Drifting Round The Corners Of Life

A Touch of Classic

2007-09-07T15:33:00.000+08:00

I've never owned an mp3 player in my entire life. So yesterday, I thought to myself, "Why not get one?"

And just as I logged online to check out the prices, I saw these 2 links right on Digg's front page.

Apple's iPod Touch gets official

Apple announces the 6th gen iPod!

The whole selection.

When I first saw that, immediately I wanted to get the iPod Touch. But then after further reading, the 8 and 16GB capacity really put me off. I mean, $300 USD for an 8GB capacity? Once you put in your music, there's no more space to put your videos and movies. And so what it comes down to is that what you're really paying for, is the coolness of the new interface.

So, being the pragmatic person that I am, the next logical choice was the iPod classic. It's 80GB for $249 USD, and comparing that to the iPod touch, it's definitely a much better deal compared to the iPod Touch.

But then again, that iPod Touch is so damn cool. Haha.

Well, I'm planning to visit an Apple store this weekend, which means that I'll either come back with a new iPod classic, or a pre-ordered iPod Touch.

Manchester United's Early Struggle

2007-09-02T16:57:00.000+08:00

So the 2007/2008 season of the English Premier League has finally started. Being here in the United States though, I haven't been able to watch much of the early season action due to the fact that the coverage here sucks ass. They show mid table clashes that no one is really interested in and the times they do show the big matches, it's always at a time that I'm unavailable.

Anyway, Manchester United have been struggling to find their form early this season. After all that spending, you'd expect them to go flying off blocks, but that hasn't been the case.

I finally watched them labor to a 1-0 against Sunderland on Sunday and immediately it became apparent to me why they've been struggling.

1) Loss of key players

The loss of key players is bound to hurt any team at any level. The experience of Gary Neville at the back and the attacking edge given by Park Ji-Sung, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have been sorely missed by the team. On Sunday, Park's hard running, Ronaldo's cutting runs and Rooney's strength up front would certainly have helped against an organized and hard working team like Sunderland.

The oldest form of defending: Putting men behind the ball.

2) Changing a winning team

One of the oldest sayings when it comes to sports is, "Never change a winning team". And history has proven that to be true. Just look at famous "tinkermen" like Claudio Ranieri, Rafael Benitez and Sven-Goran Eriksson. In this case though, Sir Alex Ferguson has been forced to make numerous changes to his team due to the loss of key players so early in the season. He would have wanted to bring new signings Nani, Anderson and Tevez slowly into the team by putting them on as substitutes as the season progressed. Instead, he's been forced to throw them right into the thick of the action much earlier than expected.

If you can't score, you can't win.

This was probably a key factor behind their derby loss to Manchester City. 3 players in the starting 11 had never played in a Manchester derby before. When it comes to derbies, this plays a role because players who have never experienced an English derby are usually either overwhelmed by the occasion and play badly or don't play with enough passion and tenacity as those who have.

3) New signings

Sir Alex Ferguson's 4 new signings haven't impressed at all despite their hefty price tags. The reason? They're still adapting to the English game. Traditionally, players from other leagues always take time before they adapt to the English league. The English league is much quicker, more physical and aerial in style compared to the other leagues in Europe. The league's legendary players like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp took a while before their real talent showed. Cristiano Ronaldo finally shone last season after learning that doing 2000 stepovers a minute doesn't get you past defenders. And just look at Michael Ballack, who still hasn't justified his £121,000 a week salary.

The adaptability of the new signings will be crucial.

Nani and Anderson were signed from the Portuguese league and let's be honest here, the Portuguese league is full of diving, useless flair and play acting. Just look at FC Porto, their national team and how Ronaldo played when he first signed for Man Utd. Against Sunderland, watching Nani and Anderson struggle with a defender clipping at their heels before they got the ball was a clear indication of that. Not given time to hold on to the ball and do their fancy party tricks, they simply faded as the game progressed. Carlos Tevez may have played for West Ham last season, but after watching him on Saturday, I feel that he still hasn't adapted as well. On top of that, this season he has to adapt to Manchester United's style of play which differs very much from West Ham's. The English game's aerial nature and Tevez's 5'7, 1.7M stature, may be the stumbling block to overcome before he finally adapts.

It's still early in the season and while there may be still more twists and turns to come, falling behind this early is not an option a team going for the Championship can afford. Manchester United will be boosted with the return of Ronaldo from suspension and the international break coming up, Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping his players will come through the matches unscathed.

Growing Old With You

2007-08-10T00:02:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to my ultra super lovable girlfriend!

A very happy birthday, I wish my super lovable owner.

It sucks that I'm on the other side of the world right now, but I'll make up to you when I get back. =)

Genesis 2.0

2007-07-29T16:16:00.000+08:00

Genesis Take Two

1. In the beginning GOD created the Bit and the Byte. And from those he created the Word.

2. And there were two Bytes in the Word; and nothing else existed.
And God separated the One from the Zero; and he saw it was good.

3. And God said - Let the Data be; and so it happened.
And God said - Let the Data go to their proper places.
And he created floppy disks and hard disks and compact disks.

4. And God said - Let the computers be, so there would be a place
to put floppy disks and hard disks and compact disks.
Thus God created computers and called them hardware.

5. And there was no Software yet. But God created programs; small and big...
And told them - Go and multiply yourselves and fill all the Memory.

6. And God said -I will create the Programmer; And the Programmer
will make new programs and govern over the computers and programs and Data.

7. And God created the Programmer; and put him at Data Center;
And God showed the Programmer the Catalog Tree and said -
You can use all the volumes and subvolumes but DO NOT USE
Windows.

8. And God said - It is not Good for the programmer to be alone.
He took a bone from the Programmer's body and created a creature that would look up at the Programmer; and admire the Programmer; and love the things the Programmer does;
And God called the creature: the User.

9. And the Programmer and the User were left under the naked DOS and it was Good.

10. But Bill was smarter than all the other creatures of God.
And Bill said to the User - Did God really tell you not to run any programs ?

11. And the User answered - God told us that we can use every program and every piece of Data but told us not to run Windows or we will die.

12. And Bill said to the User - How can you talk about something you did not even try? The moment you run Windows you will become equal to God. You will be able to create anything you like by a simple click of your mouse.

13. And the User saw that the fruits of the Windows were nicer and easier to use. And the User saw that any knowledge was useless - since Windows could replace it.

14. So the User installed the Windows on his computer; and said to the Programmer that it was good.

15. And the Programmer immediately started to look for new drivers.
And God asked him - What are you looking for?
And the Programmer answered - I am looking for new drivers because I can not find them in the DOS.
And God said - Who told you that you need drivers? Did you run Windows?
And the Programmer said - It was Bill who told us to !

16. And God said to Bill - Because of what you did, you will be hated by all the creatures.
And the User will always be unhappy with you.
And you will always sell Windows.

17. And God said to the User - Because of what you did, the Windows will disappoint you and eat up all your Resources; and you will have to use lousy programs; and you will always rely on the Programmer's help.

18. And God said to the Programmer - Because you listened to the User, you will never be happy. All your programs will have errors and you will have to fix them and fix them to the end of time.

19. And God threw them out of the Data Center and locked the door and secured it with a password.

20. GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT

(Via Digg)

I can't believe someone was able to come up with that. Hilarious stuff.
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Separation and Reunion

2007-07-05T01:44:00.000+08:00

I went to a funeral yesterday. One of our church members passed away on Monday. I didn't know him that well, but I knew him. I had seen him around in church and shook his hand on a few occasions. He was already an old and ill for a long time, so his wife and family were prepared when it happened.

As I watched him laying peacefully in his casket, I felt my mortality more than ever. Death comes to all. You are born, you live and then you die. From dust we were made, to dust we shall return. That's the cycle of life.

The sorrow I felt didn't come from his death; he had lived a full life and he was in now in a better place. It was when I would put myself in his son's shoes.

Separation is always hard. When I was young, I used to dislike airports for the reason that it always reminded me of that dreadful feeling of separation. The last hugs, sad goodbyes and final farewells.

When I was older, I came to realize that the airport was a place of reunion as well. What the departure was to sorrow, the arrival hall was to joy. People waiting with anticipating faces, which at the first sighting of their loved ones, would break out into a bright, wide smile accompanied with a frantic wave. It's a wonderful feeling which I'm sure everyone has felt.

When separation like this happens, as it eventually will in everyone's life, I believe that what separates those who are sad and those who are the most sorrowful, is the promise of reunion.

The promise that the separation we're experiencing is not permanent, but merely temporary.

The promise that in the life after this one, we will see each other again.

Action and Disbelief

2007-07-03T03:26:00.000+08:00

I went to watch Live Free or Die Hard yesterday. I'd been wanting to watch it ever since I saw the trailer and I have say, it was AWESOME.

No matter how good you are, it always helps to creep around corners.

It was everything that an action movie should be. It certainly got my adrenaline going and there scenes that were so explosive, I could hear people in theater gasping once the action scene was over. And not to mention, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was looking gorgeous as usual in the movie. Just remember though, that I saw her first. Haha.

"What good is a damsel if she's not in distress?"

But I don't want to spoil the movie for you, I won't say anything more except, simply leave reality behind and enjoy the movie. I give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Talking about realism in movies, I'm sure everyone has heard this line, "That's so unrealistic, that would never happen in real life."

Sometimes I get a little annoyed when I hear that. It's because when I go watch a movie, I go there to be entertained and to escape reality for a little while. If I want to watch something realistic, I'll go watch a documentary on National Geographic. Don't go and watch an action movie and then say, "There's no way a car could flip like that in real life."

Going to the movies with uptight people who have no suspension of disbelief just ruins the whole experience.

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Video of The Day #18

2007-06-19T13:25:00.000+08:00

I apologize for the lack of entries recently. I've been trying to find time, but lots of things have been going on the past week. For example graduation ceremonies and parties, since it's the end of the school year over here.

An entry is halfway through. Not long before I complete it.

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Conversation of The Day #8

2007-06-06T09:52:00.000+08:00

He stood in front of the tables, waiting for assistance, but no one seemed to be around.

"Hmm, where is everybody?" a voice behind him said.

He turned round to face the voice and saw her standing there with a slightly puzzled look on her face.

He knew her, but not by name. Nor did she know him. He saw her every time he passed by her work bench on his way towards the fermentation lab. She was wearing her white lab coat as usual but he couldn't help noticing that she was wearing heels today. He never saw anyone wear heels at work before. The nature of their job involved a lot of standing and walking, and wearing heels would be extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps she had a date later.

"I don't know. I've been waiting here for a while. I guess they're busy," he said, visually scanning the place once more. "What are you looking for?"

"Well, I just wanted to check the freezers over there," she said, pointing to one just a few meters away. "To see if we have enough supplies for our prep tomorrow."

"Go ahead and check. I'm sure they won't mind."

"No! They might think I'm stealing or something," she said in rather hushed tone.

"No way," he said, nonchalantly shaking his head. "With that cute face of yours, they're not going to suspect a thing."

She smiled at him for a moment, then they started laughing.

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Accents and Conversations

2007-05-31T13:46:00.000+08:00

At work, people have been telling me that they like my unique accent. I was rather surprised when I heard that and since I haven't seen a video or heard a recording of how I speak, so I have no idea how my accent sounds now.

Ever since I got here, my accent has unconsciously changed. It's quite inevitable really, because to in order to communicate effectively, the other party has to understand what I'm saying. So naturally, I changed the way how I say and pronounce certain words in order that other people can understand me easily.

What has changed is that I pronounce my Rs now and I emphasize my end consonants like Ts and Ds. For example in words like "that" and "did". Also, speaking in proper grammatical sentences is something I've found easy to adapt, probably because I always scored well in English back in secondary school.

My co-worker, Mia, who's white, surprisingly asked, "How come you speak such good english?" To which I shrugged and said, "I don't know, learnt it in school?"

