Cracking under pressure

Grim faces at the United bench as they sit through a gloomy period

The rot didn't stop at the 4-1 mauling as expected. Man Utd ended another match shamefully at the Cottage as they were left with 9 men after the final whistle was blown. Scholes was sent off for a straight red for handball and Rooney was off too for a second yellow at the last few minutes for some bad attitude display. I'm sure all United fans are as clueless how Man Utd could end up losing that match. At least a draw would have been decent. Nevertheless, one could have still seen that United will always end up at the backburner after Paul was sent off with just 17 minutes into the game. There was little chance that they were gonna get back with 10 men and having more than an hour left to play. Divine intervention was not there to save them too, and probably all their credits have been used up in churning out all the 1-0 wins. This is a crazy massive turnover, from being an impregnable defence of 15 clean sheets to the one now that can't seem to stop goals from leaking in.

This was the first time United had suffered back-to-back defeats since April 2005. It's not a blip. There was no immediate bouncing back. It's starting to look as if decomposition has set into the team. Things are starting to heat up for Fergie as Vidic, Scholes and Rooney are all unavailable for the next Premier League game. Berbatov is apparently nursing an injury, and so, he's off too. Given this situation, Rooney would have at least alleviate his team's suffering if he had shown some sound judgment in keeping a cool head at the end. I mean, Come on, it's just a couple more minutes to the end of the game. That one second of bad decision making meant that Fergie will have a shortage of strikers. Tevez will no doubt be pleased coz he's definitely and confirmed to be on the team sheet against Villa.

It was heartening to see on the same night that Chelski had failed also to get one over their London neighbours at White Hart Lane. Spurs came away with a narrow 1-0 win to give Guus Hiddink his first defeat since coming to England. The Scousers were however, are still flying high after seeing both of their rivals stumble. They responded by smashing Aston Villa 5-0 but that was due to the fact that Villa were left with 10 men for a majority of their game after having their keeper sent off. I guess that's some good mojo for the Kop at Anfield ehhh. They have red cards flashing to help their cause..haha.

From a possible 10 point lead, it has now being reduced to a possible 4 only. Currently, it stands at 1 point lead with 1 game in hand. Of course mathematically speaking, a lead is still a lead even if it's 1 point or on goal differences. Man Utd could still have the leeway in stumbling in that they are allowed to lose 1 more time and draw another before the Scousers can catch up. Till then, if Man Utd wake up their idea and win all the way or the Scousers stumble another time, it will be hard for the current leaders to be dislodged.

It will be interesting if Man Utd once again left it late like last season to win the Premier League. But the games ahead won't be easy. Aston Villa may have been whipped by Liverpool and are currently on a bad run, but their attacking play should never be underestimated. And there's still the Gooners who will be travelling to Old Trafford and Man Utd have shown that they aren't really that invisible at the Theatre of Dreams against their rivals especially at the moment. Considering that the Champions League opponents are against Porto, Man Utd definitely had an easier time than Chelski or Liverpool who will be once-again (like forever lovers..haha), self-destruct themselves against each other at the quarter-finals. Gosh, if Man Utd did succeed to reach at least the final of the Champions League and the FA Cup, they would have played an astounding 60+ matches in a season. This is sheer amount of fixtures for any club in a season and fatigue would naturally set in for anyone.

Anyways, it is rather commendable on Fergie's part considering that Man Utd's second string squad aren't that decent and some of them wouldn't even make it to Aston Villa or Everton's first team. This is coupled with the fact that Man Utd's first-team had already contain folks like Fletcher, Park, O Shea and Carrick who are playing on quite a regular basis plus ageing old horses like Giggs, Scholes and Neville. Perhaps the overstreched squad is starting to creak already at this stage and hopefully it can hold the water at least until folks like Nani and Anderson start stepping up to be matured and dependable players next season. And Fergie better start thinking of a new striker buy as it is looking even more likely every minute passing by that Carlos will be taking the flight out of Manchester at the end of the season.

