopt a homeless kid into your empty room of the house” program. Anyway, since I haven’t actually finished it yet, I can’t write much more about it. However, from what I have read so far, David (the former angriest man in Holloway) has now started to do more and more selfless acts of kindness in which just seems to be angering the main character even more than before. I think what the main message that comes out from this book is that you will never know what you really have until you have lost it, and you never know what you wished for, even though it seems better, would be the best thing for you in the long run. What the main character wished in the beginning was that the husband would change and not be angry anymore. In the end, the husband did change, he is not angry anymore, but he gets up her nerves even more, by doing his selfless acts of kindness and goodness.
Hornby isn’t the only writer that I sort of follow. When I was in standard five, when all my other friends were reading The Lord of The Rings (I have just watched the Return of the King, and I must say I am absolutely impressed by the whole trilogy. In Christmas 2001, when I watched the Fellowship of the Ring for the first time in Mid Valley, I just couldn’t wait for the ending. And now that it has actually ended, I must say that it was not disappointing at all. An absolutely breathtaking example of cinematic mastery. Actually I think if I had read the book before, probably I would have said that it was not as good, but what the heck. The only time I had actually attempted to digest the book was when I was in standard five, around 10 -11 years old, and the sight of the thickness of that book which was absolutely daunting. The book itself was also too complex for me at that time. Probably I should try and read it now, come to think of it),I read ALL of Roald Dahl’s books, from The BFG, Mathilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Witches. Out of those, Mathilda, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and Witches have all been converted on to the silver screen, but I still enjoy the books much more. I think it’s because when I was small, my imagination can just run wild when reading story books, and when you read those books, you just imagine this absolutely wonderful world that you create that the characters live in. Seeing the movies just limits your imagination to what the director wants you to see, and not what YOU think it should be. I’ve also read all the Harry Potter books so far, and I also still think that the books are definitely much better than the silver screen versions. Its just that some of the things that happened during the movie, I just imagined it to be so much much more spectacular, I guess. Other books that I have read this year would be the three novels by Tony Parsons, Man and Boy, Man and Wife, and Something (?) for my Baby. Three pretty good books as well, but after I finished the first one (Man and Boy), the other two just seemed a tad bit repetitive since it deals around with the same issues and all. I read somewhere that people are thinking of converting these to the movies. We shall wait and see.
Anyway, gonna make a move now. Probably am a bit late, but just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Will probably have another entry before the New Year since there is a lot of stuff I still want to write about.
So, take care of yourselves, and each other. Laters.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
I need my Chillies!!
Americans like 'em big. No, i wasn't talking about THAT, but in general, from my point of view, they like big things. Just look at their cars for instance. This is the country that made the SUV popular. But not your itsy bitsy teeny weeny SUVs that we Malaysian go crazy about like the CRV, or the Xtrail, or the Kia Sportage. I shouldn't even mention our local offering, the Kembara (is that an SUV in the first place?). No. Them Americans lust for 'em huge ass, gas guzzling Suburbans or Trailblazers. A small engined, fuel efficient, practical Honda Civic Hybrid for you, sir? No way. Gimme one of those Suburbans.
Now, i don't have anything against SUVs (And i don't have anything against Americans either). I, myself, would love to ditch my seven year old, power window failing, body parts shaking piece of Malaysia Boleh technology called the Satria and get myself one of those Ford Escapes or one of those Nissan XTrails. But once my heart has stopped thinking and my head kicks into gear, i just realize that one of those aren't really practical for now. I mean, i LOVE the interior space and the huge boot, and the ego boost of potraying a macho, outdoor-ish sort of image to everyone. But the mileage you get from one of those SUVs aren't really what you could call economical. And for someone like me who can barely afford paying the gas of a puny 1.3cc engined piece of semi-malaysian engineering, i guess i'll just have to put off my SUV driving plans for the time being.
Another thing that Americans like 'em huge are their food. The portions that they serve at ANY American styled restaurant, and you will see what i mean. The quantity of food that they consume in a single serving is unbelieveable. I just had a project team lunch a few days back at the Chillies in KLCC and i must say the portions that they serve there are definitely "American". Chillies is one of my favourite places to eat. The food is good there. The portions are extremely good. The atmosphere is, well, OK lah. But the one major gripe that i have with them is their "No Bookings, First Come First Served" policy. I know that they have enough people going there for dinners and lunches to not give a damn about their booking policy, but it is just a major pain in the arse when you want to have a group lunch there for 10 people. It also doesnt help that they ALSO have another policy that you need to have at least 3/4 of your total group before they give you a table. So, out the window goes the plan to send one fella first to book the tables and wait for us to get there. But what the heck. I STILL go there for their nachos and fajitas and their chocolate dessert. Dammit. I can't for the life of me remember what its called!
Anyway, i ordered myself the BBQ ribs that day since i felt like trying something new. The dish, when it came well, didn't really look THAT appealing. It was just one huge slab of ribs, and at the side some fries and one full corn on the cob served with it. Thats it. No garnishing whatsoever, and no vegetables to come with it. One cut into the meat and you know that the meat that they serve there is some good grade A prime and tender beef. However, once i started to eat it, i sort of started to remember that BBQ isn't really one of my favourite flavours. It sort of tastes like tomato sauce, it has the sour-ish tomato taste to it, but its not exactly tomato sauce. It also has a tinge of spiciness to it. Actually now that i'm thinking about it, BBQ sauce could indeed be made of tomatoes. Maybe i should check this one out. Anyway, after a few cuts of the ribs, you just start to get a bit sick of the whole thing. And eating the fries and corn doesnt really help that much either. All in all, i didn't particular enjoy it as much as i would have enjoyed some Mushroom Jack Fajitas or the Swiss Mushroom Burger, or the Big Daddy Dawg, so i guess, this particular order goes into my "never again" list. I didnt even manage to finish all the ribs, although this i would blame it on the amount of buffallo wings, fajita nachos and selery sticks i consumed before while waiting for some late comers to arrive (yes, it was ME who was sent early to go and book tables!).
On another note, a friend of mine just offered to me two tickets to the Lord of the Rings movie marathon this Friday which i declined. I just don't see the point of going into the cinema at 11pm on a Friday night and watching 3 movies back to back until 10 am the next morning. I mean, i DO want to see the movie very very very much, but cant get any tickets for this weekend (can't be arsed to tranverse through the crowd and all, just not my thing ). I just don't see the point of staying up all night watching the other 2 movies first, and by the time you get to the 3rd movie, which i guess would start around 7am, you would be like totally stoned that you wouldnt be able to concentrate on the movie, and hence, would bring down the enjoyment level of the whole experience. By the time it all ends, you would be left felling dazed and with sort of a jet lag, and you would throw away you're whole Saturday trying to recover. So probably i'll just do myself a huge favour and watch it sometime later, when the crowd isn't that huge.
Laters
Now, i don't have anything against SUVs (And i don't have anything against Americans either). I, myself, would love to ditch my seven year old, power window failing, body parts shaking piece of Malaysia Boleh technology called the Satria and get myself one of those Ford Escapes or one of those Nissan XTrails. But once my heart has stopped thinking and my head kicks into gear, i just realize that one of those aren't really practical for now. I mean, i LOVE the interior space and the huge boot, and the ego boost of potraying a macho, outdoor-ish sort of image to everyone. But the mileage you get from one of those SUVs aren't really what you could call economical. And for someone like me who can barely afford paying the gas of a puny 1.3cc engined piece of semi-malaysian engineering, i guess i'll just have to put off my SUV driving plans for the time being.
Another thing that Americans like 'em huge are their food. The portions that they serve at ANY American styled restaurant, and you will see what i mean. The quantity of food that they consume in a single serving is unbelieveable. I just had a project team lunch a few days back at the Chillies in KLCC and i must say the portions that they serve there are definitely "American". Chillies is one of my favourite places to eat. The food is good there. The portions are extremely good. The atmosphere is, well, OK lah. But the one major gripe that i have with them is their "No Bookings, First Come First Served" policy. I know that they have enough people going there for dinners and lunches to not give a damn about their booking policy, but it is just a major pain in the arse when you want to have a group lunch there for 10 people. It also doesnt help that they ALSO have another policy that you need to have at least 3/4 of your total group before they give you a table. So, out the window goes the plan to send one fella first to book the tables and wait for us to get there. But what the heck. I STILL go there for their nachos and fajitas and their chocolate dessert. Dammit. I can't for the life of me remember what its called!
Anyway, i ordered myself the BBQ ribs that day since i felt like trying something new. The dish, when it came well, didn't really look THAT appealing. It was just one huge slab of ribs, and at the side some fries and one full corn on the cob served with it. Thats it. No garnishing whatsoever, and no vegetables to come with it. One cut into the meat and you know that the meat that they serve there is some good grade A prime and tender beef. However, once i started to eat it, i sort of started to remember that BBQ isn't really one of my favourite flavours. It sort of tastes like tomato sauce, it has the sour-ish tomato taste to it, but its not exactly tomato sauce. It also has a tinge of spiciness to it. Actually now that i'm thinking about it, BBQ sauce could indeed be made of tomatoes. Maybe i should check this one out. Anyway, after a few cuts of the ribs, you just start to get a bit sick of the whole thing. And eating the fries and corn doesnt really help that much either. All in all, i didn't particular enjoy it as much as i would have enjoyed some Mushroom Jack Fajitas or the Swiss Mushroom Burger, or the Big Daddy Dawg, so i guess, this particular order goes into my "never again" list. I didnt even manage to finish all the ribs, although this i would blame it on the amount of buffallo wings, fajita nachos and selery sticks i consumed before while waiting for some late comers to arrive (yes, it was ME who was sent early to go and book tables!).
On another note, a friend of mine just offered to me two tickets to the Lord of the Rings movie marathon this Friday which i declined. I just don't see the point of going into the cinema at 11pm on a Friday night and watching 3 movies back to back until 10 am the next morning. I mean, i DO want to see the movie very very very much, but cant get any tickets for this weekend (can't be arsed to tranverse through the crowd and all, just not my thing ). I just don't see the point of staying up all night watching the other 2 movies first, and by the time you get to the 3rd movie, which i guess would start around 7am, you would be like totally stoned that you wouldnt be able to concentrate on the movie, and hence, would bring down the enjoyment level of the whole experience. By the time it all ends, you would be left felling dazed and with sort of a jet lag, and you would throw away you're whole Saturday trying to recover. So probably i'll just do myself a huge favour and watch it sometime later, when the crowd isn't that huge.
Laters
Monday, December 15, 2003
Some people are getting a bit silly aren't they?
cra·zy
adj. cra·zi·er, cra·zi·est
Definition
Affected with madness; insane.
Informal. Departing from proportion or moderation, especially:
Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement: The crowd at the game went crazy.
Immoderately fond; infatuated: was crazy about boys.
Intensely involved or preoccupied: is crazy about cars and racing.
Foolish or impractical; senseless: a crazy scheme for making quick money.
Synonymns
absurd, cracked, balmy, daft, deranged, foolish, harebrained, idiotic, loony, mentally incompetent, moronic, nuts, nutty, odd, potty, preposterous, silly, stupid, wacky
I just sometimes fail to comprehend what goes through the mind of our beloved Gerard Houllier, manager of football club, Liverpool F.C. Imagine this. You have just been given a wake up call by your chairman. "Champions League, or you're OUT", said the great David Moores. So, what us mere mortals would normally do if faced in a sticky situation like that, would be to buck up and try and get a win in the next game, which is incidently at Anfield, against some tricky opposition. Obviously.
"Don't be an idiot", says Monsier Houllier, "We must defend defend defend. Lump it up to Heskey! Yes! Lump it some more! Yeah baby yeah! And you two, Florent, and TOny, sit on the bench and see how true football SHOULD be played! Not that nonsense that you two dish out. Flair? Thats a bad word! Like the other F word. Tony, look at Vladi there, how he falls all the time and always seems to be passing to the opposition. The opposition are our friends, and if you pass the ball to them often enough they might let you have a bar of chocolate at the end of the game. And you Florent! What do you think you are doing running around so fast like that and shooting towards the goal!? Look at your brudda Heskey there! Run run fall. Pass the ball to the opposition. Run run fall. Pass the ball to the opposition. Run run fall. What on earth were u thinking hitting that barn door?! Now thats more like it!! Lump it up to Heskey. Yeah baby yeah."
I just do not understand the logic behind fielding a defensive-minded team when you should be playing to WIN against the Saints. At HOME! From the very beginning, i could see that he was out for a draw since he started off with 5 midfielders. Games like these, Liverpool Football Club should be playing to win, and not by camping in front of the goal taking in all the pressure from the opposition, scrapping it out in the midfield, and definitely not by lumping it up to Heskey at every single chance. In games like these, we should be in control, piling the pressure on THEM. My opinion is, that Houllier has finally lost his balls. He initially started this season by playing some "oh so wonderful" free flowing attacking football, but now since the results aren't really going his way, and him probably feeling the heat from the Chairman, these factors have percipitated to his balls shrinking, and him trying to go back to his "oh so dull" ways. The problem with this now is, the team can't seem to defend properly anymore. So you can't attack, and you can't defend. This can only be a recipe for a major disaster.
Once he DID decide to change it up, the results were so obvious for everyone to see, since it definitely wasnt coincidence that the period of time which we were so in control of the game and looked like scoring at any time (and we did indeed score), was the same time when we reverted back to a 442 formation with 2 playing up front. Even though we did let in another goal then, but we also look so much more threatening and i felt that we could just score at will, considering the amount of chances that were created. Just imagine if we started playing 442 from the very beginning. Would it be any better. Only god knows.
Houllier has given some comments saying that we were missing Owen and Kewell, and if Arsenal were missing Henry or Pires, or Manchester United were missing Nistelrooy or Scholes, they would be in the same shit we are. I beg to differ, Mr Houllier. you have spent in excess of 100 million pounds ever since you started, and Owen and Kewell cost you 5 million pounds in total, or around there. So where did the 95 million pounds go to? It went to the Cheryou's and Diao's and sad to say, Diouf's that you bought. Anyway, i would still support Liverpool no matter what, whoever's at the helm. BUT. End of the season, no champions league, i want Houllier out. There has also been some articles i have read, mentioning that StevieG has said that he might look elsewhere if he can't get the success in Liverpool. All i can say to him is, keep your mouth shut and leave the talking on the field. His comments have no benefit whatsoever to anyone and can only bring down the clubs morale lower. He, as the captain of the club, should have known better. Show us that you want to win things with Liverpool by giving you're 100% on the field. If you do that, i have no complaints for you.
"We got him"
Yeap, they finally did. I didn't agree with the invasion of Iraq and i still don't agree with it now, not until they have shown me the weapons of mass destruction they for so long have been trying to find. It just pisses it off sometimes looking at the American "Government" doing what they bloody well please just because THEY feel its right, disregarding views of everyone else. Well almost. They can be quite arrogant sometimes. (Not that i have anything against Americans in general, or the people who work there, or their education system, or any Malaysian with American degrees nor any Malaysians that have worked in the States. No no no. I have absolutely nothing against them.) It just sometimes scary to know that they might just accuse Malaysia of harboring terrorists and then accuse us of not coorperating in their invetigations citing that we are hiding something. Next thing you know, we'll have weapons of mass destruction being built in the Nuclear Research Center in Bangi (or wherever). Funny and a bit extreme and very unlikely to happen. But think about it!
Anyway, enough rants for now. Later
adj. cra·zi·er, cra·zi·est
Definition
Affected with madness; insane.
Informal. Departing from proportion or moderation, especially:
Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement: The crowd at the game went crazy.
Immoderately fond; infatuated: was crazy about boys.
