North Stand Tier 1 match ticket: 29.87 pounds
Coach travel to Manchester: 10 pounds
Feeling when you get inside the stadium and cheer for your favourite team: Priceless
There are some things money can't buy, for everything else, there's the overdraft.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Bread and butter
The first time it came, it was a minor disturbance, but it was only to be expected. You reap what you sow after all, can't expect anything good to come out of it with that kind of attitude.
Then it came AGAIN. Its definitely no good this time. It was totally unexpected. Disappointment filled my entire being. Very very disturbing.
Just when I managed to convince myself it was nothing, that bloody fucking thing happened yet AGAIN!!! It's bloody wrong wrong wrong!!! This cannot happen to me!!
WHAT happened?
I got 60, 63 and 60 for my recent assignments. *faint*
I know I sound like an idiot for rambling on just about tutorial marks which doesn't matter in the final exam. But hey you are talking about a guy who flipped when he got 52 in his Geography CA in Sec 4 and vowed to buy all the available human Geography assessment books in Popular bookstore ok? (Though I didn't lah...) And yeah, I was lying when I said that I am doing my work just to finish the coursework requirements. I expect a minimum standard for my work. It *must* be 70 and above. I don't care whether its 100 or 70, it must be a 70. 60 means I am just 10 marks from failing for fuck's sake...grrr....and it pisses me off even more when I see the stupid British Indians getting higher than me. *Shit* is not supposed to outscore me!!! (Ok I didn't actually see their marks, just using the chance to inject some racist elements into my blog which I felt was lacking. Had to do this in case you all think I am a liberal hippy from my previous post.) The last 2 were especially bad. I had done the work carefully, not like the essay which I just wanted to hand in ASAP. But yet the end result was the same. Might as well have not wasted my precious Pilot G1 ink which is so bloody expensive in London. God damn it. I must study now. Fuck the US elections, if there is a God, come down and help me to do my reading.
Iraq can wait.
Then it came AGAIN. Its definitely no good this time. It was totally unexpected. Disappointment filled my entire being. Very very disturbing.
Just when I managed to convince myself it was nothing, that bloody fucking thing happened yet AGAIN!!! It's bloody wrong wrong wrong!!! This cannot happen to me!!
WHAT happened?
I got 60, 63 and 60 for my recent assignments. *faint*
I know I sound like an idiot for rambling on just about tutorial marks which doesn't matter in the final exam. But hey you are talking about a guy who flipped when he got 52 in his Geography CA in Sec 4 and vowed to buy all the available human Geography assessment books in Popular bookstore ok? (Though I didn't lah...) And yeah, I was lying when I said that I am doing my work just to finish the coursework requirements. I expect a minimum standard for my work. It *must* be 70 and above. I don't care whether its 100 or 70, it must be a 70. 60 means I am just 10 marks from failing for fuck's sake...grrr....and it pisses me off even more when I see the stupid British Indians getting higher than me. *Shit* is not supposed to outscore me!!! (Ok I didn't actually see their marks, just using the chance to inject some racist elements into my blog which I felt was lacking. Had to do this in case you all think I am a liberal hippy from my previous post.) The last 2 were especially bad. I had done the work carefully, not like the essay which I just wanted to hand in ASAP. But yet the end result was the same. Might as well have not wasted my precious Pilot G1 ink which is so bloody expensive in London. God damn it. I must study now. Fuck the US elections, if there is a God, come down and help me to do my reading.
Iraq can wait.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Where is the TYS model answer?
The UCL "Stop the War Coalition" held a free movie screening of the show Fahrenheit 911 by Michael Moore today. Being the cheapskate guy that I am, I saw a free movie opportunity and thus went along. And I got more than I bargained for. I came out of the movie feeling disturbed and disillusioned just like after reading Fast Food Nation.