She continued, "I like your accent. It sounds unique. I can't seem to place it to a particular country."

I laughed and shrugged, "Well, I guess it's become a weird hybrid now after I got exposed to the accent here."

When I speak with my brother though, we always speak Singlish. It's a pretty cool because over here, it becomes like another language. It's a good way to secretly communicate too.

For example, "Wah piang eh, that person damn smelly sia."

But of course when we're with friends, we'll speak proper English because it's rude to leave others out of the conversation.

Another thing I've gotten used to, is having short conversations with random people. You know, like small talk. Well, you know how western people are,make long enough eye contact with them and they can start talking about you about anything under the sun.

So at first when random people started having short conversations with me, especially at work, I felt awkward. I wasn't used to it. Over time though, I've slowly gotten used to it, and sometimes I even look forward to having those conversations. It's quite fun just talking to someone and getting to know them better. Sometimes with many people the whole conversation can go out of control and we all just burst out laughing.

For sure I'll be writing about those conversations in future entries.

It's time to end this entry though, I've had the flu since Monday and now the damn headache is coming back again.

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Video Of The Day #17

2007-05-17T14:39:00.000+08:00

I've been wanting to write an entry, but work has been pretty crazy these past few days and I've been clocking lots of overtime. (Not that I'm complaining, x1.5 pay! Haha.)

So in the meantime, here's another cool video of the day.

What can I say? You just got served.

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Champions Of England

2007-05-06T08:58:00.000+08:00

YEAH! Hail the Champions of England, Manchester United!

It's been an excellent season for Man Utd and today it's finally produced some silverware.

But the defining moment was really last week, when Chelsea drew with Bolton, and Man Utd came from behind to beat Everton 4-2. That was the ultimate turning point in the title race.

The goal that won it for Man Utd.

The goal that lost it for Chelsea.

I'm glad that Man Utd won the title because they've finally taught Chelsea some humilty and shoved their arrogance down their ass. I'll be honest. I like Chelsea. I like Jose Mourinho. I admire his self-belief and the way he has instilled that champion mentality into his team and backed it up with silverware. But this season, they've gone over the line. When Drogba and Essien started claiming they're the best even before the season was halfway through, self belief turned into arrogance. Mourinho's constant whining about penalties and insults of Ronaldo and his family was totally unprofessional and I'm glad Sir Alex Ferguson responded by putting Mourinho's comments into perspective.

An excerpt from the article:

Mourinho's comments about his fellow Portuguese in turn upset Ferguson, who said on Friday: "Everyone is entitled to have a comment or opinion. That doesn't mean to say they are liars."

And Ferguson added: "Mourinho is on about us changing the regulations. I would like to know who is doing it? Is it us? The FA? The Premier League? Uefa?

"I really feel he has been let off lightly with those comments.

"The biggest fear for us is that by citing the fact we are not allowed to get penalties at Old Trafford, it puts a terrible pressure on the referees."

Ferguson also pointed to several decisions that he felt had gone against his own club.

"Does he remember the goal Paul Scholes had disallowed for offside when we played against Porto in the European Cup?" said the United boss.

"We didn't like it and we complained. But we didn't go to war on it.

"Or should he be pointing to the fact Tottenham were forced to play on a Easter Saturday morning, a day and a half after their previous game, to allow Chelsea to rest before their European tie?

"We have to play Manchester City at 12.45 on a Saturday after a European tie in Milan next Wednesday. Is that fair? We don't think so but we are not going to start accusing the Premier League of carving things up with Chelsea."

But I know, most of all, I'll be laughing at one guy. John Obi Mikel. For those of you who don't know the story, he signed for Man Utd, then made an about turn and said that he was "pressured" into signing the contract and that he wanted to sign for Chelsea instead. What a bastard. In the end, it was settled by Chelsea buying him from Man Utd for 12 million pounds without him ever kicking a ball.

I guess that was how he was pressured.

Well, I say thank you John Obi Mikel, for the 12 million pounds because we don't need scum like you to win the Premiership title.

Now for everything to be perfect, we just need to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup to clinch the double, and for AC Milan to beat Liverpool in the Champions League final. Milan simply need to play the way they did when they beat Man Utd at the San Siro, and they'll have no problems beating the boring, long ball, lucky penalty shootout kings, Liverpool.

Now, the Premiership trophy is finally back where it belongs.

Stand up, for the the Champions.

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Video Of The Day #16

2007-04-11T14:23:00.000+08:00

This is one of funniest things I have ever heard.

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6 Points

2007-04-07T17:41:00.000+08:00

It's weird, that whenever I'm here in the United States, I can't seem to find any motivation to blog. Instead of writing an entry, I'll procrastinate and tell myself, "I'll do an entry tomorrow", but when tomorrow comes it never happens.

Ever since I started work, every time the idea of writing an entry pops into my head, I start to feel sleepy for some reason. Perhaps after a day of work, my brain just wants to kick back and relax. Not that my work requires lots of thinking, but for some reason that's just what happens.

It's been close to 2 and a half months since I've started working and I have to admit, I've been enjoying it. There's a lot to write about my many different experiences at work, but I don't intend to write about it in this entry.

Anyway, Aaron tagged me to this mini questionnaire, so here it goes.

Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

(Weird is a rather relative term and I don't find anything about myself that's weird. Well then, here are 6 points about myself.)

1) I listen to Techno when I'm in the mood.

2) I have to drink coffee before I take an exam or else I'll fall asleep halfway through.

3) I need an average of 6 hours of sleep in order to function properly.

4) If man lived according to logic and reason, obese people shouldn't exist.

5) Sometimes, I'll say certain things or act in a certain way just to see how people react.

6) If I find someone attractive, the first thing I'll do is to make an analysis of why I think so.

I tag no one. This chain ends with me.

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Hired

2007-02-07T14:12:00.000+08:00

I've been here close to 2 weeks now and I'm happy to say I've fulfilled my goal of finding a job.

It all started when my friend, FadeAway told me about an opening in his department. After talking to his supervisor, she gave the green light for me to apply. Since it's only a temporary position, so there was no need to conduct an interview. All I did was to drop by the agency, complete the relevant paperwork and take a drug test.

Anyway, today was my first day at a biotechnology corporation as a cell product technician. And to be honest, I was as lost as a sheep. Most of the time I was with FadeAway and my other friend, Ion, trying to learn as much as I could without losing my way around the labs.

Not long after I had started though, our supervisor informed us of a meeting at 9am, which turned out to be a review meeting for our department's performance in the past year. There were lots of doughnuts, coffee and orange juice, which I gladly filled my empty stomach with.

What I found out from the meeting was that our corporation is the top in the market of competent cells; the product that our department develops. And this market isn't just the American market, but the global market. In my opinion, that's a pretty cool statistic to have.

I'm looking forward to working at this corporation. From what I heard from Ion, they play football Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the nice lawn grass field right next to our building.

FadeAway told me that usually leave slightly early because once our projects are done, there's literally nothing to do. And since us temporary staff don't need to log in and out, so long as no one looks for us, we're good.

For now though, I shall end here as I'll be starting work at 6am tomorrow. It's time to get some sleep.

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Shit Happens #2

2007-02-03T02:04:00.000+08:00

That would be a really crappy way to start the day.

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Chill In The Air

2007-01-27T10:38:00.000+08:00

It's cold. And I hate the cold.

I'm really more a hot person than a cold one. Meaning to say if I had a choice, I'd rather melt to death than get my balls frozen. Unfortunately, it's the winter season right now and even though the weather here in southern California is supposed to be the best in the United States, it's still as cold as a polar bear's ass. What's more, it rained yesterday making it even colder, not to mention wet as well.

Coming from a tropical island, one of the first things I always feel as soon as I step out of the airport into the open air is the lack of humidity. That's the reason why you hardly feel sticky when you're over here; because all your sweat dries up so quickly. That's the good part about the weather here.

What really gets to me though, isn't the low temperatures, but the chill that's in the air.

When you breathe normally it's not too bad, but as soon as you start running and panting, the cold air starts filling your lungs like ice cold water in a cup. After that you start to feel as if there's not enough oxygen going in and that your lungs are being constricted.

But of course, there's nothing constricting your lungs. It's all a matter of getting acclimatized I guess.

Now that I'm here and I'll be staying for a while, I want to get a job. Rather than sit down in front of my laptop and do nothing all day, I'd rather earn some money and keep myself occupied. At least when I bring back to Singapore, it'll multiply at least 1.5. My friend of mine says his company is currently hiring, so I'll probably check it out next week.

Man, I'm starving. It's time to go scavenge around in the kitchen.

Video of The Day #15

2007-01-24T13:12:00.000+08:00

It doesn't matter if you've never played Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat before; enjoy the action.

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Touchdown

2007-01-22T15:29:00.000+08:00

So, I've finally arrived.

The 2nd part of my flight went rather well and quick. I was given an aisle seat, the first seat on the first row. It turned out to be the seat I ever got. It was right in front of the lavatory, right in front of the video screen and most of all, it had lots and lots of leg room. Trust me, in long flights, leg room makes a huge difference in comfort. I had so much space I could even stretch my legs right up against the wall in front of me.

When I reached home, I found out that the youth group from church had prepared a surprise welcome party for me. As I opened the door and saw everyone there, I said to myself, "Oh no. A welcome party."

You see, I don't like being the center of attention; especially when it comes to parties. Everyone comes up to you, trying to make small talk. And they ask so many questions. That's why I never organize any birthday parties. When it comes to celebrations, I like to keep it small and simple.

Anyway, now that I'm back, I'm glad to once again see my super cute dog, Rainbow.

"Please give me some food."

He was a bit cautious wondering who I was at first, but once he remembered, he started following me all the around the house.

Earlier on at the party, some people were asking me if I was feeling jet lagged, but I'm not feeling any jet lag at all. It's most likely to due my irregular sleeping times back in Singapore which messed up my internal clock.

Still, I guess I should be going to sleep now. After a long flight, nothing beats a nice, comfortable bed to sleep in.

Transit

2007-01-21T18:34:00.000+08:00

(As stated in my previous post, here begins the first of my backlogged entries. This one was written manually on my notepad as I waited in the airport for my connecting flight.)

I'm at the airport in Manila right now, waiting for my connecting flight to Los Angeles at 8:30pm. That's right, once again I'm on my way to the United States again to visit my family.

I'm having a 4 hour stopover, which really sucks, but there wasn't much choice in picking my flight. Most of the dates were either fully booked or cost too much due to this being the holiday season. So after all that searching, this flight is the best I managed to get. A Philippine Airline flight from Singapore to Los Angeles with a 4 stopover at Manila.

I've been walking around for the past hour or so and there's really nothing much in this airport. All they have in this area in front of the gates a duty free shop, a Delifrance outlet, some small counters selling sandwiches and drinks, and a massage outlet. I've been text messaging my friend back in Singapore and he says it's quite empty because this airport is newly built.

So after walking around I've come to find myself seated on a table in front of the Delifrance counter, with my sandwich and a can of coke, writing all this down.

I don't know what everyone else does, but when I've really got nothing to do, I just people watch. I like to try and read people. You know, like to try and tell how they're really feeling, read their body language, find out what really goes on in their head when they're interacting with other people.

Look close enough, and you'll be able to find all those feigned acts of interest like patronizing smiles and fake laughs. If you really want to read someone though, look at their eyes. In spite of their facial expressions, whether they're offended, awkward, pissed off, tired, lying... you can tell from looking straight into their eyes.

Likewise, if you can control your gaze, it's hard for people to read you. The ones with the straight, stoic eyes are the ones hardest to read. Or you can just cover your gaze, which is pretty much the reason why people wear shades when they play poker.

"I'm all in."

When I hide my feelings though, I don't usually use go for ice cold, stoic gaze. For me, I simply use my eyes as the primary outlet to convey the feelings that I want to. It works much easier for me.