Intensely involved or preoccupied: is crazy about cars and racing.
Foolish or impractical; senseless: a crazy scheme for making quick money.
Synonymns
absurd, cracked, balmy, daft, deranged, foolish, harebrained, idiotic, loony, mentally incompetent, moronic, nuts, nutty, odd, potty, preposterous, silly, stupid, wacky
I just sometimes fail to comprehend what goes through the mind of our beloved Gerard Houllier, manager of football club, Liverpool F.C. Imagine this. You have just been given a wake up call by your chairman. "Champions League, or you're OUT", said the great David Moores. So, what us mere mortals would normally do if faced in a sticky situation like that, would be to buck up and try and get a win in the next game, which is incidently at Anfield, against some tricky opposition. Obviously.
"Don't be an idiot", says Monsier Houllier, "We must defend defend defend. Lump it up to Heskey! Yes! Lump it some more! Yeah baby yeah! And you two, Florent, and TOny, sit on the bench and see how true football SHOULD be played! Not that nonsense that you two dish out. Flair? Thats a bad word! Like the other F word. Tony, look at Vladi there, how he falls all the time and always seems to be passing to the opposition. The opposition are our friends, and if you pass the ball to them often enough they might let you have a bar of chocolate at the end of the game. And you Florent! What do you think you are doing running around so fast like that and shooting towards the goal!? Look at your brudda Heskey there! Run run fall. Pass the ball to the opposition. Run run fall. Pass the ball to the opposition. Run run fall. What on earth were u thinking hitting that barn door?! Now thats more like it!! Lump it up to Heskey. Yeah baby yeah."
I just do not understand the logic behind fielding a defensive-minded team when you should be playing to WIN against the Saints. At HOME! From the very beginning, i could see that he was out for a draw since he started off with 5 midfielders. Games like these, Liverpool Football Club should be playing to win, and not by camping in front of the goal taking in all the pressure from the opposition, scrapping it out in the midfield, and definitely not by lumping it up to Heskey at every single chance. In games like these, we should be in control, piling the pressure on THEM. My opinion is, that Houllier has finally lost his balls. He initially started this season by playing some "oh so wonderful" free flowing attacking football, but now since the results aren't really going his way, and him probably feeling the heat from the Chairman, these factors have percipitated to his balls shrinking, and him trying to go back to his "oh so dull" ways. The problem with this now is, the team can't seem to defend properly anymore. So you can't attack, and you can't defend. This can only be a recipe for a major disaster.
Once he DID decide to change it up, the results were so obvious for everyone to see, since it definitely wasnt coincidence that the period of time which we were so in control of the game and looked like scoring at any time (and we did indeed score), was the same time when we reverted back to a 442 formation with 2 playing up front. Even though we did let in another goal then, but we also look so much more threatening and i felt that we could just score at will, considering the amount of chances that were created. Just imagine if we started playing 442 from the very beginning. Would it be any better. Only god knows.
Houllier has given some comments saying that we were missing Owen and Kewell, and if Arsenal were missing Henry or Pires, or Manchester United were missing Nistelrooy or Scholes, they would be in the same shit we are. I beg to differ, Mr Houllier. you have spent in excess of 100 million pounds ever since you started, and Owen and Kewell cost you 5 million pounds in total, or around there. So where did the 95 million pounds go to? It went to the Cheryou's and Diao's and sad to say, Diouf's that you bought. Anyway, i would still support Liverpool no matter what, whoever's at the helm. BUT. End of the season, no champions league, i want Houllier out. There has also been some articles i have read, mentioning that StevieG has said that he might look elsewhere if he can't get the success in Liverpool. All i can say to him is, keep your mouth shut and leave the talking on the field. His comments have no benefit whatsoever to anyone and can only bring down the clubs morale lower. He, as the captain of the club, should have known better. Show us that you want to win things with Liverpool by giving you're 100% on the field. If you do that, i have no complaints for you.
"We got him"
Yeap, they finally did. I didn't agree with the invasion of Iraq and i still don't agree with it now, not until they have shown me the weapons of mass destruction they for so long have been trying to find. It just pisses it off sometimes looking at the American "Government" doing what they bloody well please just because THEY feel its right, disregarding views of everyone else. Well almost. They can be quite arrogant sometimes. (Not that i have anything against Americans in general, or the people who work there, or their education system, or any Malaysian with American degrees nor any Malaysians that have worked in the States. No no no. I have absolutely nothing against them.) It just sometimes scary to know that they might just accuse Malaysia of harboring terrorists and then accuse us of not coorperating in their invetigations citing that we are hiding something. Next thing you know, we'll have weapons of mass destruction being built in the Nuclear Research Center in Bangi (or wherever). Funny and a bit extreme and very unlikely to happen. But think about it!
Anyway, enough rants for now. Later
Friday, December 12, 2003
Garlic smell out of your mouth is disgusting!!
A few months back i was happily enjoying my double whopper with cheese meal with some of my colleagues at our regular "fine dining" haunt, the Burger King at the Concourse Level of KLCC. Nicely chomping my way into the succulent, flamed grilled double beef patties i have been accustomed to, i was approached by this person wearing in a nice stripy short sleeve shirt sporting a nametag with a picture of a crown and the letters M A N A G E R spelt on it. There were some other letter on it, i assume it was his name, but it just doesnt come to mind.
"YES!! I did refill my large coke 10 times!! So what?! Its a free refill!! And yes, i DID pay for my meal", those words almost came out of my mouth. But before i could utter one word, the manager nicely held in front of me some quarters of some burgers on a plate. Me, being a bit confused went a bit blur, so the manager explained that they are giving out free samplets of this new burger they want to introduce in Malaysia, called the garlic burger or some dodgy name like that. So yes, i happily accepted the offer of trying it out at the expense of filling up a feedback form.
Now, my rule of thumb when filling out feedback forms is to always give out bad reviews and always try and find something that annoys me or something that isn't right. I mean, *if* they even look at my feedback, they would at least find some areas of improvement right? I mean, it can only get better for us consumers. Anyway, if i really DON'T find anything to complain about, which usually isn't the case, i wouldn't like come up with any out of my imagination, so i guess, fair enough. For my review of the "Garlic Burger" then, i was very dissapointed with it then. I mean, it just tasted like a two garlic breads which didnt have enough garlic taste in them with a beef patty slidded in between. And i told them that in the feedback form. DO you like this product? NO. Would you buy it? NO. What would make this product even better? IF it came with a check for a million bucks inserted in between the burger it will be a much MUCH better product! OK, just joking, but maybe if they put in some mayonaise, and some lettuce, then MAYBE, it might taste a bit more decent. So that was it.
Fast forward to yesterday. To my suprise, while driving through the drive thru burger King at Sri Hartamas, they were promoting the "Garlicka Burger" there. From the looks of the picture, it looked pretty decent and me being the adventurous and forgiving type decided to give it another chance. So yeah, i went to the ordering counter and ordered a Garlicka Burger and one regular fries. When receiving the packet from the pickup counter, i checked to see whether my order was correct ( I always do this now since one day where i didn't check and the people working there decided to NOT put in my fries and onion rings... oh well ), i saw a Junior Whopper in there instead. After complaining to the poor fella there, it turns out that the Garlicka burger doesnt have its own wrapping yet, so they reuse the Junior Whopper instead. Driving back, you could smell the garlic aroma coming out of the paper bag and it was mesmerizing! It didn't help either that it was like half past 10 and i had an early lunch as well.
Getting back home, turning on the Astro,( Darn, Now i just remembered that i missed Top Gear yesterday. I guess they are showing it tonight at 12:30am), i opened up the wrapping to unravel my dinner. Presentation wise, it didnt look as appealing as it looked on the picture (as per normal, i am such a sucker for these things), and guess what!? Mayo AND lettuce inside the burger!! I know i know i know. I am sure that after numerous months of satisfaction surveys and studies and testing, they came up with the conclusion that by adding mayo and lettuce would enhance the taste of the burger, and it was definitely not because of some irritating customer's ( who continously rambles and complains) measely suggestion to add in lettuce and mayo. But i like to think that, yes, my suggestion was indeed heard by the Burger King management, and it was MY suggestion that actually made a difference in this world. Why? Because it makes me feel good. That's why. Cheap thrill. What the heck!
Anyway, chomping my way into it, it seems that the burger is still pretty taste less. I think it could be because they didnt actually put that much mayo in it. Now, come to think of it, did it actually HAVE mayo in it in the first place!! Anyway, the bread tasted like you standard issue burger buns and the beef, well there's no flame grilled beef burger patties better than the Burger king one is there? But still, for a killer product, you need that extra bit of special taste in there, and for the garlicka burger (actually i dont even know wheter i spelled it correctly), the special bit which is supposed to be the garlic taste just doens't do it. I mean, i think its concept that is flawed since, the garlic flavour is meant to be a flavour enhancer, not the MAIN flavor. So just put a bit of it, and you just get a hint of it, which is insufficient. If you put blob of it, it tastes just downright disgusting. Burger King decided to put a bit of it, and basically it just tastes like a garlic bread with not enough garlic on it, with a beef patty in the middle and some lettuce. I mean, the garlic is barely noticeable that it seems like a Swiss Mushroom without the swiss mushroom, a cheese burger without the cheese or tomato sauce or gerkin, like a whooper without the whopper (?). I rate the Burger King Garlicka Burger 1 1/2 burgers out of five.
Anyway, note to self. Next trip to Burger King, get yourself a swiss mushroom. Gotta make a move. Now where's my mints. THis garlic smell coming out of my mouth is disgusting!!
Laters.
"YES!! I did refill my large coke 10 times!! So what?! Its a free refill!! And yes, i DID pay for my meal", those words almost came out of my mouth. But before i could utter one word, the manager nicely held in front of me some quarters of some burgers on a plate. Me, being a bit confused went a bit blur, so the manager explained that they are giving out free samplets of this new burger they want to introduce in Malaysia, called the garlic burger or some dodgy name like that. So yes, i happily accepted the offer of trying it out at the expense of filling up a feedback form.
Now, my rule of thumb when filling out feedback forms is to always give out bad reviews and always try and find something that annoys me or something that isn't right. I mean, *if* they even look at my feedback, they would at least find some areas of improvement right? I mean, it can only get better for us consumers. Anyway, if i really DON'T find anything to complain about, which usually isn't the case, i wouldn't like come up with any out of my imagination, so i guess, fair enough. For my review of the "Garlic Burger" then, i was very dissapointed with it then. I mean, it just tasted like a two garlic breads which didnt have enough garlic taste in them with a beef patty slidded in between. And i told them that in the feedback form. DO you like this product? NO. Would you buy it? NO. What would make this product even better? IF it came with a check for a million bucks inserted in between the burger it will be a much MUCH better product! OK, just joking, but maybe if they put in some mayonaise, and some lettuce, then MAYBE, it might taste a bit more decent. So that was it.
Fast forward to yesterday. To my suprise, while driving through the drive thru burger King at Sri Hartamas, they were promoting the "Garlicka Burger" there. From the looks of the picture, it looked pretty decent and me being the adventurous and forgiving type decided to give it another chance. So yeah, i went to the ordering counter and ordered a Garlicka Burger and one regular fries. When receiving the packet from the pickup counter, i checked to see whether my order was correct ( I always do this now since one day where i didn't check and the people working there decided to NOT put in my fries and onion rings... oh well ), i saw a Junior Whopper in there instead. After complaining to the poor fella there, it turns out that the Garlicka burger doesnt have its own wrapping yet, so they reuse the Junior Whopper instead. Driving back, you could smell the garlic aroma coming out of the paper bag and it was mesmerizing! It didn't help either that it was like half past 10 and i had an early lunch as well.
Getting back home, turning on the Astro,( Darn, Now i just remembered that i missed Top Gear yesterday. I guess they are showing it tonight at 12:30am), i opened up the wrapping to unravel my dinner. Presentation wise, it didnt look as appealing as it looked on the picture (as per normal, i am such a sucker for these things), and guess what!? Mayo AND lettuce inside the burger!! I know i know i know. I am sure that after numerous months of satisfaction surveys and studies and testing, they came up with the conclusion that by adding mayo and lettuce would enhance the taste of the burger, and it was definitely not because of some irritating customer's ( who continously rambles and complains) measely suggestion to add in lettuce and mayo. But i like to think that, yes, my suggestion was indeed heard by the Burger King management, and it was MY suggestion that actually made a difference in this world. Why? Because it makes me feel good. That's why. Cheap thrill. What the heck!
Anyway, chomping my way into it, it seems that the burger is still pretty taste less. I think it could be because they didnt actually put that much mayo in it. Now, come to think of it, did it actually HAVE mayo in it in the first place!! Anyway, the bread tasted like you standard issue burger buns and the beef, well there's no flame grilled beef burger patties better than the Burger king one is there? But still, for a killer product, you need that extra bit of special taste in there, and for the garlicka burger (actually i dont even know wheter i spelled it correctly), the special bit which is supposed to be the garlic taste just doens't do it. I mean, i think its concept that is flawed since, the garlic flavour is meant to be a flavour enhancer, not the MAIN flavor. So just put a bit of it, and you just get a hint of it, which is insufficient. If you put blob of it, it tastes just downright disgusting. Burger King decided to put a bit of it, and basically it just tastes like a garlic bread with not enough garlic on it, with a beef patty in the middle and some lettuce. I mean, the garlic is barely noticeable that it seems like a Swiss Mushroom without the swiss mushroom, a cheese burger without the cheese or tomato sauce or gerkin, like a whooper without the whopper (?). I rate the Burger King Garlicka Burger 1 1/2 burgers out of five.
Anyway, note to self. Next trip to Burger King, get yourself a swiss mushroom. Gotta make a move. Now where's my mints. THis garlic smell coming out of my mouth is disgusting!!
Laters.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
I have a friggin bad arse sore throat now with a running nose that just cant seem to stop dripping. I know i know, that is absolutely gross, but what can i do? I've been here stuck in this room full of re-circulated air, there is absolutely no chance of me getting better. I mean, so what if like half the floor is like sniffing away already? Like i care. Maybe i if i get sick enough, tomorrow i can stay home. Oh, what wishful thinking.
These Fisherman's Friends aren't actually helping that much either with the soreness in my throat. Actually i asked one of my medical student friends on the net just now, and she said that the Fisherman's Friend lozenges (are they lozenges?!) doesn't really help that much with the throat. Seems i should be home asleep now after taking some spoonfuls of Breacol. Mmmm.. Breacol. Now that's more like it. Have a couple of spoonfuls of that take a shower at home and then crash into bed. Actually i should be dropping by the friendly neighbourhood pharmacists as well and get me some of those Clarinase tablets for the running nose as well. Probably a good idea. Oh well, these Fisherman's Friends will have to do for now. These Apple and Cinnamon flavour isnt too bad either, and it claims to be tooth friendly and sugar free as well. I wonder if there are any side effects if someone were to finish one packet of those a day for two days in a row.
Anyway, as you can see from my absolutely random ramblings here, i don't think i will be writing anything coherent here today. So i'll just stop here and share some lyrics of a song that i am currently listening to.
I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
I can't stand myself
I'm being held up by an invisible man
Still life on a shelf when
I got my mind on something else
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold
I can't sleep tonight
Everybody's saying everything's all right
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of the lights
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold
Why does it always rain on me?
Why does it always rain on....
-travis
What an excellent song. I first heard this while i was in London, during my weekly trips to the local HMV music store, and they were featuring their latest album at that time, "The Invisible Band". I went to sample a few tracks and bought it on the spot. Excellent album. One of the best bittersweet melodies i've heard of before. Now, it seems Coldplay is trying to emulate them with their tunes, but to me, i just dont think they are as good. But i guess, its just a matter of opinion.
