I have been feeling so darn demotivated at work so far this week. I still do my work, but it just doesn't feel the same as before. I think it's due to the extra long Chinese New Year break and probably my mind is sub-conciously thinking ahead to the other 4 day weekend coming up this weekend. God, it was so hard to wake up on Monday morning. Some people are just plain inconsiderate. I need something to be done by tomorrow morning, but i need someone to finish his stuff first before i can start. So what does this evil evil human being do? He goes for a afternoon coffee break and finishes his stuff on time for him (i.e. just 5 minutes before 5:30 so that he can go home in time), but that means i have to stay on in the office after hours. This is probably another factor that adds to my demotivation of work.
I read in the paper that Erra Fazira ( Local female Malaysian artiste and one half Malay celebrity of the moment) was "overwhelmed with nervousness" while shooting her latest Malay flick Tujuh Perhentian. Just can't seem to stop the voices in my head screaming the words "cheap, publicity, and desperation". Usually i don't even bother with this sort of news, but somehow this one has just caught my eye. I seriously think that Erra is getting a bit too exposed already and people would probably start to get sick of her, but i would probably be wrong considering the fact that i predicted the same to Ms (Soon to be Mrs it seems..) Siti Nurhaliza in her early early years, and look whats happened to her! Again, god knows why I am keeping up with this "useful" piece of information but there you go.
I have started to have a weird fondness of Chinese Fried Rice with a sunny side on top lately and I just can't seem to get enough of it. I seriously do not know why. The first time i had it recently, before i started on my Chinese Fried Rice with a sunny side on top craving was probably a few weeks back during lunch, at one of the mamak stalls at the "island" along Jalan Semarak, just opposite Wisma Telekom Semarak, now the proud headquarters of the now number one (arguably) mobile telephony service provider, Celcom.
Don't know why, but somehow the service provided by the ex-numero uno (arguably as well) Maxis, which i have been a loyal customer for the past 4 years or so, have been utterly disappointing. Absolutely. I have lost count of the so many times my calls have been dropped, or the oh so many times people can't hear me, or when i can't hear to anything the other person is speaking. The only thing thats keeping me from changing over to Celcom would be my reluctance to change my handset number to a new one and the hassle that comes with it, although i have read somewhere before, don't exactly remember where, that there are proposals that numbers would be exchangeable between service providers, ie you can have a Celcom line and still keep your 012******* number with you. I, for one, would be all for this proposal, not because it would be oh so convenient to me, but also it would open up the market and increase competition between the service providers as a lot of the so called customer loyalty for a particular service provider, a huge chunk of customers are probably people like me who just can't be arsed to change as i want to keep my mobile number. Imagine, Maxis giving you crap service? Let me change to Celcom. I am still using my same number. Digi giving better rates and better coverage? Let me change to them instead. I am STILL using my same number! If this was the case, mobile telephony service providers would have to be on their toes constantly to keep their subscribers, and hence offering better deals to the consumers which can only be a good thing to us.
Later.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Hmm... Where are the flying pigs now?!
Bruno Cheryou - Liverpool snapped up this exciting midfielder in May 2002 for £3.7million from Lille. He became the latest in a long line of Frenchmen to link up with Gerard Houllier at Anfield. Cheyrou had an impressive 2001/02 season in Le Championnat with Lille, playing in the Champions League, and won a three-year contract with Liverpool. The player netted 15 goals from the middle of the park that season - three of those in the Champions League - and is considered as a future full France international. Houllier watched Cheyrou in action during his side's 1-0 victory over Paris Saint Germain, and within days the move was complete. New French champions Lyon made it clear that they wanted him, but they could not compete with Houllier and Liverpool. Cheyrou scored 28 goals in 96 League games for Lille. Made his Liverpool debut in the 1-0 FA Community Shield defeat at the hands of Arsenal - courtesy of soccernet [www.soccernet.com]
To tell you the truth, i had particularly high hopes for this particular player when he first joined us in the summer of 2002 as, i would have to admit, i fell for the hype surrounding the transfer of "The next Zidane" from Lille to Liverpool. Supposedly one of the best midfielders in "Le Championnat" (although the term "one of the best midfielder in Le Championnat" was also given to Smicer, hence, now, any credibility whatsoever to that term has completely vanished in my mind), and also supposedly banging on the door of the French first team eager to displace Zizou in that attacking midfield / playmaker, a place that he was earmarked for the future, and also a player who scored a cracker of a goal for Lille in the Champions League against 'em Scums, and also an attacking midfielder with a decent scoring record. You can't actually blame ANYONE to be absolutely excited of the prospect of this gem of a player coming to Anfield, and having wet dreams of hattricks being scored against 'em Scums on a regular basis (OK, a bit far fetched, but people are entitled to dream, no matter how ridiculous).
I don't actually remember which was the first game i saw him play live, but all i can remember was that he only came on as a substitute (which at that time i was complaining to all the people watching, why on earth wasn't he played from the very start?!!), had a few nice touches and passes and did a nice turn in the penalty box where he managed to fool the defender and got us a penalty which for the life of me i can't remember who converted. It was a decent start and i had my hopes up thinking, my oh my, he looks a pretty decent player, and yeah he does bear some sort of resemblance to Zizou. I was thinking about all the hours i spent reading rumours and theories of Zizou coming to Anfield a few years back (courtesy of Teamtalk forums), and now (then) we have gotten ourselves a worthy replacement instead.
It all went downwards from then on. I guess i, and a lot of other Liverpool suppoters too, had just too high expectations of him early on. People started to complain that that he was too light weight, he was too slow, had a dodgy haircut, wore poncy white boots that are usually reserved for people who have skill and are proven to have skill, which he, at that time, was still unproven and also, as some people might say "couldn't score in a brothel". That's pretty bad for the "Next Zidane". I have to admit, i am guilty for probably most, if not all, of those complaints. But yeah, he was absolute crap last year. Total waste of space. Period.
This season, early on, it did look a bit more promising for Bruno. He lost the dodgy haircut (actually i think he shaved his head last season, but i guess it's good that he didn't go back to the mohawk wannabe haircut), and he lost the white boots as well. That's two points ticked off my major gripes of him, although he he was still unproven on the field, where it mattered the most, but unlucky for the lad, he got injured and has only recovered and played in the last few games.
Of the last few games that he has played, it seems that he has found his scoring boots again and has scored two in the last three games (v Wolves and Chelsea me thinks), which is excellent. However, from the only game which i was able to watch, the Spurs match, he was still absolutely disappointing. Absolute crap. Total waste of space. Which brings us to the FA CUP fixture last night which, in the initial plan, i was to go get some sleep and wake up at 130 to catch the game, but as i got attacked by bouts of aches in the stomach area, i spent probably like 1 1/2 hour in the toilet, in pain and agony. Anyway, below is a rating of the players who played last night.
The Dude - He was beaten by an absolute screamer in the early minutes to let Newcastle back in after we went ahead a few minutes before that. At first when i saw the goal i thought "My god. What a goal" while my mouth stayed gaping open for the duration of the replays, but after viewing the replay, it seems that he did get a touch on the ball and could have done better, but i guess the sheer pace of the shot beat him. Nevertheless, he did absolutely redeem himself in the final minutes to keep Shearer out with a smart, reflex save. Other than that, he had little more to do. The Dude gets a 7/10
Finnan - Now THIS is how an attacking fullback SHOULD play. Sort of solid at the back and kept Robert relatively quiet throughout the match, and was constantly going forward to support the attack in the second half. Constantly bombarding forward and being available for a pass. He made a good combination with le Tallec in the second half on the right hand side and we totally dominated that area of the pitch. A truly excellent display from him. Finnan gets an 8/10
Carragher - This game shows just how much we missed this fella in the defense. Although he offered didly squat going forward, but he is absolutely solid at the back, shows gallons of determination, and would probably die for the cause. A good game for him and made sure that Solano was familiar to his pocket as Solano was constantly in it. Welcome back! 7/10
Henchoz - My man of the match. Shows WHY we have been missing him these past few months. Always solid and dependable. Good in the tackle and re-slotted into the central defence position along side Hyppia without much fuss as if he hadn't been gone at all. Re-established the telephatic communication with Hyppia in the central of defense such that Hyppia looks a much better player now, and the whole defense looks much more solid with him in there. Biscan, can you please pack up your bags. NOW. Henchoz 10/10
Hyppia - He must be absolutely GLAD to welcome back Henchoz back into the team. Looks much more composed now and much more calm and relaxed with his trusty partner in crime next to him. Looked pretty solid and had a few chances during corner kicks as well. Mr ex Captain gets 7/10
Didi Hammann - Defensive midfielder who does "exactly was it says on the tin". Calm and composed. Breaking up the Toon Army attacks in the center of midfield and shielded the back four well. Mr Houllier says that he would only renew his contract if he performs as consistently as this. I say sign him up now. Mr Consistently gets the job done gets a 7/10
Stevie G - El-Kapitan had a decent game. Always wanting the ball and always driving forward and also constantly running around. Set up the winning goal with a determined run on the left hand side and wrong footing the Toon defender, and sending in an inch perfect cross for Cheyrou to head in. If he keeps on playing like he did in the second half, i won't be complaining much, really. El Kapitan gets 7/10
Kewell - Again, he looks uninterested in playing. Looks lethargic. Doesn't look sharp Has lost his form completely and looks to have lost some confidence as well as he doesnt run at defenders that often anymore. Looks confused and lost in the field as well. I think it might have something to do with the constant moving around the field from right wing to left wing to right to left and all. I think he needs to be just stuck on the left wing and just stay there, for the time being, til he regains his form and confidence. Kewell gets a 5/10
Cheryou - He scored TWO goals!!! Not one, but TWO!!! GASP!! What is happening to this world?! Yes, i AM very happy that he scored both our goal on the night and it seems like he is just starting to find himself in the league nowadays. He scored one goal in the 1st minute, pouncing on the Given's save to steer the ball into the empty net, and the second, heading in a pinpoint cross from Gerrard past the despairing dive of the 'keeper. However, other than the two goals that he scored, he did absolutely nothing else. I was struggling to think of anything else that he contributed to the game. He needs to get involved more in the game. But, at least he is scoring the goals now. 9/10 for the goals and 5/10 for the performance, so an average of 7/10 for Bruno Cheryou.
Heskey - Useless piece of crap did absolutely nothing in the first half after forcing Given into a save which the rebound was pounced on by Cheryou for the goal. Did a lot of running around and nothing more. I don't know why he was replaced during half time though. Could he be injured or was it tactical? Really really needs to improve. 4/10
Saint Owen - Looked a bit more sharp compared to the Totenham game, but still not good enough for me. I will give him another one or two more games though as he is supposedly still regaining his sharpness from the injury. Now all he needs to do is to score a hattrick against the Bluenoses next. OK, a bit much to ask but what the hell. 5/10
Le Tallec - This is a player that still needs to prove himself. He is just 17 though so i am willing to give him some time, although he is going towards the "Bruno Cheryou route" with his dodgy haircut and hair color. Oh well, at least when he came on in the second half, he showed a lot of promising talent. Some good and neat touches and passes here and there and looks very promising. He dominated the right hand side of the field with Finnan in the second half. Looks promising and looks a hot prospect if he can continue to improve from this, which i think he will. 7/10
Some thoughts on the match
The first half was absolutely horrible. After the first 5 minutes, where one goal was scored each, it got so scrappy with wayward passing and non-evident flow on both teams. When the second half started, i thought that Houllier was going through one of his moments of insanity again. Playing at home, in a cup tie, needing to score, he brings out a striker and plays five across the midfield. I am actually still trying to figure out and undecided about whether our better second half performance was due to the tactical genius of Houllier changing to a five midfield, to control the midfield, or was it just a fluke as bringing ANYONE on for Heskey would be an improvement! Oh well.
You'll never walk alone.
Later.
To tell you the truth, i had particularly high hopes for this particular player when he first joined us in the summer of 2002 as, i would have to admit, i fell for the hype surrounding the transfer of "The next Zidane" from Lille to Liverpool. Supposedly one of the best midfielders in "Le Championnat" (although the term "one of the best midfielder in Le Championnat" was also given to Smicer, hence, now, any credibility whatsoever to that term has completely vanished in my mind), and also supposedly banging on the door of the French first team eager to displace Zizou in that attacking midfield / playmaker, a place that he was earmarked for the future, and also a player who scored a cracker of a goal for Lille in the Champions League against 'em Scums, and also an attacking midfielder with a decent scoring record. You can't actually blame ANYONE to be absolutely excited of the prospect of this gem of a player coming to Anfield, and having wet dreams of hattricks being scored against 'em Scums on a regular basis (OK, a bit far fetched, but people are entitled to dream, no matter how ridiculous).
