On 25th June 2009, the King of Pop was no more. He was 50 years old. I didn't check the Internet on that Friday morning and so it came as quite a shock when I heard the news from my lecturer. Almost instantly, one could feel the magnitude of the void that was left behind. The Internet search engines and some servers actually crashed because of the amount of people that were searching his name online. This is a moment in history. It was similar to the epic proportion left behind by Elvis and John Lennon. They all die young. As one bystander worded it, "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated".
Despite all the bizarre tales that populated the last years of his life, no one can deny that Michael Jackson left a long-lasting legacy behind. He redefined and changed the direction of pop music. He made an impression on three generational decades, the 70s, 80s and 90s. Not many singers can boast that kind of feat. The moonwalk was his distinct trademark. For me, the most vivid personal memory I have of him was the Pepsi advertisement in the Malaysian TV airwaves that ran with the song "Black of White" in the early 90s. Even as a rock enthusiast myself, I have to say some of the songs that he has will be classic evergreen for many years to come. My personal favourites were "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and "Black or White". It's kinda cool also that "Billie Jean" was featured in GTA Vice City and I remember myself experiencing nostalgically 80s when the song ran through the car 'radio'.
There is only one Jacko, his distinct style is irreplaceable just as how Elvis remains uniquely himself years after his death. He may be gone but the King of Pop's voice will continue to resonate through the radio waves. Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.
Monday 29 June 2009
Thursday 25 June 2009
When love comes
I used to think I'm the only one with this kind of mindset nowadays. For a moment, I thought my mentality was just too unrealistic, remote or plain silly. And I'm absolutely delighted to hear someone who shared exactly, or in other words, verbalise what I have been thinking exactly about relationships. I have been pondering alot on this issue for the past year or so and I myself have roughly developed a framework on my ideas of an ideal relationship.
Yesterday's message by Pastor Tryphena hit right on the spot. She has brilliantly phrased out my thoughts. I have been trying hard to find one word to describe the thoughts in mind regarding dating and she coined it - courtship. In essence, there are two kinds of BGRs. Dating is a too diluted and generalised term to describe this phase of life. People can either choose to do modern dating or biblical courtship. How is courtship different from dating? It's a rite of passage in life where when the boy approaches the girl to be his significant other, he is committed to the end goal of marriage in mind and spending the rest of his life with her. It is done with the approval of her family. Modern dating does not take into consideration of that, because the relationship may or may not end in marriage. Courtship has an element of certainty, unlike modern dating. In courtship, commitment precedes intimacy.
I have always believed that it's a commitment decision that has to be made right at the moment when a guy proposes to a gal to be his significant other. Not later. Not test and see or wait until engagement. It has to be right at that moment when they have the mutual consensus to be boyfriend/girlfriend. In my opinion, that process in courtship is a much bigger decision to make than marriage itself. If the guy can't get himself committed or can't see his girlfriend as someone who could be his wife in the future, then he shouldn't even get started in the first place. To some extent, modern dating is rather selfish in that it emphasises on "What I can get from the other person". It's all about how the other person can satisfy oneself's desires and needs. On the other hand, courtship is the other way round and asks "What I can give to the other person". It's about understanding and accepting each other's weaknesses and strengths. Courtship emphasizes on giving and not taking. That, I believe strongly is the core ingredient of a long-lasting and healthy relationship. It's selfless giving without expecting anything in return. That is how love should be.
One of the quotes that was placed in the presentation slides was quite inspirational to me. It says, "A man does not look for his fantasy woman, but look for a godly woman as the scriptures define her. At the same time, a woman should look for a godly husband whom she can serve and love." It's important start on the right note and have God as the central authority in the relationship. A solid foundation in the Lord roots the family together.
Relationship is not just about how long the couple is together or how many shopping trips/movie dates etc. I often hear young people say that they don't want to commit so early in relationships because there's a fear that both parties will get 'bored' of each other after seeing one another. They also claim that it's bad enough that they need to see each other everyday in marriage, so why bother committing so early? (Uhhh..in that case, how does the human race repopulate if everyone thinks that way?) Relationship goes beyond merely spending time together and seeing each other physically. It's the development of an unexplainable intimate bond of trust, companionship, respect and understanding. . If both the boy and girl understand this well, no matter how far apart they are in the world, their fire will burn strongly as ever for each other. Call me conservative, but I have gone through and seen enough to be convicted of my beliefs.
With that being said, it still takes two hands to clap. I have to admit that in the past that there were times when feelings turn out to be one-sided and I tend to get too carried away. Those were the younger days and I have gone through much since. Crushes come and go but in general, I'm quite cautious in getting involve in any pursuit. I always make the extra effort to make a pledge that if I do make a move to propose to court my 'significant other' one day, I will make sure that I can envision her as my life partner in the future whom I can grow old with together. All the bad baggage are accepted together too with a willing heart. I believe that the most important thing is to allow God take control of the course of events and commit it to Him. If it's God's timing, I trust that He will allow things to happen and events will fall in place naturally. So, just keep it cool when love comes :)
Yesterday's message by Pastor Tryphena hit right on the spot. She has brilliantly phrased out my thoughts. I have been trying hard to find one word to describe the thoughts in mind regarding dating and she coined it - courtship. In essence, there are two kinds of BGRs. Dating is a too diluted and generalised term to describe this phase of life. People can either choose to do modern dating or biblical courtship. How is courtship different from dating? It's a rite of passage in life where when the boy approaches the girl to be his significant other, he is committed to the end goal of marriage in mind and spending the rest of his life with her. It is done with the approval of her family. Modern dating does not take into consideration of that, because the relationship may or may not end in marriage. Courtship has an element of certainty, unlike modern dating. In courtship, commitment precedes intimacy.