Anyway, gonna make a move and head back. Adios
Laters.
These Fisherman's Friends aren't actually helping that much either with the soreness in my throat. Actually i asked one of my medical student friends on the net just now, and she said that the Fisherman's Friend lozenges (are they lozenges?!) doesn't really help that much with the throat. Seems i should be home asleep now after taking some spoonfuls of Breacol. Mmmm.. Breacol. Now that's more like it. Have a couple of spoonfuls of that take a shower at home and then crash into bed. Actually i should be dropping by the friendly neighbourhood pharmacists as well and get me some of those Clarinase tablets for the running nose as well. Probably a good idea. Oh well, these Fisherman's Friends will have to do for now. These Apple and Cinnamon flavour isnt too bad either, and it claims to be tooth friendly and sugar free as well. I wonder if there are any side effects if someone were to finish one packet of those a day for two days in a row.
Anyway, as you can see from my absolutely random ramblings here, i don't think i will be writing anything coherent here today. So i'll just stop here and share some lyrics of a song that i am currently listening to.
I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
I can't stand myself
I'm being held up by an invisible man
Still life on a shelf when
I got my mind on something else
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Why does it always rain on me?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold
I can't sleep tonight
Everybody's saying everything's all right
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of the lights
Sunny days
Where have you gone?
I get the strangest feeling you belong
Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
Even when the sun is shining
I can't avoid the lightning
Oh, where did the blue skies go?
And why is it raining so?
It's so cold
Why does it always rain on me?
Why does it always rain on....
-travis
What an excellent song. I first heard this while i was in London, during my weekly trips to the local HMV music store, and they were featuring their latest album at that time, "The Invisible Band". I went to sample a few tracks and bought it on the spot. Excellent album. One of the best bittersweet melodies i've heard of before. Now, it seems Coldplay is trying to emulate them with their tunes, but to me, i just dont think they are as good. But i guess, its just a matter of opinion.
Anyway, gonna make a move and head back. Adios
Laters.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Don't you just miss those years you spent in university?
I am bored. I really really am. Currently in the office, waiting for other people to get their goddamn work done so that i can actually start on mine. Thats the thing about being dependent on people during a project. Get involved in one slacker, not only he gets screwed, you get pulled down with him as well. This fella deserves a nice big middle fingered salute from me.
Actually, i am pretty bored here. I don't really know what to do, well actually there are other items on my to do list which is expanding leaps and bounds by the hour, but considering i just got off the phone with the basterd of a slacker, i just feel so pissed off that i dont really feel like doing any work. Its either that or, i'm just having another round of my procrastination. I seriously think that procrastination is one of my very major flaws and i feel that it is definitely gonna bite me in the arse sometime in the future.
Basically i have been procrastinating all my life, especially during critical periods of my life. I remember my PMR exams, when i only supposedly started to actually read up once i failed a couple of my trial papers which were like weeks before the actual exam. And my SPM as well, god knows what i did before my trials. All i can remember is that one or two weeks before my SPM trials started, some of the nice teachers at my college kind-heartedly sorted us out with the questions for us to "study". I actually scored on my trials so well, that the teachers were so impressed that they put me into some "Kelas Harapan 9A1" school. Me being the lazy basterd i was / am only saw that as extra time spent in classes and less time spent doing stuff i really wanted to do, like sleep. The teachers must be so regretting putting so much hope on me now.
My university days is another prime example of excessive procrastination. Going to a British-style university, the only exams you have are at the end of the year. So what happens in my case is, you only have to actually work (study) for like 1 month for every year! That means going to the libraries, opening up some books and try to make out what the hell the photostated lecture notes from 6-8 months ago were going on about. And thats like for the one month before your exams. During the so called "exam month", of course you can't study! I mean, according to some study technique gurus, studying during the exam days can only make you stressed out, which can only affect what you have already studied, so studying when exams are around are a definite no no.
No wonder everyone seems to think their university days are the best days of their life! You work your arse off for a measly one month a year, and then get a bit stressed for another few weeks while taking examination papers and then, you have 10 months of doing the more importants things in your life. Like getting to know yourself and your interests better. Like hanging out with friends. Like coming up with devious schemes, pranks and pratical jokes to play on your house mates. Like waking up everyday in the bloody afternoon wondering what on earth happened the last night. Like getting to know girls, going out with them, getting them to become your girlfriends, then getting dumped over the telephone when you are in different countries.
Yes, i can see why i enjoyed my life in university. It was an absolute BLAST! God knows what would have happened if i went to one of those American Universities with their so called idea of "regular examination". I mean, why on earth do you need to have an examination every goddamn week! Examinations were invented so that they should only be done once a year the MOST! I don't really know how i would've ended up graduating if i were on an American degree program. However, on the other hand, come to think of it, American degree program are the one that give students credits for playing golf for goodness sakes!
Ah, what nice memories i have of my university years. Nowadays, i feel so much more responsible. I wake up every morning at the ungodly hour of 7am, have a crap, shower, shave, breakfast occasionally, drive to work, work, lunch, work, drive back home, dinner, shower, watch TV, sleep, and the daily cycle continues. It is just so scheduled and robotic sometimes. But working life has made me much more responsible as well. More matured (some would say). Like nowadays i don't go out partying all night and come back at 5 in the morning on a working day anymore. Some people would call that being responsible, while others like a friend of mine would say "You're getting old, basterd!!".
Probably i think thats why i have been thinking of continuing my studies lately. Probably take a year off and do some Master's degree in some godforsaken university somewhere. And of course there's the question of what exactly i want to do as well. Some people say you should go and do your MBA, and get a boost in your career, so you can climb up higher on the ladder of the corporation world. But sometimes i think, what if i were to learn something out of the ordinary, like photography, or English perhaps?
Anyway, the alarm on the "responsible, professional worker" side of me has just gone off, reminding me that i still have loads of stuff to do on my to do list. So i better get out of "ultra-procrastinator mode" and get into "blazing-psycho-workaholic mode" which i try to project to the people i work with.
Laters
Actually, i am pretty bored here. I don't really know what to do, well actually there are other items on my to do list which is expanding leaps and bounds by the hour, but considering i just got off the phone with the basterd of a slacker, i just feel so pissed off that i dont really feel like doing any work. Its either that or, i'm just having another round of my procrastination. I seriously think that procrastination is one of my very major flaws and i feel that it is definitely gonna bite me in the arse sometime in the future.
Basically i have been procrastinating all my life, especially during critical periods of my life. I remember my PMR exams, when i only supposedly started to actually read up once i failed a couple of my trial papers which were like weeks before the actual exam. And my SPM as well, god knows what i did before my trials. All i can remember is that one or two weeks before my SPM trials started, some of the nice teachers at my college kind-heartedly sorted us out with the questions for us to "study". I actually scored on my trials so well, that the teachers were so impressed that they put me into some "Kelas Harapan 9A1" school. Me being the lazy basterd i was / am only saw that as extra time spent in classes and less time spent doing stuff i really wanted to do, like sleep. The teachers must be so regretting putting so much hope on me now.
My university days is another prime example of excessive procrastination. Going to a British-style university, the only exams you have are at the end of the year. So what happens in my case is, you only have to actually work (study) for like 1 month for every year! That means going to the libraries, opening up some books and try to make out what the hell the photostated lecture notes from 6-8 months ago were going on about. And thats like for the one month before your exams. During the so called "exam month", of course you can't study! I mean, according to some study technique gurus, studying during the exam days can only make you stressed out, which can only affect what you have already studied, so studying when exams are around are a definite no no.
No wonder everyone seems to think their university days are the best days of their life! You work your arse off for a measly one month a year, and then get a bit stressed for another few weeks while taking examination papers and then, you have 10 months of doing the more importants things in your life. Like getting to know yourself and your interests better. Like hanging out with friends. Like coming up with devious schemes, pranks and pratical jokes to play on your house mates. Like waking up everyday in the bloody afternoon wondering what on earth happened the last night. Like getting to know girls, going out with them, getting them to become your girlfriends, then getting dumped over the telephone when you are in different countries.
Yes, i can see why i enjoyed my life in university. It was an absolute BLAST! God knows what would have happened if i went to one of those American Universities with their so called idea of "regular examination". I mean, why on earth do you need to have an examination every goddamn week! Examinations were invented so that they should only be done once a year the MOST! I don't really know how i would've ended up graduating if i were on an American degree program. However, on the other hand, come to think of it, American degree program are the one that give students credits for playing golf for goodness sakes!
Ah, what nice memories i have of my university years. Nowadays, i feel so much more responsible. I wake up every morning at the ungodly hour of 7am, have a crap, shower, shave, breakfast occasionally, drive to work, work, lunch, work, drive back home, dinner, shower, watch TV, sleep, and the daily cycle continues. It is just so scheduled and robotic sometimes. But working life has made me much more responsible as well. More matured (some would say). Like nowadays i don't go out partying all night and come back at 5 in the morning on a working day anymore. Some people would call that being responsible, while others like a friend of mine would say "You're getting old, basterd!!".
Probably i think thats why i have been thinking of continuing my studies lately. Probably take a year off and do some Master's degree in some godforsaken university somewhere. And of course there's the question of what exactly i want to do as well. Some people say you should go and do your MBA, and get a boost in your career, so you can climb up higher on the ladder of the corporation world. But sometimes i think, what if i were to learn something out of the ordinary, like photography, or English perhaps?
Anyway, the alarm on the "responsible, professional worker" side of me has just gone off, reminding me that i still have loads of stuff to do on my to do list. So i better get out of "ultra-procrastinator mode" and get into "blazing-psycho-workaholic mode" which i try to project to the people i work with.
Laters
Monday, December 08, 2003
The Wira Replacement Model
Some spy pictures of the latest "Wira Replacement Model" can be seen here, courtesy of Autotrade.
My thoughts:
From the outside, it seems like a very very impressive job has been done by the proton designers. If you look at the front grille, it seems it is supposed ot resemble a "wau"-like figure, and yeap, i can see where people get that from. Although i can see that there are some resemblances with the Mazda 6 and the Beemer 5 series. The behind is also quite impressive. Overall the exterior gets a thumbs up from me.
The interior on the other hand sucks big time. El-cheapo plastic parts everywhere. The door handle and the circular thing on the side of the door looks very very plasticky and very very cheap. Steering wheel has been recycled from the Waja. The whole top half of the cockpit also looks mightily plasticky, like the one on the Waja, which isn't really my taste. However the pictures might be deceiving so i'll reserve my judgement til i get to see it in person.
Overall, it does look promising. Supposedly, the model will be launched sometime early next year and these pictures have made my anticipation level quite high. However, the huge question marks that still remain unanswered are:
1) Reliability of the new CAMPRO engine. It is rumoured that this model will be powered by the in house Proton developed CAMPRO engine. Judging by Proton's infamous QC history, driving around in a "Proton designed engine" doesn't really exude the same amount of confidence as say, a Toyota VVTI or a Honda VTEC / iDSL or even a good ol' reliable Mitsubishi engine. So, the jury is still out on that one, which brings us to the main issue of..
2) Quality Control. Just how many units of these will suffer from the infamous Proton "Power Window" feature. I drive a Proton, and my power windows have failed me twice already, and once was while it was friggin raining and just after i paid the toll!!! Imagine driving around in the goddamn monsoon weather with your windows fully opened! Basically, if they can assure us that there wont be any similar issues, that would be a MAJOR plus.
3) Those el-cheapo plastics!! Get rid of those el-cheapo plastics!!
4) Durability. Can they make it more durable than the Waja. I dont drive one, but a LOT of Wajas that i have been in, after a year, you hear a whole load of itsy bitsy noises that just get on your nerves while driving!
I mean, thats not such a bad list isn't it. I just want the car to be reliable, durable, not having any el-cheapo interior plastics, and for goodness sakes Proton, give your QC department a big kick up their arse! For your own sake! You guys desperately need to buck up to brace yourselves for AFTA!
Anyway, hope you enjoy these spy pics. I wonder if the fella in some of those pictures are gonna get screwed by the Proton management bvy letting people leak these pictures. But, somehow, i have a feeling that these pictures have been purposely leaked by Proton themselves to gauge the response of the public before it's release. Just a cheap way to market it pre-launch and build up the anticipation again. It definite has built up mine again!
Laters.
My thoughts:
From the outside, it seems like a very very impressive job has been done by the proton designers. If you look at the front grille, it seems it is supposed ot resemble a "wau"-like figure, and yeap, i can see where people get that from. Although i can see that there are some resemblances with the Mazda 6 and the Beemer 5 series. The behind is also quite impressive. Overall the exterior gets a thumbs up from me.
The interior on the other hand sucks big time. El-cheapo plastic parts everywhere. The door handle and the circular thing on the side of the door looks very very plasticky and very very cheap. Steering wheel has been recycled from the Waja. The whole top half of the cockpit also looks mightily plasticky, like the one on the Waja, which isn't really my taste. However the pictures might be deceiving so i'll reserve my judgement til i get to see it in person.
Overall, it does look promising. Supposedly, the model will be launched sometime early next year and these pictures have made my anticipation level quite high. However, the huge question marks that still remain unanswered are:
1) Reliability of the new CAMPRO engine. It is rumoured that this model will be powered by the in house Proton developed CAMPRO engine. Judging by Proton's infamous QC history, driving around in a "Proton designed engine" doesn't really exude the same amount of confidence as say, a Toyota VVTI or a Honda VTEC / iDSL or even a good ol' reliable Mitsubishi engine. So, the jury is still out on that one, which brings us to the main issue of..
2) Quality Control. Just how many units of these will suffer from the infamous Proton "Power Window" feature. I drive a Proton, and my power windows have failed me twice already, and once was while it was friggin raining and just after i paid the toll!!! Imagine driving around in the goddamn monsoon weather with your windows fully opened! Basically, if they can assure us that there wont be any similar issues, that would be a MAJOR plus.
3) Those el-cheapo plastics!! Get rid of those el-cheapo plastics!!
4) Durability. Can they make it more durable than the Waja. I dont drive one, but a LOT of Wajas that i have been in, after a year, you hear a whole load of itsy bitsy noises that just get on your nerves while driving!
I mean, thats not such a bad list isn't it. I just want the car to be reliable, durable, not having any el-cheapo interior plastics, and for goodness sakes Proton, give your QC department a big kick up their arse! For your own sake! You guys desperately need to buck up to brace yourselves for AFTA!
Anyway, hope you enjoy these spy pics. I wonder if the fella in some of those pictures are gonna get screwed by the Proton management bvy letting people leak these pictures. But, somehow, i have a feeling that these pictures have been purposely leaked by Proton themselves to gauge the response of the public before it's release. Just a cheap way to market it pre-launch and build up the anticipation again. It definite has built up mine again!
Laters.