I don't actually remember which was the first game i saw him play live, but all i can remember was that he only came on as a substitute (which at that time i was complaining to all the people watching, why on earth wasn't he played from the very start?!!), had a few nice touches and passes and did a nice turn in the penalty box where he managed to fool the defender and got us a penalty which for the life of me i can't remember who converted. It was a decent start and i had my hopes up thinking, my oh my, he looks a pretty decent player, and yeah he does bear some sort of resemblance to Zizou. I was thinking about all the hours i spent reading rumours and theories of Zizou coming to Anfield a few years back (courtesy of Teamtalk forums), and now (then) we have gotten ourselves a worthy replacement instead.
It all went downwards from then on. I guess i, and a lot of other Liverpool suppoters too, had just too high expectations of him early on. People started to complain that that he was too light weight, he was too slow, had a dodgy haircut, wore poncy white boots that are usually reserved for people who have skill and are proven to have skill, which he, at that time, was still unproven and also, as some people might say "couldn't score in a brothel". That's pretty bad for the "Next Zidane". I have to admit, i am guilty for probably most, if not all, of those complaints. But yeah, he was absolute crap last year. Total waste of space. Period.
This season, early on, it did look a bit more promising for Bruno. He lost the dodgy haircut (actually i think he shaved his head last season, but i guess it's good that he didn't go back to the mohawk wannabe haircut), and he lost the white boots as well. That's two points ticked off my major gripes of him, although he he was still unproven on the field, where it mattered the most, but unlucky for the lad, he got injured and has only recovered and played in the last few games.
Of the last few games that he has played, it seems that he has found his scoring boots again and has scored two in the last three games (v Wolves and Chelsea me thinks), which is excellent. However, from the only game which i was able to watch, the Spurs match, he was still absolutely disappointing. Absolute crap. Total waste of space. Which brings us to the FA CUP fixture last night which, in the initial plan, i was to go get some sleep and wake up at 130 to catch the game, but as i got attacked by bouts of aches in the stomach area, i spent probably like 1 1/2 hour in the toilet, in pain and agony. Anyway, below is a rating of the players who played last night.
The Dude - He was beaten by an absolute screamer in the early minutes to let Newcastle back in after we went ahead a few minutes before that. At first when i saw the goal i thought "My god. What a goal" while my mouth stayed gaping open for the duration of the replays, but after viewing the replay, it seems that he did get a touch on the ball and could have done better, but i guess the sheer pace of the shot beat him. Nevertheless, he did absolutely redeem himself in the final minutes to keep Shearer out with a smart, reflex save. Other than that, he had little more to do. The Dude gets a 7/10
Finnan - Now THIS is how an attacking fullback SHOULD play. Sort of solid at the back and kept Robert relatively quiet throughout the match, and was constantly going forward to support the attack in the second half. Constantly bombarding forward and being available for a pass. He made a good combination with le Tallec in the second half on the right hand side and we totally dominated that area of the pitch. A truly excellent display from him. Finnan gets an 8/10
Carragher - This game shows just how much we missed this fella in the defense. Although he offered didly squat going forward, but he is absolutely solid at the back, shows gallons of determination, and would probably die for the cause. A good game for him and made sure that Solano was familiar to his pocket as Solano was constantly in it. Welcome back! 7/10
Henchoz - My man of the match. Shows WHY we have been missing him these past few months. Always solid and dependable. Good in the tackle and re-slotted into the central defence position along side Hyppia without much fuss as if he hadn't been gone at all. Re-established the telephatic communication with Hyppia in the central of defense such that Hyppia looks a much better player now, and the whole defense looks much more solid with him in there. Biscan, can you please pack up your bags. NOW. Henchoz 10/10
Hyppia - He must be absolutely GLAD to welcome back Henchoz back into the team. Looks much more composed now and much more calm and relaxed with his trusty partner in crime next to him. Looked pretty solid and had a few chances during corner kicks as well. Mr ex Captain gets 7/10
Didi Hammann - Defensive midfielder who does "exactly was it says on the tin". Calm and composed. Breaking up the Toon Army attacks in the center of midfield and shielded the back four well. Mr Houllier says that he would only renew his contract if he performs as consistently as this. I say sign him up now. Mr Consistently gets the job done gets a 7/10
Stevie G - El-Kapitan had a decent game. Always wanting the ball and always driving forward and also constantly running around. Set up the winning goal with a determined run on the left hand side and wrong footing the Toon defender, and sending in an inch perfect cross for Cheyrou to head in. If he keeps on playing like he did in the second half, i won't be complaining much, really. El Kapitan gets 7/10
Kewell - Again, he looks uninterested in playing. Looks lethargic. Doesn't look sharp Has lost his form completely and looks to have lost some confidence as well as he doesnt run at defenders that often anymore. Looks confused and lost in the field as well. I think it might have something to do with the constant moving around the field from right wing to left wing to right to left and all. I think he needs to be just stuck on the left wing and just stay there, for the time being, til he regains his form and confidence. Kewell gets a 5/10
Cheryou - He scored TWO goals!!! Not one, but TWO!!! GASP!! What is happening to this world?! Yes, i AM very happy that he scored both our goal on the night and it seems like he is just starting to find himself in the league nowadays. He scored one goal in the 1st minute, pouncing on the Given's save to steer the ball into the empty net, and the second, heading in a pinpoint cross from Gerrard past the despairing dive of the 'keeper. However, other than the two goals that he scored, he did absolutely nothing else. I was struggling to think of anything else that he contributed to the game. He needs to get involved more in the game. But, at least he is scoring the goals now. 9/10 for the goals and 5/10 for the performance, so an average of 7/10 for Bruno Cheryou.
Heskey - Useless piece of crap did absolutely nothing in the first half after forcing Given into a save which the rebound was pounced on by Cheryou for the goal. Did a lot of running around and nothing more. I don't know why he was replaced during half time though. Could he be injured or was it tactical? Really really needs to improve. 4/10
Saint Owen - Looked a bit more sharp compared to the Totenham game, but still not good enough for me. I will give him another one or two more games though as he is supposedly still regaining his sharpness from the injury. Now all he needs to do is to score a hattrick against the Bluenoses next. OK, a bit much to ask but what the hell. 5/10
Le Tallec - This is a player that still needs to prove himself. He is just 17 though so i am willing to give him some time, although he is going towards the "Bruno Cheryou route" with his dodgy haircut and hair color. Oh well, at least when he came on in the second half, he showed a lot of promising talent. Some good and neat touches and passes here and there and looks very promising. He dominated the right hand side of the field with Finnan in the second half. Looks promising and looks a hot prospect if he can continue to improve from this, which i think he will. 7/10
Some thoughts on the match
The first half was absolutely horrible. After the first 5 minutes, where one goal was scored each, it got so scrappy with wayward passing and non-evident flow on both teams. When the second half started, i thought that Houllier was going through one of his moments of insanity again. Playing at home, in a cup tie, needing to score, he brings out a striker and plays five across the midfield. I am actually still trying to figure out and undecided about whether our better second half performance was due to the tactical genius of Houllier changing to a five midfield, to control the midfield, or was it just a fluke as bringing ANYONE on for Heskey would be an improvement! Oh well.
You'll never walk alone.
Later.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Halal Yee Sang Anyone?
Now, correct me if i am wrong, but Yee Sang is a Chinese traditional dish which is usually regarded as sort of a must for the annual reunion dinner. What usually happens a is that the Yee Sang dish would be put in the middle of the table and then everyone stands up mixes and tossed the food in the plate around together with their chopsticks, and supposedly, the higher you toss the food, the more prosperous you get in the following year. What i am told, by a colleague of mine that is, is that in your normal kopitiams, you can see the more traditional and elderly folks trying to outdo themselves by tossing the food higher and higher up in the air and would sometimes even go to the extent of standing on their chairs to toss the food higher and higher. OK, now THAT, i would want to see someday.
We had a pre-Chinese New Year project lunch the other day where my project team mates went to the extent of finding a Halal Yee Sang place so that i could join in on the "fun". I didn't really know at that time how difficult it is to find Halal Yee Sang, so i felt a bit obligated to join in considering the fact that they actually went to the trouble so that i could join in. If I wasn't around, probably they would go to some place like Peel Road or Jalan Imbi some place, their normal Chinese Food haunts when i don't follow them for the lunch break. So they decided to go to the Chinese Restaurant at Nikko Hotel for their dose of Project Yee Sang this year. Anyway, once we were there, i let the rest order whatever they wanted, which i really couldn't understand what on earth they were on about with the waitresses there. All they said was the food that they ordered consists of some Yee Sang and some dim sum after that.
The Yee Sang arrived quite some time later and i was starting to get a bit hungry already from the wait as i had already consumed my fortune cookie (Which I just can't seem to remember what it said, but from what i do remember was that it was supposed to be a prediction for 2008, which is like 5 years away, so if it indeed DID happen then, i would have long forgotten about the fortune cookie anyway) (also, are you supposed to eat it AFTER the meal or BEFORE?) and several cups of hot Chinese tea as well. Once it arrived, i could see that the plate consisted of some raw salmon, some shredded carrot and cucumber, some sort of cracker-ish stuff, and also some other stuff which i couldn't for the life of me recognise. Oh yeah, and they actually put some GOLD paper or some sort . It seems that it is supposed to be mixed into the Yee Sang and consumed by an unassuming "lucky" fella, and is supposed to bring prosperity to the person who consumers it. Interesting.
So everybody stood up, shouted "YAM SENG!!", or was it "YEE SANG!!", and took their chopsticks and started mixing it all up in the plate together. I was about to jump onto my chair and start throwing up the yee sang from way up there but luckily the person sitting next to me stopped me, and explained that people only do that in like the kopitiams and all and not at hotels. Darn. Oh well. Maybe some other time then. Anyway, after like 2-3 minutes and after getting the whole table messed up with the yee sang all splattered around (I am imagining how it would be if people actually DID stand on the chair and toss it from way up there!!), we each took a plate full of yee sang and started to eat. According to the more "knowledgeable" ones on the table, the yee sang we had that day was pretty decent. For me, i sort of find it a bit too sweet for my liking, but i wouldn't mind having it again. I was more interested in taking the salmon and also looking for the supposedly gold paper (which no one could find, so someone would have some gold swimming around in their stomach).
As for the dim sum that came after that, considering the fact that i've dim-sum-ed before, wasn't too much of a suprise other than two of the dishes. One of it was the chicken legs, which they call the Phoenix Claw (if my memory serves me well), which at first didn't look too appealing to me, but after a LOT of persuasion from everyone, i decided to give it a go. I must say that it did taste a bit weird, but really not that bad and i guess the only thing that stopped me before would probably be just the THOUGHT of eating the chicken legs and also the sight of it. Once you start "diggin in", it's not too bad. I was told after i finished mine that i was a "brave person" to have eaten it since most of the people on the table wouldn't have it ANYWAY!! Basterds. The other dim sum that i would say probably stood out from the rest would be some sort of deep fried dumpling with prawns and BANANAS in it! OK, i don't know about any of you, but for me, in general, prawns and bananas do NOT mix well together, and that dumpling that day wasn't an exception either.
Anyway, I just received a joke on my SMS a few minutes ago, and here it goes.
"Chinese New Year is very near, so the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar should meet again. Up till now, the meeting has not started as the monkey is still reading this message" - Ha ha ha.
Happy Chinese New Year.
Later.
We had a pre-Chinese New Year project lunch the other day where my project team mates went to the extent of finding a Halal Yee Sang place so that i could join in on the "fun". I didn't really know at that time how difficult it is to find Halal Yee Sang, so i felt a bit obligated to join in considering the fact that they actually went to the trouble so that i could join in. If I wasn't around, probably they would go to some place like Peel Road or Jalan Imbi some place, their normal Chinese Food haunts when i don't follow them for the lunch break. So they decided to go to the Chinese Restaurant at Nikko Hotel for their dose of Project Yee Sang this year. Anyway, once we were there, i let the rest order whatever they wanted, which i really couldn't understand what on earth they were on about with the waitresses there. All they said was the food that they ordered consists of some Yee Sang and some dim sum after that.