I have always believed that it's a commitment decision that has to be made right at the moment when a guy proposes to a gal to be his significant other. Not later. Not test and see or wait until engagement. It has to be right at that moment when they have the mutual consensus to be boyfriend/girlfriend. In my opinion, that process in courtship is a much bigger decision to make than marriage itself. If the guy can't get himself committed or can't see his girlfriend as someone who could be his wife in the future, then he shouldn't even get started in the first place. To some extent, modern dating is rather selfish in that it emphasises on "What I can get from the other person". It's all about how the other person can satisfy oneself's desires and needs. On the other hand, courtship is the other way round and asks "What I can give to the other person". It's about understanding and accepting each other's weaknesses and strengths. Courtship emphasizes on giving and not taking. That, I believe strongly is the core ingredient of a long-lasting and healthy relationship. It's selfless giving without expecting anything in return. That is how love should be.
One of the quotes that was placed in the presentation slides was quite inspirational to me. It says, "A man does not look for his fantasy woman, but look for a godly woman as the scriptures define her. At the same time, a woman should look for a godly husband whom she can serve and love." It's important start on the right note and have God as the central authority in the relationship. A solid foundation in the Lord roots the family together.
Relationship is not just about how long the couple is together or how many shopping trips/movie dates etc. I often hear young people say that they don't want to commit so early in relationships because there's a fear that both parties will get 'bored' of each other after seeing one another. They also claim that it's bad enough that they need to see each other everyday in marriage, so why bother committing so early? (Uhhh..in that case, how does the human race repopulate if everyone thinks that way?) Relationship goes beyond merely spending time together and seeing each other physically. It's the development of an unexplainable intimate bond of trust, companionship, respect and understanding. . If both the boy and girl understand this well, no matter how far apart they are in the world, their fire will burn strongly as ever for each other. Call me conservative, but I have gone through and seen enough to be convicted of my beliefs.
With that being said, it still takes two hands to clap. I have to admit that in the past that there were times when feelings turn out to be one-sided and I tend to get too carried away. Those were the younger days and I have gone through much since. Crushes come and go but in general, I'm quite cautious in getting involve in any pursuit. I always make the extra effort to make a pledge that if I do make a move to propose to court my 'significant other' one day, I will make sure that I can envision her as my life partner in the future whom I can grow old with together. All the bad baggage are accepted together too with a willing heart. I believe that the most important thing is to allow God take control of the course of events and commit it to Him. If it's God's timing, I trust that He will allow things to happen and events will fall in place naturally. So, just keep it cool when love comes :)
Saturday 20 June 2009
Shopping Galore
It's a ripe season for shopping as we do our part for the Malaysian economy..HAHA. This morning, me, Sophia, Lerd and Maddie went to crash Bukit Bintang for a shopping trip. I needed to get my black blazer (the borrowing has to stop..lol) while the girls wanna shop for their clothes and accessories. I'm indeed thankful to be able to use an automobile instead of a KTM because I can't imagine my blazer being squished by the crowd plus dragging all the items back manually.
It's quite an experience to have a shopping trip with the girls. Guys, if you ever wanna have extensive exercise or workout, an all-girls shopping outing is a sure way to burn all those extra calories off or build some leg muscles..lol. The moment we hit Sungai Wang Plaza, Sophia and Maddie were already rushing off in double quick time towards Lot 10 for some free goodie bag giveaway of some Bazaar thing. It intrigues me that they do actually take note of such freebies! Unfortunately, when we reached there, the Bazaar was apparently cancelled. But we did start off by visiting a grocery sale by Isetan at Lot 10. A couple of interesting prices there and the girls squirmed in excitement when they saw giant packets of Hello Panda biscuits at a buy 2 get 1 sale. As for me, I bought a packet of 10 Sunkist oranges for RM5.90 which I thought was a very good deal for that type of oranges. Regular price would be like RM10 plus. (Ok..I'm not trying to sound like an aunty but it's a good price for healthy food..haha)
Then we returned back to Sungai Wang for the dress/clothes hunting session for the girls. Now this is where some tips and tactics will come in handy for a guy. Things to consider are like the strategic standing spot (so that you don't block the legion of shoppers rampaging through the shops), know where and when to take a seat, the appropriate timing to take a break and drink, observing whether there are things around that interest guys while the gals do their shop-to-shop browsing and things that can be done while waiting. Do that well, and 10 hours will fly by in a breeze. =p
I managed to get my black pants at Metrojaya to replace the one which I lost mysteriously. It's another good deal as I got it for less than RM50..haha. Although all blazers look the same, it's not a simple decision to make since buying one could mean blowing RM300 to RM500 at one time. So many things like quality of material, fitting and small minor design details need to be taken care of. The ones at Metrojaya cost at minimum RM465 and it can go up all the way to RM1300 per suit! After going around and looking at other sections, I've finally decided on getting one from a tailor's shop at RM380 and I think that price is rather reasonable for the fine finishing. Anyways, special thanks to Sophia for helping me to keep a lookout on the places that sell the black blazers! xD