Hmm, an old man just requested to seat at my table. Don't get any weird ideas, all the other tables are occupied that's why.

I guess I'll end here. It's better to give up this table to others who need it since I'm done with my sandwich. Besides, I'm not in the mood for some social interaction with strangers, so I'd better get away before this old man talks to me.

Another long flight over the Pacific but somehow, I'm not dreading it at all. I think I've gotten used to it and I'm starting to enjoy the long flights by myself.

Delayed

2007-01-21T15:12:00.000+08:00

Damn it, I've really got to update this blog.

Actually I've got a whole backlog of entries written on my laptop, but never got to uploading, because my laptop was not working for a short period of time and when it was fixed, I still didn't get down to it.

Which explains the weird date of this entry (even it's currently March 31st) because January 21st is of the date of the first of my backlogged entries.

However, I shall delay a little longer. It's been a long day at work today and I can barely keep my eyes open as it is.

So, until then.

Nokia Aeon

2007-01-18T14:09:00.000+08:00

Everyone's going crazy over the iPhone ever since it was announced. It looks really cool and that new touch screen interface is what impresses me the most.

When it comes to mobile phones though, I'm really a Nokia kind of person. You could say I'm loyal to the brand now after using it so long. Because I'm no technology expert, my reasons for picking and sticking with Nokia were simple.

1) It was the first mobile phone that I ever owned.

2) Its interface was easy to use.

3) Compared to other phones, it's SMS interface was the easiest and fastest to use.

Reason 3 is the key reason for my preference for Nokia phones. I used a Motorola phone for a while and I tell you, their SMS interface sucked big time.

Anyway, I was surfing through Digg as usual and I found out about the new Nokia Aeon. And I must say, it looks damn good.

It's still a concept and undergoing research and development though, so there's nothing definite for now. But if it does get released, you can be sure I'll be getting one.

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2007 and Disciprine

2007-01-09T17:38:00.000+08:00

Once again pardon the long absence of entries. Initially, I was writing an entry on New Year's Day about Saddam Hussein's execution but I found myself writing and wandering into more complicated issues like the death penalty and the justification of America's war in Iraq. But I got sleepy and distracted, so right now that entry is half written, in the drafts folder, which means it's unlikely that I'll complete it because that's what happened to all my other incomplete entries. Perhaps I'll get down to finishing those entries one day.

It's 9 days into the new year of 2007. I don't know if everyone made new year resolutions but if you did, I bet you've probably broken them by now. I certainly didn't make any. I've never had much of a thing for new year resolutions. I've always felt that if you sincerely wanted to make a change in your life, you wouldn't need an occasion to make that change.

To make that change, it all comes down to discipline. When I was younger, I never realized the value of self discipline until now. When you're a last minute person and procrastinator like me, you really need self discipline to push yourself get things done.

On the topic of discipline, here's something from South Park about discipline that I find really meaningful.

Disciprine aside, I really recommend watching South Park. There's usually a theme in every episode and creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's imagination to come up with such hilarious crap while enforcing those themes is something I admire and enjoy.

Here's a clip from the episode "Miss Teacher Bangs A Boy".

And from "You Got F'd in the A".

Here's website with lots of South Park episodes. NICCCEEE~~.

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Shit Happens #1

2006-12-30T04:46:00.000+08:00

Damn. That last moment of enlightenment sure didn't last long. Like they say, common sense isn't that common after all.

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Damn The Rain

2006-12-27T18:24:00.000+08:00

It's been raining for the longest time now. Every single day.

I don't like the rain. When it does, the skies get all dark and cloudy and it rather dampens the mood. If you're outside, you have to seek shelter and once you find it, you're stuck indoors, unable to get anywhere without getting wet. And even if you have an umbrella, there's always the inconvenience of carrying it around afterwards. Personally, that's the reason I'd rather walk in the rain than carry an umbrella. Which also explains all the damp clothes currently in my laundry basket. I missed the last bus home these past 2 days, so I ended up jogging home. I must say though, it's pretty comfortable jogging in the rain.

I hate slippery surfaces.

When it rains as well, every indoor location on Orchard road gets crowded. What annoys me more though, is people standing at the entrance doors wondering what to do. Come on, a little rain won't kill you. It's not as if you're made of paper.

Like I mentioned before, crowded places annoy me. That, coupled with the rain, makes Orchard road the number 1 place to avoid this festive season. Oh, and if I were you, I'd avoid Vivocity on New Year's Eve as well. That place is packed like maggots on a dead body during the weekends and holidays.

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Boxing Day

2006-12-26T17:54:00.000+08:00

I'm a little late, but nevertheless, Merry Christmas! =)

My Christmas was a nice and simple celebration with my super lovable girlfriend and her family. I like my celebrations like that. I'd rather have it with my close friends than a huge party with people that I hardly know. It's the people who you celebrate with that make it meaningful.

The Christmas spirit here in Singapore is rather lacking, don't you think? Of course for those of you who haven't spent Christmas anywhere else you wouldn't understand what I mean, but I'm sure for those who have, you'd agree with me.

What defines the Christmas spirit? Well, it's in the little things. Like looking someone in the eye with a warm sincere smile as you say, "Merry Christmas". Greeting and wishing random strangers while complaining how dreadful last minute Christmas shopping is.

Perhaps this guy sums it up better than I do.

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
- Charles Dickens

So once again, have a Merry Christmas everyone.

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Conversation Of The Day #7

2006-12-21T02:38:00.000+08:00

Mr Brightside says :
then after that my com technician came down

Zen|th says :
again?

Mr Brightside says :
dunno what my cb brother do

Zen|th says :
I know what.
P
O
R
N
Hahaha.

Mr Brightside says :
CB~ 70 GIG OF PORN

Mr Brightside says :
ALL GONE

Zen|th says :
wah. 70GB? That's a lot.

Mr Brightside says :
wait, there was bleach, games, programs and lots more other stuff.. so actually not that much as 70GB..

Zen|th says :
Then how much?

Mr Brightside says :
I think around 60GB.

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Video of The Day #14 And Stuff

2006-12-17T02:33:00.000+08:00

The music in this video is just right for the weekend. =) And Andy McKee has some crazy guitar skills.

Anyway, I'm not sure if most of you out there have heard of this site called Digg. For those of you who don't know what Digg is, here's a little help from the omniscient Wikipedia:

"Digg is a community-based popularity website with an emphasis on technology and science articles. It combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication with a form of non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. This differs from the hierarchical editorial system that many other news sites employ.

Readers can view all of the stories that have been submitted by fellow users in the "digg/All/Upcoming" section of the site. Once a story has received enough "diggs", depending on the calculations performed by Digg's algorithm, it appears on Digg's front page. Should the story not receive enough diggs, or if enough users report a problem with the submission, the story will remain in the "digg all" area, where it may eventually be removed."

So in a nutshell, Digg's front pages are filled with news stories that are submitted by users, and approved by users.

My whole point in bringing up this subject is this: Digg is one of the best sites on the internet. Lots of times the information that I get from this site is reprinted in the papers two days later. Topics like James Kim and his family's disappearance, the boy with the severed head, Wiimotes breaking television screens. Alright, they may not be ground breaking news, but it's information that's interesting enough (at least the papers think so) to read. And that's where I get lots of my videos too.

So the next time you're looking for the latest on technology, news stories or videos, you know where to go.

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Windows To The Soul

2006-12-15T01:12:00.000+08:00

Oh well, since I'm pretty bored right now, here's another quiz.

Your Eyes Should Be Green

Your eyes reflect: Striking attractiveness and danger

What's hidden behind your eyes: A vivid inner world

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

Green eyes, that's pretty cool. What's more important for me though, is the shape of the person's eyes. Some people just have this gaze that can suck you in once you make eye contact.

That's why I always say what attracts me to a woman the most is her eyes. It's through the eyes that you make a connection with someone. 94% of communication is non verbal and I'm pretty sure that out of that 94%, a large part of it is through the eyes.

You can always tell a lot by looking into someone's eyes as they communicate. Whether they're angry, sad, feeling tired, lying or being sincere, trust me, it's all in the eyes.

That's why the eyes are the windows to the soul.

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Tarot Cards

2006-12-08T19:49:00.000+08:00

You are Strength

Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.

This is a card of courage and energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted, and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot, which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It can also stand for a steadfast friend.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

(Via Cowboy Caleb)

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Weekend

2006-12-03T19:14:00.000+08:00

I played 2 football matches on Saturday and Sunday. And both games got me pissed off.

The first game was with my former colleagues in DFS. It ended in a 1-1 draw and although I scored, what really pissed me off was that I missed 2 clear cut chances to win the game. I sort of twisted my ankle in a challenge early in the game and from then on I was playing in pain all the way. What added insult to injury really, was that the other team sucked. Real bad. They were probably around 20, much, much ayounger than our team (which probably had an average age of 34) and still, they couldn't outrun or outpass a group of old men.

The second game pissed me off too. Why? First, my ankle was still injured and I couldn't walk properly. Secondly, we lost 4-2 to a team that sucked real bad. Again. And once again, I was playing with old men against younger opponents. All my team mates had families already. The other team were a bunch of JC students which couldn't even pass the ball properly.

Honestly, when it comes to football, I really hate to lose. But then again, I guess when playing with team mates twice your age, defeat is something that's bound to occur more often.

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Video Of The Day #13

2006-11-30T17:14:00.000+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

-Mary Schmich

I remember this song by Baz Luhrmann being released back when I was in secondary school. Back then, this song didn't really mean much but now that I'm older, it has quite an impact. It's probably because I'm at a crossroad in my life. It's all part and parcel of growing up, I guess.

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Video Of The Day #12

2006-11-16T02:20:00.000+08:00

Indeed. We humans are such losers. Damn those tapirs.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Munchhausen-Trilemma

Video Of The Day #11

2006-11-13T17:05:00.000+08:00

I found this video on a friend's Friendster profile but I don't know what the song title is. All I know is that it's by Otsuka Ai.

She's cute.

Manchester United 2 - 0 Liverpool

2006-10-23T14:01:00.000+08:00

United Back On Top

This was a match dominated by Man Utd. Their passing was crisp, fast and flowing. Liverpool were totally outplayed and outclassed. Man Utd showed much more determination when it came to challenging for 50-50 balls. Also, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic played exceptionally well and look to get better with every game.

Liverpool looked jaded in the midfield. The Liverpool players, especially Gerrard, are probably getting tired of Benitez's tinkering around. As a player, it affects your morale greatly when you aren't sure of your place in the team no matter how well you play. And even when you play, you aren't playing in your best position. What was Pennant doing on the left side of midfield?

You can't deny the second goal by Ferdinand was a great one. Watch the replay. Look at the point where the ball hits the net. It's right in the corner, just inside the cross bar and far post. You can't stop a shot like that.

So now, another rival is 11 points behind and we're top of the table. Certainly a victory to savour.

Video Of The Day #10

2006-10-22T01:43:00.000+08:00

Jose Mourinho. I'm sure most non Chelsea supporters hate him, but not me. He's the perfect manager in my opinion. Sure, he maybe be arrogant, but he always backs it up with results so he knows what he's talking about.

I actually prefer another version of this video, but embedding is disallowed, so I recommend that you click here for the other version before watching that one.

Moving On

2006-10-20T15:46:00.000+08:00

I was supposed to blog about this 2 days ago but I got sidetracked, so here it is.

I'm unemployed.

Yep, I resigned from my job 2 days ago on the 18th. For 11 months I've been working in DFS as a Sales Associte. Actually I had wanted to resign much, much earlier, but everytime I wanted to resign, I kept getting transferred to another department which led me to say to myself, I'll give it another shot. In total, I got transferred 3 times. The job had no prospect and didn't pay well, so earlier this month I finally decided that that was it, it's time to get out. And I handed in my resignation letter.

It's been good working there, and I'll never forget all the wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) people I've met. But for now, it's time to move on.