The Yee Sang arrived quite some time later and i was starting to get a bit hungry already from the wait as i had already consumed my fortune cookie (Which I just can't seem to remember what it said, but from what i do remember was that it was supposed to be a prediction for 2008, which is like 5 years away, so if it indeed DID happen then, i would have long forgotten about the fortune cookie anyway) (also, are you supposed to eat it AFTER the meal or BEFORE?) and several cups of hot Chinese tea as well. Once it arrived, i could see that the plate consisted of some raw salmon, some shredded carrot and cucumber, some sort of cracker-ish stuff, and also some other stuff which i couldn't for the life of me recognise. Oh yeah, and they actually put some GOLD paper or some sort . It seems that it is supposed to be mixed into the Yee Sang and consumed by an unassuming "lucky" fella, and is supposed to bring prosperity to the person who consumers it. Interesting.
So everybody stood up, shouted "YAM SENG!!", or was it "YEE SANG!!", and took their chopsticks and started mixing it all up in the plate together. I was about to jump onto my chair and start throwing up the yee sang from way up there but luckily the person sitting next to me stopped me, and explained that people only do that in like the kopitiams and all and not at hotels. Darn. Oh well. Maybe some other time then. Anyway, after like 2-3 minutes and after getting the whole table messed up with the yee sang all splattered around (I am imagining how it would be if people actually DID stand on the chair and toss it from way up there!!), we each took a plate full of yee sang and started to eat. According to the more "knowledgeable" ones on the table, the yee sang we had that day was pretty decent. For me, i sort of find it a bit too sweet for my liking, but i wouldn't mind having it again. I was more interested in taking the salmon and also looking for the supposedly gold paper (which no one could find, so someone would have some gold swimming around in their stomach).
As for the dim sum that came after that, considering the fact that i've dim-sum-ed before, wasn't too much of a suprise other than two of the dishes. One of it was the chicken legs, which they call the Phoenix Claw (if my memory serves me well), which at first didn't look too appealing to me, but after a LOT of persuasion from everyone, i decided to give it a go. I must say that it did taste a bit weird, but really not that bad and i guess the only thing that stopped me before would probably be just the THOUGHT of eating the chicken legs and also the sight of it. Once you start "diggin in", it's not too bad. I was told after i finished mine that i was a "brave person" to have eaten it since most of the people on the table wouldn't have it ANYWAY!! Basterds. The other dim sum that i would say probably stood out from the rest would be some sort of deep fried dumpling with prawns and BANANAS in it! OK, i don't know about any of you, but for me, in general, prawns and bananas do NOT mix well together, and that dumpling that day wasn't an exception either.
Anyway, I just received a joke on my SMS a few minutes ago, and here it goes.
"Chinese New Year is very near, so the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar should meet again. Up till now, the meeting has not started as the monkey is still reading this message" - Ha ha ha.
Happy Chinese New Year.
Later.
Monday, January 19, 2004
You Have Been Postiga-ed
I was enjoying an excellent Saturday last weekend. Went out in the morning. Had a good breakfast. Excellent sunny weather. Went out with my family to Ikea to get some of those scandinavian designer house stuff. Amazingly the traffic around there at around 11am wasn't too bad. Then played street soccer with my mates for two hours, leaving me very much knackered but very much more satisfied with myself after some decent displays on the courts, in my opinion, although some other people would say i was absolutely horrible, but what the hell. I think i played OK. Not Zinedine Zidane-esque, as i dont think i am that type of player, but more of a Stevie Gerrard sort. Ha ha ha. Yeah right!! Went back and had dinner with my better half. Had a really good time although i spent most of the time complaining about the aches on my body from football. Yes. I must be getting old. Sent her back at around 10-ish and headed back home to catch the Liverpool match on the telly. I found out the moment i reached home that Man Utd actually lost to Wolves (Ha Ha!!), and my day just could NOT be any better. After around half an hour goading and teasing my sister while laughing and rolling around on the floor, i went to the telly to get myself ready for the match. We were playing Spurs and it can't be any worse than what happened to Man Utd, could it?
What an absymal result. I am so very dissappointed and just can't seem to get past the trauma of watching us loose to the Spurs on Saturday. Here is a low down of how our players played.
jones - Almost saved the penalty as he got a hand to it and could do much about the second. Looked quite dodgy with some of his kicks though, but pretty solid otherwise. 6/10
henchoz - He did OK as a right back but was caught out of position on a few occassions. Looked much MUCH more confortable once he moved to the center of the defense along side Hyypia, his natural position. 6/10
biscan - Useless piece of Croatian arse. Was at fault for both goals. I must admit that I was starting to think that he was probably a decent defender, but after this shocking performance, i would be very very surprised and extremely annoyed if he gets the nod ahead of Henchoz for the spot beside Hyypia. Useless piece of Croation crap gets -1 gazzillion / 10
hyppia - Had a relatively OK game, but was partly at fault for the 1st goal though, playing Keane onside as he was late coming up to get the offside trap up. 5/10
traore - Another useless piece of trash. Fell on his arse too many times that the White Hart Lane faithful started to goad him. Never contributed anything going forward and was shaky defensively as well. Djimi "fall on my arse" Traore gets a measly 1/10
hamann - Played his normal, simple game and cleaned up the shit for everyone else in the midfield. Mr Consistently gets on with his job gets a 7/10
murphy - I think someone needs to buy for him a pair of glasses as he just failed to see the difference between red and white, judging from the amount of times he passed straight to someone in white, and not red. He should be benched. Period. Person who should be benched get 0 poitns /10. You deserve it!!
cheryou - To think that when he first arrived, i was actually excited with the hype that came with him as "The Next Zidane". Too many people were optimistic that after the Chelsea goal, he would start to show us the true Bruno Cheryou. Although me, being the pessimistic basterd that i am, laughed my evil laughter inside of me, i was still willing to give him another chance. After the match, while i was gathering my thoughts for the match, and saw the lineup again, only then i remembered that he was actually playing. Can someone tell me what on EARTH he was doing on the pitch, as i can't seem to remember anything meaningful. Absolute horse crap. The ex-"Next Zidane" gets a 0/10 for his Houdini-esque dissappearing act during the whole match.
kewell - Other than his absolutely superb goal, he was agonizingly anonymous again. It seems that he just doesn't seem interested in playing nowadays. He should get the ball and run with it more often, rather than trying to pass it all the time. 6/10 points and most of 'em points are for the goal.
heskey - It doesn't bode well for the team when people say he played relatively well compared to the rest! It seems that there is speculation that Middlesborough was eager to sign him for 5 million pounds. On any other time i would have bitten their arms off for that sale. However, i don't think that Gerard will sell him off now as i think it would be absolute suicide as we don't have any ready made replacement. If he goes, although not a total loss, who would play up front? Owen (Just recovering from injury), Baros (Recovering), Ponggolle (Too young and inexperienced and too similar to Owen), Kewell (Dip of form), LeTallec (midfielder who can play forward, but too young). The most likely and best case scenario would be for Heskey to go in the summer, unless we can get Cisse in before the transfer window (Big if, and i am still unconvinced by Cisse in the first place). 6/10 just for his effort. He might not have that much skill, but at least he shows that he wants to play.
owen - Owen, Owen, Owen. He doesn't seem to be interested in playing for us anymore. He STILL hasn't started negotiations on his contract, and i feel he is delaying it to see our chances of qualifying for the Champs League next year. Honestly speaking, i wouldn't put it against him if he left. Owen sometimes complains and doesn't understand why he doesn't get as much support or adultation from the Anfield faithful as, say, Gerrard, or Fowler. But to me, it's simple. Look at Gerrard for instance, saying up front before hand that he will sign a new contract irregardless, and did so. That's why we idolize him. 4/10 for doing absolutely nothing. I am willing to let him have some time to regain his match sharpness.. yes i am.
riise - Somehow, he doesn't seem like the same player that played for us like 2 years ago. He can't pass, his shots are awry, and doesn't run with the ball anymore. Very very very guilty fo just "lumping it up to Heskey". 2/10 for the "lumper".
finnan - Glad to see him back. Showed us what we have been missing on the right back berth with his forays forward. Let's hope he gets fit and plays consistently. 6/10.
Some thoughts from the match..
What on earth was Houllier thinking with the tactics? Putting two natural fullbacks on the bench and playing with FOUR centerbacks across the defense. I can see now that this would be the tactic that he would employ for tough away matches and it seemed to have worked when playing against Chelsea. Absorb all the pressure and hit them on the break. This was the tactic they used during the treble season. The only difference between now and then is that we can't seem to defend properly anymore, what with Biscan and all playing. Also, playing this sort of tactic against teams like Chelsea can be forgiven, but against SPURS?!! That's what i call giving too much respect that they deserve!
Looking at our bench, it was just soooooo god damned obvious what our tactics were. Finnan, Carragher, Dudek, Riise, and Le Tallec. I mean, 3 defenders, one keeper and one attacking midfielder. The starting eleven was so blatantly obvious that it was gonna be playing on the defensive, and the bench would suggest to ANYONE with a reasonable IQ that we would be hard up to come back into the game if we were behind and there was absolutely no one on the bench to come in and change the game to our favour. Where was Sinama Ponggolle?
It seems that most of our players, to quote a mate of mine, "Has a first touch of a rapist!". I mean of all the players out there, it seems like only Hamann and Kewell have decent control of the ball. I mean this is a Premiership club and i would have expected a premiership team to have at least some degree of control when they have their first touch the ball, but judging from the Spurs' game display, almost most of them can't trap a brick! Even Owen! Amazing!
Teamwork was virtually non existent. The fact that the Kewell goal was scored from an individual run, dribble and shoot shows the amount, or more so, lack of teamwork amongst the players. I mean, for goodness sakes, SPURS of all teams showed us how to play the pass and move game! SPURS! (Credit to them though).
Owen doesn't look interested in playing anymore. It might just be me, and it might just be that he is still getting back his match fitness. But his constant stalling on a new contract just tells me that he is waiting to see if we have any chance of getting into the Champs league next year, and if not, it'll be bye bye Owen for us. Bad, but i wouldn't blame him one bit.
The very fact that we had to complain about an un-awarded penalty kick to say that we were robbed of one valuable point just shows how desperate we are nowadays. I mean, we shouldn't be in THAT position in the first place.
I've said it so many times, maybe not here, but we've shipped out quality players from the club and brought in inadequate replacements. Out went Litmanen, Anelka, Berger (he could still do a job for us now), McAllister and who came in? Diouf, Diao and Cheryou.
Ok. Enough with the rants for now. I need to lay low and keep quiet for the time being. Been getting replies to my SMS which i sent to all my Man Utd supporting friends after finding out their results. Need to stay away from my sister as well. Serves me right. Mental note to self. Only start harassing other team supporters ONLY once my result has been confirmed to be OK.
Later.
What an absymal result. I am so very dissappointed and just can't seem to get past the trauma of watching us loose to the Spurs on Saturday. Here is a low down of how our players played.
jones - Almost saved the penalty as he got a hand to it and could do much about the second. Looked quite dodgy with some of his kicks though, but pretty solid otherwise. 6/10
henchoz - He did OK as a right back but was caught out of position on a few occassions. Looked much MUCH more confortable once he moved to the center of the defense along side Hyypia, his natural position. 6/10
biscan - Useless piece of Croatian arse. Was at fault for both goals. I must admit that I was starting to think that he was probably a decent defender, but after this shocking performance, i would be very very surprised and extremely annoyed if he gets the nod ahead of Henchoz for the spot beside Hyypia. Useless piece of Croation crap gets -1 gazzillion / 10
hyppia - Had a relatively OK game, but was partly at fault for the 1st goal though, playing Keane onside as he was late coming up to get the offside trap up. 5/10
traore - Another useless piece of trash. Fell on his arse too many times that the White Hart Lane faithful started to goad him. Never contributed anything going forward and was shaky defensively as well. Djimi "fall on my arse" Traore gets a measly 1/10
hamann - Played his normal, simple game and cleaned up the shit for everyone else in the midfield. Mr Consistently gets on with his job gets a 7/10
murphy - I think someone needs to buy for him a pair of glasses as he just failed to see the difference between red and white, judging from the amount of times he passed straight to someone in white, and not red. He should be benched. Period. Person who should be benched get 0 poitns /10. You deserve it!!
cheryou - To think that when he first arrived, i was actually excited with the hype that came with him as "The Next Zidane". Too many people were optimistic that after the Chelsea goal, he would start to show us the true Bruno Cheryou. Although me, being the pessimistic basterd that i am, laughed my evil laughter inside of me, i was still willing to give him another chance. After the match, while i was gathering my thoughts for the match, and saw the lineup again, only then i remembered that he was actually playing. Can someone tell me what on EARTH he was doing on the pitch, as i can't seem to remember anything meaningful. Absolute horse crap. The ex-"Next Zidane" gets a 0/10 for his Houdini-esque dissappearing act during the whole match.
