Saturday, December 24, 2005

feliz navidad...

It's a busy Christmas this year. As in 'labwork busy', not 'Christmas shopping busy'. I hope I won't have to spend it in the lab.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Friday, December 16, 2005

clash of the titans...

It's a repeat of last season's quarterfinal: Chelsea vs Barcelona.

Both teams went on to win their respective domestic titles last season, and this is definitely THE draw of the tournament. The next high profile draw sees Arsenal pitted against Real Madrid, both sides with great history but seemingly off form in recent times. Still a classic battle, nonetheless.

There's also another tough one in AC Milan vs Bayern Munich. Liverpool got a reasonably easy draw against Benfica, the team who knocked Man Utd out of the knockout phase. Let's hope they don't repeat the feat next February.

Rangers' decent run in the Champions' League will see them face debutants Villareal, Juventus earns a trip to Werder Bremen for finishing top of their group, and Ajax vs underachieving Inter Milan. PSV Eindhoven plays trigger-happy Lyon to complete the line-up in the last 16.

I sound like some British journalist, hahaha...

Btw, it has been revealed that Benitez's father had just passed away earlier in the week. Most leading sources in newspapers and websites had avoided the leakout of the news to allow Benitez himself to inform the journalists, which he did this morning. He will be returning to Spain after the Toyota Cup final on Sunday. My condolence to the boss.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

perhaps...

...Cisse has finally understood what Benitez wants from him?

After watching the Club World Championship earlier (which Liverpool won 3-0 against Deportivo Saprissa), I noticed a difference in Cisse's play throughout the entire match. Instead of the usual pacy sprints, he's getting more aware of advancing teammates. Instead of attempting shots on goal, he's laying balls to better-positioned players. Instead of mazy dribbles, he's putting in crosses.

In this match alone I see Cisse assisting in attacks more than I've seen in his entire Liverpool career. Maybe the man has finally realized that he's no longer the main man in the game and he needs to work on his overall contribution. Which is not a bad thing. What a great lay-off to Crouchie to score a superb early goal (and doubled his season's tally). The way he played Cisse is looking to make his claim in the team for a long run.

Benitez is doing a great job (now how many times have we heard people saying that?). And just to show that he's no softie, club captain Steven Gerrard was snapped by Benitez for trying to lay his fingers on the Championship trophy while posing for a photoshoot. 'You'll get to touch it if you win it.' What a guy, hahaha...

I am falling more in love with Liverpool each passing day.

On a different topic, I've been given the responsibility to design the biotech club's t-shirt. This is a good and fun assignment, I'll be able to take occasionally breaks from thesis labwork to work on the creative side of my brain. So far I've submitted 10 designs in 3 days, and I have to admit I'm feeling quite good seeing my work being complimented. The only low point is that this feeling of getting into the wrong profession is slowly eating me up from the inside. And my latest GPA isn't helping. I can now safely say that no matter what I do next semester, the closest to first class I can get is 0.03 from the cut-point. Damn.

Friday, December 09, 2005

the ego hasn't really landed...

Jose Mourinho.

I seriously don't know what's the matter with this dude here. He thinks everyone in the world is against him. Attention whore.

Ask him about Essien's horrendous tackle and he replies:

"I was telling him (Benitez) he was crying all the game. Referees are always very direct and strong to put me in my place, but other managers can do what they want. You can imagine if I do what Pearce did (he ran onto the pitch to place the ball for a freekick) for Mourinho it is a three-month ban."

What the hell? What was that? I see no connections whatsoever with Essien's crazy over-the-top tackle on Hamann. Which btw, that guy didn't even apologize.

You know, you can probably ask him any questions and he'll somehow relate it to himself.

So Mr Mourinho, what do you think of Man Utd's shock exit?

"Why'd you ask me? You want me to say they deserved it right? And the FA's gonna ban me 6 months for unsportmanship behaviour by saying that. To hell with them, I'm the special one and they're just jealous."

Nice weather, eh Mr Mourinho?

"F*** off. Now you want to put the blame on me. So what if the weather's good? You wanna ban me for the weather? Go ahead, losers. I don't care what you all think about me. I'm the special one."

You left your wallet in the restaurant, Mr Mourinho...

"Bloody hell, what's the problem with you? You would really enjoyed it if I get banned, wouldn't you? I knew it. You're just a sulker and you can't accept I'm the special one. Gimme back my wallet, you stupid prick."

(somebody talking to somebody else) So Michael, how was school today?

"F*** you. You have a secret agenda against me, don't you? I knew it. Darn losers just won't admit I'm the best around. School huh? Big deal. I tell you your school is trying to ban me for being special. Stupid school. Your stupid school sucks. Go home and cry to mommy, you prick."

I know, I'm exaggerating. So is Mourinho.

p/s: I'm feeling pretty guilty that I somehow forgot my best buddy's birthday. I'm sorry for that, was occupied with some other stuff. Anyway, that would be a lousy excuse, I shouldn't even have forgotten in the first place. So Nic, have a wonderful year ahead, and here's a belated 'HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY!' wish from your old friend.

Monday, December 05, 2005

aargghhh!!!

Why are some people just so damn selfish? Idiots, idiots, idiots!!!

I'm sitting here in my lab now, 8.50pm, 'supposedly' continuing with my research work for my thesis, but here I am typing this stupid post. Why? Because I have too much free time. Why? Because someone in the lab booked the equipment I would need to use to run my DNA analysis. For 20 bloody hours! Yes, that's really nice. Now all my hardwork for the entire day has gone down the drain. My extracted DNA can't survive for 20 bloody hours, you idiot! Your stupid tubes are still incubated in the PCR machine and they won't be ready until tomorrow noon, and you place your boric acid buffer and gel into the electrophoresis' casting tray today?

Go ahead, ask me why can't I take away the gel and run my analysis before placing it back. Good question. It's because I USE TRIS ACETIC ACID BUFFER, NOT BORIC ACID BUFFER, damnit! Oh, so why not use another casting tray? Because the lab has only ONE BLOODY tray, and I can't throw the gel now because I can't replace it later, since I don't have the necessary chemical solutions to prepare it again. Damn!

Damndamndamndamndamndamndamn... I feel like thrashing this PC now.

I shall now go home and enjoy a cup of coffee while reading 1421, but nonetheless, screw you you selfish idiot!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

ugly...

These days I'm not feeling very proud to be a Malaysian.

Catch this. And this. And this. Lots more that I wanted to mention but I don't feel like searching back the archives.

Speaking as a Malaysian, I want these problems to be solved, not highlighted over and over again so to benefit certain parties or individuals or whatever shit crap purple goblin dinosaur that I don't even bloody care about. Stop the talk and walk the walk.

I want to see actions taken, but right now I feel like drowning in their salivas.