21st Century Breakdown

It's too long of a wait for a Green Day fan. It's being almost 5 years since Green Day released their epic mega-platinum album, American Idiot. The magnitude of the success of American Idiot meant that the task that Green Day is facing to come up with a subsequent title is similarly gigantic. They were silent for a long time, and during those 5 years, they were only involved in minor projects such as "The Saints are coming" with U2, "Working Class Hero" and a off-shot album under the pseudo name of "Foxboro Hot Tubs".

When it was finally revealed that they'll come up with a new album, high expectations were already placed there for it. Anything less than the epic nature of American Idiot will be unacceptable. Some felt that perhaps the bar that Green Day had set is already too high for themselves.

Just like American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown is a rock opera. While AI had two massive songs of 8 to 9 minutes each, 21st Century is divided into 3 different acts each. Something that I love about the album is that it still retains the continuing feature of songs as in there are some songs that connect continuously to each other without breaking. As a whole, 21st CB is musically less complicated than AI but it still retains the power chords ra-ra and Tre cool's rallying drum rolls that Green Day is famous for. Considering that Green Day quotes Queen as one of the inspiration of the album, the songs in 21st CB generally lean towards the anthemic stadium rock where everyone can just shout out along together.

The lyrics of the second song of the album, also titled "21st century breakdown" reminds me of those in Billy Joel's "Leningrad" and the narrative in there is a little like Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row". But I think it's closer to Leningrad coz Leningrad's chorus verses were "I was born in 49, a cold war kid in McCarthy's time" while Green Day's 21st CB starting phrase is "Born into Nixon.." For me, the best songs in the album has got to be Viva La Gloria, Static Age and 21 Guns. Viva La Gloria just has a nice piano combination slotted into it at the beginning and I like how the electric guitars goes into it. Static Age is just pure catchy stuff and fades off nicely into the melancholic 21 guns. The good thing about the album is that each song has a unique style on its own and the style rarely gets repetitive. The words of the lyrics in many of the songs echoes and bounces off each other nicely because there'll be some reference of the other tracks inside the song. So, it feels like the song speaks for each other.

Thematic wise, 21st CB dealt with abstract issues of post-apocalypse nuclear holocaust and living in the modern age. AI was anti-Bush, and 21st CB according to Green Day deals with the mess that Bush had left behind. Still, the album's theme can be interpreted generally with the apocalypse theme that is relevant for all ages. 21st CB could be and should be the soundtrack for Watchmen. Both would fit in nicely with each other. Lol, some of the songs in 21st CB contain just the right baggage of nihilistic or melancholic emotions. It's complex mix really because one can't avoid feeling the impending awfulness of the incoming nuclear winter after listening to 21st CB. (speaking of Fallout 3..ahaha) It can also be said that Green Day continues on the protests of the rock bands of different eras. In the past, around the 70s and 80s, it was the nuclear excesses of the Cold War and the dire warning of the world being annihilated tragically by the twist of the key. In the 90s, it was more of the sociological protest on issues such as exploitations against child/3rd world labour, capitalism and various social problems/maladies. And just as we entered the new age, not many had much to say about the 21st century, or for that matter, the first 10 years or so into the new century. Green Day stakes the claim in speaking out for the generation of this time on issues such as the gross excesses of the mass media and the complications in living in the modern era. Not only that, they have succeeded in reconstructing back past themes such as the disillusionment of the American dream, desolation and excesses of the American society as advocated by modernist writers T.S. Elliot and Hemingway in the 1920s and the same nuclear fear and hysteria that gripe the population during the Cold War.

I find the artwork of 21st CB to be very well done too. I like the powerful emotions that is presented in the locking of the lips and again, the imagery is reminiscent of a scene in the Watchmen too. To sum it up, 21st CB is a fitting successor to AI and it's definitely worth the money for 18 tracks and 69 minutes (most albums don't even hit 45 minutes). 21st Century Breakdown is a true masterpiece of magnus opus by Green Day and demonstrated their transition from their playful punk days of Dookie and Nimrod to the maturity of being social commentators in the new century.

Rome Heartbreak

I am Lionel, hear me roar!

This was the dream final any football fan would be dripping their saliva about. The amount of talents in both teams are simply mouth-watering. Just say the names of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and we will get a floodgate of discussions on both of them. Two of probably the biggest Titans in football enters the gladiator ring in the Colosseum to pit it out for the biggest prize of the European season. It's the English Champions against the Spanish Champions. The British Navy vs. the Spanish Armada. Lol..I'm feeling all Elizabethan again. =p

United began the match with a scintillating charge towards the goal. The quick blitz enabled Anderson to secure a free kick for Ronaldo to take within the first few minutes. It was right on target and Victor Valdes palmed the ball away. The rebound fell to Park and that could have just been a simple tap-in to put United 1-0 up. But nooooooooo..he blasted it vertically upwards. That would prove to be costly and the miss indeed came back to haunt them. The psychological effect against Barca would have been tremendous. The opening minutes saw United dominating for a moment. They were in the process of missing a good chance when Barca counterattacked back. Eto squeezed through the wings and Vidic desperately clawed back to stop him. It was that one second of concentration lapse from Vidic that allowed Eto to be ahead of him in the sprint. One twist of the body, he rams the ball past Van der Sar at the 10th minute. Michael desperately slid back but it was too late already. And United never did recover back from there as Barca rampaged through.