kewell - Other than his absolutely superb goal, he was agonizingly anonymous again. It seems that he just doesn't seem interested in playing nowadays. He should get the ball and run with it more often, rather than trying to pass it all the time. 6/10 points and most of 'em points are for the goal.
heskey - It doesn't bode well for the team when people say he played relatively well compared to the rest! It seems that there is speculation that Middlesborough was eager to sign him for 5 million pounds. On any other time i would have bitten their arms off for that sale. However, i don't think that Gerard will sell him off now as i think it would be absolute suicide as we don't have any ready made replacement. If he goes, although not a total loss, who would play up front? Owen (Just recovering from injury), Baros (Recovering), Ponggolle (Too young and inexperienced and too similar to Owen), Kewell (Dip of form), LeTallec (midfielder who can play forward, but too young). The most likely and best case scenario would be for Heskey to go in the summer, unless we can get Cisse in before the transfer window (Big if, and i am still unconvinced by Cisse in the first place). 6/10 just for his effort. He might not have that much skill, but at least he shows that he wants to play.
owen - Owen, Owen, Owen. He doesn't seem to be interested in playing for us anymore. He STILL hasn't started negotiations on his contract, and i feel he is delaying it to see our chances of qualifying for the Champs League next year. Honestly speaking, i wouldn't put it against him if he left. Owen sometimes complains and doesn't understand why he doesn't get as much support or adultation from the Anfield faithful as, say, Gerrard, or Fowler. But to me, it's simple. Look at Gerrard for instance, saying up front before hand that he will sign a new contract irregardless, and did so. That's why we idolize him. 4/10 for doing absolutely nothing. I am willing to let him have some time to regain his match sharpness.. yes i am.
riise - Somehow, he doesn't seem like the same player that played for us like 2 years ago. He can't pass, his shots are awry, and doesn't run with the ball anymore. Very very very guilty fo just "lumping it up to Heskey". 2/10 for the "lumper".
finnan - Glad to see him back. Showed us what we have been missing on the right back berth with his forays forward. Let's hope he gets fit and plays consistently. 6/10.
Some thoughts from the match..
What on earth was Houllier thinking with the tactics? Putting two natural fullbacks on the bench and playing with FOUR centerbacks across the defense. I can see now that this would be the tactic that he would employ for tough away matches and it seemed to have worked when playing against Chelsea. Absorb all the pressure and hit them on the break. This was the tactic they used during the treble season. The only difference between now and then is that we can't seem to defend properly anymore, what with Biscan and all playing. Also, playing this sort of tactic against teams like Chelsea can be forgiven, but against SPURS?!! That's what i call giving too much respect that they deserve!
Looking at our bench, it was just soooooo god damned obvious what our tactics were. Finnan, Carragher, Dudek, Riise, and Le Tallec. I mean, 3 defenders, one keeper and one attacking midfielder. The starting eleven was so blatantly obvious that it was gonna be playing on the defensive, and the bench would suggest to ANYONE with a reasonable IQ that we would be hard up to come back into the game if we were behind and there was absolutely no one on the bench to come in and change the game to our favour. Where was Sinama Ponggolle?
It seems that most of our players, to quote a mate of mine, "Has a first touch of a rapist!". I mean of all the players out there, it seems like only Hamann and Kewell have decent control of the ball. I mean this is a Premiership club and i would have expected a premiership team to have at least some degree of control when they have their first touch the ball, but judging from the Spurs' game display, almost most of them can't trap a brick! Even Owen! Amazing!
Teamwork was virtually non existent. The fact that the Kewell goal was scored from an individual run, dribble and shoot shows the amount, or more so, lack of teamwork amongst the players. I mean, for goodness sakes, SPURS of all teams showed us how to play the pass and move game! SPURS! (Credit to them though).
Owen doesn't look interested in playing anymore. It might just be me, and it might just be that he is still getting back his match fitness. But his constant stalling on a new contract just tells me that he is waiting to see if we have any chance of getting into the Champs league next year, and if not, it'll be bye bye Owen for us. Bad, but i wouldn't blame him one bit.
The very fact that we had to complain about an un-awarded penalty kick to say that we were robbed of one valuable point just shows how desperate we are nowadays. I mean, we shouldn't be in THAT position in the first place.
I've said it so many times, maybe not here, but we've shipped out quality players from the club and brought in inadequate replacements. Out went Litmanen, Anelka, Berger (he could still do a job for us now), McAllister and who came in? Diouf, Diao and Cheryou.
Ok. Enough with the rants for now. I need to lay low and keep quiet for the time being. Been getting replies to my SMS which i sent to all my Man Utd supporting friends after finding out their results. Need to stay away from my sister as well. Serves me right. Mental note to self. Only start harassing other team supporters ONLY once my result has been confirmed to be OK.
Later.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
From My Inbox
Got this from my inbox today. Quite an interesting read, although i am sure it's been doing it's round on the forwards a few times around already.
Your career is not everything; your life is. But then, what is life without a career or a career without a life?
1. You are always on your own. Even if you work for a big company, you will always be on your own. Companies aren't people. They're things and they don't have feelings. If you are expecting the company to "take care of you or "do the right thing", you'll be often disappointed. There are no strong bonds in a company. No one cares more about your career than you do. Remember that, and don't expect the company to take care of you.
2. Certain jobs fit certain people best. You do have special gifts that fit you for some, disqualify you for others. Take time to assess your skills, temperament and aptitude in depth.
3. Careers are short-term. Your present job can end anytime, even if you own the company! Therefore, think short term. Don't take your present career for granted. Someone once described a consultant as a person who wakes up every morning unemployed. You should feel the same way. Wake up every morning feeling unemployed so that you'll appreciate your present job more and figure out what you're going to do next. Always have a "Plan B." (No kidding!!)
4. It's more important to be a "people person" than an "achievement-oriented person" who always win at the cost of others. People skills are more important than technical skills. Even in technical jobs, you have to deal with someone. The average performer who are easier to get along with last longer in his job.
5. What you accomplish today will be your calling card tomorrow. Your accomplishments will determine your marketability. In marketing yourself, it's the results that count. A soccer forward who scores in every game is easier to market than one who doesn't. So make sure you're contributing something substantial and measurable every day. And make sure you keep a written record of your results, in case you forget!
6. If you lose your job, 80% of your marketing for a new position is already done. That's right. Your reputation, results, accomplishments, people skills, contributions, friendships are all a matter of record. If you've been a contributor, if you've been kind to others and easy-to-work-with, you'll be in better demand. If not, you won't. Nobody can create friendship for you if you haven't created it for yourself.
7. Changing fields, industries, and functional specialties is difficult. The more difficult it is, the bigger the change will be. Therefore, choose your career path carefully. As management expert Peter Drucker says, "The best way to predict the future is to plan it."
8. If you're fired or laid off, don't sue your former employer. Ask yourself why you didn't see it coming; or if you did see it coming, ask yourself "why you didn't do something about it." Figure out your part in causing the problem. Then set about creating a new, better life for yourself. There is a better life in your future.
9. Don't stay in a job you hate. Hating your job can kill you.
10. Success is difficult. If success were easy, everyone would be successful.
11. There's a special place for everyone. You can create the kind of future you want.
12. The workplace is fun and challenging. It can also be cruel and heartless. It rewards effort and planning, but tends to punish indifference and lack of preparation. Those who don't manage their careers, who just let things happen - often end up in painful, dead-end jobs and lifestyles.
13. You are in full control of your own future. No one can deny you a happy life if you decide to plan it and work for it. No one can stop you from becoming successful, but yourself.
14. It's never too late for a new beginning.
15. Align yourself with winners. Hang around with winners. Success really does rub off from others. "If you keep doing what you have always been doing, you're going to get what you've always gotten"
~ Anthony Robbins
Don't know about you, but i am probably guilty of not doing probably the majority of what's listed there. Sometimes, its just good to read some of this stuff to remind you of the big picture. Since most of the time, you are always just concentrating on the issue or task at hand that you just sometimes just stop what you are doing, take a step back and realise "What the hell have i been doing all this while!!??" and that there are other things in life as well. Sometime i do think, like now, at 9pm on a Wednesday night, still stuck here in the office, franticly hitting my head against the wall trying to figure out the cause for the server process' core dumping, why am I doing this right now? Is all of this really worth it all? Do I really want to be doing this? Do I see myself doing this for the rest of my life (Oh god, please no...). And i just start thinking of what else is there to do.I figure, actually that this is more of a means to an end, and looking at the bigger picture, there are somethings you just need to do to get to the targets that you are trying to achieve. As long as i still do see the light at the end of the tunnel, i should be fine.
Isn't Anthony Robbins that self help guru fella from the Shallow Hal movie?
Later
Your career is not everything; your life is. But then, what is life without a career or a career without a life?
1. You are always on your own. Even if you work for a big company, you will always be on your own. Companies aren't people. They're things and they don't have feelings. If you are expecting the company to "take care of you or "do the right thing", you'll be often disappointed. There are no strong bonds in a company. No one cares more about your career than you do. Remember that, and don't expect the company to take care of you.
2. Certain jobs fit certain people best. You do have special gifts that fit you for some, disqualify you for others. Take time to assess your skills, temperament and aptitude in depth.
3. Careers are short-term. Your present job can end anytime, even if you own the company! Therefore, think short term. Don't take your present career for granted. Someone once described a consultant as a person who wakes up every morning unemployed. You should feel the same way. Wake up every morning feeling unemployed so that you'll appreciate your present job more and figure out what you're going to do next. Always have a "Plan B." (No kidding!!)
4. It's more important to be a "people person" than an "achievement-oriented person" who always win at the cost of others. People skills are more important than technical skills. Even in technical jobs, you have to deal with someone. The average performer who are easier to get along with last longer in his job.
5. What you accomplish today will be your calling card tomorrow. Your accomplishments will determine your marketability. In marketing yourself, it's the results that count. A soccer forward who scores in every game is easier to market than one who doesn't. So make sure you're contributing something substantial and measurable every day. And make sure you keep a written record of your results, in case you forget!
6. If you lose your job, 80% of your marketing for a new position is already done. That's right. Your reputation, results, accomplishments, people skills, contributions, friendships are all a matter of record. If you've been a contributor, if you've been kind to others and easy-to-work-with, you'll be in better demand. If not, you won't. Nobody can create friendship for you if you haven't created it for yourself.
7. Changing fields, industries, and functional specialties is difficult. The more difficult it is, the bigger the change will be. Therefore, choose your career path carefully. As management expert Peter Drucker says, "The best way to predict the future is to plan it."
8. If you're fired or laid off, don't sue your former employer. Ask yourself why you didn't see it coming; or if you did see it coming, ask yourself "why you didn't do something about it." Figure out your part in causing the problem. Then set about creating a new, better life for yourself. There is a better life in your future.
9. Don't stay in a job you hate. Hating your job can kill you.
10. Success is difficult. If success were easy, everyone would be successful.
11. There's a special place for everyone. You can create the kind of future you want.
12. The workplace is fun and challenging. It can also be cruel and heartless. It rewards effort and planning, but tends to punish indifference and lack of preparation. Those who don't manage their careers, who just let things happen - often end up in painful, dead-end jobs and lifestyles.
13. You are in full control of your own future. No one can deny you a happy life if you decide to plan it and work for it. No one can stop you from becoming successful, but yourself.
14. It's never too late for a new beginning.
15. Align yourself with winners. Hang around with winners. Success really does rub off from others. "If you keep doing what you have always been doing, you're going to get what you've always gotten"
~ Anthony Robbins
Don't know about you, but i am probably guilty of not doing probably the majority of what's listed there. Sometimes, its just good to read some of this stuff to remind you of the big picture. Since most of the time, you are always just concentrating on the issue or task at hand that you just sometimes just stop what you are doing, take a step back and realise "What the hell have i been doing all this while!!??" and that there are other things in life as well. Sometime i do think, like now, at 9pm on a Wednesday night, still stuck here in the office, franticly hitting my head against the wall trying to figure out the cause for the server process' core dumping, why am I doing this right now? Is all of this really worth it all? Do I really want to be doing this? Do I see myself doing this for the rest of my life (Oh god, please no...). And i just start thinking of what else is there to do.I figure, actually that this is more of a means to an end, and looking at the bigger picture, there are somethings you just need to do to get to the targets that you are trying to achieve. As long as i still do see the light at the end of the tunnel, i should be fine.