Raya Food Overdose Can Give You A Very BAD Sore Throat
I had an exceptionally hectic weekend, especially on Sunday. Well, actually considering the fact that my Sundays are usually filled up with waking up late around 10am (Yes, 10am IS considered late to us working people, especially me, who has to wake up at the ungodly hour of 7am!! OK, maybe some other people out there actually do wake up much earlier than me, i think a LOT of people actually wake up earlier than me, but what the hell, waking up at 7am is STILL considered friggin' early for me. Oh how i long for the year when i was back in University, when i could just wake up at 9am, and STILL have the option of not bothering to wake up to lectures. Actually, that still sometimes happens now, but thats another story altogether!!). Ok where was I? Oh Ok. Sundays are usually me waking up at 10am, going out for a dose of roti canai, then coming back home to go through the all the local papers in front of the TV and then just bumming the day away, revitalising myself so that i wake upon Monday morning refreshed, and raring to go out there and conquer the world...... what a load of bollocks. What i love about the Sunday papers are the features, section two-ish, sort of sub sections / pull outs, which i really do read almost all the articles in there. My house subscribes to most of the local english and one malay sunday papers:
The Straight Times - Actually the first pull out that comes out of the pile sent from NST is the Cars Bikes and Trucks. For some reason, in my personal opinion, that this pullout's quality hs gone down a tad bit in recent times. I dont know. It could just be me. But the main reason i read this section is the column by Jeremy Clarkson. He's writing is just downright hilarious sometimes. I watch his Top Gear program almost every week on Thursday, and although i initially watch it for the cars themselves, but the presenters are just full of wit and humour that even when they are reviewing cars that i dont particularly fancy, i still enjoy watching those three fellas just monkey-ing around in their cars. There was once when they actually tried to prove that they can actually drive fast enough past a speed camera such that it is so fast, that the camera wont be able to capture the picture fast enough. After a few tries, finally they tried driving past it in a car that was supposedly at that time the fastest, although i do not recall what it was, and yes, it eventually DID go fast enough such that the camera could take the picture fast enough! Amazing!
The Sunday Mail - Actually the Malay Mail, i must say is very tabloid-ish in nature, but i do enjoy reading it just for casual reading's sake. Actually, have i ever done ANY serious reading? Hmm.. anyway some articles mentionble here are the ones by the columnists. I don't really remember their names, but there's one by some freelancer from ISIS, and the one on the same page top of her's (Darn, i am really bad with names!!), and also the column by the Wahti person, which i sometimes feel amused by, reading the behavioural acts of some of our very own supposedly "rich & famous", and also the column by the ex-Girl band member...ah yes.. Rina Omar. Probably her's i would most relate to, considering we are supposedly around the same age group. Anyway, the gadget review column by that fella with the smuglooking mug shot of a picture really pisses me off. I mean, just reading it every week, it is just SO goddamn obvious that he just recycles the same article over and over and over and over again every single week and just copies and paste info from the product's website for every single gadget that he supposedly "reviews". If i wanted to know what the features are, i would surf the net myself, like what any other gadget freak would do. What i want to read is more of what you can't find at the sales pitched product web sites. I want to know how good it is really, in real life. Like for example, when i try to send SMSes, i want to know that it's not so goddamn slow that i would end up so darn frustrated, and the phone goes from the palm of my hand, flying into mid-air, and smashes into the wall, and ends up in several non-uniform pieces on the floor. ( R.I.P Sony Erricsson T65, a troublesome servant to me for 3-4 months). I mean, every week, the article ends with "By now, you should have known that how my rating works bla bla bla..It's an arbritary analysis bla bla bla..." which is a exactly the same as the week before, and then nowadays, the fella almost never gives a rating since he supposedly needs more time to play around with it. It just pisses me off seeing that the Malay Mail actually pays this fella to dish out THAT every week. Does this fella actually even reviews the thing every week in the first place. I would love to have a job reviewing gadgets every week. Hmm, i wonder how i can apply.
The Star - OK, this section 2 pullout is HUGE. I mean theres the entertainment section, there's the fitness section, and then theres the actual section 2 section (again, i don't really remember the name now, seems all names are just off my head this morning. Must be due to my lack of sleep). The fashion - review section where they have 3 weekly fashion critics criticizing pictures of celebrities attempting to make a fashion statement can be hilarious at times as the comments they make can sometime be very witty and sarcastic. There's also the Dear Thelma section, which sometimes come up with "interesting" topics for discussion.
Mingguan Malaysia - Seems the only section i read from Mingguan Malaysia is the Pancaindera section. Don't know why, but weekends, i just sometimes don't mind casually reading news and gossip about our local celebs. But it just amazes me sometimes that there's a section around the end where they feature a "model of the week", and i just wonder where do they find these people?!! And then to my horror one weekend, i open that section and "hey... this fella looks familiar... hey i know this fella!!.. oh my GOD!!!!".. so far TWO people i know have been featured there.
Anyway, yesterday was particularly very busy. I think it's due to it being the first weekend everybody is back in KL, so everybody decided to have their open houses. I mean, on Sunday itself i had four open houses to go, then a wedding at night and then another open house after that. How many open houses can you go in one day!!? And then, at each one of the houses, it would be rude to not try out the food that they cooked for you right? So at each house, there's the ketupat and kuah kacang, lemang and beef/chicken/lamb rendang, some houses serve satay, and then there was the assam laksa at one open house as well, and there was also grilled chicken. This is not taking into account the cakes and biscuits and other kuih offerings that they serve there as well. As per every year, i find myself attacking the container containing th chocolate chip cookies. There was this one auntie of mine who baked her own chocolate chip cookies every year without fail. And her cookies are baked with the chocolate lover at mind, considering the ration of chocolate chip per cookie is way way WAY much higher that the normal ones you get. I mean, there are more chocolate chips that cookie dough in some of them!!
So, all of that raya food has left me with my weight loss target before the new year to be abolished til further notice, and a sore throat! I think the sore throat is due to the excessive amount of oily food that was comsumed yesterday since i read somewhere that too much oily food can give you a sore throat. Anyway, off to lunch now.
Laters.
The Straight Times - Actually the first pull out that comes out of the pile sent from NST is the Cars Bikes and Trucks. For some reason, in my personal opinion, that this pullout's quality hs gone down a tad bit in recent times. I dont know. It could just be me. But the main reason i read this section is the column by Jeremy Clarkson. He's writing is just downright hilarious sometimes. I watch his Top Gear program almost every week on Thursday, and although i initially watch it for the cars themselves, but the presenters are just full of wit and humour that even when they are reviewing cars that i dont particularly fancy, i still enjoy watching those three fellas just monkey-ing around in their cars. There was once when they actually tried to prove that they can actually drive fast enough past a speed camera such that it is so fast, that the camera wont be able to capture the picture fast enough. After a few tries, finally they tried driving past it in a car that was supposedly at that time the fastest, although i do not recall what it was, and yes, it eventually DID go fast enough such that the camera could take the picture fast enough! Amazing!
The Sunday Mail - Actually the Malay Mail, i must say is very tabloid-ish in nature, but i do enjoy reading it just for casual reading's sake. Actually, have i ever done ANY serious reading? Hmm.. anyway some articles mentionble here are the ones by the columnists. I don't really remember their names, but there's one by some freelancer from ISIS, and the one on the same page top of her's (Darn, i am really bad with names!!), and also the column by the Wahti person, which i sometimes feel amused by, reading the behavioural acts of some of our very own supposedly "rich & famous", and also the column by the ex-Girl band member...ah yes.. Rina Omar. Probably her's i would most relate to, considering we are supposedly around the same age group. Anyway, the gadget review column by that fella with the smuglooking mug shot of a picture really pisses me off. I mean, just reading it every week, it is just SO goddamn obvious that he just recycles the same article over and over and over and over again every single week and just copies and paste info from the product's website for every single gadget that he supposedly "reviews". If i wanted to know what the features are, i would surf the net myself, like what any other gadget freak would do. What i want to read is more of what you can't find at the sales pitched product web sites. I want to know how good it is really, in real life. Like for example, when i try to send SMSes, i want to know that it's not so goddamn slow that i would end up so darn frustrated, and the phone goes from the palm of my hand, flying into mid-air, and smashes into the wall, and ends up in several non-uniform pieces on the floor. ( R.I.P Sony Erricsson T65, a troublesome servant to me for 3-4 months). I mean, every week, the article ends with "By now, you should have known that how my rating works bla bla bla..It's an arbritary analysis bla bla bla..." which is a exactly the same as the week before, and then nowadays, the fella almost never gives a rating since he supposedly needs more time to play around with it. It just pisses me off seeing that the Malay Mail actually pays this fella to dish out THAT every week. Does this fella actually even reviews the thing every week in the first place. I would love to have a job reviewing gadgets every week. Hmm, i wonder how i can apply.
The Star - OK, this section 2 pullout is HUGE. I mean theres the entertainment section, there's the fitness section, and then theres the actual section 2 section (again, i don't really remember the name now, seems all names are just off my head this morning. Must be due to my lack of sleep). The fashion - review section where they have 3 weekly fashion critics criticizing pictures of celebrities attempting to make a fashion statement can be hilarious at times as the comments they make can sometime be very witty and sarcastic. There's also the Dear Thelma section, which sometimes come up with "interesting" topics for discussion.
Mingguan Malaysia - Seems the only section i read from Mingguan Malaysia is the Pancaindera section. Don't know why, but weekends, i just sometimes don't mind casually reading news and gossip about our local celebs. But it just amazes me sometimes that there's a section around the end where they feature a "model of the week", and i just wonder where do they find these people?!! And then to my horror one weekend, i open that section and "hey... this fella looks familiar... hey i know this fella!!.. oh my GOD!!!!".. so far TWO people i know have been featured there.
Anyway, yesterday was particularly very busy. I think it's due to it being the first weekend everybody is back in KL, so everybody decided to have their open houses. I mean, on Sunday itself i had four open houses to go, then a wedding at night and then another open house after that. How many open houses can you go in one day!!? And then, at each one of the houses, it would be rude to not try out the food that they cooked for you right? So at each house, there's the ketupat and kuah kacang, lemang and beef/chicken/lamb rendang, some houses serve satay, and then there was the assam laksa at one open house as well, and there was also grilled chicken. This is not taking into account the cakes and biscuits and other kuih offerings that they serve there as well. As per every year, i find myself attacking the container containing th chocolate chip cookies. There was this one auntie of mine who baked her own chocolate chip cookies every year without fail. And her cookies are baked with the chocolate lover at mind, considering the ration of chocolate chip per cookie is way way WAY much higher that the normal ones you get. I mean, there are more chocolate chips that cookie dough in some of them!!
So, all of that raya food has left me with my weight loss target before the new year to be abolished til further notice, and a sore throat! I think the sore throat is due to the excessive amount of oily food that was comsumed yesterday since i read somewhere that too much oily food can give you a sore throat. Anyway, off to lunch now.
Laters.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Good Chapattis Are Hard to Find
OK, during lunch time today, was wondering what i was gonna indulge myself in. Being based around the KLCC area, the options available to the lunch crowd are enormous. Then a colleague of mine suggested that we visit the food court on the 5th floor of Menara Citibank. He heard that there's a stall there that serves decent chapattis. Me, being the Indian food "hantu" that i am, quickly agreed, and we were quickly on our way walking along Jalan Ampang towards Citibank.
One thing i dont understand about the Menara Citibank food court is, at the ground floor, to get pass the security guard there, we need to take a piece of paper to "indicate" that we are going to the food court. A plain, yellow piece of paper with "Menara Citibank Food Court" stamped on it or something. And what do you do with it? Absolutely nothing. I mean, its not good enough just to tell the fella that we are going to the food court, we need to pick up the piece of paper in front of him and then only go past him. And then after that what are you to do with it? THey don't check for it when you leave, so you're left with this small piece of paper in your hands that is not much of use. I mean it's not big enough to actually write anything meaningful on, ( maybe you could like write your phone number on it and pass it to the chun looking girls sitting across you at the food court, but then they'll be thinking what a cheapskate you are using THAT piece of paper with Menara Citibank printed on it), so out into the bin it goes.
Anyway, i must say, the chapatti they serve there is pretty decent. I had one chapatti, some potato curryish / dhallish thing, some spicy-ish chicken, and also some lamb kema, which was the pick of the side dishes. And all that for 4 ringgit. CHeap or what? Also they serve some pretty decent teh susu lembu there as well.
Anyway, now thinking of it, let me list down the Indian Food places that i frequent around KL and PJ.
Kanna Curry House at the Rothmans Roundabout PJ. OK, the banana leaf rice here is the BEST i've had so far. I love the veggies that they serve, especially if they serve their spinach fresh and pipping hot. And the fried chicken there is excellent as well. They also serve some pretty decent payasum on fridays as well. I didnt find out about this place until one of my colleagues actually brought me there, and to think i live around that area and didnt know about it. Nowadays, Banana Leaf Rice in PJ, i go to Kanna.
Raju's along Jalan Gasing in PJ. I go to this place for breakfast almost EVERY weekend. My biasa weekend breakfast order there would be two roti canais, ayam goreng, and a teh tarik. The roti canai there is unbelieveable. And also, they serve some damn good red chutney / sambal during the weekends, which is the reason i go to this place during the weekends only. The sambal just has no substitute when i eat it with the roti canai there. There was once, i went during a weekday, and they didnt serve the sambal, the experience just wasn't the same. The drinks there also could do with a little improvement as well.
An-Nuja Curry House - Opposite Pudu Raya station. Special Chicken Briyani. That is the speciality of this place, and it is indeed absolutely special. I eat nothing else at this place. Absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. The place looks quite cramped and a tad bit run down, but that doesnt stop the crowd from coming here! I usually try and go before the lunch crowd arrives here, or sometimes, after. I've actually seen Karpal Singh eat lunch here as well. Dont know why i am mentioning that, but what the heck.
Sri Paandi PJ Sect 17 - I go to this place quite frequently since its close to my house, and closes later than Kanna (why on earth does this place close sooo early, at 8pm). Banana Leaf Rice is decent. Oh yeah, they serve what i call "Indian Style" potato chips as well, which i end up ordering extra and sometimes just cant stop munching. Went once to the Sri Paandi in Bangsar when it first opened and had a very unpleasant experience. It was like the second day it was opened or something, and the fella took ages to serve us, and when the food finally came, the rice was cold, and the curry was even colder!! Me and my friend quickly refused to eat and walked away. That was the last time i ever went there!! But i guess that would probably be those "glitches" that occur when you first start up. But still, cold rice and curry.. unforgiveable!!
Rasta TTDI - Actually i dont know whether its Indian Food, but this place has the best tasting Garlic Cheese Naan with Tandoori. Also enjoy eating their Kacang Phool there.
OK, now, talking about all this food has made me hungry. I'm sure i've missed out on some places, but these are the main ones that come to mind i guess. Anyway, Gotta make a move now.
Laters
One thing i dont understand about the Menara Citibank food court is, at the ground floor, to get pass the security guard there, we need to take a piece of paper to "indicate" that we are going to the food court. A plain, yellow piece of paper with "Menara Citibank Food Court" stamped on it or something. And what do you do with it? Absolutely nothing. I mean, its not good enough just to tell the fella that we are going to the food court, we need to pick up the piece of paper in front of him and then only go past him. And then after that what are you to do with it? THey don't check for it when you leave, so you're left with this small piece of paper in your hands that is not much of use. I mean it's not big enough to actually write anything meaningful on, ( maybe you could like write your phone number on it and pass it to the chun looking girls sitting across you at the food court, but then they'll be thinking what a cheapskate you are using THAT piece of paper with Menara Citibank printed on it), so out into the bin it goes.
Anyway, i must say, the chapatti they serve there is pretty decent. I had one chapatti, some potato curryish / dhallish thing, some spicy-ish chicken, and also some lamb kema, which was the pick of the side dishes. And all that for 4 ringgit. CHeap or what? Also they serve some pretty decent teh susu lembu there as well.
Anyway, now thinking of it, let me list down the Indian Food places that i frequent around KL and PJ.
Kanna Curry House at the Rothmans Roundabout PJ. OK, the banana leaf rice here is the BEST i've had so far. I love the veggies that they serve, especially if they serve their spinach fresh and pipping hot. And the fried chicken there is excellent as well. They also serve some pretty decent payasum on fridays as well. I didnt find out about this place until one of my colleagues actually brought me there, and to think i live around that area and didnt know about it. Nowadays, Banana Leaf Rice in PJ, i go to Kanna.