I won't say I am pro-Bush, but neither am I as anti-Bush as perhaps say those anti-war demonstrators who seem to be just about everyone I know. He may not be smart and he may not be the best person for the job but I had thought that he did not screw up as badly as many people had thought that he did. After all what the hell would one do when your country got hit by terrorists who aren't afraid of death and just rammed 2 planes into your most prominent building? Surely a show of strength was required? As for Iraq, as a Singaporean, I found no reason not to support the war. From a long term perspective, it was definitely good to remove a dictator who had killed his own people etc. It's only the idiots who refuse to accept that they are no longer protected like it was under Saddam and thus attack American soldiers that slow down the process of helping Iraq. And Singapore did not have to spare a single limb (well of course subsequently we did send people over...) and so I found no reason to oppose the war.
But now, I am not so sure. Moore uncovered some evidence (I should have read those newspaper reports all those months ago...) which had pointed that Bush did receive intelligence reports before the 911 attacks but didn't bother with them. In addition, he seemed to imply that Bush had used the 911 attacks to carry out his long term plans of attacking Iraq to get oil. Even Afghanistan was about oil it seemed. From the view of those American families who had to provide the soldiers (which I had not really thought about to date...a shame being in NS for a while myself...), it seemed as though they had been sent to attack a country which posed no immediate threat to their country and perhaps just to enrich Bush and his aides.
Perhaps what was most disturbing was the issue about size and power again. A lot of Bush's aides were owners or advisors of big companies and it seemed like they all stood to profit from the Iraq war ( I had thought that it was all right last time, but now it seemed to be not so all right after all....I had been under the naive impression that America as a whole stood to benefit from the oil...). It seemed that the whole world was dominated by big bad evil giant corporations, out to squeeze every dollar out of every tiny consumer, spoiling the earth in the process and when space technology is viable, they will take their money, buy the spaceship and get out of earth, leaving the rest of us to breathe in carbon dioxide. Ok a bit extreme I know but you get my drift. But I had been brought up in a world (or at least I thought I had been led to believe our world was like that...) when if you work hard, you will eventually succeed and get rewarded. Not being fleeced and taken advantage of by some obscure economic theory to rip your consumers' surplus. The politicians you elect are supposed to lead your country to help you and FOR you. But the system of democracy in US seemed to have failed too. Is there any system out there which is the "right" one? Is there any religion which is the "right" one? Is there a "correct" point of view regarding Bush, regarding sweatshops, regarding the issues like in fast food nation? How am I supposed to think which can lead to the "perfect" outcome? Exposing more and more of my naivety here....I really don't know what is correct and what is wrong. On one hand it is intrinsic in humans to be selfish and firms to want to maximise profits. On the other hand, they should not be used as excuses for such clearly undesirable outcomes too.
Sigh I may be 21, but my level of maturity and thinking is clearly not 21 yet. If there really is a God up there, be it Buddha, Allah or Jesus, perhaps it is time for him to come down and point out the right direction. To stop the fear of terrorists, to bring the poor soldiers home, to help the underprivileged and to bring the world to 1994 when things seemed so nice and happy.
If only...
I won't say I am pro-Bush, but neither am I as anti-Bush as perhaps say those anti-war demonstrators who seem to be just about everyone I know. He may not be smart and he may not be the best person for the job but I had thought that he did not screw up as badly as many people had thought that he did. After all what the hell would one do when your country got hit by terrorists who aren't afraid of death and just rammed 2 planes into your most prominent building? Surely a show of strength was required? As for Iraq, as a Singaporean, I found no reason not to support the war. From a long term perspective, it was definitely good to remove a dictator who had killed his own people etc. It's only the idiots who refuse to accept that they are no longer protected like it was under Saddam and thus attack American soldiers that slow down the process of helping Iraq. And Singapore did not have to spare a single limb (well of course subsequently we did send people over...) and so I found no reason to oppose the war.
