Man Utd Premier League Champions 07/08 !!!

Vice-captain Ryan Giggs lifts Man Utd's 10th Premier League title

Manchester United have done it again! The stakes were high for the top two teams in the Premier League table and both had the chance to be champions. In the end, it was United who prevailed and did more than enough to secure the title. Chelsea succumbed to a draw with a last minute strike from Bolton and this left them 2 points off the leaders in the final table. This meant that even if United had drawn with Wigan, they would still be champions. I guess that's fate huh..lol.

Honestly, Wigan gave a commendable effort in making it hard for Man Utd. They did not sit back and let the bigger team bully them. They constantly worked the defence and attempted a couple of decent shots. Man Utd were awarded a penalty when Rooney was brought down in the box. Ronaldo calmly stepped up to the task with perhaps, the failure at Nou Camp still lingering in his mind. Once again, the tension is intense but the Portugese golden boy slammed one into the goal to the delight of the Red fans, proving that the missed chance at Barca is merely an anomaly. His 31st goal matched Alan Shearer's tally as joint top scorer in a Premier League season. The temperature went one notch up when Chelsea led 1-0 at the Bridge at the 62nd minute. However, when Ryan Giggs coolly slotted the ball past Chris Kirkland in the 8oth minute, it was certain that Man Utd would retain their title and be Premier League champions for the 10th time. What a marvelous way to wrap up the victory! I would say that it's a poetic victory and jubilation. The loyal Man Utd servant matched the record of Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearance for the club. He will surpass that number and into the history books if he plays in the Moscow final on 21st May. Gigg's first eleven appearances had been limited in the past few weeks but it was he who had been leading the troops for more than 3/4 of the season in the absence of Gary Neville. Last season, he lifted the trophy alongside with Neville. This season, he stood solo to lift the trophy, an honourable position to be in that is reserved for the captain. I think it's a truly special moment for him, to be in a place where past United skippers like Keane and Schmeichel had been.

The start of this season had been particularly rocky due to the lack of goals. Most of the time had been spent chasing after Arse-nal. Disappointments in the season include double derby losses against Man City and some shocking loss and draws. When the Gooners did slip up at the last quarter of the season, United looked to be in prime position to win the title easily. Unfortunately, slip ups and draws at Boro and Blackburn coupled with the lost at the Bridge enabled the Blues to catch up to create a last day drama. Nevertheless, it's quite a good league season for United overall and they managed to achieve a couple of big wins against teams like Newcastle and Liverpool. Apart from the Carling Cup, performances in the FA Cup and Champions League were probably one of the best in Man Utd history. With one trophy in the cabinet for this season already, it's time to gun for the second one in Moscow.

Last Day Drama

Over the past couple of years, last day dramas are usually reserved for the relegated teams. This season still contain some heated battle of the tables and around a month or two ago, as many as 8 teams were fighting for survival. Some put in the effort and managed to get some vital points from unlikely sources. Bolton now are virtually safe while Fulham pulled themselves from guaranteed relegation to a point where they have a chance to stay at the Premier League. Nevertheless, Fulham still had to battle with Reading and Birmingham to avoid being sucked into the unfortunate remaining two relegation places.

Interestingly, this is the first time since many years where the last day would decide where the title would go. Lol, probably the bus that carries the Premier League trophy had to be on standby to be ready for any sudden fluctuations. Man Utd is still in control and as long as they win their game, they win the title regardless of Chelsea's result. However, Wigan must not be underestimated though since they did cause even Chelsea to drop points. I'm sure United would have the resilience to complete the final lap of glory. For starters, the guy wearing the number 7 red shirt whose name starting with R should finish off the opponents as quickly as possible..lol. All the best to the Man Utd squad in their final match of the season this Sunday!

Curious Questions

After going through the law syllabus, I’ve got a few comments on the stuff that I’m about to learn. In comparison with my previous arts subjects, I would say Law requires the skill from both History and English Literature. From history, it requires the tenacity of memorization and application of dates, names and events. There is a need in drawing out certain conclusions from the labyrinth of information that is available. Just like in History, mere memorization won’t get one very far as there is a strong need for understanding too. From English Literature, the value of words and the weight attached to each word must be analyzed thoroughly and not be taken for granted. Spontaneous quick thinking and sharpness for details are elements present in both studies. Law may not be as flamboyant as Literature in allowing any sort of extreme imaginative claims but I like to see it as a topic of subjectivity rather than black and white objectivity.

I heard this repeated a couple of times that the Law is used to regulate society’s behaviour and to protect the individual being in the country. Sounds simple enough but it’s kinda scary thinking deeper about “regulate society’s behaviour” and how that may be abused with the use of enforcement. Of course there’s an implied assumption in it that men are savages without the chains of regulations. In criminal law, there’s stuff like Actus Reus and Mens Rea – the act and the intention. Lol, that is pretty similar to the Kantian ethics ramblings that I learn before.