Much had to be said about how Fergie placed his starting line-up. This time's first eleven is far less impressive than last year's against Chelsea. For some weird reason or so, Fergie decided to start Park and Anderson and he even used a 4-3-3 line up for that. Maybe for Park, it's to reward him for his recent good form but Anderson to start?! Tevez should definitely have started. And maybe Scholes too. I have a feeling that Fergie could be trying to deplete Barca's stamina before throwing in Tevez and Berbatov later for the sucker punch. If that's his tactic, it was well in the dustbin the moment Eto scored at the 10th minute. The consequences of this is that the midfield area is totally raped. Anderson and Park will never have a chance against Xavi and Iniesta. Both Spanish maestros can keep possesion of the ball till kingdom comes..lol.

The whole positioning of the United squad is all over the place. The awareness of each other's positioning was just bad. Everytime one of them got the ball, there's no one there to support. Defence was awful too. They were slow to close down Barca and allowed all their best dudes to penetrate deep into the United half. For a team like Barca, there must always be constant shadowing and man-marking pressure against their star men. United failed in that aspect many times and in the process, failed to constrict Barca's flow too. A half-fit Ferdinand equals to a no-go Ferdinand seriously. Messi's rare-headed goal which killed the game could have been prevented by Ferdinand or any other defender for that matter. Ferdinand was ball-watching at that time and Messi was totally unmarked. Really unmarked!! Even Steve Bruce could score with his extra calories if I throw him back onto the field again.

I wouldn't say Barca's defender is fantastic enough to stop United's attack. It's United's attackers who took it upon themselves time after time for granted when they go forward. Ronaldo was not up to the mark, Park was not sharp enough and Rooney often had to run back to cover the inefficiencies of his defenders. Tevez was just placed too late inside. Barca's defence consisted merely of pushing upwards for a continuous attack and left no space for United to breathe or build up their returning counterattack. Man Utd were also used to playing the typical British long ball game and focuses more on physicality as compared to Barca's Spanish style of one touch short passing football that relied much on first touch skills. United could still win with the long ball approach, but it can only succeed if the defence was solid enough to shut down Barca. The presence of a defensive anchorman like Hargreaves or in the past, Keane is indeed sorely missed. If I were to choose the best United player on the field for that night, it would be van der Sar. That's because Barca would have scored 2 or 3 more had it not being for his fantastic saves. When Henry had tormented and bypass the defenders, van der Sar came up to be a reliable person to block the shots.

It's disappointing really to see how Man Utd approached the game. But as they say, you don't strike gold twice in a row. Even Liverpool's second time against Milan didn't end on a positive note. Barca deserved their win. They played well, was the better team and they showed their hunger to win the prize. They were outstanding on the pitch. Haha..on a statistical note, the last time Barca won the Champions League was also against an English side. Wenger's Gooners and Henry was on the losing side at that time. Now, Henry's on the winning side, and he got his Champions League medal that he had craved for. And he can proudly look back and say "That's why I left the Emirates and Wenger's Gooner troop." Pique was on the winning side last year and he was also on the winning side this year. Fortunate kid..hehe, but I felt that Man Utd really lost a potential star defender when they let him return back to Barcelona.

Oh well, football season has ended. Perhaps Man Utd can try again to reach the Champions League final next season but it's not going to be easy. I don't think any team has reached the final 3 times consecutive. That's just too monopolising..lol. Anyways, this period of break will have lots of stuff to be settled, particularly Tevez. Ohh...and also let all the rumour wars begin. It's the fertile period for tabloids once again for transfer speculations =p

Goodbye Geordies

Looks like he'll be seeing more of QPR, Ipswich Town and Swansea City next season

With the champions of the Premier League settled last week, this last round of the matches will determine the fate of the survivals instead. Four contenders are placed on the chopping block. Middlesbrough at no.19, Newcastle at 18, Hull at 17 and Sunderland at 16. Man Utd do have a part to play in that they will be travelling to Hull for the last match. Since Man Utd job is done, there's a recurring concern that a repeat of a West Ham survival coup two seasons ago will materialise again by Hull this time. Fergie, however, reassures that his second string will still have the same desire of winning the last match and will give the match of their life to the Tigers.

And true did the manager stick to his word as the United youngsters proved a point in winning the game 1-0, courtesy of Darren Gibson's goal. Well, that could have been advantageous for the Geordies but noooo..they had a uphill task in dislodging Villa at their own backyard and they were in trouble the moment Damien's own goal went in. Nothing came out of it and they were condemned. Sunderland lost to Chelski but they were up since they had more points in the first place. Boro looked to be the most likely to fail in the bid to escape and the loss to West Ham just confirmed their ticket to Championship football next season.