Mental Block

I woke up today with a bad mental block at my mind. I was still in la-la slumberland when I received a phone call from Eric. I picked it up, wondering why he would be calling me. It didn't occur to me that today was Sunday. So, he asked whether I was coming. In my mind I was in a swirl of confusion and I was thinking, "Coming for what?". And a whole lot of list went through my mind on the possible stuff like Left 4 Dead session, nasi kandar or lunch time. I was thoroughly dazed and I told him I just woke up. He pointed out that it was too late already and I told him to go ahead doing what he's supposed to do eventhough I still can't get where he was going. That was when I checked the time at my laptop and my handphone that I realised to my horror it was 8.55 am on Sunday! I was extremely late and if the van goes, I'll end up driving to Banting alone! I quickly made a second call and fortunately, Hin Yew and his car is still in campus, so I had a fast shower before hopping into his car. Gosh, this is the first time I overslept severely on a Sunday..haha. Even on those weekends with Premier League action in the wee morning hours, I've never ever overshot the waking time. A strange morning indeed.

Amidst all the exam preparation mode, I still managed to find some non-academic related stuff to do eventhough I shouldn't really be doing them. But, hey..Stan has always been doing this all the time coz not even exams could stop him from doing the stuff he enjoys like music and creative writing..haha. First, there's this category of things "that are not important but are currently urgent". It seems that Blizzard is currently organising a creative writing competition for a short fiction story based in the Starcraft/Warcraft/Diablo universe. That's superb because of all the short stories I've written, I've always wanted to write one that is set in the Starcraft context. I guess I could give it a shot to see whether the "master of lores" at Blizzard approve what I have conjure out..lol. And I won't have much time though because the closing date is at 12th April and the exams had to be around that corner. Aikkkks...looks like I have to revise and be an author at the same time.

The other thing is something I discovered spontaneously and impromptu. I was fascinated by the strong bass sound at Franz Ferdinand's "Tell Her Tonight" and so I decided to find out the tabs and try it out at my guitar. Nobody taught me tabs before and the only tab I could successfully emulate so far was "Smoke on the Water" with the easy-peasy 0-3-5-0-3-6-5. And I learned that from a youtube video..haha. And the bass tabs for "Tell her tonight" turned out to be way easier to play than what it sounds. In that process of experimenting, I accidentally played the electric guitar riff for that song too. That was when I quickly find the tabs for the riff also and voila, I could play it too! And that was when I realised that the song can easily be used for a beginner to practice. It's an artsy and catchy song but I've never expected it to be that simple to play it actually..haha. This small discovery exercise sort of enabled me to have an idea on how to read those guitar tabs. Weeeeee..I can now learn some of those single note solos..hehe =D

Anyways, I'm wanna continue progressing on my guitar career next semester. But I have a strong urging on starting a bass career also because somehow, I think I'm more comfortable currently with plucking single notes as opposed to power chords. Learning normal guitar could fulfill both roles because everything that is needed to be learned for bass is needed for normal guitar too. And as a drummer myself, I think it's a natural progression because the bass guitar is closely connected to the drums in some way. Wahahaha..mhmmm, I can multi-role in a band next time then after I master my scaling. =p

Pastor's Birthday

We made a trip to Banting yesterday evening for Pastor Vic's surprise party bash. And surprised him did we! Speaking of cheeky church members..haha. Evening/night driving at Banting is interesting. On the way there, we had to put up with a jam at the one lane road because some fellas had an accident crash and all the window glasses were strewn all over the floor. As a result, those from my lane had to carefully cut over the lane of the incoming traffic to continue the journey. Gosh, I would imagine the bus having a hard time going past there. My legs went totally numb from controlling the clutch. Ahhhhh...driving a manual car in a traffic jam really requires utmost stamina on the legs.