Raju's along Jalan Gasing in PJ. I go to this place for breakfast almost EVERY weekend. My biasa weekend breakfast order there would be two roti canais, ayam goreng, and a teh tarik. The roti canai there is unbelieveable. And also, they serve some damn good red chutney / sambal during the weekends, which is the reason i go to this place during the weekends only. The sambal just has no substitute when i eat it with the roti canai there. There was once, i went during a weekday, and they didnt serve the sambal, the experience just wasn't the same. The drinks there also could do with a little improvement as well.
An-Nuja Curry House - Opposite Pudu Raya station. Special Chicken Briyani. That is the speciality of this place, and it is indeed absolutely special. I eat nothing else at this place. Absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. The place looks quite cramped and a tad bit run down, but that doesnt stop the crowd from coming here! I usually try and go before the lunch crowd arrives here, or sometimes, after. I've actually seen Karpal Singh eat lunch here as well. Dont know why i am mentioning that, but what the heck.
Sri Paandi PJ Sect 17 - I go to this place quite frequently since its close to my house, and closes later than Kanna (why on earth does this place close sooo early, at 8pm). Banana Leaf Rice is decent. Oh yeah, they serve what i call "Indian Style" potato chips as well, which i end up ordering extra and sometimes just cant stop munching. Went once to the Sri Paandi in Bangsar when it first opened and had a very unpleasant experience. It was like the second day it was opened or something, and the fella took ages to serve us, and when the food finally came, the rice was cold, and the curry was even colder!! Me and my friend quickly refused to eat and walked away. That was the last time i ever went there!! But i guess that would probably be those "glitches" that occur when you first start up. But still, cold rice and curry.. unforgiveable!!
Rasta TTDI - Actually i dont know whether its Indian Food, but this place has the best tasting Garlic Cheese Naan with Tandoori. Also enjoy eating their Kacang Phool there.
OK, now, talking about all this food has made me hungry. I'm sure i've missed out on some places, but these are the main ones that come to mind i guess. Anyway, Gotta make a move now.
Laters
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
New kid on the block
Just picked up yesterday's The SUN newpapers for the first time (yes, i am that slow in picking my papers sometimes) and i just noticed that there's a new financial daily section being introduced there (yeah i know, i am a bit behind the times!!). I must admit, The SUN is currently my favourite weekday paper, actually sometimes i think its the ONLY one i ready actually. And no, eventhough i can be a bloody cheapskate sometimes (or most of the time), its not because its free. I mean, i enjoy reading the their sports section. To say that it concentrates on football, actually to a certain extent it kinda does, but it does have other sports news. But the thing is, i actually read (and enjoy reading as well) other parts of the paper as well. I like the comments and editorials, and also the letters section. I think also, due to the compact nature of the paper, its like much more comfortable to read compared to the extra large size of the News Straits times ( i mean, who on earth invented THAT size for newspapers?) or the ultra-thick The Star.
The financial daily section definitely adds more value (muscle!!?) to the paper. Most weekends i do tend pick up The Edge, which i take the whole week to read through. But with the Financial daily section of the Sun everyday, (if i am not mistaken, it comes from the same people as the Edge), i get daily doses of it throughout the week as well. Which is good. Not as a substitute for the Edge, since the main reason i get it is for the main features, which spans over several pages, but more of like some financial news and comment quickies everyday.
Which brings me to my next point. Was reading in yesterday's Financial daily that Tabung Haji is opening up a tender worth RM 100 million to revamp its whole IT banking system. The first thing comes to mind. Where on earth do they have that much money? I do agree that, yes, their IT banking infrastructure does indeed need to be re-jigged, especially since their problems with it before. Like, come on, they are running on 20 year old HP3000s. Yes, 20 year old!! However, i must admit my knowledge of banking technologies are rather limited. What i do know is that most banking systems are mainframe based, and they do tend to be very very prehistoric systems. But your UNIX servers nowadays just can't compete (still!!) with the raw processing power / speed / robustness of these mainframe monsters, which is why banking systems are still predominantly mainframe based considering the amount of processing that it does every day as well as the cost implications whenever there is any downtime to the system. I guess, in the banking world, your systems *should* last much longer as well, judging by the amount banks invest on their banking systems.
Another point in piece of article that sort of amazes me is, that they are planning to have not one, but TWO Business Recovery Centers (BRC), and not just that, one of them is to be situated in Saudi Arabia. To those of you who aren't used to the term BRC, basically, a BRC is sort of a copy / backup of your whole data center, where in such a case where your current data center with all your customer data, balances etc, be unavailable or wiped out (like some terrorist decided to fly a plane into your data center and completely demolish it), all your precious data is not lost as it would be kept in another remote site, safe from the ruins of your demolished servers. Now, it might just be a banking regulation that every bank would need a remote BRC somewhere out of the country, well actually come to think of it, it could just be. I mean, if for any reason, our country got into a war or anything, and the whole country was affected, and out of pure bad luck, you current data center AND your BRC in Malaysia gets nuked down, there will still be data, safe in good ol' Saudi Arabia. Then you would probably ask, what happens if the one in Saudi ALSO gets nuked? Well, BRCs are just there to mitigate risks. If you were to think of it THAT way, and be ultra-paraniod, youd' probably have a BRC in every country. And that would cost some serious moo-lahs. It is just a trade off between how much you are willing to pay, and how much risk you would want to mitigate.
OK, well. Now reading what i wrote, it seems that the 100 million seems quite justified now, taking into account the setup of the BRC in Saudi as well.
Anyway, on a side note, it seems that i've received my first comment ever on this blog! Ha Ha Ha! So there are people out there that actually read my blabber. Oh well, if you are reading this one, please do feel free to come again.
Anyway, gotta make a move now. Its like half past eight. What the hell am i still doing here in the office? Need to go get some food as my stomach is nicely grumbling here and there. Raining out there as well. Damn you monsoon weather!!! The weather nowadays sucks big time.
Laters
The financial daily section definitely adds more value (muscle!!?) to the paper. Most weekends i do tend pick up The Edge, which i take the whole week to read through. But with the Financial daily section of the Sun everyday, (if i am not mistaken, it comes from the same people as the Edge), i get daily doses of it throughout the week as well. Which is good. Not as a substitute for the Edge, since the main reason i get it is for the main features, which spans over several pages, but more of like some financial news and comment quickies everyday.
Which brings me to my next point. Was reading in yesterday's Financial daily that Tabung Haji is opening up a tender worth RM 100 million to revamp its whole IT banking system. The first thing comes to mind. Where on earth do they have that much money? I do agree that, yes, their IT banking infrastructure does indeed need to be re-jigged, especially since their problems with it before. Like, come on, they are running on 20 year old HP3000s. Yes, 20 year old!! However, i must admit my knowledge of banking technologies are rather limited. What i do know is that most banking systems are mainframe based, and they do tend to be very very prehistoric systems. But your UNIX servers nowadays just can't compete (still!!) with the raw processing power / speed / robustness of these mainframe monsters, which is why banking systems are still predominantly mainframe based considering the amount of processing that it does every day as well as the cost implications whenever there is any downtime to the system. I guess, in the banking world, your systems *should* last much longer as well, judging by the amount banks invest on their banking systems.
Another point in piece of article that sort of amazes me is, that they are planning to have not one, but TWO Business Recovery Centers (BRC), and not just that, one of them is to be situated in Saudi Arabia. To those of you who aren't used to the term BRC, basically, a BRC is sort of a copy / backup of your whole data center, where in such a case where your current data center with all your customer data, balances etc, be unavailable or wiped out (like some terrorist decided to fly a plane into your data center and completely demolish it), all your precious data is not lost as it would be kept in another remote site, safe from the ruins of your demolished servers. Now, it might just be a banking regulation that every bank would need a remote BRC somewhere out of the country, well actually come to think of it, it could just be. I mean, if for any reason, our country got into a war or anything, and the whole country was affected, and out of pure bad luck, you current data center AND your BRC in Malaysia gets nuked down, there will still be data, safe in good ol' Saudi Arabia. Then you would probably ask, what happens if the one in Saudi ALSO gets nuked? Well, BRCs are just there to mitigate risks. If you were to think of it THAT way, and be ultra-paraniod, youd' probably have a BRC in every country. And that would cost some serious moo-lahs. It is just a trade off between how much you are willing to pay, and how much risk you would want to mitigate.
OK, well. Now reading what i wrote, it seems that the 100 million seems quite justified now, taking into account the setup of the BRC in Saudi as well.
Anyway, on a side note, it seems that i've received my first comment ever on this blog! Ha Ha Ha! So there are people out there that actually read my blabber. Oh well, if you are reading this one, please do feel free to come again.
Anyway, gotta make a move now. Its like half past eight. What the hell am i still doing here in the office? Need to go get some food as my stomach is nicely grumbling here and there. Raining out there as well. Damn you monsoon weather!!! The weather nowadays sucks big time.
Laters
Monday, December 01, 2003
Try applying for jobs with this resume
Just received this resume in my inbox. Hilarious.
Name: ***********
Date of Birth: 8th July 1969
Place of Birth: Milton Keynes
Profile
I am a fantastic team player who knows how to get the best out of my colleagues and myself. I enjoy a good beer (not queer) and on a good evening can work my way through twelve pints of the Amber Nectar followed by a healthy dose of vodka! I know I would be a fantastic addition to any company and any company who thinks otherwise should address the incompetence of their human resources.
Motto: Remember. In the grand scheme of things, your work is meaningless. Relax.
Education
Bsc. Computer Awareness/Social Science (1980, Cardiff University)
Work Experience
1998-Present: Dallas Projects (London) TEST ENGINEER
DUTIES: My duties in this position included defining strategies for a variety of development environments and products using Java, C++ & C. I enjoyed this position for about the first 6 months as we had a wide range of young girls in the office who were keen to visit the sausage that resides in my trousers. Once this aspect of employment had dried up, the only real reason for staying was the fact that there was an excellent bar just around the corner with an extremely tidy barmaid.
1994-1998: IBM (Newcastle) SOFTWARE ANALYST
DUTIES: Now this was easy. My shift was 1030 am – 1630 am.
I had my own company car. £38,000 salary +bonuses.
It wasn’t however without it’s downside. By the time I had left in March 1998 I had managed to get the line manager’s PA pregnant. Not bad in itself (it shows I’m not a Jaffa!) but she was married to one of the guys in Sales. Understandably he was none too pleased when he found out his missus was pregnant after he had been having problems “getting it up” for the previous 18 months. I amicably left this position and can provide an excellent reference on request.
1992-1994 TWO YEARS SPENT TRAVELLING THE WORLD
Ah, the good old days. Two mates and me set off around the World.
Firstly we went to Ibiza (before every other smack head knew about it) and from there we went to Thailand, Korea, Australia and Argentina. Absolutely tremendous! I WANT A CONTRACT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD! DO YOU HEAR ME?
1984-1992: Nautica Ltd. (Cardiff) NETWORK TECHNICIAN
DUTIES: Now frankly this was a pile of manure. I don’t know why I stayed here eight years. It’s quite frightening really. The money was manure, the people were manure, the work was manure and there were no lovely ladies. And for a twenty five year old on heat this was a major factor.
1981-1984: Steinberg Factors (Munich) NETWORK ANALYST
DUTIES: For my first job after university this was a peach. The women were amazing. Women Available-12 Women Banged-9.
Not a bad ratio really. Excellent job. Nuff said!
REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Name: ***********
Date of Birth: 8th July 1969
Place of Birth: Milton Keynes
Profile
I am a fantastic team player who knows how to get the best out of my colleagues and myself. I enjoy a good beer (not queer) and on a good evening can work my way through twelve pints of the Amber Nectar followed by a healthy dose of vodka! I know I would be a fantastic addition to any company and any company who thinks otherwise should address the incompetence of their human resources.
Motto: Remember. In the grand scheme of things, your work is meaningless. Relax.
Education
Bsc. Computer Awareness/Social Science (1980, Cardiff University)
Work Experience
1998-Present: Dallas Projects (London) TEST ENGINEER
DUTIES: My duties in this position included defining strategies for a variety of development environments and products using Java, C++ & C. I enjoyed this position for about the first 6 months as we had a wide range of young girls in the office who were keen to visit the sausage that resides in my trousers. Once this aspect of employment had dried up, the only real reason for staying was the fact that there was an excellent bar just around the corner with an extremely tidy barmaid.
1994-1998: IBM (Newcastle) SOFTWARE ANALYST
DUTIES: Now this was easy. My shift was 1030 am – 1630 am.
I had my own company car. £38,000 salary +bonuses.
It wasn’t however without it’s downside. By the time I had left in March 1998 I had managed to get the line manager’s PA pregnant. Not bad in itself (it shows I’m not a Jaffa!) but she was married to one of the guys in Sales. Understandably he was none too pleased when he found out his missus was pregnant after he had been having problems “getting it up” for the previous 18 months. I amicably left this position and can provide an excellent reference on request.
1992-1994 TWO YEARS SPENT TRAVELLING THE WORLD
Ah, the good old days. Two mates and me set off around the World.
Firstly we went to Ibiza (before every other smack head knew about it) and from there we went to Thailand, Korea, Australia and Argentina. Absolutely tremendous! I WANT A CONTRACT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD! DO YOU HEAR ME?
1984-1992: Nautica Ltd. (Cardiff) NETWORK TECHNICIAN
DUTIES: Now frankly this was a pile of manure. I don’t know why I stayed here eight years. It’s quite frightening really. The money was manure, the people were manure, the work was manure and there were no lovely ladies. And for a twenty five year old on heat this was a major factor.
1981-1984: Steinberg Factors (Munich) NETWORK ANALYST
DUTIES: For my first job after university this was a peach. The women were amazing. Women Available-12 Women Banged-9.
Not a bad ratio really. Excellent job. Nuff said!
REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Of emails, revolutions, managing teams and a donkey
Came into work to work early this morning, alert, refreshed, brimming with enthusiasm to take on the world again after a week off celebrating raya. Booted up my laptop, opened up my outlook mail and... 187 mails unread. After a slight tinge of panic, i thought to myself, must be those goddamn spammers at work again. Off i go deleting emails telling me that i have won a gazillion bucks, some holiday at some exotic beach resort and also all those goddamn forwards from the ppl who have me on their mailing lists. OK done, check my inbox again.. 132 mails unread. Shite. Thats a lot of mails that i have to read. So have been spending the whole day today replying those emails from god knows where asking about supposed i supposedly am supposed to know. Oh look, i've replied my last mail, so now i can actually start doing work. Oh, look at the time. Freaking 5pm. Looks like its gonna be another long day in the office.
Watched the third Matrix movie over the weekend. Yeah yeah yeah, i've ONLY seen it. The thing is, i just couldnt be asked to wrestle through the crowd at Mid Valley and queue up for tickets just to watch it, so i thought i might as well wait til much later and see it in peace. My stress levels are high enough as it is without having to endure waiting ages queueing up for the tickets at the cineplex. You could say that i could've watched the Sunday morning show since it isnt that crowded then, like since nobody watches movies during Sunday mornings, but thats the point, nobody watches movies on Sunday morning, including myself. I wanna wake up at 2pm on Sunday and vegetate in front of the idiot box the whole day.
I dont understand what the big commotion was about. Almost everyone i know said that the movie was a huge dissappointment. For me, i guess, it wasn't really that bad. It was OK. It wasnt the WORST movie i've seen this year. Not the best either ( I shall refrain on deciding on my best movie of the year until i've watched what happens to Frodo and friends ). Probably since i wasn't putting my expectations TOO high up like i did with reloaded, since that was a huge huge disappointment. I guess i just enjoyed watching the not-so-over fighting scenes and the battle at Zion.One thing i have to point out is the silly silly way that they have to reload the guns on the robot things. I mean, i find it so ridicolous that someone has to actually run out with trollies carrying bullets to the robots and manually inserting them. I don't know. I just found it so massively hilarious.