Newcastle's disastrous season was already in the writing from the first half of the season. They showed lots of guts in holding Man Utd to a draw on the opening game. They had a win afterthat against Bolton. And that's about it as they went on without a victory for the next 7 matches. King Kev couldn't take the heat of being in the hot seat during his second coming and Joe Kinnear took over from him. Joe's first press conference was the stuff of legends as hurl a barrage of "not-so-pleasant' words on the national media. Fifty-two to be precise. It looked to be alright for a moment as Newcastle climbed out of the drop zone for a short while. But there the long spells o of defeats and draw with no victories continue. Victories were more of a ink blot on the wave of defeats they are in. Now, afterthat, Joe had some problems with his heart and he had to go for some hospital surgery. The Geordies were in a limbo, managerless..continue to lose and draw games and they were back at the bottom again. All time favourite Geordie Alan Shearer was roped in to try to rescue the sinking ship but even he can't perform the miracles that he used to do on the pitch.

It's hard to imagine St. James Park hosting 1st Division matches next season. Everyone will wonder what's next for people like Michael Owen and Damien Duff. It's almost reminiscent of the time when Leeds United went for the drop. It's been 16 years in the top flight before the Magpies bite the dust. Newcastle are one of the teams that make football fans smile and laugh whenever we see them. We'll all remember the time when Alan Shearer used to wave his hand up around St. James Park like a rockstar after scoring, the days of Kevin Keegan loving it when he beats Fergie, the disastrous management lessons from Graeme Souness, the 'divine' defending partnership of Jean Alain Boumsong and Titus Bramble and the good old times when Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer would hold fighting tournaments in front of their own fans. Thanks for the memories.

Law Nite 2009

Law Nite came earlier for this year as compared to the previous one. This time, we still had it at Subang Jaya, but it's at Sheraton instead. I nearly forgot to take my ticket with me and when I realised that (after Vincent reminded me), I quickly rushed back to my room to grab it. Lol, that could end up in some future implications as you can see later.

We reached Sheraton about 6.30pm but had to wait a while before the doors were open. While waiting, we went around taking photos and snapshots. The dinner was alright, some of the dishes were good while some were not so. I like the vegetable dish with lots of mushroom..haha. There were others like pasta, rendang and fish in creamy sauce etc. I was happy to see pasta there but was a little disappointed when I had to bite through some hard ones that were not cooked properly. I would say the desert section would be the best one since it has some very nicely decorated cakes and puddings. The raspberry cake was something new that I taste and I like it..haha. To some extent, I find also that I couldn't eat as much as last year because before the dinner, I went to Mcdonalds for lunch after CG with all the CF folks.

There was also a lucky draw section during the dinner. I didn't win anything at the last law nite. Perhaps I'm more fortunate this time..hahahaha. They were drawing lots for the first prize to be given out so I quickly went busily looking for the ticket to see my ticket number. Suddenly, I heard my ticket number got called! Lol! Absolutely stunned but equally delighted. Mind you, it's a good prize of a 3 days 2 nights holiday at Penang for 2 people...ahaha :)

By the time we got back to campus, it was quite late already at about 12.45am. Lol, on the next day, which was today, I had to wake up early for practice. Sleepy but boleh tahan through in driving to church at Banting. I went to take a nap after coming back and later me and Reuben made a trip to Alamanda at Putrajaya to grab tickets for the Man Utd Asia Tour. Man Utd will be coming to Malaysia on 18th July! Haha..they also have training passes to be given away but have to wait until Wednesday. It's gonna be tricky in coming up with the timing to go on Wednesday since my timetable is pretty packed plus there's CF on that day. Oh well, we'll wait and see what happens on that day.

ICF Opening Ceremony

It's the first Wednesday meeting that the new Christian Fellowship committee is in charge of. We were quite not sure of what to expect because street party was also happening on the same day and starting at around the same time. I went there early for worship practice and Sc-1-1a seemed to be in a better condition before. The paint smell was gone and the air-conditioners were working well. Haha..since we can't make use B2-L02 anymore, we need to make this new place our home again. There was a need to readjust and inform members about it, and the committee was also worried that the new people might not find their way their way to the place. Nevertheless, Reuben's superbly drawn map should solve a big part of the problem in guiding them to our new place..haha.

At 6.30pm, it doesn't look like many were coming coz there were only about 2 newcomers and not even half of the old-timers were there. But fast forward 15 minutes time, suddenly everyone arrived and the number reached at about 40 plus! Wow, truly amazed at God's work..haha. By then, the whole room was really filled. Oh yea, probably for the first time in CF history that we sang hokkien gua (song)..lol. Afterthat, we had a sharing by Charles, who came back to give an account of his century-long stay at Inti. The video announcement afterthat was another fantastic job well done by Reuben. It's very professionally done (and very funny too!), and once again, I have to say it's probably one of the best that ever graced CF's history..haha.

Later, we break into different CG groups before ending off. We only had 2 English CGs this time to make bigger groups. Haha..we had our usual tradition of dinner at Al-Salam (it's being quite some time) and then some of us went to check out the street party afterthat. As for me, I didn't wanna miss the opportunity to get the kebab bun. There were lots of sweaty bodies in the middle of the road dancing in the night away. It's almost like a mini Zouk party, just without the alcohol of course. When I was on the way back, someone sprayed foam directly on my hair. Ugghh..I had to spend the night cleaning it away and I never found the culprit who did it..haha

Anyways, I wanna give thanks to God for the successful implementation of the opening ceremony that went on very well :)

Champions of England in a hat-trick!