Isn't Anthony Robbins that self help guru fella from the Shallow Hal movie?
Later
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
A Long Day is Over
Feeling tired
By the fire
The long day is over
The wind is gone
Asleep at dawn
The embers burn on
With no reprise
The sun will rise
The long day is over
-A long day is over, Norah Jones
I have been "smacked up with work up to my neck such that i have no time to stop thinking" sort of busy today. Its been such an unbelievably busy busy day, such that i don't even remember time passing by today, as i have been continously concentrating non stop from AM to PM. Once i finished my stuff, i was thinking "Goddamn, it's 7pm ALREADY?!!!". I find it absolutely amazing what i can do when i just stop being such a lazy bastard and actually get on with it. Absolutely amazing. Anyway, after such a long day, i thought i'd just take some time off work and put in my Norah Jones [www.norahjones.com] CD into the PC and spin me some of 'em relaxing tunes from her album. Like the one on top there, A Long Day is Over. Its absolutely amazing since it only consists of like three verses, and only like 33 words in it altogether. Short and sweet. I think i should thank the internet for introducing me to her, since i found out about her while i wasrandomly browsing through the top 10 CD bestsellers in Amazon sometime early in 2003 (Yes, 2003. I am THAT behind time when it comes to these things!). After hearing a few samplets of her tunes online, i went straight to my friendly neighbourhood CD store and purchased the first "Come Away With Me" album that i set my eyes on.
I must say though, that for a few months last year, i wasn't able to even touch my precious Norah Jones CD since i had the very non-pleasure-able experience of watching the infamous Jeniffer "I'm still, I's still Jenny from the Bronx" Lopez piece of cinematic dross that would be called Maid in Manhattan in the cinema. That movie was sooooo indecently offensive that i still have "Wake up deep in the middle of the night screaming at the top of my lungs, sweating like i've just run a marathon" sort of nightmares about it. Well, OK, maybe not that BAD, but still, it was/is just so darn bad that it just traumatized me oh so much just watching that movie. And also, the producers managed to fit in, not one, but TWO of my precious Norah Jones' melodies into the movie, such that whenever i hear "Come Away With Me" or "Don't Know Why" on the radio, i start to pound furiously on the radio buttons screaming.. "Change!!! Change!!!I'm getting grotesque flashes of Jennifer Lopez acting as a down to earth, single mom, maid singing... Don't be fooled by the rocks that i got, i'm still, i'm still Jenny from the Bronx.... Noooooo!!! Shoot me !!! Shoot me!!!".
OK. That was probably exaggerating it a tad tad bit, but that movie DID spoil the whole relaxing experience of listening to Norah Jones on the radio while driving back from a hard day's work at 11pm at night while the roads are clear. Sigh. But i am a strong person. After two to three months trauma and suffering, and after finally regaining the strength to pick that dusty CD of mine, i have managed to start listening to her again (Norah Jones!!! Not Jenif-Lo!!), although i still don't leave my mind off guard JUST in case. I am proud that i have gone through that period of my life as I have definintely turned out a better, stronger person for it.
Anyway, i think i better be making a move now. Need to get back and get some rest. I have a long and early day tomorrow.
Norah Jones - BrainDead Malaysian's Artiste of 2003
Come Away With Me - BrainDead Malaysian's Album of 2003
(Although i KNOW it came out in 2002, but me, being the "a bit behind time person" that i am, only discovered her in 2003)
Later
By the fire
The long day is over
The wind is gone
Asleep at dawn
The embers burn on
With no reprise
The sun will rise
The long day is over
-A long day is over, Norah Jones
I have been "smacked up with work up to my neck such that i have no time to stop thinking" sort of busy today. Its been such an unbelievably busy busy day, such that i don't even remember time passing by today, as i have been continously concentrating non stop from AM to PM. Once i finished my stuff, i was thinking "Goddamn, it's 7pm ALREADY?!!!". I find it absolutely amazing what i can do when i just stop being such a lazy bastard and actually get on with it. Absolutely amazing. Anyway, after such a long day, i thought i'd just take some time off work and put in my Norah Jones [www.norahjones.com] CD into the PC and spin me some of 'em relaxing tunes from her album. Like the one on top there, A Long Day is Over. Its absolutely amazing since it only consists of like three verses, and only like 33 words in it altogether. Short and sweet. I think i should thank the internet for introducing me to her, since i found out about her while i wasrandomly browsing through the top 10 CD bestsellers in Amazon sometime early in 2003 (Yes, 2003. I am THAT behind time when it comes to these things!). After hearing a few samplets of her tunes online, i went straight to my friendly neighbourhood CD store and purchased the first "Come Away With Me" album that i set my eyes on.
I must say though, that for a few months last year, i wasn't able to even touch my precious Norah Jones CD since i had the very non-pleasure-able experience of watching the infamous Jeniffer "I'm still, I's still Jenny from the Bronx" Lopez piece of cinematic dross that would be called Maid in Manhattan in the cinema. That movie was sooooo indecently offensive that i still have "Wake up deep in the middle of the night screaming at the top of my lungs, sweating like i've just run a marathon" sort of nightmares about it. Well, OK, maybe not that BAD, but still, it was/is just so darn bad that it just traumatized me oh so much just watching that movie. And also, the producers managed to fit in, not one, but TWO of my precious Norah Jones' melodies into the movie, such that whenever i hear "Come Away With Me" or "Don't Know Why" on the radio, i start to pound furiously on the radio buttons screaming.. "Change!!! Change!!!I'm getting grotesque flashes of Jennifer Lopez acting as a down to earth, single mom, maid singing... Don't be fooled by the rocks that i got, i'm still, i'm still Jenny from the Bronx.... Noooooo!!! Shoot me !!! Shoot me!!!".
OK. That was probably exaggerating it a tad tad bit, but that movie DID spoil the whole relaxing experience of listening to Norah Jones on the radio while driving back from a hard day's work at 11pm at night while the roads are clear. Sigh. But i am a strong person. After two to three months trauma and suffering, and after finally regaining the strength to pick that dusty CD of mine, i have managed to start listening to her again (Norah Jones!!! Not Jenif-Lo!!), although i still don't leave my mind off guard JUST in case. I am proud that i have gone through that period of my life as I have definintely turned out a better, stronger person for it.
Anyway, i think i better be making a move now. Need to get back and get some rest. I have a long and early day tomorrow.
Norah Jones - BrainDead Malaysian's Artiste of 2003
Come Away With Me - BrainDead Malaysian's Album of 2003
(Although i KNOW it came out in 2002, but me, being the "a bit behind time person" that i am, only discovered her in 2003)
Later
Friday, January 09, 2004
Caffeine overdose gives you a splitting headache
The usual amount of caffeine that i usually consume in an average working day would be one cup of nescafe in the morning which i make the very moment i put all my stuff on to the table once i get in to work which i need to get me up and running to do work in the morning, and another hot cuppa' in the afternoon after lunch to negate the effect of all my blood going south-wards (towards the STOMACH!) to help my body process the amount of food i consume during lunch time. However, there's a new coffee machine brought in by one of 'em caffeine addicts which is constantly brewing out those rich, aromatic blend of jamaican (i think its from Jamaica, if i am not mistaken) coffee non-stop throughout the day. Now, considering the fact that the coffee machine is strategically located right next to the H2O dispenser, i find myself now constantly pouring that hot, steamy, black liquid into my mug rather than the ice cool plain water from the water dispenser.
Up til now, i think i had probably 3 cups in the morning and i have already had 2 cups after lunch, and i was already starting to get a tad bit dizzy already, and hence, now, 2 panadols and a glass of plain water later, i have decided to stop my caffeine intake for the day and wash all of it down with some cold plain water from now on. And from now on, no matter how large the temptation is for another cuppa', i shall limit myself to one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Talking about coffee, i was talking to some friends of mine the other day about the way that they like their coffee served. Myself, i prefer mine with lots of sugar and lots of creamer, so that other than the effect of the caffeine itself, i also would get the extra boost of energy from the sugar itself (some people call it sugar high). Usually one mug of coffee used to come with 2 cubes of sugar and dollops of creamer, although nowadays, since i am trying to get myself a bit into shape, the amount of sugar has decreased to one cube instead.
My friends the other day, both of them, were telling me that they have their coffee without any sugar or cream, and i was like "What the ...? ". Actually, i am sure that there are loads of human beings out there that prefer to have their coffee this way, as one of my friends pointed out, that without any sugar and creamer, only then can you really taste the taste of the coffee, and hence, only then can you truly enjoy your consumption of the caffeinated beverage. Believe me, i have tried it before, having my coffee without any sugar or cream, and after one or two sips, and making a face like i just got stabbed in the stomach by a very blunt knife, in goes the sugar and cream. I dont know why, but all of the hot drinks that can be consumed with cream / milk, i would always prefer to have it with milk. Like my drinks at the mamak for instance, its always gonna be teh tarik, teh susu panas, kopi susu, and what nots. I just can't imagine my self drinking teh-o panas, or kopi-o panas, or nescafe-o (but i think i don't mind having milo-o). What's with my obsession with milk?
On a side note, a friend of mine forwarded me this link [www.zefrank.com/annie/navigation.html] about this fella and his obsession with his cat annie. Absolutely hilarious, some of them. Check it out.
Anyway, gonna make a move now. Have a good weekend, anyone who's reading this.
Later.
Up til now, i think i had probably 3 cups in the morning and i have already had 2 cups after lunch, and i was already starting to get a tad bit dizzy already, and hence, now, 2 panadols and a glass of plain water later, i have decided to stop my caffeine intake for the day and wash all of it down with some cold plain water from now on. And from now on, no matter how large the temptation is for another cuppa', i shall limit myself to one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Talking about coffee, i was talking to some friends of mine the other day about the way that they like their coffee served. Myself, i prefer mine with lots of sugar and lots of creamer, so that other than the effect of the caffeine itself, i also would get the extra boost of energy from the sugar itself (some people call it sugar high). Usually one mug of coffee used to come with 2 cubes of sugar and dollops of creamer, although nowadays, since i am trying to get myself a bit into shape, the amount of sugar has decreased to one cube instead.
My friends the other day, both of them, were telling me that they have their coffee without any sugar or cream, and i was like "What the ...? ". Actually, i am sure that there are loads of human beings out there that prefer to have their coffee this way, as one of my friends pointed out, that without any sugar and creamer, only then can you really taste the taste of the coffee, and hence, only then can you truly enjoy your consumption of the caffeinated beverage. Believe me, i have tried it before, having my coffee without any sugar or cream, and after one or two sips, and making a face like i just got stabbed in the stomach by a very blunt knife, in goes the sugar and cream. I dont know why, but all of the hot drinks that can be consumed with cream / milk, i would always prefer to have it with milk. Like my drinks at the mamak for instance, its always gonna be teh tarik, teh susu panas, kopi susu, and what nots. I just can't imagine my self drinking teh-o panas, or kopi-o panas, or nescafe-o (but i think i don't mind having milo-o). What's with my obsession with milk?
On a side note, a friend of mine forwarded me this link [www.zefrank.com/annie/navigation.html] about this fella and his obsession with his cat annie. Absolutely hilarious, some of them. Check it out.
Anyway, gonna make a move now. Have a good weekend, anyone who's reading this.
Later.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
You would not have guessed it!!
Without Owen, Gerrard, Finnan, Ponggolle and playing with a starting eleven which included the likes of Cheryou and Traore, never in a million years would anyone would have expected us to give 'em millionaires a nice whooping at the Bridge the way we did! What is happening to this world?!! Can someone please, oh please explain to me what on earth happened this morning. Please! Pretty please! For once, i could see us playing with the determination, spirit and grit that has been missing all this while. This is the way we should be playing every week, with the urge to win the game, giving your 110% in everything that you do, wanting to win. This is the Liverpool i used to know. Now, only if i had put a tenner on them!
Hats off to our very own Emile IvanHoe Heskey, considering he has started to actually show us the stuff that persuaded us to part with those 11 million squid just to get him a few years back. He is actually starting to show us the form of 2-3 years ago when he was putting himself about, not falling on his arse at the slightest touch and actually scoring and making goals. Now, if only he can continue doing this for the next 5 months consistently, i would have absolutely no complains and will officially drop his nickname (to me) as the Donkey who can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. ( Yeah, i know, these past few seasons have shown me too many false dawns of our Heskey coming back to form that i would care to remember, but give me some slack here, you can't blame me for being a tad bit optimistic after what i would say one of the best results for us so fat this season ). Okay, maybe he still can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo, but at least he looks like he wants to play and run around and actually break a sweat or two. Now all that's missing from him would be the return of the infamous Dee-Jay celebrations! OK, maybe not!