Some people say that the ending was a huge disappoinment since *spoiler to whoever hasn't seen it yet, ok maybe not that many ppl, but just to warn those of you yet to see it* trinity dies, and there was no huge scene of ppl waking up from the *farm* and unplugging themselves from the matrix, which i guess would have been a grand finale and i expected it to end that way as well. But i guess the way that they ended it wasn't too bad, since it still leaves the plot open for ANOTHER sequel. I mean, if they killed all the robots, who are they gonna be fighting in the NEXT one?
I was also thinking (suprisingly) the other day of the parallels between the Matrix trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy ( Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi ). I mean, just look:
Star Wars : Luke Skywalker finds out that he has amazing superpowers to be the top jedi warrior, and is trained by Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda. It ends with Luke using his powers to defeat the Empire and blow up the Death Star with the Empire running away pissing in their pants.
Matrix 1: Neo finds out that he has amazing superpowers (or sometthing like that) to be "The One" after being plugged out from the Matrix. Is trained by Morpheus to harness his mental ability to bend the rules in the Matrix world. It ends with Neo using his powers for the first time to defeat the watchamacallits agents at the end and ending up with the agents running away pissing in their pants.
Empire Strikes Back: The empire gets stronger, and at the end of the movie, the empire is on the ascendancy, and Luke finding out the truth about Darth Vader being his father. It ends with Luke getting injured having had his hand chopped off.
Matrix 2: The machines gets closer and closer to Zion, and at the end of the movie, the machines are on the ascendancy, and Neo finding out the truth about the Matrix and how he is the person to choose whether the people in Zion live or not. It ends with Neo getting injured / going in a some sort of coma.
Return of the Jedi: Luke faces his dad, his dad decides to be on his side, ends up in a battle where the people on the planet are battling against the empire with those cute lil ewoks and Luke somewhere up there battling with the emperor. The battle of the rebels against the empire in space hinges on the ppl down on the planet blowing up the force field thingamjib.
Matrix 3: Neo faces the Oracle, who decides to help the humans instead (if i am not mistaken), and then it ends up with a battle in Zion against the machines and Neo is somewhere up there battling with Agent Smith. The battle in Zion hinges on whether the last ship can make it in time to blow their EMP at the port. (On a side note, i am also amazed that they themselves in Zion didnt have their own EMP, like just in case. Either that, or i missed something ).
Oh well, i could just be talking utter nonsense here, or it is widely know around the world already, but still. I wouldn't be suprised if they come up with "Matrix episode 1: The Washing MachineMenace where they tell the story of how the robots came into power, where one machine was thought to be the best machine in the world, a machine that could fly planes faster than any machine can ever fly before. And then they come up with Episode 2: Attack of the Toaster Ovens, where the fast flying machine meets another female machine and decide to start running around in fields together, rolling around in beds of flowers, running around trees and riding on horses. Obviously, the fast flying machine is also a very hot headed machine who can't stand authority where in Episode 3, he runs away with the female machine and decide to create their own machines which will end up giving birth to the Architect and the ORacle!!! Ok i am talking crap now. Enough of that.
Oh yeah, i bought the latest Championship Manager 2003/04. Looks like some endless sleepless night ahead of me now. It seems to look much better than the previous version, and the bugs, most of them are gone already. It seems like the original version was released so that the buyers could do their testing for them. Sneaky basterds. Anyway, my Liverpool team currently is third in the league. Only 5 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea. Seems the scum aren't doing too well. He he he.
Speaking of football, our very own donkey scored what i would say the most amazing goal i have seen from him so far. Chesting the ball from the Salif Diao (shockingly inept for most of the game, being given the runaround by the "wing wizard" from Birm they call Stan Lazaridis), and then semi-scissor kicking it into the goal, leaving me with a gaping mouth, amazed out of my head. Honestly speaking, good for him, but its just so goddamn hard to take, seeing what he can do, only to see him do it once a decade. An optimist would say, "Now thats more like it, sunn, now you've got ur confidence back, go on and show us the real Emile Heskey and score gazillion goals up the Mancheter United arse!!!", but most people, i hear, are saying "Lucky basterd, now that you've scored that, Houllier will be saying that he has been proven right by sticking to him, and will continously pick him based on that one goal, only for us to endure painful games watching him fall on his arse countless times again and again, and hearing Houllier defend him again and again saying he only needs some confidence back!!". On a side note, i feel that Pongolle does indeed fall to ground oh so very often. I mean, he is a quality player with bags of potential, but diving is just not on. I despise diving as it is cheating and that is not Liverpool football club is based on. So get that "falling to ground at the slightest of touches" habit out of your game son! Anyhow, the penalty awarded to use was indeed a bonafide penalty, considering the way Cunningham was man-handling him.
Anyway, gotta be going now. Got some work to be done. Hmm.. where did my San Francisco Coffee go?
Laters
Watched the third Matrix movie over the weekend. Yeah yeah yeah, i've ONLY seen it. The thing is, i just couldnt be asked to wrestle through the crowd at Mid Valley and queue up for tickets just to watch it, so i thought i might as well wait til much later and see it in peace. My stress levels are high enough as it is without having to endure waiting ages queueing up for the tickets at the cineplex. You could say that i could've watched the Sunday morning show since it isnt that crowded then, like since nobody watches movies during Sunday mornings, but thats the point, nobody watches movies on Sunday morning, including myself. I wanna wake up at 2pm on Sunday and vegetate in front of the idiot box the whole day.
I dont understand what the big commotion was about. Almost everyone i know said that the movie was a huge dissappointment. For me, i guess, it wasn't really that bad. It was OK. It wasnt the WORST movie i've seen this year. Not the best either ( I shall refrain on deciding on my best movie of the year until i've watched what happens to Frodo and friends ). Probably since i wasn't putting my expectations TOO high up like i did with reloaded, since that was a huge huge disappointment. I guess i just enjoyed watching the not-so-over fighting scenes and the battle at Zion.One thing i have to point out is the silly silly way that they have to reload the guns on the robot things. I mean, i find it so ridicolous that someone has to actually run out with trollies carrying bullets to the robots and manually inserting them. I don't know. I just found it so massively hilarious.
Some people say that the ending was a huge disappoinment since *spoiler to whoever hasn't seen it yet, ok maybe not that many ppl, but just to warn those of you yet to see it* trinity dies, and there was no huge scene of ppl waking up from the *farm* and unplugging themselves from the matrix, which i guess would have been a grand finale and i expected it to end that way as well. But i guess the way that they ended it wasn't too bad, since it still leaves the plot open for ANOTHER sequel. I mean, if they killed all the robots, who are they gonna be fighting in the NEXT one?
I was also thinking (suprisingly) the other day of the parallels between the Matrix trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy ( Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi ). I mean, just look:
Star Wars : Luke Skywalker finds out that he has amazing superpowers to be the top jedi warrior, and is trained by Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda. It ends with Luke using his powers to defeat the Empire and blow up the Death Star with the Empire running away pissing in their pants.
Matrix 1: Neo finds out that he has amazing superpowers (or sometthing like that) to be "The One" after being plugged out from the Matrix. Is trained by Morpheus to harness his mental ability to bend the rules in the Matrix world. It ends with Neo using his powers for the first time to defeat the watchamacallits agents at the end and ending up with the agents running away pissing in their pants.
Empire Strikes Back: The empire gets stronger, and at the end of the movie, the empire is on the ascendancy, and Luke finding out the truth about Darth Vader being his father. It ends with Luke getting injured having had his hand chopped off.
Matrix 2: The machines gets closer and closer to Zion, and at the end of the movie, the machines are on the ascendancy, and Neo finding out the truth about the Matrix and how he is the person to choose whether the people in Zion live or not. It ends with Neo getting injured / going in a some sort of coma.
Return of the Jedi: Luke faces his dad, his dad decides to be on his side, ends up in a battle where the people on the planet are battling against the empire with those cute lil ewoks and Luke somewhere up there battling with the emperor. The battle of the rebels against the empire in space hinges on the ppl down on the planet blowing up the force field thingamjib.
Matrix 3: Neo faces the Oracle, who decides to help the humans instead (if i am not mistaken), and then it ends up with a battle in Zion against the machines and Neo is somewhere up there battling with Agent Smith. The battle in Zion hinges on whether the last ship can make it in time to blow their EMP at the port. (On a side note, i am also amazed that they themselves in Zion didnt have their own EMP, like just in case. Either that, or i missed something ).
Oh well, i could just be talking utter nonsense here, or it is widely know around the world already, but still. I wouldn't be suprised if they come up with "Matrix episode 1: The Washing MachineMenace where they tell the story of how the robots came into power, where one machine was thought to be the best machine in the world, a machine that could fly planes faster than any machine can ever fly before. And then they come up with Episode 2: Attack of the Toaster Ovens, where the fast flying machine meets another female machine and decide to start running around in fields together, rolling around in beds of flowers, running around trees and riding on horses. Obviously, the fast flying machine is also a very hot headed machine who can't stand authority where in Episode 3, he runs away with the female machine and decide to create their own machines which will end up giving birth to the Architect and the ORacle!!! Ok i am talking crap now. Enough of that.
Oh yeah, i bought the latest Championship Manager 2003/04. Looks like some endless sleepless night ahead of me now. It seems to look much better than the previous version, and the bugs, most of them are gone already. It seems like the original version was released so that the buyers could do their testing for them. Sneaky basterds. Anyway, my Liverpool team currently is third in the league. Only 5 points behind Arsenal and Chelsea. Seems the scum aren't doing too well. He he he.
Speaking of football, our very own donkey scored what i would say the most amazing goal i have seen from him so far. Chesting the ball from the Salif Diao (shockingly inept for most of the game, being given the runaround by the "wing wizard" from Birm they call Stan Lazaridis), and then semi-scissor kicking it into the goal, leaving me with a gaping mouth, amazed out of my head. Honestly speaking, good for him, but its just so goddamn hard to take, seeing what he can do, only to see him do it once a decade. An optimist would say, "Now thats more like it, sunn, now you've got ur confidence back, go on and show us the real Emile Heskey and score gazillion goals up the Mancheter United arse!!!", but most people, i hear, are saying "Lucky basterd, now that you've scored that, Houllier will be saying that he has been proven right by sticking to him, and will continously pick him based on that one goal, only for us to endure painful games watching him fall on his arse countless times again and again, and hearing Houllier defend him again and again saying he only needs some confidence back!!". On a side note, i feel that Pongolle does indeed fall to ground oh so very often. I mean, he is a quality player with bags of potential, but diving is just not on. I despise diving as it is cheating and that is not Liverpool football club is based on. So get that "falling to ground at the slightest of touches" habit out of your game son! Anyhow, the penalty awarded to use was indeed a bonafide penalty, considering the way Cunningham was man-handling him.
Anyway, gotta be going now. Got some work to be done. Hmm.. where did my San Francisco Coffee go?
Laters
Friday, November 28, 2003
Raya Overdose
Can't imagine how much ketupat, rendang, lemang i have been stuffing down my throat for the past 3 days now. Its psychotic. I lose 5 kilos of my weight during the whole fasting month, which i am very much proud of, and what do you know? Within the first 3 days of raya, i managed to regain THREE of 'em back. At least its a nett loss of 2 kilos, which isn't too bad. I mean, 3 months ago, i was almost the same weight of... gasp... my dad!! For goodness sakes!! Thats when it finally sunk into me, the reality that i was riding on a one way street to obesity if i didnt keep it in check.
Anyway, raya this year was a blast. All of my relatives came back and at one point of time, it was actually a full house at my grandma's. Uncles and aunties joking with one another, sarcastic remarks being shot around the house like nobody's business. For some very weird reason, the people at the kampung are like so very obsessed with Siti Nurhaliza. I mean, like yeah, she does have an absolutely amazing voice, and i would be lying if i said she wasn't one of the prettiest women i have come across, but still!!! Whats with the cult-ish idolizing? Its not like she's doesn't have her flaws, i mean, just look at what she wears! Sometimes its just baffling that someone in their right mind would actually step into what she parades while she dishes out her numbers on stage. But i guess, its just a case of different people with different tastes.
Enough of her, so whats been happening lately. Well, on the football side, the state of affairs are getting from bad to worse at my beloved 'reds. i mean a draw away at middlesborough. No disrespect to any Boro fans out there, but my honest opinion is that we should be going there and getting a win if we are genuine title contenders.
"The best we can hope for would be a fourth place finish" - Steven Gerrard
How absolutely true! I mean, just by the looks of it, i would think that we would even struggle to get fourth place this year, let alone be challenging for the title. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the club, and if somehow Mr Houllier suddenly does a houdini, turns everything around and come May 2004 we are premiership champions, i would hold up my hands and salute him. I want us to win. But deep down inside, from what i have been seeing so far this year, it just does not look possible.
I've been reading on the net a lot of the views and rumours of the fans. It seems that the Liverpool board are giving Houllier til May to sort it all out and if he doesn't at least get a Champions League spot, he will be "replaced". If that happens, like many other fans like me, i would love for him to be "moved upstairs" to a footballing director-ish sort of role. A role which i think he will excel from, like what he did for France. He is a very methodological man and he's contacts in Europe will prove to be valuable. And with that piece of rumour going around, of course the speculation of who will replace him will surface. It seems that there are already 6-7 ppl shortlisted by the board already. One name which i think would be cast iron on that list would be no other thatn Mr Martin O'neill himself. Rumours about him coming have been about for donkey years already. What i like about him is he is a motivator (very important, as i motivation is what is sorely missing in the squad right now), he has passion (again, sorely missing right now) and also he tends to get the best out of what he has ( i mean, he has been playing mssr Heskey to good effect during his leicester years ). But for me, the jury is still out on whether he can bring us the attractive, attacking, pass and move sort of football i for so long crave from our players. I mean he is a person who plays John Hartson for goodness sakes!! And Chris Sutton!! I mean, those two players are like the epitomy of "hoof it up to the big lad up there" mentality. And did i mention Heskey at Leicester as well? So, Martin O'neill, ain't too convinced.
The next contender would be King Kenny Daglish. What i have read from fans is that they would like to see him back at the helm, with one of John Barnes, Ian Rush, John Aldridge as his second man. I like this, since it would bring back the old boot room mentality. The players have respect for them, and they have a passion for the club. But Kenny Daglish now could turn out to be not as good as the Kenny Daglish of old. Since he left, he has had disastrous outings at two certain clubs by the name of newcastle and blackburn. So, again, Kenny Daglish isn't too convincing as well.
The others that i can see would be Alan Curbishley, currently doing a magnificent job at Charlton, although he has no experience of big team management, which would mean he would be a risk, and maybe Keving Keegan. Keegan i would like too, since he is a Red, has passion for the club, supposedly Mr Motivator, and is definitely a proponent of attractive, flowing, football. But on the downside,defending isn't one of his stronger points, and that could be spelling for a return to the Evans days (which i wouldnt mind, frankly). Also contenders i hear are Sven Goran Eriksson (don't rate him), Vincent del bosque (don't think he'll come) and Fabio Capello (Not too sure about him too). So thats, what i feel, are the 7 contenders for the managers hot seat if indeed Mr houllier moves on at the end of the season. IF.
Personally, i would prefer someone from within to be given the seat. Someone with a history of being involved during the boot room days. So my choice would one of the two kevins. And Martin O'neill as third.