It's another victorious season for Man Utd as they equal Liverpool's record

At the midweek match in Wigan, Man Utd secured all three points with a 2-1 win. It was by no means an easy one as they needed to fight for the points. United found themselves behind at the 28th minute. Ronaldo was firing blanks and whining all over the place. It was not until the introduction of Carlos that United became more effective as a whole. Within 3 minutes of his introduction, Carlos' backheel flick equalised the score. At the last minutes of the game at the 87th, Carrick was there to produce one of those rare blasting shots that resulted in a goal. His goal could possibly be the championship winning goal. That 2-1 victory in Wigan leaves United needing just a draw to confirm themselves to be champions.

The rematch against Arsenal could not have been more timely. Benitez had been hoping that his old 'buddy' Wenger will do him some favours in spoiling Fergie's party, or at least help in bringing about the audacious probability that United will lose their last two matches. United had the more easier job of just defending the status quo 0-0 and prevent the Gooners from scoring anything to achieve their objective. United showed their intent of sealing the game early on with Fletcher drifting a ball towards a charging Ronaldo just after the game had started. Unfortunately, he missed. The general style that United played in the game was a cautious one, focusing more towards defending rather than coming out to attack. With a guaranteed champions spot at stake, it pays to be practical instead of being adventurous. Tevez was substituted in the 67th minute and his shake of the head indicated that he was not happy with the substitution. He then proceeded in looking to all four corners and giving a wave to which the fans responded in standing ovation. That could just be his last game at Old Trafford.

Despite having Arshavin upfront, the Gooners could not make any headway in scoring against United's defence. It was just the result that was desired. At the blow of the final whistle, the jubilant United players and the entire Old Trafford crowd were ecstatic. They have became only the 5th side in English history to make it a hat-trick of being league champions! Man Utd had also matched Liverpool's 18 league championship records..and that's a fact. Not only that, to grab that vital match point especially against the Gooners is always sweet. Haha..we'll show Wenger how it's done..in his face.

Well, it's been a season of adventure for Man Utd. It was a slow start for them with Liverpool and Scholari's Chelski bulldozing their way through the league. The loss at Arsenal sparked up a massive run-up of a miserly defence with 13 games of clean sheets. A superb run of results which saw the Scousers stumbling around January and surrendering their lead. I would say that Liverpool had already lost the title at that time. Chelski also ran into some troubled times with Big Phil removed from his office. Then came the rotting period for Man Utd too that resulted from being shamefully thrashed by the Scousers 1-4. There was not immediate recovery as United languished through a few games before getting back to the habit of winning. It looked to be in critical condition, but United never looked like surrendering the lead with games in hand. And they did return back in time to make it to the finishing line. That's why the Premier League is referred to as a marathon. It's not how fast you sprint in the beginning, it's how you finish the race that matters in the end.

Looks like the final game at hull is pretty much meaningless now. Fergie would definitely rest his star players while putting in the young ones to give them some match time. Now, United just need to concentrate in going to Rome and create another set of history again. It's not going to be easy against Messi and Co. but Man Utd have every chance to walk away as Kings of Europe again. Till then, cheers to Man Utd and enjoy the rest of the victorious week :)

Busy bee

As you've noticed, some of the blog posts that are put up recently were posted late. That's coz I started it but never got to finish them to post them up on time. Many apologies for the delay in updates but I can't help it since currently I've been torpedoed on both sides, balancing between the jobs of being a secretary and a magazine editor. Being saying it lots of times already..haha..it's starting to get cliched but it's true! The secretary job is ok actually, but to mix it with the magazine editor job is just a potent disaster. I think I won't have any decent free time until it nicely published in mid/late July.

Anyways, recounting the whole week, it's generally a week of running around the uni to get proposals signed and lots of paperwork to do. It's also the exhibition week for all the clubs and societies, so it's also an important week for ICF to get new sign-ups and also for the old members to sign up again. Lots of administrative stuff to be done there. The exhibition week was shifted to the MPH this time. On one hand, the air-con and big space were appreciated but at the same time, the new intake of people won't be aware that they have to go to the MPH to sign up for clubs. The overall sign-ups for ICF are encouraging but are still less than previous semesters because of the change of venue. Friday was Fellowship Lunch and there were lots of mix-up and confusion initially. But eventually, we managed to pull it off and get the food ready on time. I myself felt encouraged too to see the amount of people attending the fellowship lunch. Hopefully, the number will be bigger for the opening ceremony and the number stays that way...ahahaha.