Traore, oh Traore. He shows us exactly why he is considered a much better defender than Riise. Although he offers feck all going forward, but like Carragher, he is pretty solid when it comes to the stuff he is actually paid to do, i.e. defending. Just look at his block at the end of the game. I bet Carragher taught him a thing or two about putting your body in between the ball and the goal like that. Now if only he can overcome his proneness to the odd one or TWENTY careless mistakes per game, he may actually turn out to be a good player to keep as "backup". (Hell no am i gonna have him as a first teamer, but yeah, as a backup defender, he should be OK). Come to think of it now, i quite agree on the choice of back four for today since all of them, while offering didly-squat in terms of attacking, offered us the most secure back four i have seen in quite a while already. And considering the fact that we were playing 'em millionaires at ze' Bridge, and also thinking back about the state of our defense coming up to this match, i can't blame Houllier for picking the players he picked and playing the way they played.
However, not all was fine and dandy though. Attacking wise, we still looked absolutely toothless and looked as if we had no idea what we were doing. Mr Bruno "Poncy-boots (was he wearing his white boots again? i don't remember)" Cheryou, scored us the winner, yes he did, but other than that did absolutely nothing to tell me that he needs to be chosen again in the next game. Kewell looked like he wasn't interested and was invisible as per his last few games, although i wouldn't put too much blame on him (yet?!!) as players are expected to go through some dip in form during the course of the season. I also have no idea why Diouf got himself sent off, and if the referee were to see the recordings, neither would he.
I would seriously hope Dudek gets over his injury in time for our next game against the villians this weekend. With him and Kirky out, we would have to turn to the untested Luzi to keep in between the posts. Now, i'm all for letting 'em young ones have a go, but considering the fact that we could describe our defense this season with the words "dodgy" and "freaking inconsistent", a more experienced keeper i would prefer much more. Also, the sight of him flapping at a cross, being absolutely nowhere near the ball, and being let off the hook by Mutu being infected by fits of Heskey-itis and hitting the post from a free header when it was much more difficult to miss, doens't really give someone like me that much confidence. I have no doubts that he is indeed an able shot stopper, judging by his save against Mutu a few minutes later on, but he is too inexperienced and needs more confidence, and throwing him in the deep end, especially with the state of our defence, won't really do him much good in teh confidence department and all.
I have waited so long this season to see us play as if we want to win,wanting to give it our all, wanting to get a result, just wanting to make sure that we are giving it our 110%, and for one of the very very few times this season, i am satisfied. For one of the very few times this season i feel proud of the players. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't what you would call our best performance ever, it wasn't a display of any attacking intentions, it way butt ugly. But that's more like it! Play like you wanna kick the arse out of the opponents (football wise) and open a huge "can o' whoopass". Now bring on the Villians this weekend!
You'll Never Walk Alone
Later
Hats off to our very own Emile IvanHoe Heskey, considering he has started to actually show us the stuff that persuaded us to part with those 11 million squid just to get him a few years back. He is actually starting to show us the form of 2-3 years ago when he was putting himself about, not falling on his arse at the slightest touch and actually scoring and making goals. Now, if only he can continue doing this for the next 5 months consistently, i would have absolutely no complains and will officially drop his nickname (to me) as the Donkey who can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. ( Yeah, i know, these past few seasons have shown me too many false dawns of our Heskey coming back to form that i would care to remember, but give me some slack here, you can't blame me for being a tad bit optimistic after what i would say one of the best results for us so fat this season ). Okay, maybe he still can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo, but at least he looks like he wants to play and run around and actually break a sweat or two. Now all that's missing from him would be the return of the infamous Dee-Jay celebrations! OK, maybe not!
Traore, oh Traore. He shows us exactly why he is considered a much better defender than Riise. Although he offers feck all going forward, but like Carragher, he is pretty solid when it comes to the stuff he is actually paid to do, i.e. defending. Just look at his block at the end of the game. I bet Carragher taught him a thing or two about putting your body in between the ball and the goal like that. Now if only he can overcome his proneness to the odd one or TWENTY careless mistakes per game, he may actually turn out to be a good player to keep as "backup". (Hell no am i gonna have him as a first teamer, but yeah, as a backup defender, he should be OK). Come to think of it now, i quite agree on the choice of back four for today since all of them, while offering didly-squat in terms of attacking, offered us the most secure back four i have seen in quite a while already. And considering the fact that we were playing 'em millionaires at ze' Bridge, and also thinking back about the state of our defense coming up to this match, i can't blame Houllier for picking the players he picked and playing the way they played.
However, not all was fine and dandy though. Attacking wise, we still looked absolutely toothless and looked as if we had no idea what we were doing. Mr Bruno "Poncy-boots (was he wearing his white boots again? i don't remember)" Cheryou, scored us the winner, yes he did, but other than that did absolutely nothing to tell me that he needs to be chosen again in the next game. Kewell looked like he wasn't interested and was invisible as per his last few games, although i wouldn't put too much blame on him (yet?!!) as players are expected to go through some dip in form during the course of the season. I also have no idea why Diouf got himself sent off, and if the referee were to see the recordings, neither would he.
I would seriously hope Dudek gets over his injury in time for our next game against the villians this weekend. With him and Kirky out, we would have to turn to the untested Luzi to keep in between the posts. Now, i'm all for letting 'em young ones have a go, but considering the fact that we could describe our defense this season with the words "dodgy" and "freaking inconsistent", a more experienced keeper i would prefer much more. Also, the sight of him flapping at a cross, being absolutely nowhere near the ball, and being let off the hook by Mutu being infected by fits of Heskey-itis and hitting the post from a free header when it was much more difficult to miss, doens't really give someone like me that much confidence. I have no doubts that he is indeed an able shot stopper, judging by his save against Mutu a few minutes later on, but he is too inexperienced and needs more confidence, and throwing him in the deep end, especially with the state of our defence, won't really do him much good in teh confidence department and all.
I have waited so long this season to see us play as if we want to win,wanting to give it our all, wanting to get a result, just wanting to make sure that we are giving it our 110%, and for one of the very very few times this season, i am satisfied. For one of the very few times this season i feel proud of the players. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't what you would call our best performance ever, it wasn't a display of any attacking intentions, it way butt ugly. But that's more like it! Play like you wanna kick the arse out of the opponents (football wise) and open a huge "can o' whoopass". Now bring on the Villians this weekend!
You'll Never Walk Alone
Later
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Random blabbering allowed here...
Its been an absolutely long day. Meetings in the morning. Meetings in the afternoon. No time to do my work during the day, so i have to end up doing all my work after hours. Oh well. Actually there's a few absolutely random rants and blabbering that i feel i should just put here.
Najib as DPM. Yes. Pak Lah finally made up his mind and elected Najib as his deputy, and hence puts all the pieces into place for the "RAHMAN" rule to be completed. And now there is going to be a major reshuffle in the cabinet. It would be interesting to see who goes where and all the movement of all the ministers, if indeed there is any. The way i see it, Pak Lah had little choice of who he should take as his second man. My personal feeling is, that none of the candidates are outstanding, and by choosing Najib, as some people would say, it is more of he had no better choice rather than Najib being the best. Does that make sense? Probably not.
Mini iPod [apple.com] . I have always wanted an iPod. Imagine having 40GBs of space to store your entire music collection in a gizmo that would nicely fit the size of your pocket. The minipod only comes with 4GB of space but at a much more compact size. However, it isnt priced too cheap so i am not sure whether people would actually go out and buy one of these mini-ipods. One interesting thing is that one of the accessories that they sell is a arm band which you could use to strap it onto your arm, for the sportsmen wanabies out there. But the thing is, since it is still a hard drive based player, and not one of those solid state ones, it might not be too practical to bring the mini-pod with you for those early morning jogs around the houseing area (which i do intend to start doing before the end of this particular year, yes i do) since it might start to skip like nobodies business. Britney might start to sound like .. "opps i oops i did it oops oops" and maybe you can start skipping around as well.
I've finally finished the Hornby book, How to be Good [amazon.com] that i have been reading these past few weeks. It is a really really good read and probably one of the best books i've read last year (and this year too, so far). I enjoyed Fever Pitch more, but like what a friend of mine said that it was a tad bit too dry for her, but How to be Good is definitely much easier to read although there weren't any "laugh out loud while almost crying" parts. Anyhow, i must say that the ending was, if i do have to be very very picky, a tad bit of a dissappointment. But still, the journey to the end was still makes up for it. Anyway, the next book i have on my plate is one from my dad's collection of "bought it but haven't had the time to read it" collection, Clash of Civilisations and Remaking of the World Order [amazon.com] by Samuel P. Huntington. Don't know why but i've read a few pages in it and it does seem an intriguing read. Also i do fancy have a go at a non-fiction book for once, considering the fact that the last non-fiction piece or writing i have read would probably be my Advanced Digital Signal Processing textbook from my final years from university, which was probably around 4 years ago. Anyway, if i do get bored of it (which i think i would probably will), another book that has caught my eye on my last trip to my friendly neighbourhood "Kinokuniya" outlet in KLCC would be Vernon God Little [amazon.com] by DBC Pierre. Was flipping through it the other day and it does seem like an interesting read as well, not considering the fucken this and fucken that written all over the book.
Anyhow, back to work. Need to start soon if i ever think of going back today. Later.
Najib as DPM. Yes. Pak Lah finally made up his mind and elected Najib as his deputy, and hence puts all the pieces into place for the "RAHMAN" rule to be completed. And now there is going to be a major reshuffle in the cabinet. It would be interesting to see who goes where and all the movement of all the ministers, if indeed there is any. The way i see it, Pak Lah had little choice of who he should take as his second man. My personal feeling is, that none of the candidates are outstanding, and by choosing Najib, as some people would say, it is more of he had no better choice rather than Najib being the best. Does that make sense? Probably not.
Mini iPod [apple.com] . I have always wanted an iPod. Imagine having 40GBs of space to store your entire music collection in a gizmo that would nicely fit the size of your pocket. The minipod only comes with 4GB of space but at a much more compact size. However, it isnt priced too cheap so i am not sure whether people would actually go out and buy one of these mini-ipods. One interesting thing is that one of the accessories that they sell is a arm band which you could use to strap it onto your arm, for the sportsmen wanabies out there. But the thing is, since it is still a hard drive based player, and not one of those solid state ones, it might not be too practical to bring the mini-pod with you for those early morning jogs around the houseing area (which i do intend to start doing before the end of this particular year, yes i do) since it might start to skip like nobodies business. Britney might start to sound like .. "opps i
I've finally finished the Hornby book, How to be Good [amazon.com] that i have been reading these past few weeks. It is a really really good read and probably one of the best books i've read last year (and this year too, so far). I enjoyed Fever Pitch more, but like what a friend of mine said that it was a tad bit too dry for her, but How to be Good is definitely much easier to read although there weren't any "laugh out loud while almost crying" parts. Anyhow, i must say that the ending was, if i do have to be very very picky, a tad bit of a dissappointment. But still, the journey to the end was still makes up for it. Anyway, the next book i have on my plate is one from my dad's collection of "bought it but haven't had the time to read it" collection, Clash of Civilisations and Remaking of the World Order [amazon.com] by Samuel P. Huntington. Don't know why but i've read a few pages in it and it does seem an intriguing read. Also i do fancy have a go at a non-fiction book for once, considering the fact that the last non-fiction piece or writing i have read would probably be my Advanced Digital Signal Processing textbook from my final years from university, which was probably around 4 years ago. Anyway, if i do get bored of it (which i think i would probably will), another book that has caught my eye on my last trip to my friendly neighbourhood "Kinokuniya" outlet in KLCC would be Vernon God Little [amazon.com] by DBC Pierre. Was flipping through it the other day and it does seem like an interesting read as well, not considering the fucken this and fucken that written all over the book.
Anyhow, back to work. Need to start soon if i ever think of going back today. Later.
Monday, January 05, 2004
I feel so darn sleepy this afternoon
Yeah yeah yeah... i changed my blog template AGAIN. People must either think i'm an absolute psychopath or i just have way too much time on my hands nowadays. Well, i mean, i just got bored and tired of the one i played around with yesterday so i just decided to change it around. Also, i just can't get myself to start working in the afternoon after a huge lunch and i am also without my dose of caffeine. I think also it's due to the fatigue of going to sleep at half past two this morning and waking up at the ungodly hour of seven this morning to go to work. I slept late last night because i needed to finish off some work that i had to do (which had nothing to do with me being complacent, but just because i was so darn busy this weekend... yes, seriously.... busy) (also i took a 1/2 hour break at half past one to watch Top Gear, since i needed a break at that time) and i had to come in early cos i had to prepare for an early discussion with a colleague of mine as well.