I’m very curious to see if the Law has an answer for stuff like abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research and these stuff go beyond legal or moral matters. Why is it that I may be a criminal doing Act A in Country Z but not in Country Y? Is morality a guideline in creating Laws or does power provide the final authority? How can something be morally wrong but legally right? How can the Law be applied or does it even exist if society descends into the chaotic tapestry of war? Should we obey the law if we live in a world such as the one in George Orwell’s 1984?

First Day at University

I had to wake up earlier today at bout 8.45 am for my 10 am Malaysian Studies class. I thought that I would be alone in the class but to my surprise, Vincent was there and it seems that he's taking the law degree too! Gosh, I was with him on the same group for two orientation nights and I had no idea that he was my classmate until this morning. Well, I got to know about other classmates like Keith and a couple of others in the Malaysian Studies lecture. Looking at the content, its quite a lot of stuff to do with presentations, assignments and test all bundled up together for the final evaluation. Of course, the good thing is that it's not like the A or O levels where the final examination is the be it and be all. Nothing much happened in the class except some introduction and group forming. My group chose Abdul Razak's foreign policy since I studied it from my dear Southeast Asian history classes. So, my SEA textbook comes in handy afterall..lol.

The final tally that I found out about my law degree class is 11. There are 7 boys and 4 gals. Today's law subject is on legal skills, so the lecture is actually at the moot court itself! Again, not much lesson going on as there are more introduction instead. Hmmm..it seems that Mr. Harpajan (my law lecturer) is most familiar with my name..haha. Anyways, I think that there would be more entering the class since even on actual lesson day, many more are still enrolling in the hall. Arghh..tomorrow is the worst day of the week since class starts at 8 am in the morning for 2 hrs and then there's straight 4 hrs of lessons after 2 hrs of break. The good thing about my timetable is that all stuff ends at 4 pm in the afternoon and on friday, it ends at 12 pm. The bad thing is that there are numerous chunks of 4 hrs lessons. Lol, the jury is still considering whether Singapore education is more stressful or law education in Malaysia is. I guess not many Malaysian Chinese nowadays would consider doing Law since its easier to make the big bucks from the medicine line. As for me, I'm a student of arts, humanity and language...haha. I would fall asleep pondering scientific+mathematical calculations and terms but could stay awake with eager anticipation when reading a historical or literature text. Oh well, looks like I gotta turn in early tonight too so as not to be late tomorrow.

One win to go

Double blitz from Ronnie to bring his league tally to 30

It was fortunate that the kick off time for the Man Utd match was at 8 pm this time. So, the hostel dining hall or outside shops broadcast the live match and I could pick any place I wan to watch. Even before I manage to settle myself down, Man Utd were already 3-0 up with the latest goal from Tevez at the 26th minute. I watched the replay and gosh, that was a brilliant thunderbolt from Carlos! United had earlier led by 2 goals with a quick 3rd minute goal by Ronaldo and then in the 24th minute, he cheekily used his thighs to guide the ball into the net. Well, this adds on the long list of reasons to justify him as the PFA player of the year for the second time in a row. Now, Ronnie is just 1 goal away from equaling Shearer's record in the Premier League.

When I get my butt warmed up with a drink on the table, Dean Ashton made it 3-1. These sudden roll of events was compounded bizarrely with Nani rolling down on the field and clutching his face. Well, lousy attempt by number 17 because it was clear to everyone in the stadium including himself that he was the guilty one. He felt pissed from Lucas Neill's taunting and decided that he should let Neill know that he means business with his headbutt. The referee also wants to mean business and promptly send him off to an early bath.

United were down one man but I was confident that they will pull through. Perhaps West Ham may pull another goal up but I doubt that they can even draw 3-3. The only thing is that Nani's team mates may feel irritated that they need to play extra hard for the one man deficit which was the result of his stupidity. However, the extra numbers for West Ham don't really matter since they still screw up with such an advantage as seen from their history with Chelsea. I was right but I certainly didn't see United scoring another to make it 4-1. I thought that they would just park bus and let the 45 minutes pass through. Game over for West Ham as Carrick slotted in from outside the penalty slot. Seriously, if a team concedes from Carrick's tame kitten shots, it's just not their day. I think Roma understands that from Carrick's brace last year..lol.

This is another massive result for Man Utd in retaining the title after the disappointment from last week's lost at the Bridge. Now, the ball is at Chelsea's court as they travel to St. James' Park. As I've mentioned before, this ain't gonna be easy for the Blues as Newcastle themselves are at a full swing momentum where they're getting the results. If the Blues fail to get any point there, it's as good as over for them.

Orientation Day 3

On Day 3 which is yesterday, I woke up earlier at about 7.15 am to get ready to have breakfast with my new friends at 8 am in the dining hall. Campus tour is at 9 am. The academic block may look small from the view above, but after walking around, it's really quite big. Besides the main square academic block, there's another extension of classrooms and library at the learning resource building. After campus tour, we're given an introduction talk on the library and its facilities plus also on the online resources available on the Inti network. Quite impressive really, because they have stuff like thesis, academic journals and also a Law article archive. Like in Singapore schools, assignments and lecture notes were uploaded onto the network.