I played drums for worship in church for the Sunday and so there was practice on Saturday. It's been quite some time since I played drums for full Sunday service. There's a bit of rust here and there on the timing, but generally could pick back up the pace as practice goes on. We had a new praise song for the line-up from Planetshakers' new album, and gosh, it's 'rocky' with all the guitar solo and stuff. Joshua did very well on the electric guitars, and I like the pedal equipment that he brought along. After practice, we actually planned to give Hin Loong a birthday surprise by appearing at lunch in Italiennies. This was because he had the impression that we the students are going back while Grace, Kevin and Lizzy will celebrate with him instead. So, Kevin moved ahead first while I tail behind. I had to make sure I don't drive too close or Hin Loong would end up seeing us..haha. This is almost like one of the missions in GTA 3! Anyways, there was one section where I lost Kevin because of the traffic light. And all of us in my car had a great laugh when Kevin actually stop by at the road side to wait for us, and produced an excuse to stop his car by running out to buy drinks! On the second time that I lost him, I couldn't get him again, so I used my own instinct and knowledge in going to Mid-Valley. I did a few U-turns before managing to head onto the correct path towards the Federal Highway. I did reach Mid-Valley, but a wrong turning made me end up at the Bishop's house instead..zzzzz..lol.

We went to the Italiennies at the Gardens. I have always been looking forward to try out my first makan time at Italiennies because I've heard of the fantastic pasta that they've been cooking. We called giant pasta portions so that everyone can try different types of it. There's also the fried calamari and lasagna. Of all the dishes, I enjoyed Salmon Fettucine the best mostly because it's the only creamy pasta on the table!..haha. The bill came up to a massive RM350+, will everyone paying RM50 each. Bank busting, but I have to admit that the pasta was fantastic and I was so full that I need not eat dinner. I just had some drinks instead while watching the Man Utd vs. Arsenal match during dinner time..haha. Oh..btw, I managed to get Green Day's new album "21st Century Breakdown" at Mid-Valley! It was just released the day before on Friday. I've been eagerly anticipating for it for a very long time already, and I can't hide my delight when I got my paws on it. Actually, I've heard the entire album a couple of times already from some *ahem* sources..haha, but not in the high quality of 320kps that the CD could offer..lol. It was also doubly nice when I got a free Green Day shirt also to go along with the CD. Hmmm..the shirt should have been black though instead of the lime green but still, I'm grinning in getting a souvenier along with my purchase =D. Now, if only I can get a artwork poster of it..haha. I'll write a review of the album some time soon. =p

Sunday service today was good and I think it's one of the best serving time I ever had on stage. I have to really thank the Lord for giving me the inspiration and guidance in playing. After service, the whole lot of us went to the economical rice at Banting to chomp on our favourite pork dish there. Hmmm..looks like the start of the weekday is here again. First CF meeting will be on this Wednesday, and I'm praying that it'll be a great one :)

40 years after May 13

Forty years ago in 1969, chaos erupted in Malaysia. 13th May is often quoted in history as the watershed of Malaysian politics, since it represented a whole new order that is imposed on Malaysians, a big change from the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman. May 13 was not only about the racial riots. It represented a bigger picture in the loss of liberty and the increase in power of the executive. In any case, since then, the glaring need for national integration has never been so urgent for Malaysia. In the subsequent year, Rukunegara was established to fulfill this purpose just like Indonesia's Pancasila. The first PM of Malaysia was also ushered out in the most unauspicious manner following the May 13 incident. Tun Abdul Razak rose to power and put in place the most controversial and criticised policy of NEP.

Fast foward 40 years later, his son rose to the pinnacle of power in an almost similar fashion after internal power struggles within the party. The racial rhetoric is still echoed by certain politicians in the belief that they may garner the support of the older generation. But personally, I think that residues resultant of May 13 still remains in the form of racial polarisation, but modern Malaysians are perhaps reorganising themselves more towards political allegiance instead. You could see that in the Perak fiasco where groups from all races and backgrounds can be seen rallying behind Nizar. On the Friday when Zambry was sworn in as MB, it was the people from the mosque who were at the streets voicing out their dissatisfaction over the way the issue is handled. I think at this point, modern Malaysians are able to grab concepts and political ideas rather than just mere surface classification of race and background. To look even further back, think about the Bersih campaign. Despite all the political turmoils that are happening in the country, I would say that Malaysians won't take to the streets again like what happened in May 13 because of the years of being sedated by the fear of ISA and police powers. They are stirred by some issues that are hyped up to be racial, but are not shaken enough to escalate it to pure violence on the street. If the fight does ever reaches the streets, it would be more of a rallying cry for democracy rather than blatant race issues.

Perhaps the notion of a bangsa Malaysia may be closer than ever as compared to the days of the older generation but the right leader must be there to initiate it. There is now deeper awareness of societal conditions and how the government and political system operates. Although the conditions are ripe, the search for a national leader that could legitimately issue a united front of Malaysia still continues on.

Angry Ronaldo

The Portugese Le Sulk at Old Trafford

It was another derby showdown between Man Utd and Man City last weekend but the atmosphere was not as electrifying as previous encounters. It was more of a professional duel rather than those that are emotionally charged. This could be partly due to the fact that Man City first-eleven contained newly installed foreigners that do not observe the intense culture rivalry or have no idea how deep the rivalry goes. Imagine those days with Joey Barton and Robbie Fowler in there. Boots will fly but things are more sedate at Man City nowadays with a newly refurbished squad that did not have long experiences working with each other.