Traffic this morning was suprisingly and amazingly clear on the way to office. Actually, i was fearing the worst this morning due to today being the first day of school and all, and usually when school restarts in KL, the horrendous traffic during "rush hour" in KL restarts as well. However, driving out of PJ this morning, onto the Federal Highway and guess what? Clear traffic at Mid Valley. Amazing. Then driving all the way to Jalan Syed Putra and getting on towards Jalan Mahameru, and still, clear traffic (actually, when i say clear traffic, it means less cars relatively to the usual and not clear as in absolutely no cars on the road that i can just step on the gas, close my eyes and put my arms behind my back and not hit any cars sort of clear. Not that i do that in the first place. Anyway ... ), and then finally, at the Pekeliling roundabout area, smooth flowing traffic. Absolutely amazing. Whats wrong with these people?!! My benchmark for smooth flowing traffic to work every morning would be not having to slow down and stop at the Pekeliling roundabout area. But today.. smooth flowing traffic there. Amazing. I can only hope that the traffic on the way back would be as good. (I wish!!!)
Been reading some football websites and it seems that Liverpool are close to signing the French (yes, ANOTHER Frenchie!!) forward Djibril Cisse due to reports claiming that he has already been to Anfield to undergo his fitness tests. It also seems now, that the only way we wont get him, would be if he either fails the fitness test, or if the Liverpool management suddenly decide against it. I have to admit, i have not yet seen Cisse play at all, so i will pass my judgement on him til then. However, it seems that we will be spending close to 15 million pounds to get him, and he will only come in the summer. Now don't get me wrong, i do want to see quality players come to the club, but i somehow fail to see how spending 15 million pounds on a player, arguably still unproven as he has only been playing in the French League so far ( a league where Smicer was hailed as one of the most gifted midfielders in the world once... long long time ago ), and would only be arriving supposedly in the summer, could be classified as an excellent move. Yes, i might be proven wrong, but somehow, deep inside of me, i have this strange feeling that he will be brought in not as a partner for Owen, but more so as a replacement.
I guess we just would have to see what happens in the summer. It just sends shivers down my spine thinking that if indeed that happens, (Owen leaving and Cisse coming), i hope Cisse will prove all the doubters wrong and does live up to the tag as the next Henry / Trezeguet / Anelka (without the sulk) / and not the next Cheryou / Diao / Ferri / (hey, all of the crap flops i listed are from Liverpool?!!). On a side note, good result against Yeovil town, although i would have expected that anything other than a win against them would be deemed unacceptable. Good to see Heskey and Murphy on the score sheet. Didn't watch the match last night as i needed my sleep, but based on all the match reports and my colleagues, it wasn't really a pretty game to be watching. Oh well.
Anyhow, making a move now. Later.
Traffic this morning was suprisingly and amazingly clear on the way to office. Actually, i was fearing the worst this morning due to today being the first day of school and all, and usually when school restarts in KL, the horrendous traffic during "rush hour" in KL restarts as well. However, driving out of PJ this morning, onto the Federal Highway and guess what? Clear traffic at Mid Valley. Amazing. Then driving all the way to Jalan Syed Putra and getting on towards Jalan Mahameru, and still, clear traffic (actually, when i say clear traffic, it means less cars relatively to the usual and not clear as in absolutely no cars on the road that i can just step on the gas, close my eyes and put my arms behind my back and not hit any cars sort of clear. Not that i do that in the first place. Anyway ... ), and then finally, at the Pekeliling roundabout area, smooth flowing traffic. Absolutely amazing. Whats wrong with these people?!! My benchmark for smooth flowing traffic to work every morning would be not having to slow down and stop at the Pekeliling roundabout area. But today.. smooth flowing traffic there. Amazing. I can only hope that the traffic on the way back would be as good. (I wish!!!)
Been reading some football websites and it seems that Liverpool are close to signing the French (yes, ANOTHER Frenchie!!) forward Djibril Cisse due to reports claiming that he has already been to Anfield to undergo his fitness tests. It also seems now, that the only way we wont get him, would be if he either fails the fitness test, or if the Liverpool management suddenly decide against it. I have to admit, i have not yet seen Cisse play at all, so i will pass my judgement on him til then. However, it seems that we will be spending close to 15 million pounds to get him, and he will only come in the summer. Now don't get me wrong, i do want to see quality players come to the club, but i somehow fail to see how spending 15 million pounds on a player, arguably still unproven as he has only been playing in the French League so far ( a league where Smicer was hailed as one of the most gifted midfielders in the world once... long long time ago ), and would only be arriving supposedly in the summer, could be classified as an excellent move. Yes, i might be proven wrong, but somehow, deep inside of me, i have this strange feeling that he will be brought in not as a partner for Owen, but more so as a replacement.
I guess we just would have to see what happens in the summer. It just sends shivers down my spine thinking that if indeed that happens, (Owen leaving and Cisse coming), i hope Cisse will prove all the doubters wrong and does live up to the tag as the next Henry / Trezeguet / Anelka (without the sulk) /
Anyhow, making a move now. Later.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Man... this is sad..
Its a nice Sunday afternoon, and what have i been doing? I've been stuck in the office doing work. For goodness sakes. Have been here since this morning and it looks like i'll be stuck here until the end of the day i guess. And to think i was planning to go to Berjaya Times Square to check out Debenhams since i am in search for some new working clothes (i really really really need new clothes since the last time i bought work clothes was just after i graduated!)
Anyway, just thought i'd take a break for a while and surf the net for a 1/2 hour or so. I also changed my blog template again! Was surfing the net and came across this site blogskins [www.blogskins.com] and was surfing through the skins and decided to take this one! Plain and simple, black and white. Oh well. Probably i'll get bored of it in another months time or so and change it over again.
Gotta get back to work now. Later
Anyway, just thought i'd take a break for a while and surf the net for a 1/2 hour or so. I also changed my blog template again! Was surfing the net and came across this site blogskins [www.blogskins.com] and was surfing through the skins and decided to take this one! Plain and simple, black and white. Oh well. Probably i'll get bored of it in another months time or so and change it over again.
Gotta get back to work now. Later
Friday, January 02, 2004
I don't really like burnt BBQ lamb chops... Really!!
New year's eves have always been happening times for me a few years back. When i was in London, every year without fail we would be walking from our apartment all the way, in the blistering cold ( i know, i know, london isn't THAT cold compared to like somewhere up north like Scotland, or places like that, but it was still cold enough for me ), to Trafalgar Square to join in the countdown for the new year with the other millions of people from all walks of life. One of those years, if i remember correctly, i was squashed like a sardine in a can of sardines in one of those parks besides the Thames river, eagerly awaiting there from some ridiculous time like 8pm, again in the blistering cold, for the fireworks along the Thames river. Now actually, come to think of it, i don't know what got into us that night. We supposedly wanted to get there early so that we could get a good spot, and hence a good view. However, our grand plan didn't actually work out that well, considering the fact that once we got to the place, there were ALREADY sad sad SAD people (like us ha ha ha... yes.. amazing that there ARE others out there!!! ) marking their territory in the park and giving you that dodgy look once you try inch closer and closer to their space. By the time the fireworks started, i was completely surrounded by people much MUCH taller than me ( since, as some people would say, i am not the tallest person in the world, and some would also mention that i could be a teeny weeny bit vertically challenged, by British / Mat Salleh standards ). Luckily, fireworks do go up, high high into the sky, so by craning my head upwards, i could easily catch a glimpse of the fireworks display. A much better view than if i were to look anywhere infront / behind me, i would be only be greeted by sights of drunken Londoners with their heads looking way up in the sky with their mouths widely opened. It goes without saying that i woke up the next day with a major neck strain.
Anyway, being back in Malaysia, the first couple of new years i spent back here, it was more of walking around partying in the Bangsar Telawi area. The typical new years night out then would be to meet up at someones and deciding to go to Bangsar to check out what's going on. After that, spend and hour or so in the car stuck in the jam going up the road leading to Bangsar from Jalan Damansara, (which we conveniently found out the next morning that there was indeed another way up there), then spending probably another hour trying to find parking that is not too far and also not too close since we obviously don't wanna be stuck in the traffic going out later. Then, once we finally get to Bangsar, we would probably spend another hour trying to get in touch with the other people who came in the other cars, since during this festive few hours before the start of the new year, you would be lucky to be able to call out when you are in places like these. The network would definitely be congested, what with all the other people there trying to call their mates as well. Anyway, i think that year, i spent counting down for the new year, sitting with my buddies besides the pavement in front of the 7-11 there, having drinks bought from the 7-11 itself, after finally finding and gathering everyone else who came about 10 to 15 minutes before the countdown.
This year, i think the main theme for new year celebrations was to have a barbeque at home with friends and family. My sister had one at home, my brother went to one at one of his friends house, and me, i was invited to probably 3 to 4 barbeques on that night itself. (Well, actually not everyone had a BBQ, i guess, since i do know a lot of people who also went to CyberJaya for some sort of rave party or something like that there, but i guess i'm getting a tad bit too old for that sort of thing, maybe ). Anyway, i decided to go to the barbeque at one of my good friends which was located not too far from my house, in view of it being easier to head back home after. Not that many people were invited, just close friends, around 15 of us i guess. Everyone was assigned to be bringing their own seperate food / drink items, and the thing started from like 6pm ( i got there late since i was working in KL that day and only managed to reach home around 7pm due to the absolutely idiotic traffic going out of KL) and itlasted all the way to 3am+. I must say that i had a very very good time, the company was good, the food was good (other than one particular batch of BBQ that was transformed completely into pieces of graphite when the fire suddenly and randomly decided to go beserk and so huge such that we had to hose down the BBQ pit and restart the fire. Majorly overcooked chicken isn't really my thing, so you can't blame me for not wanting to eat overcooked chicken ,which wouldn't be out of place if put in the bag of charcoal, and to make things worse, it was WET as well, from the water that we had to splash onto the barbeque pit!!) , the music was... er... considering the radio decided to short circuit, and a few of us attempted to play the guitar, it wasn't too bad, i would guess since i couldn't see a rain cloud anywhere within a mile's distance away from us! Food was extremely good (other than the carbon graphite serving) although i do think i probably had too much of lamb chops, grilled beef, BBq-ed chicken and sausages to last me for quite a few months. Waking up the next morning was probably the most difficult thing to do, but it was aided by my phone ringing in my ears at 9 in the bleeding morning by my mum telling me come back soon and also not to forget that i have a BBQ at my aunt's place at lunchtime, and that they were planning to go early in view of coming back early. The thought that ran through my mind at that particular point of time, was probably something in the vain of "Oh dear.... no more lamb... please.... no more lamb..... no.... ". I probably had 2 or 3 slices of lamb at my aunt's place, other than the grilled beef, BBQ-ed chicken and sausages that would probably last me for quite a few months.
Anyway, now that it's already a new year, i would just like to list down what i would like to call my new years resolution, so to speak. Just a list of things i think i need to do this year, or the stuff that i need to improve on myself.
Number one. Numero Uno. Top of the pops. I need to smile more often. I have to remember that i should always not try to take myself seriously. One thing that i learned from 2003 was that i have to always be able to laugh at myself. I think thats particularly important, since i know of a lot of arguments that i have been in, was due to me being too goddamn serious and not seeing the ligther side of it. I would like to think that i am already able to criticism as well and also able to be the butt of my friends taunts and jokes as well, as i know it's all in good vein. I should also smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Actually i am smiling now just writing about smiling. Ha ha!
Number two. Need to keep my weight in check. For the first half of 2003 i gained 15 kilos from my extremely unhealthy way of life and diet. In the final quarter of the year after realizing that i was on my way to obesity, i managed to lose a total of 10 kilos (which included fasting month as well ). However, after fasting month, i suddenly started to gain on the pounds already. So yeah. Need to keep my weight in check. I'm sure anyone reading this would probably think its weird that a guy like me would be paranoid about my weight and all, but i do feel like there are a lot of advantages for me to control my weight gain tendencies. Of course there's the health issue which is a major plus point in itself, but after the fasting month, i actually realized that i could wear my clothes comfortably again and not feel like an overweight bastard. My work trousers don't feel like bursting open anytime during the day and for once, when i try on my dad's pants, i can finally say that i won't be able to use them. Thank god for that! The very fact that i fit into my dad's pants before that was one really freaky experience. You just need to look at my dad to understand my feeling. So that means i dont need to get new pants and shirts, and hence some savings in my expenditure column. Also, i realized that once i started to lose the kilos, i feel so much more agile in the futsal courts. I can remember feeling like a bumbling idiot, feeling so slow and lethargic playing futsal sometime early this year. After fasting month, i feel like a reborn player, running around the court doens't feel so tiring anymore. This is definitely due to my weight loss, since i need less energy to move around. So yeah, keep my weight in check.