On the playing staff side, what i personally want to see is more of players from the youth ranks being given a chance. Players like Welsh, Patridge (what has happened to him? He couldn't be any worse than El Hadj Diouf) and Otsemobor. Enough of being a breeding ground for young French players. Also i would get rid of these players: Heskey (Yes, he does give 110% effort, but sad to say, he is a striker, and strikers need to score, even after giving 2 years to regain your confidence), Djimi "I make 10 goal creating opportunity to the opposition mistakes" Traore, Bruno "The next Zidane" Cheryou, Vladimir "Inconsistent is my middle name" Smiceer and Salif "I'll chop off your head / Viera Mark II" Diao. And if a decent offer came in, we should cash in on: Danny Murphy (I know, a controversial choice, but as much as i love Super Dan, i see him as someone i would want on the bench and not a first team regular, so if a decent offer comes in, it should be accepted), El Hadj Diouf (A striker who doesnt score or a winger who cant cross to save his life), and probably Riise (He is quality going forward but his defending is very very very suspect).
We should build a team around Dudek and Kirky, defence of Hyppia, Henchoz, Finnan ( which i think is a steal ) and another left back, with Biscan ( he has had a decent year so far as center back ), and Carragher deputizing, and maybe bringing in a young central defender as backup. Rumours say that the names being mentioned are Boumsong and Dawson (Notts Forest), of whom both i havent seen before so i cant comment. In midfield, Hamman, Gerrard, and Kewell, which backups from leTallec (please be the next Zidane and not the next Cheryou), and Welsh (he looks promising as well, from what i hear). Players that i wouldn't mind coming would be Scott Parker, and Micheal Tonge. In a dream world, van der Vaart would be on the way. Up front, Owen (IF he stay. Actually this is another major issue, and i could write forever about him, but to summarize, i love him as well, but if he leaves, i wouldn't blame him, just dont leave on a freaking bosman like Macca), Baros, Ponggole. Cisse it seems is dead on to arrive either in Christmas or end of the season. Personally, i havent seen him play yet, but a LOT of the fans out there are judging him on his performances in the French League. But (no disrespect to the French League..but..) its the freaking French league. The same league which Smicer was hailed as the best midfielder on earth. The same league which Bruno "oh look at my poncy white boots" Chryou excelled!! My god!! If Cisse was hammering them in at the Italian league, like Mutu (class) or Crespo (class as well), then i would be waiting with baited breath. But the french league. Jury is still definitely out for me.
Anyway getting a lil dozy now. Liverpool v Steaua in 1 hours time. Gonna get some shut eye. On a side note, last weekend, i witnessed the most dramatic world cup final that i have ever seen in my life! Ever! If you haven't caught on by now, its the Rugby World Cup final 2003, Australia v ingerlund. The ozzies equalizing in the final minute of normal time to bring it to extra time. England scores a penalty to put them ahead. Australia equalizes with 3 minutes to go. England on the offence in Australia territory with time running down before it goes to sudden death. Around a minute to go. Ruck. Dawson. Passes the ball. Johnny Wilkinson. Best fly half in the world currently. Desperate attempts by Australian players to block. The kick. Drop goal. England win their first major team competition since 1966. That match was a breath taking spectacle. With a minute to go. There is no other player you would want to be in the position Jonny Wilkinson was in, other than Jonny Wilkinson himself. Sheer class. Composure. I couldn't sit down for the whole of the extra time period. Oh well. On to Euro 2004 next year. Lets see whether the football team can match the achievement of their rugby counterparts. Oh well, at least we can dream about it.
Swing Low, sweet chariot, coming to carry me home...
Swing Low, sweet chariot, coming to carry me home...
Laters.
Anyway, raya this year was a blast. All of my relatives came back and at one point of time, it was actually a full house at my grandma's. Uncles and aunties joking with one another, sarcastic remarks being shot around the house like nobody's business. For some very weird reason, the people at the kampung are like so very obsessed with Siti Nurhaliza. I mean, like yeah, she does have an absolutely amazing voice, and i would be lying if i said she wasn't one of the prettiest women i have come across, but still!!! Whats with the cult-ish idolizing? Its not like she's doesn't have her flaws, i mean, just look at what she wears! Sometimes its just baffling that someone in their right mind would actually step into what she parades while she dishes out her numbers on stage. But i guess, its just a case of different people with different tastes.
Enough of her, so whats been happening lately. Well, on the football side, the state of affairs are getting from bad to worse at my beloved 'reds. i mean a draw away at middlesborough. No disrespect to any Boro fans out there, but my honest opinion is that we should be going there and getting a win if we are genuine title contenders.
"The best we can hope for would be a fourth place finish" - Steven Gerrard
How absolutely true! I mean, just by the looks of it, i would think that we would even struggle to get fourth place this year, let alone be challenging for the title. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the club, and if somehow Mr Houllier suddenly does a houdini, turns everything around and come May 2004 we are premiership champions, i would hold up my hands and salute him. I want us to win. But deep down inside, from what i have been seeing so far this year, it just does not look possible.
I've been reading on the net a lot of the views and rumours of the fans. It seems that the Liverpool board are giving Houllier til May to sort it all out and if he doesn't at least get a Champions League spot, he will be "replaced". If that happens, like many other fans like me, i would love for him to be "moved upstairs" to a footballing director-ish sort of role. A role which i think he will excel from, like what he did for France. He is a very methodological man and he's contacts in Europe will prove to be valuable. And with that piece of rumour going around, of course the speculation of who will replace him will surface. It seems that there are already 6-7 ppl shortlisted by the board already. One name which i think would be cast iron on that list would be no other thatn Mr Martin O'neill himself. Rumours about him coming have been about for donkey years already. What i like about him is he is a motivator (very important, as i motivation is what is sorely missing in the squad right now), he has passion (again, sorely missing right now) and also he tends to get the best out of what he has ( i mean, he has been playing mssr Heskey to good effect during his leicester years ). But for me, the jury is still out on whether he can bring us the attractive, attacking, pass and move sort of football i for so long crave from our players. I mean he is a person who plays John Hartson for goodness sakes!! And Chris Sutton!! I mean, those two players are like the epitomy of "hoof it up to the big lad up there" mentality. And did i mention Heskey at Leicester as well? So, Martin O'neill, ain't too convinced.
The next contender would be King Kenny Daglish. What i have read from fans is that they would like to see him back at the helm, with one of John Barnes, Ian Rush, John Aldridge as his second man. I like this, since it would bring back the old boot room mentality. The players have respect for them, and they have a passion for the club. But Kenny Daglish now could turn out to be not as good as the Kenny Daglish of old. Since he left, he has had disastrous outings at two certain clubs by the name of newcastle and blackburn. So, again, Kenny Daglish isn't too convincing as well.
The others that i can see would be Alan Curbishley, currently doing a magnificent job at Charlton, although he has no experience of big team management, which would mean he would be a risk, and maybe Keving Keegan. Keegan i would like too, since he is a Red, has passion for the club, supposedly Mr Motivator, and is definitely a proponent of attractive, flowing, football. But on the downside,defending isn't one of his stronger points, and that could be spelling for a return to the Evans days (which i wouldnt mind, frankly). Also contenders i hear are Sven Goran Eriksson (don't rate him), Vincent del bosque (don't think he'll come) and Fabio Capello (Not too sure about him too). So thats, what i feel, are the 7 contenders for the managers hot seat if indeed Mr houllier moves on at the end of the season. IF.
Personally, i would prefer someone from within to be given the seat. Someone with a history of being involved during the boot room days. So my choice would one of the two kevins. And Martin O'neill as third.
On the playing staff side, what i personally want to see is more of players from the youth ranks being given a chance. Players like Welsh, Patridge (what has happened to him? He couldn't be any worse than El Hadj Diouf) and Otsemobor. Enough of being a breeding ground for young French players. Also i would get rid of these players: Heskey (Yes, he does give 110% effort, but sad to say, he is a striker, and strikers need to score, even after giving 2 years to regain your confidence), Djimi "I make 10 goal creating opportunity to the opposition mistakes" Traore, Bruno "The next Zidane" Cheryou, Vladimir "Inconsistent is my middle name" Smiceer and Salif "I'll chop off your head / Viera Mark II" Diao. And if a decent offer came in, we should cash in on: Danny Murphy (I know, a controversial choice, but as much as i love Super Dan, i see him as someone i would want on the bench and not a first team regular, so if a decent offer comes in, it should be accepted), El Hadj Diouf (A striker who doesnt score or a winger who cant cross to save his life), and probably Riise (He is quality going forward but his defending is very very very suspect).
We should build a team around Dudek and Kirky, defence of Hyppia, Henchoz, Finnan ( which i think is a steal ) and another left back, with Biscan ( he has had a decent year so far as center back ), and Carragher deputizing, and maybe bringing in a young central defender as backup. Rumours say that the names being mentioned are Boumsong and Dawson (Notts Forest), of whom both i havent seen before so i cant comment. In midfield, Hamman, Gerrard, and Kewell, which backups from leTallec (please be the next Zidane and not the next Cheryou), and Welsh (he looks promising as well, from what i hear). Players that i wouldn't mind coming would be Scott Parker, and Micheal Tonge. In a dream world, van der Vaart would be on the way. Up front, Owen (IF he stay. Actually this is another major issue, and i could write forever about him, but to summarize, i love him as well, but if he leaves, i wouldn't blame him, just dont leave on a freaking bosman like Macca), Baros, Ponggole. Cisse it seems is dead on to arrive either in Christmas or end of the season. Personally, i havent seen him play yet, but a LOT of the fans out there are judging him on his performances in the French League. But (no disrespect to the French League..but..) its the freaking French league. The same league which Smicer was hailed as the best midfielder on earth. The same league which Bruno "oh look at my poncy white boots" Chryou excelled!! My god!! If Cisse was hammering them in at the Italian league, like Mutu (class) or Crespo (class as well), then i would be waiting with baited breath. But the french league. Jury is still definitely out for me.
Anyway getting a lil dozy now. Liverpool v Steaua in 1 hours time. Gonna get some shut eye. On a side note, last weekend, i witnessed the most dramatic world cup final that i have ever seen in my life! Ever! If you haven't caught on by now, its the Rugby World Cup final 2003, Australia v ingerlund. The ozzies equalizing in the final minute of normal time to bring it to extra time. England scores a penalty to put them ahead. Australia equalizes with 3 minutes to go. England on the offence in Australia territory with time running down before it goes to sudden death. Around a minute to go. Ruck. Dawson. Passes the ball. Johnny Wilkinson. Best fly half in the world currently. Desperate attempts by Australian players to block. The kick. Drop goal. England win their first major team competition since 1966. That match was a breath taking spectacle. With a minute to go. There is no other player you would want to be in the position Jonny Wilkinson was in, other than Jonny Wilkinson himself. Sheer class. Composure. I couldn't sit down for the whole of the extra time period. Oh well. On to Euro 2004 next year. Lets see whether the football team can match the achievement of their rugby counterparts. Oh well, at least we can dream about it.
Swing Low, sweet chariot, coming to carry me home...
Swing Low, sweet chariot, coming to carry me home...
Laters.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Berlalulah sudah ramadan sebulan berpuasa
Tiba syawal kita rayakan dengan rasa gembira
Anak muda di rantauan semuanya pulang ke desa
Ibu dan ayah keriangan bersyukur tak terkira
Bertukar senyuman dan salam ziarah-menziarahi
Tutur dan kata yang sopan saling memaafi
Suasana hari raya walau di mana pun jua
Memberikan ketenangan dan mententeramkan jiwa
Anuar & Elina - Suasana di Hari Raya
Yes, as you can see, i am in the hari raya mood already. Dont know why, but during this time of the year, everybody seems so happy, including myself. It could be for various reasons actually, like going back to our hometowns (OK, well not everybody does that and even if you do, the endless crawl to go back through the jam isn't particular what i would describe as something to look forward to), or meeting up with family members that we haven't met in ages (again, sometimes not really a good thing), or could it be the one whole week off that most people get during the hari raya period (OK.. this could DEFINITELY be the reason why). But for me, the things that i look forward to on Hari Raya are:
1) Every first hari raya at my grandma's house, before we go out for our raya prayers, all my uncles, aunties, cousins and all gather at the main hall and then we read our "doa" together and have our raya break fast. Its just nice to see all of my relatives there (the ones that come, cos some of them alternate between the husband and wife kampungs every year) together from all around the country and then just chit chatting with them while having breakfast. Which brings me to...
2) The food. After a month of fasting, i have to admit that eating breakfast in the morning is something that i look forward to. Especially eating the food prepared during raya. My god, sitting down on the floor and mindlessly inserting indecent amounts of lemang and rendang ayam into your mouth isn't really a decent sight to see on raya morning, but what the hell. Then theres the ketupat with rendang or kuah kacang. Kuih bakar. These are what i usually target in the morning itself. Also, theres the endless amounts of cookies that people serve you when you go visiting your relatives and friends at their houses. My mum used to buy raya kuih by the lorry loads (OK, a bit of exaggeration here, but i was a lot). But nowadays, she doesnt seem to be interested anymore in buying that many kuih. She always complains that every year there's always loads of kuih going to waste and that we dont seem to finish it. Well, if you just bought all the good (note: good == anything with chocolate on it) ones, of course they will finish faster than you can say "chocolate chip cook.." . Ok thats enough of talking about food now. Am getting hungry already and its not even lunch time yet!
3) Open houses. Ok, although this point is quite closely tied to my reason number 2, there are other reasons why i like going there for the food. Yes, i admit i do go to open houses for the food. I mean like, especially the ones where they have at night and all these ppl catering the food. I've been to one friends house where the choice of food at her raya open house night was as large as the choice of food you would probably get at the Mandarin Oriental buffet bukak puasa! But food isnt the only reason i go. I get to meet all of my friends and relatives at these open houses. God knows who you'll meet at an open house since KL is getting smaller and smaller. I get to catch up with friends who i haven't met in a while, the ones i have neglected and all. It's all just a way to get us all back close to each other.
4) Raya ads. It shows how much we have moved from the traditional ways of celebrating raya, when we actually look forwards to seeing the hari raya adverstisements on television. The usual suspects will come up with creative and usually heart warming ads that sometimes you just seem to watch TV waiting for the ad to come out. I must say that the Petronas Deepavali ad was absolultely hilarious. Hats off to them. I wonder hows their raya ad this year.
Anyway, i have to be making a move. To whoever might be reading this, i wish you a "Selamat Hari Raya" and "Maaf Zahir dan Batin". I won't be around for the next week as i'll be i Melaka, i probably wont have any updates soon.
Laters..
Tiba syawal kita rayakan dengan rasa gembira
Anak muda di rantauan semuanya pulang ke desa
Ibu dan ayah keriangan bersyukur tak terkira
Bertukar senyuman dan salam ziarah-menziarahi
Tutur dan kata yang sopan saling memaafi
Suasana hari raya walau di mana pun jua
Memberikan ketenangan dan mententeramkan jiwa
Anuar & Elina - Suasana di Hari Raya
Yes, as you can see, i am in the hari raya mood already. Dont know why, but during this time of the year, everybody seems so happy, including myself. It could be for various reasons actually, like going back to our hometowns (OK, well not everybody does that and even if you do, the endless crawl to go back through the jam isn't particular what i would describe as something to look forward to), or meeting up with family members that we haven't met in ages (again, sometimes not really a good thing), or could it be the one whole week off that most people get during the hari raya period (OK.. this could DEFINITELY be the reason why). But for me, the things that i look forward to on Hari Raya are:
1) Every first hari raya at my grandma's house, before we go out for our raya prayers, all my uncles, aunties, cousins and all gather at the main hall and then we read our "doa" together and have our raya break fast. Its just nice to see all of my relatives there (the ones that come, cos some of them alternate between the husband and wife kampungs every year) together from all around the country and then just chit chatting with them while having breakfast. Which brings me to...