Ronaldo put United in front at the 18th minute with his trademark freekick. Only this time, it bounced once on the floor before going past the City keeper. Tevez finished off the game with a brilliant smash at the 45th minute just before the half time whistle was blown. It was evident that Tevez was determined to show a gesture to the crowd that he's still an important man at Old Trafford. On paper, City looked like having a squad capable of upsetting United but they never looked like getting back into the game. It could have been 3-0 too if not for the post which denied Carlos' goal. The most glaring incident in the game was in the 59th minute when Ronaldo was subbed off by Fergie to make way for Scholes. The tantrum was obvious. As Ronaldo left the field, he violently flicked the towel that was handed to him in frustration. Ahhhh..such sheer arrogance. Only one man in Old Trafford had the audacity to think that he had the "right" to throw tantrums, maybe out of his own ego that he may be bigger than the club or he's special enough to be indispensable. But still, he should have seen that the substitution was tactical in that since the game is more or less settled, his strength should be preserved for when it matters most. Ronaldo was still sulking at the stands while the game was progressing.

Reactions from the old boys on Ron's bad reaction were quick, notably from Cole and Yorke. Their warnings are the same: never mess with Fergie. Beckham did it, and he was out soon. Ruud van Nistelrooy sulked after the Carling Cup final and he paid the price for it. The hairdryer treatment may be reduced due to his grandfatherly nature now, but still, don't take Fergie for granted. He doesn't look keenly on those that think they're bigger than the club. It will be interesting to see how Fergie reacts in subsequent outbursts from Ron. As for the Man City incident, he told the press that he's ok with it. Ahhhh..but still one can't really assume how far Fergie's patience will run.

Anyways, a good derby victory and this would mean that Man Utd are only 4 points away from being guaranteed champions. Now, onward to Wigan!

Mother's Day

Last weekend round was different from the rest for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's Mother's Day weekend and secondly, because Mama and my brother made a trip to Nilai to meet up with me! Haha...they were supposed to be here on Saturday afternoon but some delays caused them to arrive only on Saturday night. They stayed over at a Nilai hotel over the night and I fetched them to GFS Banting on the next morning. It's such an appropriate Sunday for them to come since it's Mother's Day and a rare opportunity for us to gather together after so long. Anyways, Mama has been very eager to pay a visit to GFS to have a look on how the place is.

All the mothers had special treatment at Sunday service in church. Lol, they get to sit at special chairs and afterthat we had a session to honour all the mothers in church where all the children gather around them to bless them in prayer. After service, we had a scrumptuous lunch, a bigger than usual one. We brought in tables so that the mothers can all eat comfortably..haha. Mama mingled with the mothers in GFS while I introduced my brother to all the Inti folks and GFS kids. Lol, all of them thought that Charlie was the older one! Ahhh..classic lar..last time some of our relatives also thought the same. Anyways, Mama discovered something interesting while mingling. It's one of those "small world" incident..lol. Apparently, Sister Helen is actually from Taiping too, goes to the exact same Convent school as Mama and also at the same batch! Their classes were only a few rooms away. Haha..this is not the only time that she met her same batch schoolmates. For some funny fate reasoning, she ended up with same batch schoolmates at her cell group. It's almost as if Taiping convent girls are littering all over the place..haha. It's already quite rare to find schoolmates, but to find one that is from the same year batch! What are the odds seriously?..lol. Since Hosanna and Sam's mom is a teacher too, Mama had a lot in common to converse with her too.

After service, I drove Mama and Charlie to Kapar, Klang to visit my grandmother who is staying with my aunt. I asked for some directions from Uncle Boon and I'm kinda surprise how easy it was to get to Kapar from Banting. It's just going straight all the way and following the Banting-Klang highway. It took about 2 hrs to get there with all the jams at central Klang. I was not sure where to turn and so, my uncle came out to meet us before leading me back to their house. We had a short time to rest and showers before heading off to Jusco to have a meal. Hehe, it's a Taiwanese restaurant and the bubble tea was one of the biggest I've seen a place serve. My fried udon with chicken chop taste pretty good..haha. Since Mama and Charlie needs to catch the evening bus at Seremban, we don't really have lots of time to lepak around. It's a short time of meeting with my aunt and grandmother but I guess it meant a lot to them, especially my grandmother. The returning trip was way shorter since we took the KLIA highway instead..haha. I dropped Mama and Charlie at Nilai KTM and then I headed back to Inti to join the ICF folks for dinner. Woah, it feels like I'm driving forever today. I think I easily clock 3hrs to 4hrs of driving today..lol.

For this Mother's Day, I really wanna thank Mama for all the stuff and sacrifices that she had made. Thank you for all the unconditional love that you've provided. God bless you on this very special day :)

March on Rome

Jubilant Man Utd players marches away from London to Rome

The first leg at Old Trafford saw United ending the match on a very favourable note with a 1-0 win. It could have been more, if not for a crossbar bounce from Ronaldo's attempt or Giggs' narrow offside run. The Gooners were outclassed in the first leg as United dominated the match. The 1-0 win at Old Trafford meant two things, firstly, it's a win with a one goal advantage and secondly, Arsenal failed to score the vital away goal. As such, the Gooners will have to score 2 and prevent United from scoring any in order to progress through to the final. The moment Man Utd scored one away goal, Arsenal will have to score at least 3 goals to even get through. Of course, the probability of scorelines lie heavily in favour of Man Utd.

