r.i.p...

Read this, and weep.

Rest in peace, Malaysia.

all pray to the almighty god...

Robbie Fowler 'The God' is back. It's time to paint the town red.

After a disastrous period where Fowler seemingly drifted into faraway corners in the country, the God has finally came back to where he belong.

He may not be the best striker in the country right now, but he remains the true Red all Liverpudlians love. Hopefully his prolific form of old returns together with him to Liverpool.

All hail the GOD!

ah damn...

Liverpool lost 1-0 to Man Utd.

Hoo boy, didn't see that coming. I really wanted to say that Man Utd didn't deserve the win, but let's face the fact: Liverpool did not do enough to earn the point. Toothless attack, as many would say. You don't expect to win high profile matches like this if you can only blaze the ball over the bar with the empty net 6 yards in front of you.

Ferdinand scored a good goal. Man Utd played well. It only hurts because the goal came in injury time. Had they scored earlier it would be a lot easier to digest the pain. I hate last-minute goals, but Liverpool has their fair share of luck throughout the season too. So yeah, credit to Man Utd. Neville with his regular anti-Scouse celebration, but no big deal really. I really can't imagine if people would try to bring it up later cuz it's just a stupid argument. I mean, every Liverpool fan hates Neville, so it's natural that the feeling's mutual.

In the end of the day, the only winner would be Chelsea as they pull further away. But pray and with fingers crossed that Liverpool will do well enough for the maiden place. One match doesn't determine the course of the entire season.

Let's hope that the only thing Liverpool lost today is the bragging rights.

food for thought...

Saw this in friendster's buletin board...

1) New York City has 11 letters.
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 =11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers.6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4= 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3+ 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:
The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book:"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo,while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. Still unconvinced about all of this..?!
Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS

What do you think now?!

You really wanna know what I'm thinking now? This is one heck of a lengthy bullshit.

Tell you what, George Washington Bush has 20 freaking letters, okay? Tissue paper has 11 letters, so it must have something to do with the bombing. Wow, what a discovery!

That's not all, look. 911 days after the terrorist attack, I was channel surfing in my living room. Isn't that a freaky coincidence? Man, I am so shocked that it happened on that day! And hey, coincidence has, like, 11 letters! Oh my, this is so darn freaky people!!!

Okay, let's get serious now. I am pretty disturbed reading these stuff written.

I'm sick with people trying to justify the fact that deaths of hundreds of innocent lives has something to do with words from the holy book, because IT DOESN'T. Lives are lost because of IDIOTS who can't think properly with their brains, and the consequences of living with these numbskulls result in tragedies like this.

You don't KILL in the name of religion.

So what if the author of the useless script above managed to find facts relating to the number 11? What the hell is the significance of the number 11 in the first place? Why, in the bloody hell, does the author even thought of writing such bullshit in the first place? Aaargh!!!!

I almost feel like ripping off both my arms reading this piece of shit.

a brand new year...

It's been a healthy two weeks since my last post and I just feel like it's about time to update.

I'm feeling a bit exhausted, largely due to the fact that the new semester has just begun and I'm still trying to revert back to normal sleeping hours. The other reason would be the crazy workload for my thesis project, which saw me working overtime for the past week. Barely had time to sleep, let alone concentrate in lectures.

Thankfully this sem I'll be taking plenty of lightweight papers, it is my final sem after all (provided that I don't screw up). Besides, with my CGPA mathematically out from 1st class, there's nothing much to look forward to. And the introduction of standard curves in grades didn't help much. Thus, I've decided to let my hair down and enjoy this semester and make up lost times.

For my thesis, though, my supervisor had just gave me a deadline for my labwork, which is on Valentine's. By that time I'm supposed to have gathered all the results that I need and start concentrating on my draft instead. Now, as each of my protocol would require a minimum of 10 successive hours to complete, and having at least 9 more of this protocol before I can finalise my benchwork, I've came up with a conclusion: I would be seriously deprived of sleep by the time I hand in my results.

Already had a preview of this hectic schedule. I spent the past three days attempting to finish three protocols in a row plus attending lectures at the same time. My Thursday lectures begin at 9am and end at 8pm, then headed straight to the lab and worked till late evening yesterday (Saturday). Some occasional breaks in between, obviously, to take showers and meals and catnaps. It'll be a long month till 14th of February.