Talking about moving, I was surfing Digg as usual when this link came up. It's called Lords Of The Logistic and if you think you're good at moving things, I tell you, these people will put you to shame. Here are some pictures:

Those poor piglets.

Video Of The Day #9

2006-10-19T02:07:00.000+08:00

Ah, the tragedy of love.

Video Of The Day #8

2006-10-17T16:49:00.000+08:00

In the light of North Korea's recent nuclear test, here's something from The Daily Show that's somewhat related.

If you're wondering why I'm writing much less nowadays, it's because of all those damn videos on YouTube.

Video Of The Day #7

2006-10-14T02:12:00.000+08:00

This has got to be one of the best South Park episodes. Especially more so if you're a World Of Warcraft player. I'm not one and even I found it funny. The first scene in the Blizzard boardroom is hilarious. I heard that they might take this down soon, so watch it quick!

"In the outside world I'm a simple geologist. But in here, I am Falcorn, defender of the Alliance. I've braved the deep mines and defeated the bloodfish.. arrgh!"

"Hmm. Looks like that guy just killed you."

"What? Why? WHY?!"

The 3 Gods Of The Internet

2006-10-10T13:40:00.000+08:00

I've always told people that there are 3 gods of the internet.

First, there's Google, which definitely has achieved internet godlike status. Then there's Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia where you can find information on almost anything. Sometime back, it gathered some controversy due to it's open editing process which allows anyone to edit it's articles. And finally, there's YouTube, which I'm sure needs no explaining.

Well now, 2 of these gods are merging.

Google to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock

As soon as I told some of my friends about it, they were worried that YouTube might no longer be free, but that definitely won't happen because the free sharing of videos is one YouTube's key reasons for success. After the merger, I don't think that YouTube will be changing that much. Google will try to find ways insert advertising into the site to gather revenue like Adsense. Also with YouTube, they'll be able to tap into a wealth of user information, much more than their competitors Yahoo and Microsoft.

Here's more information which I got from Digg.

It'll be interesting what happens with YouTube and Google from here on.

Video Of The Day #6

2006-10-08T03:10:00.000+08:00

This is going to be hell of a movie. Since I read about the Battle Of Thermopyale, the Spartans have been the epitome of bravery and courage to me.

"Our arrows will blot out the sun."

"Good. Then we will fight in the shade." - Dienekes

Video Of The Day #5

2006-10-03T17:32:00.000+08:00

(YouTube Link)

Simply hiliarious. If that happened to me, I'd have done the same.

To Not Play Beautifully

2006-10-01T23:26:00.000+08:00

I realised I haven't talked about football for a very long time.(Actually I haven't blogged much at all.)

The World Cup was held this year in June and I'm sure that before and during the World Cup, every one knows or at least has heard the term, "Joga Bonito".

But for those of you who still don't know the term, Joga Bonito simply means "play beautifully" in Portugese. In the Nike commercials for Joga Bonito, it shows various footballers (actually, mostly players from the Brazilian national team) displaying lots of skills and tricks, like fooling opponents with clever flicks and stepovers, etc.

I have to admit though, at first glance, I was impressed. I can't even do a quarter of the tricks that was shown. I'm sure most of you felt that same. But as time passed, I realised that it was just a whole marketing campaign by Nike and that in reality, Joga Bonito was just a bunch of crap.

Why?

Simply because I feel that Joga Bonito has taken away one of the essentials of football. Teamwork.

Joga Bonito has taken away teamwork and instead put the focus on trickery and showmanship. Of course, I'm not saying that individual skill is not important, it is. But when it comes to playing in a team, one has to put the team above himself. Showmanship takes away all that and instead focuses on entertaining the crowd for self glorification.

After the commercials came out, I saw more and more people trying to learn Ronaldinho's flip-flap. I couldn't help but wonder, instead of learning a trick that you'd hardly use in a match, why not focus instead on mastering your ball control or passing? I've never even seen Ronaldinho use the flip-flap in his matches.

Secondly, I don't believe in "Playing beautifullly". I believe only in one thing. Playing to win. That's why after my team Manchester United, I support Chelsea. Because Jose Mourinho believes in the same philosophy. Efficiency over entertainment. It's better to win 1-0 than to lose 5-4. Because at the end of the day, only the result matters and people only remember the winners, not the losers.

Well you might say that playing beautifully is important in entertaining the fans. I agree with that statement to a certain extent, because while playing beautiful football does delight the fans, what fans really want is for the team to win trophies. And if you're winning trophies, you won't be playing boring football that's for sure.

Perhaps I don't like the idea of Joga Bonito because I'm not really a flair player. If you ask me to do stepover or a flip-flap, I'll give the ball right back to the opponent. The style of play that I like the most is Wayne Rooney's. He doesn't overdo things. He just keeps things simple and beats the opponent with his timing and pace. And most importantly, he delivers.

And to illustrate my example of someone who overdoes things, here's the one and only, Cristiano Ronaldo.

But then again, that's just my opinion.

5 Years

2006-09-11T23:46:00.000+08:00

I happened to be looking around on YouTube when I saw this clip of Jon Stewart right after the attack on September 11. You can't help but be moved when you see how he tries to control his emotions.

A Petition

2006-09-01T23:24:00.000+08:00

(Updated)

First off, I've decided to take down the petition because I read in the New Paper today that the author of the petition took it down and apologised to the school principal. Since he took it down, it's only fair that I respect his wishes.

Reading, or rather speed-reading through the comments, let me explain that before today I had no idea that the entire petition saga was over long ago. If I had known the outcome, I wouldn't have posted it up. Like I said, I saw the petition that day, and I posted it up because I thought it was something interesting and worth sharing with everyone.

So now that the record has been set straight, if anyone was offended by the post, I truly say... ... ... the post has been removed. =)

Keep the discussion in the comments section going though, it's been interesting reading all of them.

Video Of The Day #4

2006-08-28T16:34:00.000+08:00

(YouTube Link)

I always end up watching Jon Stewart on YouTube. His shows are freaking hilarious. I'll be posting up more Daily Show clips in the future.

Video Of The Day #3

2006-08-25T01:54:00.000+08:00

(Video link courtesy of my good friend, Donavon)

Funny, I just ate McDonalds for lunch today. If cutie_mish starts endorsing McDonalds officially, I'll start eating it everyday. Haha.

Anyway, talk of food aside, this video demonstrates the latest trend that's been going around: Lip-synching. In fact it's listed as one of the 10 ways (and in my opinion, the fastest way) to make yourself a YouTube star.

Of course lip-synching alone would be just as boring as watching Ashlee Simpson on tv, so be prepared to throw in lots of exaggerated facials expressions and some William Hung-like dance moves if you want to get a huge audience.

Or... if you're as cute as cutie_mish, you could just appear in a video and sing along to a silly fast food song. =)

Video Of The Day #2

2006-08-20T02:11:00.000+08:00

(Link)

This song is my favourite currently because lyrically and musically, it's so simple yet so beautiful at the same time. The video's a really cute one too and in a future entry I shall use it to prove a theory of mine. =)

Blood And Nail

2006-08-15T16:15:00.000+08:00

Damn it. I injured my finger while I was blogging.

Some of the flesh and fingernail of my right middle finger got cut off. It's a bit hard to explain what happened, but simply put, my finger was in that empty gap pulling the seat towards me... when I sat down.

Initially, it hurt a little when I was washing it but it's it's all nicely bandaged up now.

The thing now is that it's going to be annoyingly difficult doing simple tasks like typing, taking stuff out of my pocket and smsing.

Anyway, I came across this while searching for avatars on Google.

I tell you, pranks like these are what we need in an uptight place like Singapore.

The Anniversary Of One's Birth

2006-08-10T23:45:00.000+08:00

Happy, happy, birthday to my super, super lovable girlfriend!!

I'm glad you enjoyed your special day.

Video Of The Day #1

2006-08-09T17:01:00.000+08:00

(Link)

Oh, and have a Happy National Day! =)

Heat and Ants

2006-07-26T07:16:00.000+08:00

First of all, I sincerely apologise for the long, unannounced hiatus. Due to problems mentioned before, I never knew when I could come online and even I could, I found myself devoid of ideas to write about and ended up doing other stuff. (DOTA anyone?)

So why am I able to blog all of a sudden?

Well, it's mainly because I'm currently in the US again to visit my family. Yep, finally a break from work. And now that I'm finally able to consistently go online, I feel rejuvenated enough to start writing and visiting blogs again.

Anyway, I've already been here for slightly over a week and so far it's been pretty fun. Lots of eating going on. In fact my first meal here was In-N-Out's Double Double meal!

The burger at the bottom is mine. =)

One thing I didn't expect though was the searing heat. I knew it was summer but I didn't expect it to get even hotter than Singapore. Yesterday the temperature here was 38 degrees. My dog Rainbow was panting even though he was just laying down in the middle of the room. Further north at Sacramento, I heard the temperature was 46 degrees.

"I'm hot."

So wherever you go, in the malls or at the fast food restaurants, you'll hear people complaining how hot it is. The heat here is different from Singapore in that you can really feel the sunlight burning your skin. It's probably due to the lower humidity which means you hardly sweat at all.

Another thing the heat brings about are the ants. And those ants can be a real pain in the ass. They're everywhere. I left a glass of water overnight on the table and the next morning there were about 20 ants drowned in the middle with another 6 or 7 crawling around. And they weren't only in my room, they were invading elsewhere in the house.

So the next morning, my brother and I went ant hunting.

Where are those damned ants?

As you can see from the picture, my brother carried out most of the ant annihilation while I, having the older brother status, had the all important duty of standing around and ensuring his safety from any possible ant attack. =)

Alrighty, I'll end here for now, Will blog again soon.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Mossad

More Movies

2006-03-31T15:07:00.000+08:00

Wow. I just realised that I haven't updated this blog in a month! My sincerest apologies. I haven't been able to go online as usual and during the brief periods that I do, there seems to be nothing to be blog about. Although lots of ideas pop up in my head during work, I seem to forget all of them when I get home. Too tired by then I guess.

Anyway, this past month, I've been watching lots of movies. First off, I watched V for Vendetta.

What I loved about the movie was the themes as well as the cunning wordplay that was present on the Wachowski brothers' previous Matrix films. The humour in the film was well done too, especially when Evey asks V who he is and V's response was to state the paradox of asking masked his identity.

I loved this movie so much that whenever people asked me whether it was anyway good, I'd give it a rating of 7 upon 5.

The next movie I caught was The Hills Have Eyes.

Never underestimate the effects of a cockroach on a woman

I wasn't planning on watching this movie, but at that time it was a choice between The Hills Have Eyes. and The Dorm. The Dorm was supposedly crap, so we went with The Hills Have Eyes. Besides, a gory movie made a better midnight film than a half-spooky one.

If you're a fan of gore, you'll like this film... just a little bit. Because there's nothing much gory about it. Gross maybe, but definitely not gory. It was just lots of fake blood flying about. The plot's crap as well, though that was pretty much expected.

There seemed to more entertainment going in the movie theatre. There was this guy in the row in front out us that kept saying "Fuckin hell!" really loudly whenever something jumped out suddenly. Then I suddenly heard snoring. I thought it was coming from the movie, but when a boy is chasing his missing dog in the middle of the desert, the last sound you'd expect to hear is snoring. So I turned to my friend and asked her, "Hey, is it the movie, or is someone snoring in the theatre?" We looked 2 rows in front of us, and there was this bald headed man snoring away.

Which sums up the rating for this movie. "Zzzzz...".

Next, it was the 13th District.

Traffic can be a real killer

For those of you don't know, 13th District is a film about Parkour and stars it's founder David Belle. And I tell you, David Belle is bloody good. I don't do parkour, but occasionally I do stuff similar to it. Something like the picture in my profile.

Anyway, here's a video of a scene in the movie.