We had dinner at Kim Gary and all of us were fully bloated with food when we load onto the car. There was a slight jam at the mouth of the car park as we tried to get to the main road. Anyways, we managed to reach back at campus around 9pm. Well, it's been a fun day out and I believe all of us were pretty pleased with our purchases :)
It's quite an experience to have a shopping trip with the girls. Guys, if you ever wanna have extensive exercise or workout, an all-girls shopping outing is a sure way to burn all those extra calories off or build some leg muscles..lol. The moment we hit Sungai Wang Plaza, Sophia and Maddie were already rushing off in double quick time towards Lot 10 for some free goodie bag giveaway of some Bazaar thing. It intrigues me that they do actually take note of such freebies! Unfortunately, when we reached there, the Bazaar was apparently cancelled. But we did start off by visiting a grocery sale by Isetan at Lot 10. A couple of interesting prices there and the girls squirmed in excitement when they saw giant packets of Hello Panda biscuits at a buy 2 get 1 sale. As for me, I bought a packet of 10 Sunkist oranges for RM5.90 which I thought was a very good deal for that type of oranges. Regular price would be like RM10 plus. (Ok..I'm not trying to sound like an aunty but it's a good price for healthy food..haha)
Then we returned back to Sungai Wang for the dress/clothes hunting session for the girls. Now this is where some tips and tactics will come in handy for a guy. Things to consider are like the strategic standing spot (so that you don't block the legion of shoppers rampaging through the shops), know where and when to take a seat, the appropriate timing to take a break and drink, observing whether there are things around that interest guys while the gals do their shop-to-shop browsing and things that can be done while waiting. Do that well, and 10 hours will fly by in a breeze. =p
I managed to get my black pants at Metrojaya to replace the one which I lost mysteriously. It's another good deal as I got it for less than RM50..haha. Although all blazers look the same, it's not a simple decision to make since buying one could mean blowing RM300 to RM500 at one time. So many things like quality of material, fitting and small minor design details need to be taken care of. The ones at Metrojaya cost at minimum RM465 and it can go up all the way to RM1300 per suit! After going around and looking at other sections, I've finally decided on getting one from a tailor's shop at RM380 and I think that price is rather reasonable for the fine finishing. Anyways, special thanks to Sophia for helping me to keep a lookout on the places that sell the black blazers! xD
We had dinner at Kim Gary and all of us were fully bloated with food when we load onto the car. There was a slight jam at the mouth of the car park as we tried to get to the main road. Anyways, we managed to reach back at campus around 9pm. Well, it's been a fun day out and I believe all of us were pretty pleased with our purchases :)
Friday 19 June 2009
If I have a 100-million kitty
Let's play fantasy football. With 100 million pounds at hand, any manager would definitely grin with delight. I have a few combos on how to spend it for Man Utd..haha..some of them absurd and some of them with a possibility of materialising.
1. Lionel Messi (100 million) --> Period.
2. David Villa (45 Million) + Franck Ribery (55 Million) = 100 Million
It covers the areas that Man Utd need to strengthen in attacking play after CR7 had left. Hard to get combo though.
3. Carlos Tevez (30 Million) + Silva (30 Million) + Benzeema (30 Million) = 90 Million
Part of the money to keep Carlos at Old Trafford. But this combo looks kinda unlikely since Carlos may not want to stay with additional competition from Benzeema. Not only that, Silva may want to stay within Spain too.
4. Huntelaar (20 Million) + Robben (25 million) + Sneijder (30 Million) + Rafael van der Vaart (25 Million) = 100 Million
Dutch Invasion from Madrid. Alright, all 4 may not end up in Man United but there is a high possiblity that at least one will. CR7 and Kaka in Madrid meant that surely one of the 5 great Dutchmen (van Nistelrooy included) will be relegated to a no-play season career. All 4 looked like great prospects for United. Sneijder especially, will look to be an ideal replacement for Paul Scholes.
5. Antonio Valencia (15 Million) + Ashley Young (20 Million) + Huntelaar (20 million) + Benzeema (30 Million) = 85 Million
Not as glamorous as the previous ones but it has quite a high probability too. The signal from Valencia looks kinda strong. Young would be a good addition for the wings and Man Utd would likely to get him if they bid high. Of all the 4 Dutchmen mentioned before, Huntelaar is the one which got the fewest opportunity in Madrid. And I don't think Lyon can resist a good offer for Benzeema. There's 15 million left and Ferguson would probably want to save some pennies for a goalkeeper in the future.
P.S. The price that I put up is merely an estimation of what I think is a reasonable price to get the player. It could be more or less if any deals do happen =p
1. Lionel Messi (100 million) --> Period.
2. David Villa (45 Million) + Franck Ribery (55 Million) = 100 Million
It covers the areas that Man Utd need to strengthen in attacking play after CR7 had left. Hard to get combo though.
3. Carlos Tevez (30 Million) + Silva (30 Million) + Benzeema (30 Million) = 90 Million
Part of the money to keep Carlos at Old Trafford. But this combo looks kinda unlikely since Carlos may not want to stay with additional competition from Benzeema. Not only that, Silva may want to stay within Spain too.