Studies aside, this New Year has been unimpressive on a personal pov. No celebrations this year, too busy and occupied to organize a gathering like the ones we had for the past few years. The poor turnout also adds to my decision for the no-show this year. Instead of working my ass off trying to gather up old friends who don't really give a damn anyway, I spent the eve out having a drink with a coursemate while enjoying a live telecast of Liverpool vs West Brom.

Which feels a lot better cuz Liverpool won 1-nil.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

it's only a pair of shoes...

Just watched 'Homerun' earlier on NTV7. If you've never heard of it or wondering what sort of movie is that, don't feel surprized. Cuz it's a movie co-produced locally (in Kuala Lumpur), featuring several veteran young kid actors from Singapore and the regular older actors you see. Honestly, I find the movie really good. In fact, I think it's better than 'I Not Stupid', another Singaporean movie which, incidently, has the same kid actors in it. I'm not really good in reviewing movies, but I think you guys should watch it.

The heartwarming story is set back in 1965 somewhere in some very kampung place, about a very poor boy and his younger sister, and a pair of torn old shoes. Yep, I didn't get that wrong. The whole story was about a pair of shoes.

The boy (Kun, played by Shawn Lee) was running an errand and lost his sister's white school shoes. With his mother pregnant and his father not earning much, he didn't ask to buy a pair of new shoes for his sister but instead, they share his pair. Since he attends class in the afternoon and the sister (Seow Fang, played by Megan Zheng) morning, she would be running to pass him the pair of shoes before he goes for classes daily. As a result, he ends up reaching late most of the time and is often scolded by the principal, even on the verge of getting expelled.

For all the detentions that he had, Kun's loyal friends stayed with him and helped him out, displaying the sort of true friendships we can barely see nowadays. There were some funny scenes too with the smart-alec remarks made by those young kids, it was so hilarious.

Of course, there's always a villain. Beng Soon (played by Joshua Ang) is the big brother of nearby school, a rich kid who struck a deal with Kun in which Kun does Beng Soon and friends' homework in exchange with 6 pairs of shoes for Kun and his poor friends' football practice, plus another pair for Kun's sister. After losing a match against Kun's team, Beng Soon then goes against his words and decided not to borrow Kun the shoes for his practice.

Meanwhile, sharing the same pair of shoes Kun soon finds his shoes beginning to wear out, and his sister is getting some really bad treatments from the teacher for wearing torn shoes to school. He then came across a notice of inter-school cross-country competition which offers a pair of shoes to the third-placed. It wasn't an easy race, since Beng Soon lined up beside him and thought he was challenging his superiority by taking part in the competition. Mid way through the competition, his shoes (the same old pair) got stuck in mud, and he had no choice but to continue the rest of the race bare-footed along the horrendous track.

At the same time, Kun's mother is about to give birth and his sister had to run across the village to get the 'bidan' (ok, I don't know how you call that in English), and her pair of slippers were torn midway too. Not forgetting to mention the terrible route, with broken pieces of glasses on the soil as she hobbled her way through.

Alas, luck wasn't on Kun's side. As he attempts to finish third in the race, he slipped in the final moment and fell across the finish line, ending up being first. As he stood on stage accepting his medal, he was in tears because he broke his promise of getting a new pair of shoes for his sister. He tried to exchange his medal with Beng Soon's shoes (he got third place) but mistaking it as a pity gesture, Beng Soon flung the shoes into the river. It was then one of Kun's best friend, Siew Hay stood out and questioned why the two group of young children had to be rivals instead of friends.

Kun and his sister both got new pairs of shoes in the end anyway. Beng Soon, finally realizing that he has been an ass all the while, gave them the shoes as presents before he leaves to study in England. They made up with a handshake and it marked the start of a new friendship despite the fact that they will be miles apart. Kun buries his torn shoes (which his best friends dug out from the mud) as to forget all the unhappy things that are now distant memories. With the new shoes, Kun and his sister are now staring at a new route with new obstacles, but now they know they can walk through any difficult journey as long as they're facing it together.

You know, writing out the storyline above doesn't really do justice to the movie. It is a very touching and sad story. A pair of shoes may sound ridiculous for a plot, but these kids showed perfectly how important is love and friendship in the movie despite the simplicity of the storyline. You don't need special effects or stunts to make a great movie. In this movie, there are only old wooden houses, singlets, worn out shoes and kids in old school uniforms, but it still brings out the values we would want to see in a movie. I kinda like the theme song too.

Even though we have nothing now, don't succumb into despair, for with the love that we have, it is as though we have everything in the world.