Not only is the parkour top class, but the fighting scenes as well. Look for the scene where Cyril Raffaelli just totally kicks everybody's ass in the casino.

I give this movie 3.75 upon 5.

And finally, the last movie which I caught only last night was Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.

Men have a similar reaction to boobs.

The movie was alright. Typical children's animation. Quite enjoyable, I must admit. But watching it with 4 other guys felt a bit gay. Hahaha. It couldn't be helped though. It was either that or Failure To Launch. 5 guys watching a chick flick just doesn't sound right. It was pretty interesting though, that biggest laughs in the theatre came not from kids, but from the adults. There was this guy behind me who was laughing his head off at every single thing. Even a close up shot of Scrat, the sabre tooth squirrel, would have him chuckling.

The rating for this movie varies a little. you're a kid, this movie's a 4. If you're an adult, it's a 3. If you're a kid inside an adult then it's a perfect 5.

Yep, so that's all the movie reviews I've got. Enjoy the weekend! =)

Riding With Death

2006-03-01T16:28:00.000+08:00

So I watched Final Destination 3. Twice. Not that I really minded because like I always say, the movie is all about who you watch it with.

As soon as I saw the movie poster, I knew this was going to be crap movie. The whole concept was already old. Not suprisingly, they upped the gore content. So if you're a sadist, you'll enjoy this movie more than most. Think human Happy Tree Friends.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Happens all the time."

Heck, my friends were the only ones laughing amidst all the groans of digust whenever each of the characters got ~~killed~~ slaughtered. And I couldn't help laughing too because looking past the blood and gore, they simply died in the the craziest of ways. Like how somebody playing with their dog in London could set off a chain of events causing your untimely death as you watched Singapore's latest porn star in action.

For me, the only good thing that came out of the movie was Mary Elizabeth Winstead. (Others might say it's the tanning scene, but let's not go off topic.)

"Babe, I swear, I had no idea that camera was switched on last night!"

I wouldn't say she's hot, but she's pretty. And her beauty is of the simple kind. Not too much, but just nice. The kind of look that I like. =) Yep, so overall I'd give this movie a 2.5 out of 5, the extra 0.5 just because of Mary Elizabeth Winstead... and that tanning scene.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Death

Video Killed The Cheerleading Star

2006-02-26T01:20:00.000+08:00

After reading everything about the whole Tammy affair, I've only got 1 thing to say.

Now would be a really sucky time to be named Tammy.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Curling

Conversation Of The Day #6

2006-02-23T19:14:00.000+08:00

Sergeant R: "Don, your MC for 6 weeks is enough to last people for 6 months. Do something about it."

Donavon: "Okay. Next week I go take more."

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Prandtl-Glauert Singularity

Plus 1

2006-02-16T15:19:00.000+08:00

I apologise for the lack of posts again. If you still don't know why, you can read the reason here.

Seeing as how this blog of mine is starting to wither and die, I've got a good friend of mine to come and guest blog for the time being.

Anyway, another voice and point of view would refeshing for this blog.

2 Jobs

2006-02-08T13:11:00.000+08:00

Yahoo~ I've got the next 3 days off. Finally I can get some rest.

Although my job isn't really physically demanding, it does get quite tiring mentally having to constantly interact and communicate with people.

I was out with some of my friends on Saturday when one of them brought up this question.

"A $4000 per month job as a cleaner, or $3000 as a manager. Which one would you choose?"

I picked the manager job, because I felt that there are more things to a job than money. Things like the satisfaction that you get when you've succesfully completed something and the challenges of working with other people.

Hmm.. So which would you choose?

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Higgs Boson

Happy Attention

2006-02-04T15:48:00.000+08:00

I don't know if I'm imagining it but ever since I've started work, I've been getting hit on by guys who I think are gay.

Well, first off, there's one of my managers. He's 30 something and one of the first thing you notice about him is that he's well-groomed. His hair is always neatly combed and his clothes are always neatly pressed with his shirt tucked in. Also, at times he speaks in a very gentle voice. Of course, it's unfair to judge one's sexuality based on their appearance, but there's these vibes that I get from him.. you know.. And I'm not the only one who thinks this way too.

One of my new colleagues asked me, "Hey, is our manager gay?" When I replied that I didn't know, she went on to complain about how well he treated me, citing the time when they arrived 5 minutes late and got a ticking off while I arrived even 5 minutes later and all I got was a "good morning" from him.

Another incident was when he flicked my back when I wasn't looking and then said good morning.

I'm not homophobic, so I don't mind if my manager is gay. After all, who doesn't mind being favoured by their superiors?

But it's the next 2 examples that freak me out.

Just a few days ago, I was doing some stuff at my counter when I heard someone say a gentle voice:

"Hey, handsome boy..."

I looked up and I saw a guy smiling at me. My colleague was proccessing his transaction and from the way he spoke it seemed like he was a regular customer. I smiled weakly back. Then he said, "Wah, so handsome". When I heard that, I got goosebumps but I just pretended I didn't hear it and got on with my work.

Then just a few days ago, I saw him again on the shop floor. I had no where to run as he approached me. He grabbed my forearm and said, "Hmm.. I can buy you or not?"

"Me? Buy for what? Cannot la.."

"Why cannot? One hundred can right?"

"Erm.. cannot.."

"How about two hundred?"

"Not for sale ah.." I replied and quickly walked away, pretending a customer had called for me.

I've got a few other similiar experiences too, but I'm too lazy to list out more of them. I've been told before that I look boyish and that I always look like I'm 16 or 17, so perhaps that's the reason why I'm getting hit on these days.

You might say that at least I'm getting hit on by somebody, but I'd rather it was from the fairer sex. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Banlieue 13

The Mice Come Out To Play

2006-02-04T04:00:00.000+08:00

Yahoo!!! My uncle and aunt are going overseas until the 7th. Finally, I can get some form of enjoyment here when I'm at home.

Even my cousin smsed earlier on my way home, "Remember parents aren't home. Time to PARTY!!!"

I replied, "Exactly. PARTY!!!"

He even ended up asking me to buy back 6 Barcadi Breezers for him because he got turned away at 7-11 for being underaged. Haha.

Yep, so I'd better make sure I enjoy their absence to the fullest. And as you can see by the time stamp on this entry, I'm off to a good start. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Hideo Kojima

Offline

2006-02-02T00:22:00.000+08:00

I apologise for the lack of posts recently. I haven't been able to go online at all these past week.

It started last monday when I came home every night to find the modem taken away by my uncle. "Fine", I thought, "At least I can watch some tv". Then I found that the cable tv was disconnected as well. One of the wires was missing. The first thought that came to my mind was, "Bloody hell".

Good thing there was still my trusty old laptop so give me some form of relaxation. But what really pissed me off later on though, was that I found phone missing as well. Bloody hell.

Imagine going to a home where there's no internet, no phone and no tv. What's the point of going back? Might as well go back simply to sleep. And that's exactly what I've been doing the past week. I try return home as late as I can simply because there's no point in coming back early.

And to think that I'm actually paying $300 a month for living in this place. Bloody hell.

Bah. Next time I'll just write and save all my entries on my laptop and then post them up when I have the chance.

Oh yeah, Happy Lunar New Year everyone. =)

Manchester United 1 - 0 Liverpool

2006-01-23T04:35:00.000+08:00

United Stun Rivals

YEAH!!!

This was a tightly fought game all about pride and passion. Although a draw would have been fair, if a winner had to be chosen, Man Utd certainly deserved it. With the pitch in such a poor condition, most of the game of was filled with scrappy passing with few chances for either side. The reason I felt we deserved to win was that we never gave up. Even in the last 10 minutes, it was all about fighting for the victory.

Liverpool were more content to sit back and fight for the draw which was obvious from the substitution of Kromkamp for Sissoko. But that was exactly Liverpool's undoing as Kromkamp's failure to mark Ferdinand was all it took for the game to be decided.

Once again, Rooney was all over the place, displaying the fighting spirit that makes him favourite player. He looked to be the most dangerous player on the field during the 2nd half.

On to the talking points of the match. I don't really see what's all the fuss about Rooney's tackle on Sissoko. The replays show he got the ball. Fair enough, he caught the man as well, but if Gerrard's 2 footed tackle on Evra's knee went unpunished, Rooney's tackle shouldn't even be mentioned. Besides, tackles like that are common in derbies. At most it was a yellow card, which Rooney got.

Also, the foul that led to the free kick in stoppage time was such an obvious one. Finnan's hands were on Evra's back and anyone who plays football knows that once you hands are on your opponent's back, it's a straight foul. I learnt that the hard way playing for my secondary school team when I did the exact same thing, causing my team to concede from the eventual free kick.

Liverpool fans might point to the moment when Ferdinand tugged Crouch's jersey to claim a penalty but I felt that the tug wasn't enough to impede him at all. Besides, if you're fouled but don't fall down, and instead continue to tussle for the ball, it's highly unlikely that the referee will give you a penalty. I've learnt that from experience as well.

"F*** off wanker!" is probably the message the home fans have for Cisse judging by their expressive hand gestures.

Lastly, thank God for Djbril Cisse. He's the new Emile Heskey of Liverpool. Like I always say, even my dog could have scored from that chance. And literally that might even be true, considering how close he was to the goal. It was a good thing he missed too, because Cisse was wrongly judged by the lineman to be offside. If that had gone in, all the Liverpool fans today would be grumbling at how they should have won the game but were let down by the referee, that Man Utd won by luck, etc.

Captain Gary Neville celebrates in front of the Liverpool fans. I'd have done the same.
(Picture credit: Stoned Nerd)

Considering that Liverpool were the favourites for this game, closest contender for 2nd place and our biggest rivals, makes this victory all that much more sweet.

At Last,

2006-01-22T12:11:00.000+08:00

VICTORY!

Finally, my company team finally managed to win. And what a important win it was. I'll update the next time I manage to go online. My uncle and aunt have been sleeping in the living room the past few nights, so I haven't been able to go online at all. (The modem is in the living room.) Why are they sleeping in the living room?

I'll blog all about it when I get back. I have to rush off to work now. It sucks to work on a weekend.

UPDATE:

So, our VICTORY.

Yep, my company team finally managed to our very first game in aeons. On top of that it was against our rival team, another branch of our company. From all the talk that I heard before the game, they really wanted to win this game badly. The last time they played, we lost the game 3-1.

I thought the weather was going to be good, until it started to rain at 30 mintues before the game. At least it fizzled down to a drizzle when the match started. Our captain started off with the "old men" in starting lineup, planning to substitute them out when they got tired. As I watched the game from the sidelines, I just couldn't wait to get in. The other team wasn't good at all.

I was able to come in about 35-40 minutes into the first half when the score was 1-1. Not long after I got in, my colleague chipped the ball from midfield beyond the last defender. I chased after it, got behind the last defender, and raised the ball over the diving goalkeeper.

Now if I'm going to describe all the goals like that it's going to take me forever, so to summarise, we won the game 9-2, I scored 6 goals and the game was called off after a player in the opposing team got a serious neck injury.

Apparently he had collided with the goalkeeper and knocked the back of his head on the ground as the both of them tried to stop me from scoring the last goal. I didn't know what the heck happened because as soon as I poked the ball into the goal, I jumped up to try and minimise the collision. But one thing I know for sure, they both were coming in hard.

Usually when it's 2 people coming in on 1 guy, you'd expect the lone fellow to be pancaked or crushed like an ant, but surprisingly, they were both the ones laying on the floor after the collision while I landed on my feet. As soon as I landed, it was obviously that one of the players was injured badly. He was shaking a little and I could see the whites of his eyes. But he was still breathing. An ambulance had to be called later on. I felt quite bad for the injured player, but my team mates all told me not to feel bad as it wasn't my fault.

After the game, we had a small post game celebration as pizza, KFC, and drinks were ordered and brought in. I don't really know how to describe the atmosphere, but if I could sum it up in one word it would be "celebratory".