2) The food. After a month of fasting, i have to admit that eating breakfast in the morning is something that i look forward to. Especially eating the food prepared during raya. My god, sitting down on the floor and mindlessly inserting indecent amounts of lemang and rendang ayam into your mouth isn't really a decent sight to see on raya morning, but what the hell. Then theres the ketupat with rendang or kuah kacang. Kuih bakar. These are what i usually target in the morning itself. Also, theres the endless amounts of cookies that people serve you when you go visiting your relatives and friends at their houses. My mum used to buy raya kuih by the lorry loads (OK, a bit of exaggeration here, but i was a lot). But nowadays, she doesnt seem to be interested anymore in buying that many kuih. She always complains that every year there's always loads of kuih going to waste and that we dont seem to finish it. Well, if you just bought all the good (note: good == anything with chocolate on it) ones, of course they will finish faster than you can say "chocolate chip cook.." . Ok thats enough of talking about food now. Am getting hungry already and its not even lunch time yet!
3) Open houses. Ok, although this point is quite closely tied to my reason number 2, there are other reasons why i like going there for the food. Yes, i admit i do go to open houses for the food. I mean like, especially the ones where they have at night and all these ppl catering the food. I've been to one friends house where the choice of food at her raya open house night was as large as the choice of food you would probably get at the Mandarin Oriental buffet bukak puasa! But food isnt the only reason i go. I get to meet all of my friends and relatives at these open houses. God knows who you'll meet at an open house since KL is getting smaller and smaller. I get to catch up with friends who i haven't met in a while, the ones i have neglected and all. It's all just a way to get us all back close to each other.
4) Raya ads. It shows how much we have moved from the traditional ways of celebrating raya, when we actually look forwards to seeing the hari raya adverstisements on television. The usual suspects will come up with creative and usually heart warming ads that sometimes you just seem to watch TV waiting for the ad to come out. I must say that the Petronas Deepavali ad was absolultely hilarious. Hats off to them. I wonder hows their raya ad this year.
Anyway, i have to be making a move. To whoever might be reading this, i wish you a "Selamat Hari Raya" and "Maaf Zahir dan Batin". I won't be around for the next week as i'll be i Melaka, i probably wont have any updates soon.
Laters..
Thursday, November 20, 2003
6-0!!!
Hahaha!!! Those bunch of jokers. I am referring here to the 6-0 spanking those wee Scottish laddies received from the Dutch. I mean, like, yeah, they did win one nil in Glasgow last week or so, and the next thing you know, they are touting themselves as potential champions for the European Cup. Or even challengers at least. Like come on!! They should take off their Scottish rose tinted glasses, these people, and see that the only reason why they actually did win then was, although i must admit, through sheer effort and industry, but there is just no replacing skill and class. Oh.. the heartbreak!!
I mean, if i had a choice of who i wanted to see playing in Euro 2004 next year, of course i would choose the Oranjes. Who wouldn't? (I mean, other than the 4-5 million Scottish people in this world). But i am not taking anything away from the Scottish team. They do play with their hearts on their sleeves, and not that many teams can admit and say they ALL gave their 1000% effort in the game. And if they did qualify, then good for them, since they earned the right to play in the tournament. But i did read somewhere that the Dutch were just outstanding in the game in Amsterdam. OK, i guess you do need to be playing outstanding football to get 6 goals past the Scots without reply.But still!!
"We missed Christian Dailly in midfield - He is works so hard" - Berti Vogts
You have to admit that there are some quality players in the Scottish team, from what i see. Barry Ferguson looks a decent playmaker / central midfield player. James McFadden, the ultimate Scottish action hero last week, is young and is supposedly touted to be better than Wayne Rooney, or was it Joe Cole, or Michael Owen, or whoever. But he does look a decent footballer. Gavin McCann is OK as well i guess. But just look at the players they were up against. Edgar Davids, Nistelrooy (Although i hate to admit it, the horsefaced one is quality, eventhough this season, he does seem to look a bit off colour, which is good, and bad since he IS in my Fantasy Football team.. basterd!!), Van der Vaart (oh.. how i would LOVE for him to come and join us at Anfield, although i have a sneaky feeling he might be on his way to Old Trafford.. basterds), Andy van der Meyde, Philip Cocu (is he still playing?), Overmars, Reiziger, Seedorf (is this one playing as well??) and the list goes on. If you have to count on players like Paul Dickov to get you goals internationally, you are in serious trouble.
Hats off to the Scots though for their effor and sheer determination. It was fun while it lasted. You guys almost made it there. Actually inside of me, part of me was actually rooting for the Scots as well. You know, the part of me that has the strange fetish of supporting the underdogs. Just to give those prima-donnas (although they have the skills and technique most players and teams would be having wet dreams on, they are just plain arrogant basterds. Prima donnas) a nice lesson or two of genuine determination and grinding out results. Oh well, Maybe some other time. What they should actually do now is work on their youngsters. Develop them. Screw the old dead wood. You wont go anywhere new with them. They have brought you guys to the limit. Look to the future and get prepared for World Cup 2006 cos these old geezers wont be able to play for you then, well actually i would certainly hope they arent still playing, for Scotland's sake.
Anyway, back to work now. Laters
Hahaha!!! Those bunch of jokers. I am referring here to the 6-0 spanking those wee Scottish laddies received from the Dutch. I mean, like, yeah, they did win one nil in Glasgow last week or so, and the next thing you know, they are touting themselves as potential champions for the European Cup. Or even challengers at least. Like come on!! They should take off their Scottish rose tinted glasses, these people, and see that the only reason why they actually did win then was, although i must admit, through sheer effort and industry, but there is just no replacing skill and class. Oh.. the heartbreak!!
I mean, if i had a choice of who i wanted to see playing in Euro 2004 next year, of course i would choose the Oranjes. Who wouldn't? (I mean, other than the 4-5 million Scottish people in this world). But i am not taking anything away from the Scottish team. They do play with their hearts on their sleeves, and not that many teams can admit and say they ALL gave their 1000% effort in the game. And if they did qualify, then good for them, since they earned the right to play in the tournament. But i did read somewhere that the Dutch were just outstanding in the game in Amsterdam. OK, i guess you do need to be playing outstanding football to get 6 goals past the Scots without reply.But still!!
"We missed Christian Dailly in midfield - He is works so hard" - Berti Vogts
You have to admit that there are some quality players in the Scottish team, from what i see. Barry Ferguson looks a decent playmaker / central midfield player. James McFadden, the ultimate Scottish action hero last week, is young and is supposedly touted to be better than Wayne Rooney, or was it Joe Cole, or Michael Owen, or whoever. But he does look a decent footballer. Gavin McCann is OK as well i guess. But just look at the players they were up against. Edgar Davids, Nistelrooy (Although i hate to admit it, the horsefaced one is quality, eventhough this season, he does seem to look a bit off colour, which is good, and bad since he IS in my Fantasy Football team.. basterd!!), Van der Vaart (oh.. how i would LOVE for him to come and join us at Anfield, although i have a sneaky feeling he might be on his way to Old Trafford.. basterds), Andy van der Meyde, Philip Cocu (is he still playing?), Overmars, Reiziger, Seedorf (is this one playing as well??) and the list goes on. If you have to count on players like Paul Dickov to get you goals internationally, you are in serious trouble.
Hats off to the Scots though for their effor and sheer determination. It was fun while it lasted. You guys almost made it there. Actually inside of me, part of me was actually rooting for the Scots as well. You know, the part of me that has the strange fetish of supporting the underdogs. Just to give those prima-donnas (although they have the skills and technique most players and teams would be having wet dreams on, they are just plain arrogant basterds. Prima donnas) a nice lesson or two of genuine determination and grinding out results. Oh well, Maybe some other time. What they should actually do now is work on their youngsters. Develop them. Screw the old dead wood. You wont go anywhere new with them. They have brought you guys to the limit. Look to the future and get prepared for World Cup 2006 cos these old geezers wont be able to play for you then, well actually i would certainly hope they arent still playing, for Scotland's sake.
Anyway, back to work now. Laters
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
USB Flash Drives
OK, am heading off home now. Been having trouble with this particular USB flash drive. BAsically what usually happens is that u stick the thumb drive into a Windows2000 machine, and like magic, it would automatically detect the stupid piece of shit and viola, removable disk on you windows explorer. But this one for some weird reason, suddenly just requested for the goddamn driver. Do i look like someone who would have the driver for the goddamn USB thumb drive if it wasnt installed yet?! So here i am, with this thumb drive in my hand, completely useless, needing to send a large file to someone who isnt on the LAN, with no network access, and a screwed up IR connection on his laptop. So what do i do? Send the goddamn file to ANOTHER laptop via IR and then from that laptop, transfer it to the USB flash drive, which magically auto detects there, and then from the thumb drive, send it over to the fellas laptop! Goddammit! And for me to think of that took me a complete hour! How brain dead am I?!! Although i must admit that i'm pretty sure that theres somethings definitely wrong with my laptop. Been screwy for quite a while now considering the amount of junk i have been installing and uninstalling and all. OK, gotta go, late for a company dinner in KLCC. Bloody hungry as well.
Laters
Laters
A New Look and Feel
Ha Ha!! Have been spending the whole morning playing around with my blog template. And THIS is what i have come up with!! Well, it does look kinda plain and simple, but i like it. No funny funny colours here and there, nice and neat. Damn, i must really have absolutely nothing to do in the office, you must be thinking. Which i am uan-ashamed to admit, in here at least, that it is indeed true. Am actually waiting for some people to fly in to KL to have a discussion with them, but alas, they are not here yet. Oh well, i shall go back to my web surfing now
Laters
Laters
The Red Inside of Me
OK before i go on, i must confess that i am an avid Liverpool Football Club fan. Actually, i have been supporting them ever since i was in UK studying in Cardiff. Before that i wasn't really supporting any particular team, but one particular instance made me change my mind and from then onwards forever be caught up in the anguish of supporting the "red side of Mersey". I see myself writing a LOT about my team as well.
I think it was the 1996 FA CUP finals between Liverpool and the SCUM, the one where David James did the ultimate sin of doing another one of his customary "clanger dropping" and presenting Eric Cantona with the opportunity to slice the our defence with that pin point shot that won them the FA CUP. What intrigued me was that at the college where i studied my A Levels, the majority of the people there were going hysterical and jumping around, and at one corner there, the only two Liverpool supporters there were sitting down quietly, heads down, faces in their hands.
"I dont mind them winning the league, but i really wanted to win this one"
"David James should be SHOT DEAD"
I didnt really start to support Liverpool exactly then, but after that, i tended to watch a lot of their games with these two people, and me being the type of person that just seems to have a soft spot for the underdogs, i guess, Liverpool is the team for me. Liverpool started to grow on me. I LOVED the way they play under Roy Evan. Flair. Skill. Attack. Pass and Move. Attack. Fowler. McManaman. But for all that superb play going forward, the ultimate downfall for Roy's men were their inability to defend properly. Calamity James comes to mind. Phil Babb as well. And also the incident where Babb went sliding on the ground to save the ball, only for him to slide towards the goal post, feet apart, and ending up with him hitting his bollocks onto the post! Ouch! Clowns! Schoolboy defending. But i still loved them.
Now, i barely controlled myself throwing the remote control towards the television screen when Heskey (from now on to be referred to as the useless donkey) not only misses the best chance he has to redeem himself in the eyes of us Liverpool supporters by missing THAT chance against the SCUM in the dying minutes at Anfield in front of the Kop, but absolutely missing the ball, and slipping down by accidentally kicking his leg instead when he was through on goal, no defenders around to challenge him and Tim Howard already on his backside begging for mercy!! I mean, even my SISTER would have at least tested the keeper.I mean, one commentator summed it up nicely.
"Thats the difference between class and mediocrity. A class player would have taken that chance with ease"
Houllier, do us a favour and sell the useless donkey to Spurs or someone.
OK people, gotta start working now. Laters
You'll Never Walk Alone
I think it was the 1996 FA CUP finals between Liverpool and the SCUM, the one where David James did the ultimate sin of doing another one of his customary "clanger dropping" and presenting Eric Cantona with the opportunity to slice the our defence with that pin point shot that won them the FA CUP. What intrigued me was that at the college where i studied my A Levels, the majority of the people there were going hysterical and jumping around, and at one corner there, the only two Liverpool supporters there were sitting down quietly, heads down, faces in their hands.
"I dont mind them winning the league, but i really wanted to win this one"
"David James should be SHOT DEAD"
I didnt really start to support Liverpool exactly then, but after that, i tended to watch a lot of their games with these two people, and me being the type of person that just seems to have a soft spot for the underdogs, i guess, Liverpool is the team for me. Liverpool started to grow on me. I LOVED the way they play under Roy Evan. Flair. Skill. Attack. Pass and Move. Attack. Fowler. McManaman. But for all that superb play going forward, the ultimate downfall for Roy's men were their inability to defend properly. Calamity James comes to mind. Phil Babb as well. And also the incident where Babb went sliding on the ground to save the ball, only for him to slide towards the goal post, feet apart, and ending up with him hitting his bollocks onto the post! Ouch! Clowns! Schoolboy defending. But i still loved them.
Now, i barely controlled myself throwing the remote control towards the television screen when Heskey (from now on to be referred to as the useless donkey) not only misses the best chance he has to redeem himself in the eyes of us Liverpool supporters by missing THAT chance against the SCUM in the dying minutes at Anfield in front of the Kop, but absolutely missing the ball, and slipping down by accidentally kicking his leg instead when he was through on goal, no defenders around to challenge him and Tim Howard already on his backside begging for mercy!! I mean, even my SISTER would have at least tested the keeper.I mean, one commentator summed it up nicely.
"Thats the difference between class and mediocrity. A class player would have taken that chance with ease"
Houllier, do us a favour and sell the useless donkey to Spurs or someone.
OK people, gotta start working now. Laters
You'll Never Walk Alone
Friday, November 14, 2003
KILL BILL
Just watched some clips of the 4th Quentin Tarantino movie, Kill Bill part 1 on my friends computer. I watched the scene where the "Bride", Uma Thurman, went on a body slicing, limbs flying around, blood spurting out of your lacerated body parts, killing fest. This must be the most number of flying limbs i have seen in once scene of a movie.... EVER!!! Disgusting! Gross! Repulsive! Revolting!Sickening! Where do i get it?!! LOL. Anyway, gonna go searching for the VCD around town. Here's the link to it:
http://www.kill-bill.com/
Enjoy
http://www.kill-bill.com/
Enjoy
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Hey there.. it's been a while since my last entry. Been rather busy lately. Been staffed onto a new project and all so getting bloody hectic and all. Fasting month now, and everyone's out for lunch, leaving me here alone in the project room. Sheesh.
Been surfing the net and found another interesting site for cars and all stuff related to that.
Car Spy Shots
Anyway, am thinking of where to break fast with my girlfriend tonight. Been trying to think of some place nice, but my mind can't seem to stop thinking about the new KFC wedges that come with mayonaise and cheese... my god.. am salivating now just thinking of it.
Anyway.. back to surfing the net.
Been surfing the net and found another interesting site for cars and all stuff related to that.
Car Spy Shots
Anyway, am thinking of where to break fast with my girlfriend tonight. Been trying to think of some place nice, but my mind can't seem to stop thinking about the new KFC wedges that come with mayonaise and cheese... my god.. am salivating now just thinking of it.
Anyway.. back to surfing the net.
Friday, October 03, 2003
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