If you haven't watched it yet, I would recommend that you do. It's produced by Mediacorp's Raintree Pictures and directed by Jack Neo in the year 2003. Emil Chau made a cameo appearance too. Catch this article and this, hahaha... That's why we never see it in the cinemas. Water politics, ho boy... Anyway, I'm looking to get the DVD of 'Homerun'. It's giving me 'Chicken Soup' effects and I wouldn't mind watching it again.

idiots called football pundits...

I am so tired listening to them condemning Peter Crouch week in week out. Surely there's better things to talk about rather than his 16 games without a goal, right?

Yes, the goal drought is a glaring stat, given that his position as a striker, but he can't be that bad as the motor-mouths describe. If we put it in a different angle, had Benitez bought Crouch as a midfielder, these buggers would have nothing to complain about. As much as he has been unlucky up in the penalty box, Crouch has shown that his game is beyond scoring goals: he makes them and he changes the gameplay. That's why I'm so pissed with what I read in the papers.

No doubt, I was not a fan of Peter Crouch when Benitez signed him, and I still am not. I believe for 7 million pounds we can get a quality striker with a respectable goals per game ratio. Peter Crouch is not that. Perhaps he will never be. But he is a striker with different qualities who offers other options, and so far I have been pretty impressed with his overall performance with the exception of a few games that I've watched. Therefore, I wouldn't say he's a bad signing. You want a bad signing? I'll name a few to refresh your mind. Bjorn Tore Kvarme, Phil Babb, Sean Dundee, Bernard Diomede, Mauricio Pellegrino, these are only few that I still remember donning the red shirt with the word 'disaster' written on their foreheads. Peter Crouch is definitely so much better.

Stop the Crouch bashing, and let's concentrate on Man Utd's possible Champions League exit. That's a so much better topic to cover.

Anyway, I'm done with my finals now, it's time to party, wahahaha... Will be having bbq with my housemates tomorrow night, and after that I'll have to start working on my thesis project again, damn. And please remind me to take the hard disk out from my computer and send it to some professional hackers to retrieve my important documents. Damn the blasted computer. I hate technology.

for updating's sake...

Man, I wish to be her right now (not exactly 'her' lah, but receiving those gifts and crap). Camera phone wei, I'm 22 this year and I still can't afford one. Not even the old, huge, capable-to-kill-a-dog-when-it's-thrown-at-it sized handphone. Thank God my brother gave me his phone together with the prepaid line some years back, or else I'll still be living in seclusion.

I remembered the day when I scored straight As for UPSR 10 years ago, I was... wait, I don't remember what happened that day. It just went past like any other regular days in my ever-regular life. Hahaha, I guess no one really paid attention to UPSR back then compared to the media coverage nowadays.

Just to update, I'm actually in the middle of my final examinations. Had a paper this morning, there's another tomorrow, and another three next week, hence the disappearance from blogsphere. Nothing much that I wanted to blog about anyway.

To Mr Rational Thinker here,

probably should let you know that I am just considering the probability of roaming around in New Zealand after I graduate, providing that I am to be receiving some financial and moral support from my domestic sponsors (as in 'parents' if you don't get it), hahaha... I don't know, still early plans, nothing concrete yet. Would really love it if it happens, that would really dwarf my only other out-of-the-country trip (which happens to be the stinking city down south).

The suggestion came as a surprise to be honest. My family was sitting in the kitchen talking about their trips to overseas some time ago. South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, UK, New Zealand, China, Germany, Italy, Austria, Holland, yadda yadda... Damn, I'm amazed at how many vacation trips my family had where they forgot to include ME. How pitiful. God bless my grandmother for bringing that up, and she asked if I wanted to tag along when she's visiting my aunt in NZ this coming May or June (of course I do! if I'm getting sponsors that is), perhaps can do a backpack trip once I get there. And I just thought of the idea to visit you if it really works out fine. Hahaha, I'll see if I can get any further with this plan. Will inform you if there are any updates on this. Till then, stay cool, and shed some weight dude. ; )

Okay, back to studies now. Spanish paper tomorrow. I'll try to express myself in a short paragraph.

Es muy frustrante, yo no estudio mucho espanyol esta semana. Pero yo penso la examen no es muy difficil. Nosotros estudiamos poco en la clase esta semestre, y las profesoras son muy simpaticas de cualquier manera. Yo voy estudio ahora. Hasta luego.

(It's very frusfrating. I didn't revise much spanish this week. But I think the exam won't be very hard. We only learn a little in class this semester, and the lecturers are very nice anyway. I'll go study now. See ya.)

Crap. It's damn hard to grind out the sentences. Bye now.