4. Huntelaar (20 Million) + Robben (25 million) + Sneijder (30 Million) + Rafael van der Vaart (25 Million) = 100 Million
Dutch Invasion from Madrid. Alright, all 4 may not end up in Man United but there is a high possiblity that at least one will. CR7 and Kaka in Madrid meant that surely one of the 5 great Dutchmen (van Nistelrooy included) will be relegated to a no-play season career. All 4 looked like great prospects for United. Sneijder especially, will look to be an ideal replacement for Paul Scholes.
5. Antonio Valencia (15 Million) + Ashley Young (20 Million) + Huntelaar (20 million) + Benzeema (30 Million) = 85 Million
Not as glamorous as the previous ones but it has quite a high probability too. The signal from Valencia looks kinda strong. Young would be a good addition for the wings and Man Utd would likely to get him if they bid high. Of all the 4 Dutchmen mentioned before, Huntelaar is the one which got the fewest opportunity in Madrid. And I don't think Lyon can resist a good offer for Benzeema. There's 15 million left and Ferguson would probably want to save some pennies for a goalkeeper in the future.
P.S. The price that I put up is merely an estimation of what I think is a reasonable price to get the player. It could be more or less if any deals do happen =p
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Awards!
I just really wanna thank God for the recent accolades that I've gotten. There were two this week, first one was expected and I was anticipating for the academic award ceremony since the beginning of this month. The second was kinda a surprise phone call from Perdana Leadership Foundation, where I got to know that I've managed to get a consolation prize for the essay I've written last year. Apparently, the prize-giving ceremony was already held on the 3rd. They tried to inform me through letter but since my address was directed to the now vacant Taiping address, nobody had knowledge of it until the Pos Laju bounced back the cert+prize that they were trying to send. Anyways, I've won myself a neat sum of RM50 of MPH vouchers..hehe :)
Anyways, today was nearly a disaster after waking up late and today's 8am class is definitely one I WON'T wanna be late. I stayed up late till 3 am the previous night to settle up some event proposal and magazine matters. I couldn't wake up with double alarm, and it fact, I slept through the alarm until I felt some sunshine on my face. Uggghhh..I shan't take the risk of sleeping late on Tuesday again or else I'll end up feeling the wrath of a thousand thunders and hailstorms falling upon me. Or in other words, "liaaaooooo". As usual, whenever I'm running late for class, I'll just hop onto an automobile and drive off to class instead of manually walking there. I got what Joann meant when she said about learning to walk to class. It's hard to resist the temptation when we have wheels instead of legs hmmm..haha. xD
It was a hectic round of schedule for me after the regular classes in the morning. For starters, I didn't iron my shirt yet and since I lost my black pants (no idea where it vaporized to), I need to get it from Jason. It was nice of Mama to make a trip down to campus for the award-giving ceremony. She came quite early, so after my weekly nasi kandar session, I went to accompany her while waiting for the shirt to be ironed. Anyways, we managed to reach there on time. A few of my seniors also managed to get an award but it seems that they couldn't be there since they had went back to their hometowns.
The whole ceremony was kinda long because there's also graduation session for the foundation students. Woah...altogether there were a few hundred students who had their names being read out. There were two types of academic awards. President's List and Excellence Award for those getting 4.0 GPA or average 80 marks for their finals. Dean's List and Merit Award for those getting 3.5 GPA or average 70 marks for their finals. Haha..I made it to the second category =p. I think Law students will appreciate the award since we only have our finals once every 3 semesters and this meant only 1 shot to try in one year.
I've figured out that I've been winning the "Carling Cups" or "FA Cups" and starting out small so far. I'm contented with my present position but perhaps it's time to push up the level by a higher notch and aim for the"Premier League" (President's List??..haha) and the ultimate prize of "Champions League"(1st class or some writer's award..lol). But at times, I would see it as a lil' complicated challenge since I need to accomodate it with my age-old philosophy of "minimum effort with maximum effect" and "don't study hard, study smart" concept. Sometimes, I'm juz feeling too slack to put in the extra effort and I always end up delaying and only doing things/studies at the last-minute. Like now, I'm closing my eyes to almost 3/4 of the lessons that I'm listening. If you ask me now, I have no idea what's happening in class. I tend to shut my mind if there's no exams around or any coursework. I'd rather be spending time doing my favourite hobbies, writing, daydreaming and rocking around with music. It's a feature that I've been doing that at every education level I'm in and I tend to put in some effort only when the exams are nearing. Hmmm..gotta change on that I guess if I ever wanna tap on my potential.
Okay...enough of self-reflection..haha. I wanna thank God once again for his blessings and I wouldn't have been able to do well in Year 1 finals if not for Him. All glory belongs to Him :)
Anyways, today was nearly a disaster after waking up late and today's 8am class is definitely one I WON'T wanna be late. I stayed up late till 3 am the previous night to settle up some event proposal and magazine matters. I couldn't wake up with double alarm, and it fact, I slept through the alarm until I felt some sunshine on my face. Uggghhh..I shan't take the risk of sleeping late on Tuesday again or else I'll end up feeling the wrath of a thousand thunders and hailstorms falling upon me. Or in other words, "liaaaooooo". As usual, whenever I'm running late for class, I'll just hop onto an automobile and drive off to class instead of manually walking there. I got what Joann meant when she said about learning to walk to class. It's hard to resist the temptation when we have wheels instead of legs hmmm..haha. xD
It was a hectic round of schedule for me after the regular classes in the morning. For starters, I didn't iron my shirt yet and since I lost my black pants (no idea where it vaporized to), I need to get it from Jason. It was nice of Mama to make a trip down to campus for the award-giving ceremony. She came quite early, so after my weekly nasi kandar session, I went to accompany her while waiting for the shirt to be ironed. Anyways, we managed to reach there on time. A few of my seniors also managed to get an award but it seems that they couldn't be there since they had went back to their hometowns.