I'm just really glad that now our team finally has something to be happy about after that long record of losing and I played a part in it. Even now, whenever one of my colleagues sees me, he'll start singing "We Are The Champions".

So now, we've just got to keep this unbeaten run going. But honestly, it's going to be hard. Hahaha.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: The Lady of Shalott

So It Goes On And On

2006-01-17T01:38:00.000+08:00

Remember the football game I mentioned in my last entry?

Well, we lost 3-1. Everyone was pretty still pretty happy though, because the last time we played with the same team, we got hammered 9-1. But I have to admit, the loss was partly due to my fault because I missed 3 really good chances to score. As I always say when a player misses a good chance on tv, "Even my dog could have scored from that".

It's all a lack of match sharpness really, since the last time I played field football was when I was still in poly. Before the match I slept only 3 hours, so that might have been a factor too.

In any case, our beaten run goes on. Much like this.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Augustus

Losing Run

2006-01-14T03:48:00.000+08:00

In a few hours, I'm off for a football match with my company's team. I hope it doesn't rain and that it isn't too hot either, or else I'll end up with a headache for the rest of the day from my brains being fried.

I've played in a game for my company's team previously and we lost that game 3-1. Since it was my first game, I was talking to my other team mates and asking about our team. I asked one of the Japanese guys. Let's call him Kira.

Kira: "You know, I joined this company in August."

Me: "Really? So that's around 4 months right?"

Kira: "Yes. Up to now, we haven't win a single game."

No wonder. I was wondering what all the excitement was all about at halftime when I had equalised to level the game at 1-1.

Me: "Eh Andy, you know, Kira said ever since he joined the team in August, we still haven't won a single game."

Andy: "Yah la! Ever since I join also we haven't win a single game yet."

Me: "Wah. Really ah. How long since you joined?"

Andy: "1 year."

That has got to be a record I tell you. Well, hopefully our 1+ year losing run will come to an end soon.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Plato

Rain

2006-01-12T01:27:00.000+08:00

I've never liked the rain. Sure, when it rains it makes sleeping so wonderful but it always comes whenever you're at work, school, or some place where you just can't sleep.

The most irritating part though, is when a football match has been arranged, those wussies who are afraid of the rain either refuse to play or cancel the game.

Bah. I hate those buggers. And the rain.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Alexander of Aphrodisias

Conversation Of The Day #5

2006-01-07T03:06:00.000+08:00

Lecturer: "So tomorrow's test will be at 9am and you have 2 hours. But please, if you finish already don't leave so early okay?"

Student: "Why sir?"

Lecturer: "Last time when I set the paper, people started leaving after 30 minutes. I became the laughing stock of the whole department.

(The whole lecture hall roars out in laughter.)

Lecturer: "I know the paper is easy. But please, don't start leaving after 30 minutes. Leave after 1 hour okay?"

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Opus Dei

CE 2006

2006-01-04T02:34:00.000+08:00

I know it's a bit late but anyway, Happy New Year everyone. =)

It's only natural at the end of the year that one looks back and sees what he or she has done or gone through. I thought of doing an entry like that, but I'm feeling rather tired to start reminiscing right now. Actually the only reason I'm up so late is to watch the Arsenal-Man Utd game later on.

It's a bit hard to believe that 2005 went by so fast though. Doesn't feel like 2006 at all. Today at work I was even corrected by a customer when I said that the expiry date of November 2006 was next year. So what's everybody's resolutions for the New Year?

For me though, I don't have any because I don't believe in New Year resolutions. I just believe that if you resolve to do something, you don't need an occasion as an excuse to do it.

Anyway, since I've got nothing much to blog about (I'm much too tired to think of anything to write), here's an incident in church that I think sort of embarrassed my uncle a little. Hahaha.

It's another sunday at church and my uncle's giving a sermon.

Uncle: "Just greet, smile and thank. It's so easy. Tell me, who can resist a smile? No one can get angry at a smile."

Now here's one of the bad things about reading too much philosophy and apologetic books. You tend to overanalyze things at times. So I thought to myself, "Wow. Is he declaring an absolute?". One of my friends started nodding in agreement with my uncle.

Me: (leans over to him) "Got.. There's someone can resist a smile."

Friend: "Who?"

Me: "A blind man."

At that point a few people around me started laughing a little because they overheard what I had said. My uncle probably knew what I had said (he was looking in my direction, maybe he read my lips) because he then covered himself by putting it off as a joke.

Uncle: "Of course, except a blind man, because he can't see your smile. Ha Ha."

A few people around me were still laughing.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Ontological Argument

Light Bulbs And Intelligence

2005-12-29T00:44:00.000+08:00

I think I've discovered the real reason why my uncle took the modem last week.

Earlier on, I was using my laptop in the living room as normal and my auntie came out and told me to go sleep because it was past midnight. I replied and said that I didn't have work tomorrow. There was a short silence and then she said, "Our electricity bills for last month were very high." I replied with a "Yeah sure, okay" before she went back into her room.

I know I didn't mention it in the entry regarding the modem incident, but I had a feeling it was it might have been over this electricity bill thing. But you see, it's not entirely my fault. It's more, how do I put it, due to my uncle's ~~stupidity~~ lack of intelligence.

In the living room, our lights aren't the normal kind of circular light bulbs on ceiling. Instead, there are these chandelier looking kind of things (I have no idea what they're called) with 8 eight light bulb slots. There are 2 of them.

Now, when my family was still living here (my uncle and aunt took over the place after my parents left), my father did something that a smart, sensible person would do. He bought 4 white energy saving light bulbs and slotted them 2 each into the 2 chandeliers. On top of that he got 2 lamps, fitted them with the same type of light bulbs each and put them at the sides of the living room. Those were really convenient for me as I only needed to switch on 1 lamp when I was up late at night.

When my uncle took over however, guess what he did. On the 2 chandeliers, he fitted all the 8 slots with new orange light bulbs. Even a cute, lovable dog such as Rainbow could tell you that that's a total of 16 light bulbs. So now whenever the lights are switched on, the energy output is 4 times higher than before. On top of that, I don't think the bulbs were even energy saving ones.

And you tell me the electricity bill has gone up?

"2 times 8 equals 16. Okay, can I get some of that chicken now?"

See now why I say it's due to my uncle's lack of intelligence? As a matter of fact, 2 of the white light bulbs in the past were brighter than the all orange bulbs put together.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, the 2 lamps were removed too.

Now, whenever anyone uses the living room, the only light source available becomes those 16 light bulbs which have become nothing but a waste of energy.

So who's really the cause of the high electricity bills?

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: A priori

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T18:23:00.000+08:00

The People I Live With

2005-12-21T02:18:00.000+08:00

(Note: This post was written on the date stated above, but I've been only been able to post it up today, the 24th of December.)

I'm feeling slightly pissed off right now.

Usually my uncle leaves me alone to do my stuff at night, but earlier tonight he told me to go and sleep at 12am. I was quite unwillingly to do so, but since it was only once in a blue moon that he told me to sleep (and I was pretty tired as well), I decided to go ahead and listen to him.

At around 12am however, I was still online because I wanted to finish a file transfer before going to bed. So as it was going on, I went to the toilet to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. While I was brushing my teeth though, I heard someone walk to the living room followed by sounds of wires and plugs being pulled out. When I came back to the living room, I saw my uncle taking the modem and walking back to the room.

Of course I got pissed because my transfer didn't get completed! I shouldn't have bothered about him in the first place.

The thing about my uncle is this. He's afraid of conflict. He's afraid of confrontation. If you meet him, he's the typical nice guy, all kind and friendly. But if there's one thing, or in this case 2 things, he can't handle, it's confronting someone and handling a conflict. He's one of those who doesn't believe in letting his anger out. Therefore he finds it hard to get angry at someone and tell them off or scold them. The only person he does that to is his own son. But even then, the kind of anger he displays is mild.

So when it comes to a conflict like today, he takes the easy way out by simply taking the modem. I mean, he didn't even say anything, and took it just like that. Fair enough, it's his modem and his internet connection, but even your own parent tells you before he or she takes action. Heck, even before they take action in secondary school they let you know.

What pissed me off was that he showed total disregard to me, or anything I was doing by just taking the modem without even saying a word. Or perhaps it was his cowardice. He knew I wasn't in the living room so he quickly took the modem. And even as he was walking back to his room with the modem I passed him by but he didn't even look me in the eye.

Bah. Deep inside, I know my uncle doesn't like me. But wait, this isn't another of those emotional "(insert name) hates me" statements after a conflict. We don't really talk to each other at home, and even in church, while he looks out for other people and warmly shakes their hands or greets them, that just doesn't happen between the both of us. Sometimes I try to make eye contact and acknowledge his presence, but his eyes always don't seem to meet mine. I can read people quite well and I'm quite certain that I'm right on this one.

I guess it's all because because I'm a bit of a rebel. I'll go against something if I don't believe it's right. Like how I didn't follow the 12am curfew they set for me because I thought it was absurd. Can you even believe they set a sleeping curfew for me? Of course I didn't follow that either.

To be honest, I'm wondering what's going to happen when there starts to be some unhappiness with his leadership or conflicts in the church. (In case you don't know, my uncle's a pastor and took over from my parents when they left for the States.) Now I'm not cursing my uncle, the church or anything, but as long as you're a leader, it doesn't matter if you're leading a church, a multi-billion dollar company or a football team. You can't please everyone and these issues are bound to arise. People will even try to kick you out of your leadership position. Sad to say, this happens even in churches and I have seen it happen before.

In fact, the last time my uncle handled a conflict in his church, it didn't turn out too well. I know because on the long drive from San Jose to San Diego, my parents and my uncle and aunt were talking about it. What I remember distinctly was that they were talking about how he should have stood up and defended himself when a board member was saying something about him that wasn't true. I wasn't eavesdropping though, they knew I was awake (my brother and cousin were asleep) and listening all along. Besides we were all in a van, where else could I go? Haha.

So what's my whole point in writing all this? I don't know. I guess I just got pissed off and wrote whatever came to mind.
I have to add a few more things though. Please don't start judging Christians or Christianity based on what I've written here today.

First off all, what I've written isn't complete. I never stated how certain events started or ended and I've left out a lot of details as well. Secondly, at times, I'm not directly involved. However, I heard everything directly from the people involved so what I've written is not mere hearsay. Lastly, everything written here is from my point of view. To start making assumptions based on only 1 perspective would be extremely unwise.

So once again, please don't start judging Christians or Christianity based on what I've written today.

On another note, Christmas is in 4 days! The Christmas spirit here is so dead though.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Pyrokinesis

Puff Puff

2005-12-16T02:30:00.000+08:00

I had just gotten on the MRT on the way to work today when I heard a little boy's voice say in Mandarin:

"People who smoke are stupid."

I turned and saw him seated on his mother's lap. He continued:

"People who smoke are bad."

Then his mother smiled and patted his head in approval.

I shook my head when I heard that. Come on. If you want to teach your child not to smoke, don't put such false statements into his head. You're only teaching him to discrimate against smokers. Firstly, are all people who smoke stupid?

I've got friends who smoke (like everybody else) and in no way are they stupid or lacking in intelligence at all. A friend of mine reasoned, "Either way, by the age of 40 you're going to get some disease or some other cancer, so might as well smoke now and enjoy."

Of course I don't diagree with that statement, but my point is that it definitely doesn't show a lack of intelligence.

Secondly smoking doesn't automatically make you a bad person. While smoking is normally associated with people who are bad, not all people who do it are like that. I have to admit though, that when I was younger had I had that mentality. It wasn't that my parents told me that people who smoke are bad, they just told me that smoking is bad. So then I made the association that since smoking is bad, people who smoke must be bad because only bad people do bad things.