Which brings us to number three. Need to exercise more. I used to be playing futsal 2 - 3 times a week and also playing squash at least once a week. Nowadays, at most i play futsal once a week, which i don't think is enough. I read somewhere that lack of exercise will make you feel lethargic and less energetic, which is exactly how i am feeling right now. I actually started to jog 3 times a week before i go to work before fasting month, but that stopped during fasting month since i felt like it wasn't a good idea due to the fact that i wouldn't be able to drink after jogging and hence would not be able to replenish amount of liquid that i lose during the exercise. So, yeah. Need to start THAT again.
Numero Four. Need to decrease the amount of procrastination in my life. This has been my aim for many many years but still not much has changed. Well, actually i have found something that has indeed helped. Everyday in the morning, i would list down the things that i need to do in my notebook, and after i've done any of them, i would take a red pen and put a tick onto it, or if i can't do it, i would write down in red next to it why i haven't been able to do it. At the end of the day, i review what i've done and what i have not done, and for the past month or so, my productivity level has indeed increased, much to the joy of the people working with me. But still, need to decrease the amount of time wasting.
Number Five. Need to control my spending and actually start saving a decent amount of moolahs every month. Actually i do have a savings plan but i think i need to start saving more and probably need to control the amount of spending on my "wants" and only spend on my "needs". I mean, not to say that i stop spending altogether on my "wants" but just to keep it in control. But i sometimes find that it is indeed quite hard to control the urges to spend spend spend and think later. My current list of "wants" is a new handphone to replace my ageing Nokia 6510 ( i was looking at the T610 before, but after playing around with the Nokia 6660, the camera and screen on the T610 just doesnt feel the same anymore. I think it will be some time before i get another one since i find it difficult to justify myself spending RM1000 or more on a phone, and since my "wants" all fall in that category, i don't see the point yet. Seriously, i really don't know HOW some of my friends can just keep changing their handphones every now and then. How can they AFFORD that? Can someone tell me please? ), i want an ipod (imagine, having 40GB of space to store ALL of your songs on. I mean, even my laptop has only 10GB of hardisk space on it, end even that, most of it is gone already, filled up with all my porn.. ops i meant work stuff :D ), and i also want a new car to replace my current ageing (just replaced timing belt which cost me a few hundred) satria and also an iPAQ 4150 (to replace my ageing Palm Vx. Actually this is ALSO very difficult to justify spending RM1600 on a new PDA when my old Palm Vx still does the job that i need it to do, which is just the scheduling, to-do's and contacts. But was playing around with the iPAQ the other day and was dreaming away of me just hanging out at Starbucks and surfing the net thru my iPAQ. That is just so cool ). And that's just the major ones, not inclusive of the shoes, clothes, and pants that i want to buy as well.
Finally, number 6. Need to spend more time with family and friends. I realize that sometimes this year and i can see in the forseeable few months ahead as well, i will be getting pretty busy, with late nights and all. I just feel that before this, whenever i get busy, i spend a lot of hours in the office and dont meet up with my friends or even meet my family members that often. So, another resolution for me would be to always try and MAKE time for friends and family as i feel they are definitely MORE important than anything else.
Anyway, have to make a move now. As you can see, my updates on this blog hasn't been as often as before, nor as often as i like, but i am gonna try anyway. So, i wish everyone a happy new year, hopefully this year will be better than the last. Keep on smiling, stay healthy and be good to each other. Take care of each other, and yourselves.
Later.
Anyway, being back in Malaysia, the first couple of new years i spent back here, it was more of walking around partying in the Bangsar Telawi area. The typical new years night out then would be to meet up at someones and deciding to go to Bangsar to check out what's going on. After that, spend and hour or so in the car stuck in the jam going up the road leading to Bangsar from Jalan Damansara, (which we conveniently found out the next morning that there was indeed another way up there), then spending probably another hour trying to find parking that is not too far and also not too close since we obviously don't wanna be stuck in the traffic going out later. Then, once we finally get to Bangsar, we would probably spend another hour trying to get in touch with the other people who came in the other cars, since during this festive few hours before the start of the new year, you would be lucky to be able to call out when you are in places like these. The network would definitely be congested, what with all the other people there trying to call their mates as well. Anyway, i think that year, i spent counting down for the new year, sitting with my buddies besides the pavement in front of the 7-11 there, having drinks bought from the 7-11 itself, after finally finding and gathering everyone else who came about 10 to 15 minutes before the countdown.
This year, i think the main theme for new year celebrations was to have a barbeque at home with friends and family. My sister had one at home, my brother went to one at one of his friends house, and me, i was invited to probably 3 to 4 barbeques on that night itself. (Well, actually not everyone had a BBQ, i guess, since i do know a lot of people who also went to CyberJaya for some sort of rave party or something like that there, but i guess i'm getting a tad bit too old for that sort of thing, maybe ). Anyway, i decided to go to the barbeque at one of my good friends which was located not too far from my house, in view of it being easier to head back home after. Not that many people were invited, just close friends, around 15 of us i guess. Everyone was assigned to be bringing their own seperate food / drink items, and the thing started from like 6pm ( i got there late since i was working in KL that day and only managed to reach home around 7pm due to the absolutely idiotic traffic going out of KL) and itlasted all the way to 3am+. I must say that i had a very very good time, the company was good, the food was good (other than one particular batch of BBQ that was transformed completely into pieces of graphite when the fire suddenly and randomly decided to go beserk and so huge such that we had to hose down the BBQ pit and restart the fire. Majorly overcooked chicken isn't really my thing, so you can't blame me for not wanting to eat overcooked chicken ,which wouldn't be out of place if put in the bag of charcoal, and to make things worse, it was WET as well, from the water that we had to splash onto the barbeque pit!!) , the music was... er... considering the radio decided to short circuit, and a few of us attempted to play the guitar, it wasn't too bad, i would guess since i couldn't see a rain cloud anywhere within a mile's distance away from us! Food was extremely good (other than the carbon graphite serving) although i do think i probably had too much of lamb chops, grilled beef, BBq-ed chicken and sausages to last me for quite a few months. Waking up the next morning was probably the most difficult thing to do, but it was aided by my phone ringing in my ears at 9 in the bleeding morning by my mum telling me come back soon and also not to forget that i have a BBQ at my aunt's place at lunchtime, and that they were planning to go early in view of coming back early. The thought that ran through my mind at that particular point of time, was probably something in the vain of "Oh dear.... no more lamb... please.... no more lamb..... no.... ". I probably had 2 or 3 slices of lamb at my aunt's place, other than the grilled beef, BBQ-ed chicken and sausages that would probably last me for quite a few months.
Anyway, now that it's already a new year, i would just like to list down what i would like to call my new years resolution, so to speak. Just a list of things i think i need to do this year, or the stuff that i need to improve on myself.
Number one. Numero Uno. Top of the pops. I need to smile more often. I have to remember that i should always not try to take myself seriously. One thing that i learned from 2003 was that i have to always be able to laugh at myself. I think thats particularly important, since i know of a lot of arguments that i have been in, was due to me being too goddamn serious and not seeing the ligther side of it. I would like to think that i am already able to criticism as well and also able to be the butt of my friends taunts and jokes as well, as i know it's all in good vein. I should also smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Actually i am smiling now just writing about smiling. Ha ha!
Number two. Need to keep my weight in check. For the first half of 2003 i gained 15 kilos from my extremely unhealthy way of life and diet. In the final quarter of the year after realizing that i was on my way to obesity, i managed to lose a total of 10 kilos (which included fasting month as well ). However, after fasting month, i suddenly started to gain on the pounds already. So yeah. Need to keep my weight in check. I'm sure anyone reading this would probably think its weird that a guy like me would be paranoid about my weight and all, but i do feel like there are a lot of advantages for me to control my weight gain tendencies. Of course there's the health issue which is a major plus point in itself, but after the fasting month, i actually realized that i could wear my clothes comfortably again and not feel like an overweight bastard. My work trousers don't feel like bursting open anytime during the day and for once, when i try on my dad's pants, i can finally say that i won't be able to use them. Thank god for that! The very fact that i fit into my dad's pants before that was one really freaky experience. You just need to look at my dad to understand my feeling. So that means i dont need to get new pants and shirts, and hence some savings in my expenditure column. Also, i realized that once i started to lose the kilos, i feel so much more agile in the futsal courts. I can remember feeling like a bumbling idiot, feeling so slow and lethargic playing futsal sometime early this year. After fasting month, i feel like a reborn player, running around the court doens't feel so tiring anymore. This is definitely due to my weight loss, since i need less energy to move around. So yeah, keep my weight in check.
Which brings us to number three. Need to exercise more. I used to be playing futsal 2 - 3 times a week and also playing squash at least once a week. Nowadays, at most i play futsal once a week, which i don't think is enough. I read somewhere that lack of exercise will make you feel lethargic and less energetic, which is exactly how i am feeling right now. I actually started to jog 3 times a week before i go to work before fasting month, but that stopped during fasting month since i felt like it wasn't a good idea due to the fact that i wouldn't be able to drink after jogging and hence would not be able to replenish amount of liquid that i lose during the exercise. So, yeah. Need to start THAT again.
Numero Four. Need to decrease the amount of procrastination in my life. This has been my aim for many many years but still not much has changed. Well, actually i have found something that has indeed helped. Everyday in the morning, i would list down the things that i need to do in my notebook, and after i've done any of them, i would take a red pen and put a tick onto it, or if i can't do it, i would write down in red next to it why i haven't been able to do it. At the end of the day, i review what i've done and what i have not done, and for the past month or so, my productivity level has indeed increased, much to the joy of the people working with me. But still, need to decrease the amount of time wasting.
Number Five. Need to control my spending and actually start saving a decent amount of moolahs every month. Actually i do have a savings plan but i think i need to start saving more and probably need to control the amount of spending on my "wants" and only spend on my "needs". I mean, not to say that i stop spending altogether on my "wants" but just to keep it in control. But i sometimes find that it is indeed quite hard to control the urges to spend spend spend and think later. My current list of "wants" is a new handphone to replace my ageing Nokia 6510 ( i was looking at the T610 before, but after playing around with the Nokia 6660, the camera and screen on the T610 just doesnt feel the same anymore. I think it will be some time before i get another one since i find it difficult to justify myself spending RM1000 or more on a phone, and since my "wants" all fall in that category, i don't see the point yet. Seriously, i really don't know HOW some of my friends can just keep changing their handphones every now and then. How can they AFFORD that? Can someone tell me please? ), i want an ipod (imagine, having 40GB of space to store ALL of your songs on. I mean, even my laptop has only 10GB of hardisk space on it, end even that, most of it is gone already, filled up with all my porn.. ops i meant work stuff :D ), and i also want a new car to replace my current ageing (just replaced timing belt which cost me a few hundred) satria and also an iPAQ 4150 (to replace my ageing Palm Vx. Actually this is ALSO very difficult to justify spending RM1600 on a new PDA when my old Palm Vx still does the job that i need it to do, which is just the scheduling, to-do's and contacts. But was playing around with the iPAQ the other day and was dreaming away of me just hanging out at Starbucks and surfing the net thru my iPAQ. That is just so cool ). And that's just the major ones, not inclusive of the shoes, clothes, and pants that i want to buy as well.
Finally, number 6. Need to spend more time with family and friends. I realize that sometimes this year and i can see in the forseeable few months ahead as well, i will be getting pretty busy, with late nights and all. I just feel that before this, whenever i get busy, i spend a lot of hours in the office and dont meet up with my friends or even meet my family members that often. So, another resolution for me would be to always try and MAKE time for friends and family as i feel they are definitely MORE important than anything else.
Anyway, have to make a move now. As you can see, my updates on this blog hasn't been as often as before, nor as often as i like, but i am gonna try anyway. So, i wish everyone a happy new year, hopefully this year will be better than the last. Keep on smiling, stay healthy and be good to each other. Take care of each other, and yourselves.
Later.
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