The whole ceremony was kinda long because there's also graduation session for the foundation students. Woah...altogether there were a few hundred students who had their names being read out. There were two types of academic awards. President's List and Excellence Award for those getting 4.0 GPA or average 80 marks for their finals. Dean's List and Merit Award for those getting 3.5 GPA or average 70 marks for their finals. Haha..I made it to the second category =p. I think Law students will appreciate the award since we only have our finals once every 3 semesters and this meant only 1 shot to try in one year.
I've figured out that I've been winning the "Carling Cups" or "FA Cups" and starting out small so far. I'm contented with my present position but perhaps it's time to push up the level by a higher notch and aim for the"Premier League" (President's List??..haha) and the ultimate prize of "Champions League"(1st class or some writer's award..lol). But at times, I would see it as a lil' complicated challenge since I need to accomodate it with my age-old philosophy of "minimum effort with maximum effect" and "don't study hard, study smart" concept. Sometimes, I'm juz feeling too slack to put in the extra effort and I always end up delaying and only doing things/studies at the last-minute. Like now, I'm closing my eyes to almost 3/4 of the lessons that I'm listening. If you ask me now, I have no idea what's happening in class. I tend to shut my mind if there's no exams around or any coursework. I'd rather be spending time doing my favourite hobbies, writing, daydreaming and rocking around with music. It's a feature that I've been doing that at every education level I'm in and I tend to put in some effort only when the exams are nearing. Hmmm..gotta change on that I guess if I ever wanna tap on my potential.
Okay...enough of self-reflection..haha. I wanna thank God once again for his blessings and I wouldn't have been able to do well in Year 1 finals if not for Him. All glory belongs to Him :)
Saturday 13 June 2009
The 80-million-pound man
Did we see it coming? Yes we did. United fans were not surprised at all. We have all foreseen the day coming. The Portugese No.7 of Old Trafford is finally gonna trade his red shirt for a Real Madrid white this time. Last year's double celebration was already dampened by his wantaway cries. United fans have certainly not forgotten that. Better now than later. It's an immense loss of talent and it will create a a huge void like those left by Schmeichel, van Nistelrooy and Keane in the past. Nevertheless, I don't see why United should keep a player that is not ready to dedicate for its cause. The quality of those players can never be emulated perfectly but life still goes on and Man Utd still marches on with its cup and league victories.
After securing the signature of Kaka for 59 million British pounds, Real Madrid launched an audacious bid of 80 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo to which Man Utd accepted. Fergie had repeatedly said that he will not sell in the past but I have a feeling that the mounting debt by the Glazers and the rebellious attitude of Portugese himself have contributed to the acceptance of the bid by the higher authorities. It makes business sense too to buy for 12 million and sell for 80 million. To celebrate his move to Madrid, Ronaldo spent the night partying away with Paris Hilton. So much for loyalty huh. Like Heinze, he should have wondered where he would have been if not for Fergie's guidance. He should have wondered how he would get his 42 goals if his teammates had not worked hard to assist him. He should have wondered how Fergie stuck by him when the whole of England hated him to the core for screwing Wayne up in the World Cup. Cantona and Beckham left on a remembrance and fond note by the United fans. But I can't help feeling that the way Ronaldo responded to his transfer reeks of an ingrate.
Real Madrid had spent 139 million British pounds on just 2 players. Where in the world did Perez get so much money? I thought that Man City were the only one currently doing these ludricous sums. The transfer market is going on the mode of hyper-inflation. Man City would follow suit with more ridiculous bids. United will definitely splash at least more than 30 million for a superstar. Soon, we will be paying 30 million pounds to transfer Titus Bramble and Boumsong to their new clubs. It certainly sounds like bad news for the fans. Higher prices for match tickets, TV subscription, jerseys and merchandises. Gosh, supporting a football club these days is even more expensive than maintaining a car.
What now for Man Utd? Yes, we may never find another person to fill in the big shoes that Ron had left behind on the right wing but overall, I see it more as a blessing in disguise. Rooney will now have the opportunity to play upfront in the center and unleash his true talent as opposed to being overshadowed by the need to put Ronaldo upfront in the past. Just look at Rooney in his England jersey and that's the lethal touch that Rooney posesses if he's given more chances to be at the center striking position. The best thing is that Rooney is also one person that I'll see in Manchester for a very long time. Other than that, perhaps it's also time that Nani prove to the United fans that he's gonna be more consistent in his delivery if he were to be given more chances. And maybe Carlos will get to stay afterall, if he wants to, that is. The 80 million kitty is sure helpful to rebuild a squad that has ageing vanguards like Giggs, Scholes and Neville. That is where losing one big star man for a couple of smaller but more dedicated stars makes rational football management. It's a good opportunity for United to steer away from the dangerous path of a one-man team and this is something Arsenal has not being able to cope up since the departure of Henry.