But as I grew up and some of my friends picked up smoking, I came to realise that smoking didn't change them or make them bad at all. In fact, cigarette breaks become times of bonding between friends, something my friend in NS told me and I saw for myself while working as a banquet waiter. I even joined in at times. (Not smoking of course, just sitting and chatting around.)

"No one wants to be my friend because I smoke."

So parents, please don't teach your children to discriminate against smokers. If you think of it, such reasoning used in statements like that are the same ones used by racists.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Nicotine

After An Aeon

2005-12-14T11:49:00.000+08:00

Yes. You're not seeing things. After an aeon, this blog finally has a new entry.

Actually I've been wanting to blog for the longest time but whenever I sat down in front of the computer, I either became to lazy to blog or got sidetracked doing something else. Perhaps the lazy part was due to work.

I haven't really revealed much about my work and I always try not too, but there's no point talking about work if everyone doesn't even know what I do. So here's a clue as to my occupation. I'm in the retail industry.

It's not really what I want to do, but it'll do for now. I'll just take it and see how it goes. An aspect of it that I like however, is the part that you can meet lots of different people each day and it's more a "people person" kind of job.

Now that I'm back blogging, I wish I could write more but I have to get ready for work now. Dang it.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: John Titor

Simply The Best

2005-11-29T21:22:00.000+08:00

I know I'm pretty late with this, but I never knew how good George Best was until I watched this video.
(Via My Daily Bread, Trompe L'oeil)

One of the best players there ever was and will be.

Now we know why he's a legend.

Running On Low

2005-11-29T02:54:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. For some reason, I've been too tired or too lazy to blog nowadays. It's probably due to work. They've been moving my shifts back and forth, so there's somedays when I work the afternoon shift (ending at 10pm), only to work the morning shift the following day.

I want to get back to blogging and reading blogs regularly. So as soon as that's possible, I'll do just that. In meantime, it's time for sleep. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: United States Military Academy

Quote Of The Day #3

2005-11-27T12:31:00.000+08:00

Sgt Teo: "God is always fair. He may give u alot of intelligence, but then he won't give u much common sense."

My friend's Sergeant was referring to this guy who got a GPA of 3.8 but wasn't very... smart. Apparently he brought a "How To Survive Field Camp" guidebook to field camp.

I didn't even know they made books like that.

Different Goal

2005-11-20T10:46:00.000+08:00

(Updated picture)

I don't think anyone has noticed yet but..

In his 145 goals for Man Utd, Ruud Van Nistelrooy finally scores 1 from outside the penalty box.

Herman Hreidarsson demonstrates how to protect your balls from a ball

Amazing, isn't it?

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Nikola Tesla

Red Eye

2005-11-19T17:06:00.000+08:00

Bloody hell. It's been a week and my right eye still hasn't recovered. Even the eyedrops the doctor gave doesn't seem to work.

I probably should cover it up to save myself the trouble of answering the question, "What happened to your eye?", at least 5 times a day.

I need to get myself one of those forehead protectors

To make it worse, my right eye constantly looks sleepy like Kakashi's in the picture, due to the slight swelling.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Uchiha Sasuke

Where Are These Girls?

2005-11-16T13:49:00.000+08:00

This is one of the funniest videos I have ever watched in my entire life.

I'm the strongest guy in the village where all the leaves are.

(Via mrbrown, Tian, Kwoon)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Joe 1

Latino Heat No More

2005-11-14T21:14:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine me told to visit WWE.com and I found out that Eddie Guerrero has just passed away.

Link

I don't really follow wrestling anymore because it's gotten boring but I have to admit that Eddie Guerrero was one of the wrestlers I enjoyed watching.

It's sad and shocking to find out that he's suddenly gone. Even if you follow the WWE just a little, I'm sure you feel the same way.

Bloody Eyes

2005-11-12T20:31:00.000+08:00

Dang it. There's something wrong with my eye and my super lovable girlfriend says it's most likely Conjunctivitis, also known as Pink Eye.

It's pretty irritating to have this stupid conjunctivitis thing since my eye gets itchy and watery from time to time. And since it's contagious, I'll have to be careful about making contact with people.

What an eye sore

I shall spare everyone from seeing the other gross pictures that my image search brought up since mine isn't as bad. Of course if you would like to, you could always click on that link I just provided. Haha.

Hmm.. Maybe I'll use this as a chance to get an MC and escape from work. =D

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Zoomusicology

Listening While Eating

2005-11-08T23:15:00.000+08:00

During lunch hour on the days I work, I always go for lunch alone. It's not that I'm anti-social or anything, it's just most of our lunchtimes are different the rest of my colleagues are mostly old "aunties", so I'm not really on the same wavelength as the rest of them. Besides, I don't mind eating alone either.

So the problem is always deciding where to eat. On somedays I can't decide whether to eat at the food court or eat fast food. Usually I end up picking the location with the least people because like I said before, I hate crowded places, and also because finding a seat when you're alone can be pretty hard. I used to snigger at those people walking around, holding their food while looking for a seat, so of course I don't want to be doing the same thing.

I know that some people just cannot eat by themselves but eating alone is not so bad as many people think. As you take your meal you can eat at your own pace, day dream, take a break from interacting with people, ~~look at pretty ladies~~ people-watch and even listen to other people's conversations.

Alright, I know eavesdropping is not good, but when you're just a table or a seat away and someone is trying to talk above the bustling noise, you really can't help but overhear everything.

People talk about lots of things over lunch. Everything from what happened 20 years to what they're going to be doing this Christmas. But among all, the number one topic I always hear people talk about over lunch is... complaining about other colleagues.

Really, sometimes that's all anyone seems to talk about. Hmm.. Perhaps I might be a bit biased or inaccurate here because it's mostly women at the table whenever I hear this topic being talked about. Perhaps it's because men get the task done and quickly move on while the women like to converse more while eating.

It's interesting to see how they can keep a nice and friendly face in front of the person they dislike but once that particular person is gone, they change completely and all the bitchy comments start coming out. There have been 1 or 2 times when I've intentionally eaten slower just to listen more to the juciest piece of gossip. Some of the stories even typical drama elements like betrayal and vengence.

But overall, I find it really funny how grown men and women can behave like children at times through the things they say. All that badmouthing... Some of it's just really childish.

So be careful what you talk about over lunch. You never know who's listening. Or just don't talk so loudly.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Beer Hall Putsch

Man Utd 1 - 0 Chelsea

2005-11-07T02:14:00.000+08:00

United Vanquish Chelsea

What a classic game.

Once again this match has showed one thing: Never write Man Utd off. Alan Smith was simply outstanding in shutting out Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney showed another good performance. Alright, Darren Fletcher scored the winning goal but he still sucks big time.

Alright Liverpool and Arsenal fans, come and celebrate with us what your teams couldn't do. Hahaha. =P

The Friendly Colleague

2005-11-02T22:34:00.000+08:00

Work is really sucking my energy. That's the main reason I don't blog as often anymore. After work, I go home and then after a while it's time to sleep already. It's like I no more energy to do anything else when I get back home. Bah, I guess that's just how the working world is.

It's been a week into my new job now, and I'm glad that most of my colleagues are nice people. Of course, there are the occasional grumpy ones, but I just try to keep away from them.

There's this one colleague who I'm currently working with. He's a bit lazy when it comes to work but overall, he's a pretty nice guy. However, I think he might be gay. At first, when he'd pat me on the back and ask how was my day, I thought he was being nice. But after it happened many times, I started to wonder. And during those other instances, he'd pat me on other places like my shoulder or my arm.

And then today, this happened.

In the locker room:

(I'm sitting on the bench as he comes in.)

Colleague: Hey, so today wasn't very good right?

Me: Yeah, not too good. But it really can't be helped.

Colleague: Yah lor.

Me: Alright man, I'll make a move first.

Colleague: Eh... You're not going to change here first?

Me: Erm.. Not today. Last time I was going out so I changed but today I going home.

Colleague: Oh okay. Bye.

Maybe I'm being paranoid but that's the first time I've ever had a guy ask me about changing in front of him. Hopefully that's the only time. Hahaha.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Eigenvalue

Why I Fired My Secretary

2005-10-30T01:17:00.000+08:00

I got this from my email:

Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up that morning.

I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say, "Happy Birthday!", and possibly have a present for me.

As it turned out, she barely said good morning, let alone "Happy Birthday."

I thought... Well, that's marriage for you, but the kids will remember.

My kids came in to breakfast and didn't say a word.?So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my secretary Jane said, "Good Morning Boss, Happy Birthday!" It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.

I worked until one o'clock and then Jane knocked on my door and said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day outside, and it's your birthday, let's go out to lunch, just you and me." I said, "Thanks Jane, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go!"

We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. We dined instead at a little place with a private table.

We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously. On the way back to the office, Jane said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day...We don't need to go back to the office, do we?"

I responded, "I guess not. What do you have in mind?" She said, "Let's go to my apartment."

After arriving at her apartment, Jane turned to me and said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for a moment. I'll be right back."

"Ok." I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, she came out carrying a huge birthday cake...

Followed by my wife, kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing "Happy Birthday".

And I just sat there...

On the couch...

Naked.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Kinematics

2 Days In

2005-10-27T23:23:00.000+08:00

It's been 2 days into my new job and so far everything's been going quite alright. My job is related to sales, so everyday I become like a fly, pestering people to buy. Sometimes I feel bad to be such a bother, but I just shrug it off.

Like my previous banquet job, I have to stand for super long hours. My legs hurt at the end of the day but I guess it's all a matter of getting used to it again. I'm finally getting the "sleeping early" part right; my bedtime now is around 1am, compared to the previous one of 5am.

On the way back, I realised something. Back when I was working as a banquet waiter, I used to get grumpy easily after work and sometime in the days that followed. For example, on the bus back, even the simplest things like someone accidentally knocking me with his/her bag would piss me off. However, I didn't really bother about it, thinking that it would only happen while I was working as a banquet waiter.

This time however, I discovered that the same thing is happening again.

So I thought about it on the way home today and came to 2 possible conclusions.

The first one was that perhpas it was due to the physical fatigue. After all, it's only natural to get be irritable when you're tired after a long day at work.

The second conclusion was that that since my line of work (like the previous one) required me to be all nice and polite, and at the end of the day, I longer had any "niceness" left inside me. Hence, I became irritable.

I think that it's more of the 2nd reason though. I don't mean to boast when I say that if you've worked with me, I try to be nice to the customers and my fellow colleagues as well. There's really no point in being mean to your colleagues because it'll just affect you back. So I exhust all my "nicness" and at the end of the day I become a grumpy old fart. Hahaha.

Realizing that, I try to control myself mentally to prevent myself from becoming a grumpy old fart. I think after I get used to working this "being nice" job full-time, I'll be back to normal. ~~Alright, I'm falling alseep as I type this. So I'll just spell check tomorrow or something.~~(DONE)

In the mean time, good night. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Steeplejack

Not Sleeping Makes The World Go Round

2005-10-24T23:41:00.000+08:00

I've finally gotten a full-time job. Phew. Actually I already got it last Thursday, but I was too busy settling some immigration papers to blog about it.

I wouldn't say that this is my ideal job, but my parents have been nagging at me for taking so long to find a permanent job, so I'm just glad I can get them off my back. =) It's unfortunate that my workplace doesn't have a computer or else I'd be able to blog more often. I don't want to reveal much about my job, since it's always better to keep stuff like that vague. It's in town however, so the location's pretty good.

Today was my first day but it was only training, so it wasn't too bad. I still have 2 more days of training to go. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but when I stepped into the training room this morning, I was the only guy there. I wasn't intimidated or anything, it just felt funny. At least later after getting to know the rest of my colleagues, all of them seemed pretty friendly.

One of the things I'm trying to do now, is to adapt my biological clock back with the rest of the world. So far the past few days have failed; I've been able to get the "wake up early" part right by forcing myself but I've been unable get the "sleep early" sorted out. As a result, this past week, I've been walking around looking like a Night Stalker at times. For example, in the past 56 hours, I've only managed 9 hours of sleep. Last week I just told my friend, "As you grow older, sleep becomes more and more precious and elusive."