But now, I am not so sure. Moore uncovered some evidence (I should have read those newspaper reports all those months ago...) which had pointed that Bush did receive intelligence reports before the 911 attacks but didn't bother with them. In addition, he seemed to imply that Bush had used the 911 attacks to carry out his long term plans of attacking Iraq to get oil. Even Afghanistan was about oil it seemed. From the view of those American families who had to provide the soldiers (which I had not really thought about to date...a shame being in NS for a while myself...), it seemed as though they had been sent to attack a country which posed no immediate threat to their country and perhaps just to enrich Bush and his aides.
Perhaps what was most disturbing was the issue about size and power again. A lot of Bush's aides were owners or advisors of big companies and it seemed like they all stood to profit from the Iraq war ( I had thought that it was all right last time, but now it seemed to be not so all right after all....I had been under the naive impression that America as a whole stood to benefit from the oil...). It seemed that the whole world was dominated by big bad evil giant corporations, out to squeeze every dollar out of every tiny consumer, spoiling the earth in the process and when space technology is viable, they will take their money, buy the spaceship and get out of earth, leaving the rest of us to breathe in carbon dioxide. Ok a bit extreme I know but you get my drift. But I had been brought up in a world (or at least I thought I had been led to believe our world was like that...) when if you work hard, you will eventually succeed and get rewarded. Not being fleeced and taken advantage of by some obscure economic theory to rip your consumers' surplus. The politicians you elect are supposed to lead your country to help you and FOR you. But the system of democracy in US seemed to have failed too. Is there any system out there which is the "right" one? Is there any religion which is the "right" one? Is there a "correct" point of view regarding Bush, regarding sweatshops, regarding the issues like in fast food nation? How am I supposed to think which can lead to the "perfect" outcome? Exposing more and more of my naivety here....I really don't know what is correct and what is wrong. On one hand it is intrinsic in humans to be selfish and firms to want to maximise profits. On the other hand, they should not be used as excuses for such clearly undesirable outcomes too.
Sigh I may be 21, but my level of maturity and thinking is clearly not 21 yet. If there really is a God up there, be it Buddha, Allah or Jesus, perhaps it is time for him to come down and point out the right direction. To stop the fear of terrorists, to bring the poor soldiers home, to help the underprivileged and to bring the world to 1994 when things seemed so nice and happy.
If only...
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Review of Fast Food Nation
I had wanted to read this book for a long time ever since Deneng said it was an interesting book about a year or so ago. But I simply could not find where it was hiding at Toa Payoh library. So when I needed a book to make up the minimum order over Amazon, I decided to buy it. And I certainly wasn't disappointed. For a fiction book, it wasn't dreary. The story telling style made it highly readable and the fact that it had so much accusations about McDonald's and other companies but the author never got sued went some way to proving it had to be mostly right and thus highly convincing.
The first part of the book predictably went about describing the rise of the fast food industry which really took off after WWII. As cities grew in size and boundaries were pushed back, fast food restaurants began sprouting all over the place. Perhaps more importantly was the invention of the automobile, which allowed large scale inter city travel and thus major highways were built. People needed to take breaks while travelling and thus drive thru fast food restaurants began to appear along highways and this contributed immensely to their growth.
The second slightly disturbing part concentrated on the marketing efforts of McDonald's and other chains. They targeted small children explicitly, believing that they would in turn bring their parents and grandparents. And they made huge use of child psychology. So the idea that Ronald McDonald's was your friend, Happy Meal coming with small toys, those children clubs that they ran, and even the small little playgrounds that they had were all designed to get you hooked. Hooked until you would frequent them even when you are an adult, even when you die. How scary! I think I am glad to say that I wasn't a victim. I did like some of the toys and Happy Meals but I certainly wasn't hooked. Think back to Hello Kitty queue days....*shudder*
The book then got slightly more disturbing. It now went on to the people who worked in the restaurants. Those people that you see behind the counter and in the kitchens etc. I had heard all along that McDonald's job is shit and pays shit as well blah blah but all along I had thought "well yeah, its a simple job, so of course the pay is low". But this book showed the other side of the story. That the major fast food chains had deliberately kept wages low. Since they were big and powerful and often contributed funds to politicians, they were able to oppose minimum wage laws from being implemented. At the same time, they were also strongly anti labour unions, firing any employee who attempts to join unions blah blah. In addition, they threw out my favourite economic theory in the process. There is this theory about how specialization for workers would lead to higher productivity and thus good for firms as well as good for workers as they earn higher wages due to their productivity. But when fast food chains made workers specialise in doing certain stuff in kitchens, they also had machines which were "idiot proof" so to speak, taking the skill away from the job. And thus they were able to fire workers as and when they wish since training another worker is damn easy. And this also makes wages low.