Oh well, farewell Ron. Man Utd fans are thankful to him for all his contributions to the club but life at Old Trafford will still go on. The 08/09 season was more of a collective effort by the team rather than the dominant display by Ron in the 07/08 season. It's a good benchmark. It shows that the team can still do well without him. Not only that, the dressing room is finally getting some peace instead of having all the speculations that kept floating around. I sure do hope Fergie spends that 80 million kitty well. It's time to prepare for life without CR7.
Friday 12 June 2009
Time Wasting Intervals
Let's recall back what happened last weekend. I would call it, a weekend of time wasting intervals. Yup, I decided to make a trip down south to Singapore to visit my mother. Other than that, it's a great time to meet up with my A' Levels buddies TG and Sandeep. It's been a long time and the last time we met was around Jan/Feb if I'm not mistaken. I left campus on Friday at around 4pm and when I reached KTM Nilai, I found out that the entire station is clogged up. Only one track is working and so, trains will now arrive at half the speed when it's already bad enough as it is. Oh, the joy of the Malaysian public transport system..lol. Two Rawang/KL bound train came and still the Seremban train was not there. It was nearly an hour I was stuck at Nilai KTM before the Seremban train came.
At the bus terminal, I couldn't get the tickets for the nearest timeslot, that is 6.30pm. The only timeslot on sale was 9.30pm. I bought it anyways seeing that there are no other timeslots in view but it seemed that I'm just heading for trouble and courting the possiblity of getting stuck at Larkin in the early morning hours. But then I heard from the counter fella telling a group of students to board the bus if there are empty spaces. So, I also thought of asking the 6.30pm driver whether he can let me into the bus if there are empty spaces. It was tight but in the end, thank God, I managed to get a seat. Whew! This spares me the agony of the 9.30 bus. Hmmmm..interestingly, I bumped onto 2 students from the Law School who were heading to Johor too and I had company to talk to for the trip. =p
I reached down south at about 11pm plus. It was tiring and I did not had dinner but thankfully, Mama bought some sushi and sashimi for me to munch on..haha. Rest up and the next day, I went to Dhoby Ghaut MRT to meet up with TG and Sandeep. We had lunch at Carl's Junior before going to the cybercafe for L4D session with Xiaoyan and Annabel. We had a 3 v 2 match. Hmmm..I forgot the pathway of some of the maps and as a result, ended up running in circles..lol. For our second game, the two teams ended up cancelling each other at every stage, and in the end, XY and Annabel won by a razor thin margin of 14 points! Haha..they had to leave early and then me and TG went to lepak around Orchard Road. I managed to get a new set of drumsticks plus some shorcut law books. I round off my Saturday with sirloin steak dinner at Somerset Botak Jones. I still think that the AMK one taste better.
I planned to go back on Sunday early morning actually, but then I wanna wait till afternoon to get a copy of the new Che Guevera movie. Since it's holiday season for the regular schools, Mama went back together with me since she wanna fetch my grandmother from my aunt's place in Klang. We left the house at about 12pm, and all was smooth until the bus was stuck at the Causeway by a massive jam leading to the Malaysian side. Ugghhhh..the lack of a separate bus lane meant that the bus is screwed together with all the other cars. After 1hr being stuck, we've finally reached the Malaysian immigration. When we reached Larkin, we found out that there's only tickets available for KL for the 2.30pm slot and the next bus for Seremban leaves at 6.30pm. So, we picked the KL tickets and I knew that lots of time will be wasted in travelling back from KL to Nilai, and I shudder the time taken using the KTM again.
It was another of getting stuck moment as there was a crazy jam at the Seremban-Nilai stretch of the highway. Ahhh..this is getting frustrating. The bus driver got so desperate that he started to cruise through using the emergency lane. It was 7.30pm by the time we reached Pudu and we headed straight to KL Sentral to consider how we can get to Nilai. At first was thinking of taking the KLIA express train but when we found out how expensive that was, we just ended up taking a straight taxi ride from there to Nilai. It was 9pm when we reached campus and I quickly get my car keys and off we went to Klang to stay overnight at my aunt's place. Grrrr..dinner was missed again as all the shops were closed around by the time we reached Klang.
I woke up real early on Monday as there's class at 10am for me. I drove Mama and my grandmother to Nilai KTM station first before heading back to my campus, just in time for the class. Whew! That concludes my really really time wasting weekend of travelling around. Lots of waiting, lots of pondering, lots of frustration. I bet I could recycle to wasted time travelling for something more productive. But aye, at least I spend a big portion of the waiting time finishing up my 1984 George Orwell novel.