After lunch, there's a talk on career counselling and it's interesting that the university organises seminars and language classes where attendance will all be compiled onto a record certificate. Again, it's something like the SGC down south. In addition to that, every 5 students will be attached to a mentor lecturer who will write a testimonial on the performance of the student at the university. Hmm..I'm just wondering why NYJC is withholding the form tutor's testimonial from being given out. The final talks were given by the big shots in the university management. Apparently, there's alot of stressing on the consequences of plagiarism which Stan of course is aware of, courtesy of reminders from Cambridge and the infamous Project Work Committee. The bottom line is that if you quote alot, make sure you compile your citation like mad. Citation is the lifeblood of research papers and reminds students that they are not such a smart ass to come out with complicated concepts..lol. The funniest talk is the one on the importance of English. The professor gave so much puns and misuse of the English language that I almost had stomach cramps from laughing! There was also stressing on students to use English in the campus no matter how bad they are. From my interaction with various students in the campus, I would say there's a need to brush up the level of English communication among the student population.

I had more opportunity to interact with more people at the orientation games. We were divided into groups that are different from the first day of orientation. During the ice-breaking game, it's kinda funny that I was at the centre of attention again. Most of the people in the group like to call either me or a guy called Vincent coz we had easy to remember English names. It was so frequent that the facilitator actually wondered whether my name or Vincent got called more often. Building the longest line was interesting because me and some of the boys in the group took out our shirts to form the line. Some fella at another group took off his pants also and this left him with his boxers only. By the time they had the animation game, I was really exhausted. I went to have late night supper with Veida and Michael and returned back to the hostel to check out the internet connection. It seems that every hostel block is filled with wireless internet waves and it's also possible to connect through the fat broadband cable as I've discovered today. The speed is not too bad. Normal surfing is way faster than dial-up but getting youtube video is still slower than streamyx in Taiping. But hey, with free broadband access, I can't complain much..lol =p

Orientation Day 1 & 2

I'm finally connected to the net from my university hostel! Haha, the previous 3 days of orientation were kinda fun and tiring at times. On the 29th, I took a bus to Seremban since it's nearer to Nilai than KL. It's my first time at Seremban but I managed to get a taxi to the KTM station. From there I go to the familiar route to Nilai KTM and then to Inti-UC. When I reach my hostel room, I was totally exhausted from carrying the heavy load of electronics. So, stayed overnight and then went to the enrollment hall in the morning at 11pm.

I collected the invoice paper and timetable from the law department office. Apparently, there's some problem with my admission letter since the A' levels results slip that I provide during registration was not as "valid" as the original certificate. There was an insistence on the original cert as I'm told that the A' Level students in Malaysia have received their original certificate. Well, that ain't really my problem because the Singapore MOE is still taking their time to print out the original certs. So, my unconditional admission becomes "conditional" now.

It was nice for the law office to introduce me to one of my classmates, Michael. So, in that way, I wasn't alone in orientation on the first day (yay!). At around 5pm, we were divided into a few groups and had some ice breaking session. It's interesting because my facilitator is an African from Nigeria. Lol, I asked him who is his favourite Nigerian football player and he said it's Jay Jay Okocha. At night there was some crazy newspaper fashion show and I was unfortunately picked as the male model to wear newspapers. Some fella from the group will have to explain what the outfit is and then the male and female model have to do some catwalk. I was glad to be able to pass through the catwalk and to my surprise, my group was declared the runner up for that event.

The next day was a public holiday and student council booked 3 buses to bring students to Jusco in Seremban 2 for a shopping trip. While waiting for the bus, Michael and me made another two new friends, Veida and Wei Jie. At Seremban 2 mall, we were given all the way to 5 o'clock to do what we want. To pass the time, the 4 of us makan and then went to watch movie. We wanted to watch Iron Man but then all the early shows were booked. In the end, we picked a ghost movie, Muoi, which is like a kinda weird combination and co-production between Koreans and Vietnamese. It's the first time I heard of a movie fusion of Koreans and Vietnamese together. The Korean babes in it were hot nevertheless..lol. We walked around aimlessly for about 1 hr before heading back to the bus. Anyways, I manage to get a pillow at Jusco and this means no more sleeping without a head rest!

Afterthat the bus took us to Putra Jaya to have a look at the place and I must say it's really impressive with all the govt buildings there. I get to see the Palace of Justice in front of me for the first time! The road leading to the Prime Minister office emits some form of grandeur aura and it reminds me of the European counterparts of the Brandenburg gate in Germany and the Arc de Triomphe in France. We stopped at Alamanda to have dinner and reached back at the hostel bout 10.30+ pm.