THES world top 200 universities ranking 2005...

First of all, congratulations to UM for managing to stay in the top 200.

That's basically all I can compliment. Now, the ranting part.

Plunging 80 places from last year isn't something that we didn't expect. 89 was a bit overrated. Even at 169 I find it hard to believe. The current status of local universities is just so bad that I sometimes feel embarassed to say that I am doing my degree in one.

To say that we do not have the brains is nonsense. We have enough to drown the entire population of Singapore. But why is NUS still ranked above our country's most prestigious university? We all know the answer, it's just that no one wants to say it out loud.

Year in year out, we turn away our hopeful young talents, deeming them as not good enough to earn a place in the local unis. This is one example. Doing his degree in a university ranked 19th after being rejected by the 169th-placed UM. How on earth does that happen is beyond logic. And I assure you he is only one among thousands of similar cases over the decades. Think again. Don't you think there's something wrong in the education system?

It's about time the administration do something to improve the standards before we plunge deeper. Instead of putting up banners and billboard celebrating our 'Top 100 Uni' (which can be found everywhere in the campus), why not spend the money on something more practical, such as building more laboratories with better facilities?

I really really REALLY should stop blogging, my finals are coming soon, damnit!

several things in my mind now...

1) To the owner of the car with the plate number JJG 225,
I advise you to approach any car workshops and realign your car's headlight beam, cuz your stupid HID lights are BLINDING me YOU MORON!

2) I should start taking politics less seriously, like watching a cartoon or something. It's just laughable, really. But good entertainment nonetheless.

3) I don't mind people praising their religions and spreading them, but don't put down others while doing it. I never said your God played poker and has a beer belly, did I?

4) Midway through my thesis project and my labwork ends with no results. No RESULTS. How amusing, hahaha... In for a meeting tomorrow with my supervisor to discuss what went wrong. I really need something fluffy to punch at right now. Some dummies like Badruddin or bloggers who address themselves as a third person. So that I can reduce stress while doing good for the community.

5) Freddie Aguilar's 'Anak' (a Tagalog song) is a really nice song.

6) Damn you, I fast when I want to fast, so what's your problem? When did the rules said only Muslims can fast? Clueless bimbos.

7) How exactly does Ethidium Bromide work in gel electrophoresis? Damn, this question is bugging me like hell. I can't believe I can't answer when my pharmacy housemate asked me that. It reflects UV light to emit the glow you see in the gel analyzer. Ok. But it was into the agarose gel during preparation, so why doesn't the entire gel glow and reflect the UV beam? Good question. How, damnit, how?!

8) Please let 'Corpse Bride' be a good movie, cuz I'm watching it tomorrow night. Please, please pretty please.

9) I like the idea of wearing tudung in universities (for the ladies obviously, duh). Just like how I wished I had the chance to wear baju Melayu to school back then. I thinks that's quite cool. But let's not make it a compulsory thing. It kills the joy.

10) Study, you idiot, study. There are only 3 weeks to Finals!

goal!

Watched the movie on Thursday midnight, would've been one heck of a movie, even for non-football fans.

An inspirational movie with all the ingredients we would want to see in a football movie, Goal! would be ranking among the top movies I've ever watched. Of course, I'm somewhat biased since I'm a football fan.

Kuno Becker did well in his role as an illegal immigrant from Mexico going through various obstacles to achieve his dream as a professional footballer. As the storyline develops, we can see more and more similarity of how football is worshipped as a religion in UK, and how a promising youngster struggles (and successfully) to make it big in one of the top clubs in England.

The supporting cast aren't bad themselves. I'm surprised to see Alessandro Nivola speaking British English so fluently despite being an American. Marcel Iures looks so convincing as the Newcastle manager it makes me wonder why Souness is still lingering in Tyneside. Stephen Dillane is the nice bloke who did everthing he could to make sure Santiago Munez thrives in the big stage. And there are no harms done with a few cameo appearances by the huge football stars from Real Madrid and Newcastle.

This is the movie to watch if you're an EPL fan, even for a Liverpool fan like me (although I have to stress that they lied about the results in the last game).

I think I'll be away for while in the coming weeks, the final examination's coming up soon in a few weeks time, so don't expect any regular updates.

why i hate door-to-door direct sales...

I'm wondering if direct sales have stooped this low.

Today a salesperson turned up at the door and enquired about the condition of the gas tank (whatever you call it, I can't remember) in my house. Having just returned home the night before (I stay with my uni mates, remember?), I had no idea how is it functioning now and naively told him that. He then asked me to check the serial number printed on the pipe which connects the gas tank and stove, which I couldn't find.