At the bus terminal, I couldn't get the tickets for the nearest timeslot, that is 6.30pm. The only timeslot on sale was 9.30pm. I bought it anyways seeing that there are no other timeslots in view but it seemed that I'm just heading for trouble and courting the possiblity of getting stuck at Larkin in the early morning hours. But then I heard from the counter fella telling a group of students to board the bus if there are empty spaces. So, I also thought of asking the 6.30pm driver whether he can let me into the bus if there are empty spaces. It was tight but in the end, thank God, I managed to get a seat. Whew! This spares me the agony of the 9.30 bus. Hmmmm..interestingly, I bumped onto 2 students from the Law School who were heading to Johor too and I had company to talk to for the trip. =p
I reached down south at about 11pm plus. It was tiring and I did not had dinner but thankfully, Mama bought some sushi and sashimi for me to munch on..haha. Rest up and the next day, I went to Dhoby Ghaut MRT to meet up with TG and Sandeep. We had lunch at Carl's Junior before going to the cybercafe for L4D session with Xiaoyan and Annabel. We had a 3 v 2 match. Hmmm..I forgot the pathway of some of the maps and as a result, ended up running in circles..lol. For our second game, the two teams ended up cancelling each other at every stage, and in the end, XY and Annabel won by a razor thin margin of 14 points! Haha..they had to leave early and then me and TG went to lepak around Orchard Road. I managed to get a new set of drumsticks plus some shorcut law books. I round off my Saturday with sirloin steak dinner at Somerset Botak Jones. I still think that the AMK one taste better.
I planned to go back on Sunday early morning actually, but then I wanna wait till afternoon to get a copy of the new Che Guevera movie. Since it's holiday season for the regular schools, Mama went back together with me since she wanna fetch my grandmother from my aunt's place in Klang. We left the house at about 12pm, and all was smooth until the bus was stuck at the Causeway by a massive jam leading to the Malaysian side. Ugghhhh..the lack of a separate bus lane meant that the bus is screwed together with all the other cars. After 1hr being stuck, we've finally reached the Malaysian immigration. When we reached Larkin, we found out that there's only tickets available for KL for the 2.30pm slot and the next bus for Seremban leaves at 6.30pm. So, we picked the KL tickets and I knew that lots of time will be wasted in travelling back from KL to Nilai, and I shudder the time taken using the KTM again.
It was another of getting stuck moment as there was a crazy jam at the Seremban-Nilai stretch of the highway. Ahhh..this is getting frustrating. The bus driver got so desperate that he started to cruise through using the emergency lane. It was 7.30pm by the time we reached Pudu and we headed straight to KL Sentral to consider how we can get to Nilai. At first was thinking of taking the KLIA express train but when we found out how expensive that was, we just ended up taking a straight taxi ride from there to Nilai. It was 9pm when we reached campus and I quickly get my car keys and off we went to Klang to stay overnight at my aunt's place. Grrrr..dinner was missed again as all the shops were closed around by the time we reached Klang.
I woke up real early on Monday as there's class at 10am for me. I drove Mama and my grandmother to Nilai KTM station first before heading back to my campus, just in time for the class. Whew! That concludes my really really time wasting weekend of travelling around. Lots of waiting, lots of pondering, lots of frustration. I bet I could recycle to wasted time travelling for something more productive. But aye, at least I spend a big portion of the waiting time finishing up my 1984 George Orwell novel.
Saturday 6 June 2009
The Longest Day
65 years ago on this very day, more than 100 000 Allied soldiers descended upon the shores and beaches of Normandy in a concerted effort to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. It was D-Day, the start of Operation Overlord. In the wee early morning hours before the sun is up, the 82nd and 101st Airborne infantry dropped behind enemy lines to pave the way for the daylight invasion. Hours later, the main fleet will push up to the shore in an amphibious assault on five beach fronts; Sword, Juno, Omaha, Gold and Utah. Fighting was fierce and intense as Hitler's Atlantic Wall proved to be a formidable opponent. Approximately 4500 Allied soldiers lost their lives on that day itself, with the heaviest casualty being at Omaha Beach. At the end of the longest day, the Allied were triumphant in their objectives and the victory marked the start of the collapse of Nazi Germany's grip on Europe.
The number of World War II veterans dwindle by the day. Many of them are already in their 80s. If you happen to see or know one of them, thank them for their valiant efforts in fighting the war. They don't need any fanfare or honour parades. Just a simple show of gratitude or thank you will do.
Friday 5 June 2009
Beau Bristow Concert
It was an awesome and terrific time with Beau Bristow at Inti last night! Preparations, resources and time have been poured onto this massive event by ICF. From the band, publicity, booking of venues and PA system checking, it's a whole lot of work to do. At the start of the semester, the committee knew that this event will be a big one and there's gonna be lots of stuff to handle. For me personally, it was already rush of schedule on Wednesday itself. Besides having an almost full day of classes from 8am, the law magazine phototaking session was at 4pm. I think it's quite fortunate that I had only 4 semesters to handle since the other 2 senior semesters had a visa briefing. Even with the reduced numbers, it took more than an hour for the photos to be taken. Right afterthat, I had to hurry to the class rep meeting and then this was proceeded by band practice at Sports hall itself.
On the day of the concert itself, it's a stretch of classes from 8am till 11..then at break time, I needed to spend almost an hour getting the bookmarks done. We met Beau for lunch at the cafetaria and then I had to go to class at 2 all the way till 5pm. Immediately after class at 5, it was a straight march back to my room and be prepared for a final round preliminary practice and preparation at the Sports Hall. We went through a final round and at 6.45, the doors were open for registration.