Man Utd would also remember the last time that they played at the Emirates, they were outclassed by the Gooners 1-2, courtesy of some fantastic performance by Nasri. Well, Nasri was there too in the second leg, and it remains to be seen if he could make any impact in overturning the deficit. Man Utd's defence were fortunate once again as Arshavin did not make it to the first eleven once again. Honestly, I expected the Gooners to at least put up some resistance but within 8 minutes, a noob boo-boo defending by Gibbs gave Park Ji Sung the opportunity to pounce on the ball and provided United with the vital away goal. It was an embarassing slip by Gibbs (to the laughter of all United fans) and credit should be given to Park for taking the chance well especially with Almunia fast closing down on him. It was bad enough to give one away goal so early in the game. But that was not all. 3 minutes later, Ronaldo placed the task on the Gooners to beyond impossiblity when he blasted a superb free kick from outside the area. Again, credit to be given to Ronaldo given that the audacity of the range of the freekick. Within 11 minutes, the game was over for the Gooners and they were beyond redemption. I could imagine how torturous the remaining 79 minutes will be especially for the Gooner fans at the Emirates.

At the second half, a nice counter-attacking move piled on further misery and humiliation to the home fans as United went 3-0 up with Ronaldo finishing off the night with his second goal. You can literally see the signs of "The fans had seen enough of this!" as the stands starts to become empty. United are cruising mercilessly towards Rome. The only blip for Man Utd was Fletcher missing the final due the red card that he had gotten from tackling Fabregas in the penalty box. I think Fletcher should have just let Fabregas run through and van der Sar would most probably be near enough to cover his areas. It's a pity for the Scotsman as he was placed in the same position as Scholes and Keane during the 1999 final. Anyways, during the match, I was joking with Reuben that they should have sent Silvestre down where he could score a couple of goals for them..hahahaha.

Over at the other semi-final, Chelsea were leading 1-0 for most of the period before having their broken when Iniesta scored a last-minute equaliser at the 93rd minute. Barcelona went through on away goals and they will meet United in Rome for the Champions League final. I'm actually glad that Barca went through because even if Man Utd lose, it will be an honourable loss to a good team. As for Chelsea and Arsenal, it's another failed attempt at landing their first Champions League trophy. It's always the case of so near yet so far huh...

So, it looks like Man Utd is given the chance to have an attempt at becoming the first team in the modern era to retain the Champions League trophy. They have come a long journey now, with some major blips after the 1-4 Liverpool loss. But since a few weeks ago, it looked like Man Utd are more or less recovered and have shown their appetite to win. For Premier League, there will be a heavily anticipated derby match against old nemesis Man City at Old Trafford and then followed by a cruncher between Arsenal and Chelsea afterthat. Just two more league match victories, and the Premier League will be United's! Theoratically, a victory against Man City and Wigan meant that the title race can be wrapped up by Wednesday. I will dearly hope that Man Utd won't leave it till the last match like last season..lol

Committee Retreat Part 2

The friday morning of the retreat started with a devotion session by Daniel. We had home-cooked breakfast, courtesy of omelette-frying by Chun Chung and sausage-frying by me. The next session was conducted by me! Haha..it's actually a personality test for the committee members to know about themselves and those in the team. We spent some time doing a quiz and then tabulate the results of the quiz to determine which personality we are. The one which I gave them was the Sanguine (I), Phlegmatic (S), Choleric (D) and Melancholy (C) test but each of them have a direct counterpart at the DISC test. It's pretty interesting to note the personality of each committee member. I think most of us would have expected what the primary personality of each of us would be but the secondary personalities were a surprise for some. I gave an explanation for each of the personality and we had a short discussion on the different types of personality by matching them to each other..haha.

Lunch was at an Ipoh restaurant at Bangsar. Lol..the serving was small, but my bill came up to RM10, and the extra rice was RM2! Wow, but I thought it was still better priced than the mamak though. When we got back, we played the tic tac game where we have to take turns to say what things we have not done before. Oh gosh, the taste of 10 tic tac sweets in my mouth is not pleasant at all..haha. Afterthat we resumed another lengthy period of discussion with me manning my station with my lappy. I think this was the longest discussion meeting that we had coz we only stopped at about 7.30 pm plus. It's almost like we're too distracted to go makan. This time round, we had something different for dinner in that we ordered the dishes and rice for everyone to take together instead of individual meals.

When we got back, it was Bishop's sharing time. Lol..we were like little children gathering around a storyteller in a circle. He actually played a game with us before he started sharing!..haha. Anyways, I was really inspired and felt impacted by his sharing. There's like so many wisdom contained in his sharing and he has an admirable wealth of experiences. There were a few things which struck me during his sharing. Quoting one of his phrases, he mentioned "Learn the good to do it, learn the bad to NOT to do it." I used to think, how can a man truly be someone great if he has no good example to follow. His quotation just answered the question and he pointed out that a person surrounded by negative examples can still turn out to be very good indeed because he knows what NOT to do. The bishop did share about his experiences in growing up and while studying abroad. Haha...when God calls, He'll make sure everything will fall into place. At first, it was planned that the Bishop will share for about an hour, but because he had so many experiences, it stretches on to 3hrs until about 1am, with Jia Lerd's mama serving us fruits and drinks to keep us company. Lol, we were planning for some discussion after the sharing but looks like it has to be delayed until the next day.