The BBQ was a fantastic feast. We had bacon streaks, cheesy nuggets, and sausages over the flamed grilled. The bacon was especially heavenly, with drips of the creamy fats igniting little fires at the metal bars as it is grilled over the flames..wahahaha. Auntie Lizzy cooked some delicious Indian dessert which was usually reserved in times of celebration. There were also countless numbers of pohpiah, home-cooked bee hoon and potato salad :) The orange juice was thick and nice too! We had such a feast that I was just too bloated to move my car. =p

Ughhh..my right elbow and right leg is bruised and had some lebams after failing to screech stop in time during squash on Friday. But not to worrry too much though coz the regenerative powers of the human biological body would repair those ruptured blood vessels and tissues..hehe. Anyways, it's approximately two weeks more before the finals are coming. Gotta gear up for it soon! And when this is over, I can cut some slacks on the list of movies, dramas and games that are surmounting for my attention =D

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim

The new law society committee has just completed the maiden task of its tenure. It was by no means an easy one considering the magnitude of the speaker we are inviting into our uni. I was quite impressed how the previous boss managed to get such a connection. The whole lecture theater was packed with students and lecturers who were eagerly anticipating what he has to say on his topic of "National Integration after 51 years of independence".

As we all know, Datuk Zaid is no stranger to media attention. Being the founder of one of the biggest law firms in Malaysia, he is well-known and respected in the legal fraternity. He's one lawyer that turned into a politician, just like many others before him. After the March 2008 elections, he was made the Law Minister by PM Badawi. Previously, he was the MP for Kota Bahru. His outspoken opinions and criticism on the way the government has handled the judiciary and human rights have placed him on an uneasy tension with his UMNO colleagues. In September 2008, he resigned from the cabinet and his ministerial post following his strong disagreement with the government over the use of ISA to arrest RPK, Theresa Kok and a newspaper reporter. Just a week ago or so, Datuk Zaid created headlines when he made some scathing attacks on incoming PM Najib and even did the unthinkable in making a plea to the Agong to stop Najib from becoming PM. Of course, that followed by a barrage of retaliatory remarks from his former colleagues. Speculations are also rife on which political party he is going to join next.

As he is rushing off for a flight back to his hometown, he could only provide a 1 hr talk. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic and marvelous speech by him. He was easy-going and made a few jokes on the attention that is currently focused on him. You get the feeling that he's a very sincere and humble person when you hear him speak. He's someone with a strong conscience and he himself will not compromise on those fundamental principles that defines him. And that was why he was willing to pay the price when he refused to continue on his Cabinet minister term as he strongly disagreed with the way the government is handling things. He is one who understands the workings of the constitution and the judiciary inside out. Most importantly, he understood what it meant to be a MALAYSIAN. Datuk, we the rakyat are truly inspired by the sacrifice you had made in bravely standing up for what is right.

After studying at a country down south for a couple of years, I find that the people down there always tend to get the impression that every single Malaysian leader is race-based and is corrupted and therefore Malaysia has no hope as opposed to their own all-white big brother party who gave them "good governance". Even among the Chinese community in this country, quite a number of them are still oblivious and ignorant about the people that have been fighting for their rights behind the scene. Some of them just stereotyped that all Malays are the same. That's the mentality of the people who are close-minded. Like I say many times before, there is a need to distinguish between the party and the people. The heroes of the yesteryears like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Dato Onn Jaafar and Tun Dr. Ismail can all be seen replicated in today's figures like Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Marina Mahathir and Azmi Sharom. Even from the PAS, Tok Guru Nik Aziz and Nizar Jamaluddin are of respected leaders. Today's heroes list are further extended with names like Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang and Lee Lam Thye who have never ceased to give up in forging Bangsa Malaysia. The list is by no means exhaustive because everyone contributes something to make this country a better place. This country may be filled with maladies of all kinds but the beauty of this place is that there are people who are willing to stand up and join the struggle for their democratic rights of a better Malaysia even though the odds are against them.

With that, I wish all the best to Datuk Zaid then. I hope to see him someday being the Law Minister again, with the right party and government of course..haha.

The Cantonese Clan

It was a weekend of reunion after many years of not meeting each other. I have to say I'm really glad that I made the decision to go and I believe it's a very right one. I am just as curious as everyone to see how and what we have been doing after all these years.