It's been quite some time since I took to the stage with hundreds of people watching. The last major one was a long time ago when I was in Secondary 4 in SJI, performing for Teacher's Day concert. Of course, I do get a little occassional butterflies in the stomach, but I'm pretty much used to being on stage nowadays given my exposure in playing at CF meetings and Sunday service. We played three songs, "The time has come" and "Rooftops" plus "Endlessly" from Desperation Band. Lol, I've managed to improve my execution for "The time has come" this time round and the most challenging aspect of performance for the night is the 16-beat bridge where I had to have extreme concentration to prevent myself from being derailed. Haha..we did well as a band together and probably the only side is the minor technical problems like the mic not sounding loud enough and the bass amps that's muffling the air around me. As a result, I couldn't really hear the sounds since it's also drowned by my crashes. I had to run a parallel song in my mind to play along with the band..haha.
Beau took the center stage after us. He started off with a very familiar song, "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol and that was indeed an excellent and a perfect cover of it. Lol..I would say he's the true one-man band. Jordan would have salivate listening to him. Beau could literally do the bass, electric, acoustic, vocals and some drum rhythm all at a time with some really wacky gadgets that he has. The usual electric guitarist may have one or two of those pedals but he had one entire range of sixes to sevens! I would say I managed to discover a few "secrets" of bands here and there. I was wondering how the Ting Tings could maintain a constant beat of guitar or bass while Katie White played something else or how Katie White had two of her different vocals running simultaneously. Then, when I saw Beau playing all his parts at one time, I guess that's where I get the answer..ahaha. Oh another thing is that I spotted was that one of the songs in which Beau did some special effects sounded rather similar to Muse's starting rift for "Invincible". Lol, I found out later that Beau uses the plastic cylinder thing to slide his guitar strings, the exact one that Matthew Bellamy had! Amazing! Beau is only the second person that I know to do that sort of stuff after Matt.
After the concert, Beau spent the time autographing CDs and posing for pictures. It was nice of him to personalise his autograph for me..haha. The total estimated turnout was 250+ people! Woah, to think that we placed 80 as the expected number on the event proposal and I've only printed 150 bookmarks. Oh ye of little faith! I really wanna thank God for making the event such a superb success..hehe.
By the time we finished packing up, it was already 11pm+. Many of us did not have dinner, so we duly went to Al-Salam to chomp on some food with Beau. It was very tiring for many for us but at the same time, we felt that it was worth every single drop of sweat. A big thank you also to Beau Bristow for coming over to Malaysia and it was gracious of him to sponsor his own trip to Malaysia. It was a privilege indeed to listen to Beau and the sharing of his wonderful music :)
On the day of the concert itself, it's a stretch of classes from 8am till 11..then at break time, I needed to spend almost an hour getting the bookmarks done. We met Beau for lunch at the cafetaria and then I had to go to class at 2 all the way till 5pm. Immediately after class at 5, it was a straight march back to my room and be prepared for a final round preliminary practice and preparation at the Sports Hall. We went through a final round and at 6.45, the doors were open for registration.
It's been quite some time since I took to the stage with hundreds of people watching. The last major one was a long time ago when I was in Secondary 4 in SJI, performing for Teacher's Day concert. Of course, I do get a little occassional butterflies in the stomach, but I'm pretty much used to being on stage nowadays given my exposure in playing at CF meetings and Sunday service. We played three songs, "The time has come" and "Rooftops" plus "Endlessly" from Desperation Band. Lol, I've managed to improve my execution for "The time has come" this time round and the most challenging aspect of performance for the night is the 16-beat bridge where I had to have extreme concentration to prevent myself from being derailed. Haha..we did well as a band together and probably the only side is the minor technical problems like the mic not sounding loud enough and the bass amps that's muffling the air around me. As a result, I couldn't really hear the sounds since it's also drowned by my crashes. I had to run a parallel song in my mind to play along with the band..haha.
Beau took the center stage after us. He started off with a very familiar song, "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol and that was indeed an excellent and a perfect cover of it. Lol..I would say he's the true one-man band. Jordan would have salivate listening to him. Beau could literally do the bass, electric, acoustic, vocals and some drum rhythm all at a time with some really wacky gadgets that he has. The usual electric guitarist may have one or two of those pedals but he had one entire range of sixes to sevens! I would say I managed to discover a few "secrets" of bands here and there. I was wondering how the Ting Tings could maintain a constant beat of guitar or bass while Katie White played something else or how Katie White had two of her different vocals running simultaneously. Then, when I saw Beau playing all his parts at one time, I guess that's where I get the answer..ahaha. Oh another thing is that I spotted was that one of the songs in which Beau did some special effects sounded rather similar to Muse's starting rift for "Invincible". Lol, I found out later that Beau uses the plastic cylinder thing to slide his guitar strings, the exact one that Matthew Bellamy had! Amazing! Beau is only the second person that I know to do that sort of stuff after Matt.
After the concert, Beau spent the time autographing CDs and posing for pictures. It was nice of him to personalise his autograph for me..haha. The total estimated turnout was 250+ people! Woah, to think that we placed 80 as the expected number on the event proposal and I've only printed 150 bookmarks. Oh ye of little faith! I really wanna thank God for making the event such a superb success..hehe.
By the time we finished packing up, it was already 11pm+. Many of us did not have dinner, so we duly went to Al-Salam to chomp on some food with Beau. It was very tiring for many for us but at the same time, we felt that it was worth every single drop of sweat. A big thank you also to Beau Bristow for coming over to Malaysia and it was gracious of him to sponsor his own trip to Malaysia. It was a privilege indeed to listen to Beau and the sharing of his wonderful music :)
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