On the last day, Erwin and Lynne had to leave early since they had to serve their respective churches on that day. After breakfast, we had the final round of discussions. We also did something for each other in writing some kinda like a personal testimonial for each other. So, each of us had a small memory to bring back with us from the retreat. At about 1pm or so, we packed up, have some photo sessions with the Bishop. For lunch, we headed to Mid-Valley to makan lunch. Actually we wanted to do walk around to sight-see, but since we had shortage of time, we just headed back to uni. Lol, at the end of the trip, I can't believe I've actually drove through KL road and personally navigated through the vicious traffic in there. A milestone indeed. =p Anyways, I'm slightly disappointed when I got back to my hostel to discover that I could have left my testimonial paper at Lerd's house. Since Lerd's papa and mama is away on a trip, it looks like I won't get to ascertain where I've placed it until they come back. Ahhhh..I can't believe that I could forget to bring back such an important document! >_<

A small reflection on my short stay there at the Bishop's house - Hmmm..looking around the photographs and the items around the house gives me the fuzzy homely feeling. It's the kind which I've not been feeling for quite a long time. I personally felt that Jia Lerd and her siblings do grow up in the most perfect family condition a child can ever hope for. And yea, I would say the Bishop and his wife are model parents. When I do become the head of a family in the future, I would love to follow in the footsteps of Lerd's papa in establishing the foundations of my family. Taking from Joshua 24:15 - "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" :)

Committee Retreat Part 1

The holidays have been a period filled with lots of activities and it's gonna be ending soon. The ICF committee retreat just concluded yesterday and before I talked about it, I'll sum up a couple of stuff that I did after the camp. On Sunday, went to church as usual at GFS. Then on Monday, I flew to Singapore with Eric to visit Mama. Since the retreat itself was on Thursday, I could only stay for a short while until Wednesday. I couldn't meet TG or any other Sg folks this time round since it's the weekday and I'll be back in Malaysia even before the weekend comes. But I did took some effort to make full use of my time there. Like making sure I take advantage of the full Internet speed there..hahahaha.

Anyways, it's been some time since I cooked, so whenever I go to visit Mama, I always make sure I cook myself one big pot of pasta and clam chowder soup with generous helpings of mussels and mushroom to indulge myself. Good pasta are hard to get nowadays especially in areas like Nilai. Mhmmm..since I got some birthday money gift from mama, I went to get myself the Man Utd 3rd Kit with the Champions League badge and World Club champions badge. Gosh, it costs as much as a jersey with numbering there! Aikkkss..looks like I'll only do the numbering in Malaysia instead, if I can get a good price for it..haha.

The returning trip to Nilai was smooth. I got to Larkin just in time to catch the 2.30 pm which was about to leave the station. I reached Seremban at around 6 pm but the KTM train was delayed for an astounding time limit of 1hr! Oh well, when I reached Inti, there was still time to eat dinner and get some things done. So, I went to have a hair cut and colour job done. It's being a long time already since the last time I had a colour job was about more than a year ago. Actually, it's supposed to be done in December but with my grandfather sick at hospital and all the final exam preparations in the last sem, I didn't really have the mood to do it. Since now it's the slack-o period, it's an excellent time to get my hair the wacky style.

The next day, I made various preparations for the 3 days 2 nights retreat at the Bishop's house a.k.a. Jia Lerd's home in Bangsar. At first, it was planned to have 2 cars to go there, but later, it was decided that only one car will go with 4 people squeezing behind. I wasn't sure initially that all the barang-barang and things will fit inside but in the end, it did fit the boot nicely with some rearrangement. This was the first time I'm driving to KL roads and though its kinda daunting to think of it, I felt that I'm ready to give it a try. From what I remember about Bangsar from the last time when I was young, it has lots of slope. So, other than those pesky traffic, there's also slopes to deal with. The highway journey was smooth and we could find our way to the Mid-Valley area although I made a wrong turn at one section. It was in the Mid-Valley area that the cars started to sprawl around and concentration levels had to increase ten fold. There was also a jam from there to the Bangsar area. My left went numb trying to control the clutch plus it's jam at the slope area, which makes it tricky. Thank God there was no dead engine incidents..haha. With much difficulty, Jia Lerd finally recognizes some familiar landmarks and we managed to reach her house in the end..haha.

One of the first activities that we had awas a short icebreaking game called who stole the cookies from the cookie jar. Since we found some abandoned fries,we changed it to"Who stole the fries from the Bishop's plate". Lol..and the forfeit is actually the feeding of the other with fries with a video of it being taken. We took some rest chilling out around first before heading out to makan dinner. Bangsar parking is total madness! People are double parking everywhere, and I literally had to squeeze very closely in between of two cars when going up a sloppy lane. We had food at a mamak stall and even that kind of store is already so expensive. Uhhhh..I guess that's how it is in an expatriat or a rich man's area. Hmmm..I myself would have prefered to dine in some pasta shop since we're already spending so much already. After makan, we headed back to the house for some discussions until 12am.