I started off my Saturday morning by meeting my godsister and my 5th Aunt at KL sentral station where we later travelled down to Alor Star together with my godsis as the driver. My godsis is one crazy driver and we reached Alor Star in just 4 hours..lol. We placed our stuff at our room first before proceeding to change into formal clothing for the wedding dinner. Anyways, it's been way way long time since I've seen my cousin. I've grown up together with him and his brother in Penang and it feels a bit weird seeing him getting married. It feels like yesteryears when I last saw him going to school in the trishaw. Oh man, I'm starting to feel old already. Haha..we were joking that I may be an uncle soon if they have a baby. The wedding dinner went fine and most of the relatives there at the tables were mostly from the bride's side. At night, we went for supper and a chat under the Alor Star tower to catch up on old times..lol.

We travelled to Penang on Sunday but before we headed over there, we stopped by at Sungai Petani for a short while to visit my maternal grandmother. Lunch on Sunday was with my 2nd Uncle at Gurney Drive. Haha..his temperament now is different from when I was a small kid. He used to have a stern outlook but now as he aged, he turned somewhat to be more light-hearted and cracks jokes. Anyways, we also took the opportunity to pay a visit to my Ah Ngen and Ah Yeh (paternal grandparents) at the crematorium. We left Penang at around evening and I reached back Nilai on late Sunday night. Haha..had to return back early because Monday is nasi kandar day :)

It was a nostalgic moment as we recounted the old days at Penang Phee Choon Road and Subang Jaya. I certainly feel more "cantonese" after meeting with my father's side relatives because it's being some time since I spend a good deal extended time of speaking Cantonese and chatting about the good old Canton dishes and cuisines. Home cooked dishes and boiled soup are of high importance to the Lee family. The good old homely feeling comes back again...haha. Recounting back the old days makes me miss my Ah Ngen and Ah Yeh (paternal grandparents).

The other issue I want to point out is that I was darn right in saying that he won't turn up at the wedding. I would say the other side's fears are unfounded and this excessive distrust and no-risk-no-show thing is starting to turn malignant. What happened is due to that one person and it's not appropriate to shun the rest of the family because of him. Well, I heard of updates about him and as usual, he has not changed. In fact, I think he's gotten worst and some of the things I heard of him is so astonishing that I wonder whether there is any redemption or atonement for him.

After observing things on the families of both sides, I came to several conclusions.

1) Daughters and mother-in-laws will always have some sort of thing against each other. Lesson of the day: Always have a girlfriend that can go along with the mother. You can say bye bye to House of Harmony if both are on opposite ends.
2) If you can't stay loyal, don't get married. If you can't stay committed, don't date and break the girl's heart. And stop spreading your genes around.
3) Bad blood among brothers should not spill to the next generation. Whatever disputes that the siblings have stays at that generation. The next generation does not want to inherit any of those business.
4) The oldest in the family is often one class apart from the rest of his siblings. It applies to his children too. For some reason or so, the children of sibling no.2,3,4 can mix together well but all of them can't seem to connect to the ones by no.1.
5) The elders in the family don't neccessarily know that much as they claim to and that could even be about their own situation. Sometimes, the younger ones turn out to be the people that see the whole situation in a much better analytical light and reasoning.

Oh well, that was an eventful weekend coupled with the fact that there was no class on the whole of Monday. I really hope that time could heal all the distrust between the two divides and bring back the good old days.

Crazy week is over

Crazy week has come and gone and is finally over! I've survive it with the primary objectives completed! All the three major stuff - Mooting, Event Review and Malaysian Law presentation with minor stuff like conducting drum classes, dealing with the Law magazine sponsorship and getting new committee members into the team. I've started doing my Malaysian Law powerpoint presentation only at 10.30 pm, worked it through the night till about 1 am, then fell asleep and I inserted the pictures only at 6 am and my presentation is on 8 am. Kids, never try this at your uni..lol. Haha..my presentation topic is rather interesting though, something that I thought of myself on Defamation Laws in relation to the Internet age. After mooting, powerpoint presentations feels so much more relaxing and simpler...haha.