The effects of not sleeping

Well, look on the bright side, at least you have plently of time to sleep when you're dead.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Normative Ethics

Stuck In The Net

2005-10-22T14:15:00.000+08:00

Freak injury rules out Hammers keeper Carroll

Talking about freak injuries, I've been fortunate enough not to suffer any. There was this instance though, when a loose ball dropped just in front of the goaline, and I sprinted all the way to tap in the rebound. My momentum plus a nudge on the back by a defender caused me to crash against into the net, leaving my head stuck in between. (Okay, you can laugh now.)

It was a good thing I got out quite easily and didn't have to suffer the humiliation for too long. Well, at least the goal was cruial to our team's victory. Hahaha.

Anyway, here's a list of the bizarre injuries sustained by professional players over the years.
(Source: Soccernet)

RIO FERDINAND: During his spell at Leeds the England defender managed to pick up a tendon strain in his knee watching television. Ferdinand had his foot up on a coffee table for a number of hours and ended up injuring a tendon behind his knee.

RICHARD WRIGHT: The Everton goalkeeper faced most of the summer on the sidelines after damaging his shoulder falling through a loft as he was trying to pack away his suitcases.

SEAN FLYNN: The then Kidderminster captain suffered a broken nose, busted lip and bruised toes after tripping over his son's toy cars.

DAVE BEASANT: The veteran goalkeeper managed to rule himself out for eight weeks in 1993 when he dropped a bottle of salad cream on his foot, severing the tendon in his big toe.

SANTIAGO CANIZARES: The Spain goalkeeper missed the 2002 World Cup after accidentally shattering a bottle of aftershave in his hotel sink. A piece of glass fell on his foot, severing a tendon in his big toe.

KASEY KELLER: The American international knocked out his front teeth while pulling his golf clubs out of the boot of his car.

ALAN WRIGHT: The diminutive former Aston Villa full-back strained his knee by stretching to reach the accelerator in his new Ferrari. He subsequently swapped the sports car for a Rover 416.

DAVID JAMES: The England goalkeeper once pulled a muscle in his back when reaching for the television remote control and the keen angler also tweaked his shoulder when trying to land a monster carp.

STEVE MORROW: The former Northern Ireland defender broke his collarbone after falling off the shoulders of Tony Adams while celebrating the 1993 League Cup final win against Sheffield Wednesday.

ALEX STEPNEY: In 1975 the Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney dislocated his jaw while shouting at his defenders during a match against Birmingham.

CHIC BRODIE: The Brentford goalkeeper's career came to an abrupt end in October 1970 when he collided with a sheepdog which had run onto the pitch. Brodie shattered his kneecap while the dog got the ball. ``The dog might have been a small one, but it just happened to be a solid one,'' he reflected.

SVEIN GRONDALEN: The Norway defender had to withdraw from an international during the 1970s after colliding with a moose while out jogging.

ALAN MULLERY: The England star missed the 1964 tour of South America after injuring his back while brushing his teeth.

DAVID BATTY: The former Leeds and Blackburn midfielder managed to re-injure his Achilles tendon when he was run over by his toddler on a tricycle.

DARREN BARNARD: The former Barnsley midfielder was sidelined for five months with a torn knee ligament after he slipped in a puddle of his puppy's urine on the kitchen floor.

LEE HODGES: The then Barnet player slipped on a bar of soap in the shower and wrenched his groin.

CHARLIE GEORGE: Arsenal's 1971 FA Cup hero managed to cut off his toe with a lawnmower.

This last one is the craziest, I tell you. In terms of DOTA, it would TRIPLE KILL the other ones on this list.

MISTAR: The Indonesian footballer was killed aged just 25 by a stampede of pigs which overran his team's training pitch in 1995.

Man... I'd really hate be killed by pigs.

The 3 alleged pigs involved in the crime.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Platonic idealism

Getting Flagged

2005-10-19T02:04:00.000+08:00

My super lovable girlfriend just kicked my ass 9 times at Minesweeper Flags. I never like losing, but I know when I'm beaten fair and square. Anyway, a girl who kick can ass is definitely a turn on.

That's why she's my super lovable girlfriend. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Minerva

iGod

2005-10-15T02:42:00.000+08:00

Ever wanted to talk to God but couldn't reach him? Well now he's just one click away.

iGod

Here's how my conversation went:

Go on, try it out.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Agnosticism

The 13th Day Of October

2005-10-13T23:53:00.000+08:00

Thank you so much for everything, and for such a wonderful day. =)

Words and Colors

2005-10-12T15:27:00.000+08:00

(Via LancerLord)

Found this cool game. Colored words will appear and the objective is to click on the words stating color of the word instead of clicking what the word says.

It may seem hard at first because it makes your left and right brain come into conflict with each other, but the trick is simply not to read the word. Concentrate on recognizing the color and before the word becomes big enough to read, click on the color.

Come to think of it, playing this game with only your left eye should make it easier since your left eye is connected directly to your right brain, which is in charge of recognizing images and symbols.

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Vitruvian Man

Internal Pounding

2005-10-12T02:38:00.000+08:00

(Via Stoned Nerd)

I tell you, it's the polar bear's face that makes this picture hiliarious. I've even made it my current display picture on MSN.

I wanted to complete a half done entry on a discussion I had with a guy trying to convince me that we all live inside The Matrix, but right now I'm having this pounding headache. I wonder what's causing it. Bah, I'll probably go to sleep soon.

Anyway, nowadays I've been hooked onto Wikipedia. I can spend hours reading the stuff that's in there. One article has a keyword that leads to another article, and that article has another keyword, and so it never ends. So from now on, I'm going to put a Wikipedia Topic Of The Day at the end of each entry. You can read it if you're bored or have nothing else to read. Gaining some general knowledge is always good. =)

Wikipedia Topic Of The Day: Order of the Bath

A Key Made Of Bone

2005-10-10T01:24:00.000+08:00

I've said before that if you really want to watch a particular movie, don't read any reviews about it because it might spoil your viewing experience. But don't worry about reading this one. I won't reveal any spoilers here and I always try my best not to reveal details that might unfairly raise or lower your expectations of the movie.

Overall, I'd say The Skeleton Key was an-above-average movie. Certainly while the elements that make up this movie aren't original (a pretty babe, creepy old house, creepy old people), what makes it different from other horror movies is that it actually has a pretty good plot which gets more and more intriguing as it unfolds.

2 old people, a babe and a creepy house. What more could you need?

The typical scare tactics (like someone/something appearing of out of nowhere with a loud, accompanying sound effect) are present of course, but thankfully they don't become the main focus of the film nor are they repeated over and over again.

The thrill and suspense in the movie are well done and there are moments that will really have you at the edge of your seat. The same goes for the twists at the end of the movie. I won't reveal whether I liked it or not as it would influence your opinion, but I will reveal this: you won't see the twists or the ending coming.

Kate Hudson checks to see if the key is indeed made of human bone

Upon at rating of 10, I'd give The Skeleton Key a ~~7.00~~ 7.25. After all, any movie with Kate Hudson in a wet T-shirt and sleeping in her underwear deserves an extra 0.25.

Quote Of The Day #2

2005-10-07T04:06:00.000+08:00

Here's a quote from Melissa's blog that I've always wanted to put up but never got down to doing it.

"It is when you want for him what he wants for himself, then you truly love him, but when you want for him what for you want for him, then you're not loving him, you're loving yourself, through him."
- Conversations With God III

A really meaningful quote, isn't it? It makes you re-think what your definition of love really is. At the same time it makes you ponder whether such a form of love is actually possible.

I wish I could add more to this entry but sadly my brain's too tired from work to think of anything else aside from sleep.

House

2005-10-05T03:21:00.000+08:00

Dang it. I went down to the hotel earlier on to collect my pay and it turned out that the cashier took the day off. Bloody hell. And I even went down at 10pm. I should have stayed home and watched House instead.

At least I could have seen Jennifer Morrison. She's cute. If she was my doctor, I'd get well in no time. =D

But aside from the pretty babe in the show, you should watch House because it's a pretty good show. The only bad thing is that you have to turn up the volume a little when watching because you have to listen to all the stuff that they're saying or else you can lose track of the story quite easily.

Oh shoot. It's raining. Gotta rush to close the windows. I'll update again soon. =)

Liverpool 1 - 4 Chelsea

2005-10-03T01:06:00.000+08:00

Chelsea Thrash Reds

Today I decided to support Chelsea. Why? For 2 reasons.

1)I like Jose Mourinho. Despite his arrogant comments, you have to say that he's been able to back it all up with results.

2)I don't know about other Man Utd supporters, but I personally hate Liverpool more. Like Ferguson said, the biggest rivalry is between Liverpool and Man Utd. So of course I'd rather see Liverpool crash.

Besides, it's been irritating me lately how the media have been hailing Liverpool as the team to beat and match Chelsea when in 6 games they've only beat them once; and we all know that that goal shouldn't have counted. You might reason back that most of the recent games were draws, but since when did drawing games count as a victory? If only, it just goes to show much Liverpool are behind Chelsea.

Perhaps like my friend, a Newcastle fan said, "Looks like Newcastle are the only ones who can beat Chelsea this season." And he may be right, since Newcastle did indeed beat Chelsea in the FA Cup last season.

Sure, today's loss hurt Liverpool, but what made it sting even more was in the manner that they were trashed at home.

Watching the match, Liverpool's inadequacies were clearly seen. Like I've told many people, Peter Crouch just isn't good enough for Liverpool. Sure, he may fit in with Benitez's new long ball tactic, but how many goals has he scored so far? Comparing him to Drogba, at least Drogba has more skill, pace and agility than Crouch.

And once again, Traore was the guy who started Liverpool's downfall. The penalty was not only clumsy, but stupid. His failed clearance might have been unlucky, but after that Drogba was dribbling to the byline. Why not block the cross instead of sliding in? He shouldn't have panicked. After all, Drogba the target man was the one with the ball. He would only have to worry about Lampard coming in, which Hyypia and Carragher should have been able to deal with. Come on Traore, sliding in without even touching the ball, that's just poor.

"Wah lau, he cut the grass, he cut the man, but never cut the ball. Stupid sia."

Towards the end, as Benitez changed tactics with his substitutions, Mourinho did the same, nullifying any chance of a Liverpool comeback. When Benitez brought in Pongolle for Hyypia, he brought in Geremi for Duff. When Cisse came on for Traore, he put in another centre back by bringing in Huth.

So even as Chelsea start running away with the title again, you really can't blame them. What do you expect? That they would lose on purpose just to make the league exciting for you? If anything, it's the other teams who have to start stepping up their game to challenge Chelsea.

Man Utd 2 - 1 Benfica

2005-09-28T15:04:00.000+08:00

Ruud To The Rescue

Considering the players that were out injured, Man Utd played quite well in this match. Wayne Rooney's creativity and penetrating runs were obviously missed as Ronaldo was trying to hard to do everything on his own, only to fall down most of the time.

Kieron Richardson looked much more comfortable in his left back position and Philip Bardsley did good for a young player. However, I still think that Richardson and Fletcher aren't good enough to be playing for Man Utd.

But once again, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was the hero as he did what he did best, poaching the winning goal after Ferdinand flicked on the ball from a Giggs corner kick.

YEAH!

Man Without God

2005-09-27T02:29:00.000+08:00

Here's a great poem on the modern mind, which was quoted in one of the books that I'm currently reading.

Creed
by Steve Turner

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same--
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.

"Chance" a post-script

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

How To Turn Your Hamster Into A Fighting Machine

2005-09-24T04:13:00.000+08:00

Dang it. If Swift was still around, I could have tried this out.

(via Cowboy Caleb and jwz)