He then proceeded to volunteer himself to examine it himself. Suspecting that something could be wrong, I declined his offer and politely asked him to leave.

I told my mother about the incident later and found out that another salesperson dropped by a few days ago. That time, my mother allowed him to come in and check the serial number on the pipe. The salesperson spent some time disassembling the pipes and stuff before recommending my mother to buy his type of pipe which is 'supposingly' better and safer. My mother didn't want to and asked him to leave his company's contact numbers so that we can call him if we really need it. He was reluctant and didn't give it, and then left rudely after fixing back the pipe.

Later that night, my grandmother came over to cook dinner as my parents were out. She was about to start cooking when she smelt something weird in the kitchen, and after examining the gas stove, she found out that the pipe was loosely fitted and the gas was leaking.

I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but one thing I know for sure is that it can cause some serious accidents had my grandmother not found out about it so soon.

That salesperson is lucky we have no way to trace him nor his company. The next time he comes around, I'll definitely screw him up before sueing his pants off for attempted murder. Pathetic bastard.

this blog of mine...

Note to self: Will be sitting for Spanish language test in approximately 10 hours. Must try to finish posting in half an hour.

I have nothing in particular to blog about.

Probably suffering from a burnout, or I've just lost interest, either one, I don't know. Somehow I feel that blogging isn't what it used to be.

I started blogging for two reasons:
1) being harassed to start blogging by a bunch of old friends who were (and some still are) blogging; and
2) to keep in touch with my close friends and to let them know what I'm up to.

Frankly, I'm really grateful to those who bugged me to create this blog, so to connect myself with my close friends who are now scattered all over the world. Although it has only been a little over a year, I can't imagine how my social life would have been without it.

But somewhere along the line I have a feeling that I am still losing touch. I don't know what went wrong. I don't know where are my friends, I don't know what they're busy with, and I don't know how they're living their lives. We don't share our lives the way we used to.

Perhaps age is catching up with me, with all of us. At 22 I'm in the phase between teen age and adulthood. Changes are happening everywhere. Some have started working, some are in their final years, and some I don't even have any ideas of their whereabouts. Everyone are drifting away slowly.

I miss those days when I can hang out at my friends' houses and talk crap till dawn. Days when we can just go have a drink at a nearby mamak whenever I feel hungry at night. Days when we can just knock off our shoes anytime and play a silly 3-3 football game. Days when we could hit the midnight movies and rant about it after the show. Days when we drove around town for hours in the middle of the night without a destination. Days when we beat the heck out of the birthday boy.

At this moment, I don't think blogging can fulfill what I want. It's just a journal to keep all my thoughts and I don't really need to remind myself of all the things that I never wanted to remember in the first place. I'm tired of facing the computer every single day and chat using the keyboard.

I am sick of internet life.

i can imagine kam choking in his saliva while laughing...

Ah, Liverpool got a good thrashing by Chelsea in the league tonight. Not a very kind scoreline too, 4-1 (I can hear Kam's thumping footsteps speeding here to spam my blog with his 'awesome Chelsea' comments).

What the hell, Liverpool didn't turn the magical European nights' mode on and save Gerrard's goal, there were nothing to be proud of. Deservedly beaten by a better side, although two goals came from swift counterattacks. Benitez decided to take a gamble by taking off Hyypia and Traore, and eventually paid the price. Not really with options considering both the players having horrendous games. Traore's a walking disaster. I hope Mourinho comes up with a 50million pound bid to sign that guy. His fakes can't even deceive schoolboys, and his legs never get untangled when dribbling.

I don't understand why Liverpool can be so different from the way they play in European games.

Drogba and Carvalho both did really well, so much better than Wednesday night. Jose Mourinho must be commended for his tactical interpretations. Can't say the same for Benitez. Leaving out Cisse (again?) and 4-5-1 at home is just what everyone are complaining right now. We're asking to be shot at the foot.

Last game before international break, I'll be taking a football-related-blogging hiatus and spend more time in completing my presentation and preparing for tests. Don't worry, still around to blog about other stuff in life, like...um, like... you know, I think I'll tell you when i come up with a post in the near future, okay?

And Kam, SHUT UP ALREADY!!

Update: Just found out that Mahathir was in VI recently, as stated in this blog. No idea what it was for though, can't read the words in the backdrop. Saw Ms Shanti's face in one of the photos. Go have a read, you ex-Victorians.