Hmmm..there comes a point where a decision has to made. Well, I'm invited to my cousin's wedding but some things complicate matters more than just a mere question of going or not. Both sides provided some sound argument with one side warning about the repurcussions. But personally, I think the time for hiding is over. One day it has to end. And I'm going to be two decades old soon. I don't see why I should continue shunning myself away. All of these things are coupled with the fact that the GFS worship team does not have transport for the weekend and there's an urgent meeting right after church tomorrow. The other driver is going back to his hometown summore. Ahhhh..I'm feeling bad here because if I'm in campus, all the transport problems would have been solved easily and tomorrow's team need not rely on the dreaded public transport or stay overnight at church. It would be great if they could find another driver from Banting to get them for the practice tomorrow and on Sunday. Anyways, I've decided to go, and hopefully, everything will turn out fine for tomorrow evening. That includes crossing my fingers that he won't make an appearance.

In the Court of Appeal

At 9am yesterday, my trial by fire has finally arrived. It's mooting time. I have been preparing for quite some time now, and not quite sure what to expect. There were lots of stuff to remember, lots of principles to put into mind and also preparation for surprise questions. Hmmm..I didn't really read through all the cases as hard as I should have. It's just a brief summation in my brain and I've only started putting my script into mind last night. Part of me is dead scared that I may have mental block during mooting and forgetting what I'm supposed to say. Furthermore, reference and directly reading from scripts is a nono.

As the hours and minutes ticked by, I'm felt like a nervous wreck coz I really don't have an idea how it's gonna be like and I was just hoping that whatever preparation that I had made will pull me through. All the powerpoint presentations and project works that I have ever done cannot compare to the elaborate amount of work I had to do in mooting. Haha..and one thing that I'll never stop doing is praying to God for guidance and committing the whole thing to Him.

At first, it felt a bit tight to say the words out but after about 3 minutes of talking, I'm slowly getting into the flow of the moot session. Well I was caught by surprise when the 'judge'(my lecturer) asked me some questions on a particular area, and it caused me to reorganise the whole order of my script of planned stuff to say. It's like I had to bring forward one of the cases even though I plan to say it out only later. Whew..fortunately, I could connect both cases strongly. Lots of surprise questions but thank God that I could handle them..haha. To some extent, the facts of the cases that I have read did linger in my mind afterall although I thought that I would forget them..lol. Aye, all the good stuff were present but I made a fatal mistake at the last 5 minutes that is given to the lead appellant to rebut. I had in mind to reiterate my points but while I was using that time to scrutinise the respondent's argument, it slipped out of mind. Ahhh..that one second of forgetfulness caused the appeal to be dismissed. Lol..it's always got to be that one second of lateness. But anyways, my lecturer said that I did well despite the loss and I'm pretty pleased that mooting performance has more or less gone according to what I have planned. There's a 'shiok' feeling after mooting for two reasons. First, there's an improvement in my attempt to improve my public speaking and secondly, the most excruciating and squeezing moment of this week is over! Of course, I'm only halfway through at that time coz I would have still the Christian Awareness Week Event Review to complete plus handing it up and my Malaysian law presentation where I still have not started a single thing on the powerpoint.

And this brings me to today, where I've finally completed the massive documentation for the CAW Event Review. It includes also pasting receipts on papers and chasing people for signatures. Ohhhhh..the joy of being a secretary..haha. But I'm just feeling glad that I could finish it by the dateline and with that thing settled already, all I have to do now is to focus on my presentation tomorrow. However, there's still drum lessons to be taught tonight to the students and I forsee myself starting on my powerpoint in a very dangerous time. Anyways, one of my lecturers spotted me while I was walking along the corridors and commented that I looked unhappy.(I didn't realised that..lol) Haha..I said that I had lots of things in my mind and she pointed to the cross in her ring and said "Just leave it in His hands". Mhmmm..I've actually been thinking alot on family stuff and of someone but am currently clueless on what to do with them. By the grace of God, I believe He will lead me through the right path :)