The next section well and truly got me very very disturbed. It talked about the food sources of the fast food chains, how the french fries taste so nice because of the flavouring. But the most disturbing part of all are the meat packing factories in the USA. In the USA, meat is processed by several large meat packing factories and in turn these factories provide meat for the few fast food chains. Like the fast food chains, the meat packing firms wield enormous power over politicians and so are able to keep wages low, and continue to have poor working conditions etc. But thats not the only thing. It's one thing to work in poor conditions, but it's quite another thing to have to risk your life in your job. The book describes how cheap and unskilled Latino workers are forced to cut meat quickly to keep up with production speeds, risking being cut by knifes held by other fellow workers who are working very fast as well. Others risk having their hands crushed or their heads ripped off. Yet some others have to stand in ankle deep pools od blood. And others have to expose themselves to chlorine and stuff when they clean the meat packing factory at night. I nearly wanted to puke at the details written in the book. A weird sense of injustice came over me and I was really angry at the fast food chains and meat packing factories. I nearly swore never to eat another fast food meal again. That was how disturbed I was by that section. But then I realised that sweatshops of other brands for clothes and shoes might also have the same problem. Would I boycott them as well?
In a way, this represents the long standing problem in Economics of efficiency and equity. From the meat packing firm's perspective, there is a steady flow of cheap Latino labour, so why not make use of it? Using them is efficient. Forcing them to work faster and harder is productivity. But as a society, do we want to progress down that path? Do we just want to be concerned about the numbers? whether we fulfill the production quotas? whether we keep costs to the minimum in whatever way we can think of? So much so that when people die, we simply replace them with another guy. BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEAP? Or do we sometimes have to stop and take stock of ourselves and think: "Hey that guy is a human too. He is not just a number in the payroll, or a money making machine. Let's give him a break. And give him what is humanly acceptable, not just what is economically acceptable or what will look best to your bottom line. It is a struggle, and we are no nearer a solution than when Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations. Socialism tried to be equal, but "some people turned out to be more equal than others". Sweden tried to be a welfare state and achieve economic efficiency at the same time, but they also failed to a large extent. I hate having limited knowledge....
Well I guess I will continue to eat my KFC because I like it a lot. But I will give McDonald's or BK a miss next time, simply because their food sucks in my opinion. I don't want to be swept into a vegetarian movement or an anti sweat shop movement just because of a book, because like what Li Yeng said we must take everything with a pinch of salt, and I also feel I would need to learn more about such issues before I make a stand. But at the same time I hate the feeling of just typing on my blog and moaning about how traumatised I am by the conditions described in the book.
HOW?
The first part of the book predictably went about describing the rise of the fast food industry which really took off after WWII. As cities grew in size and boundaries were pushed back, fast food restaurants began sprouting all over the place. Perhaps more importantly was the invention of the automobile, which allowed large scale inter city travel and thus major highways were built. People needed to take breaks while travelling and thus drive thru fast food restaurants began to appear along highways and this contributed immensely to their growth.
The second slightly disturbing part concentrated on the marketing efforts of McDonald's and other chains. They targeted small children explicitly, believing that they would in turn bring their parents and grandparents. And they made huge use of child psychology. So the idea that Ronald McDonald's was your friend, Happy Meal coming with small toys, those children clubs that they ran, and even the small little playgrounds that they had were all designed to get you hooked. Hooked until you would frequent them even when you are an adult, even when you die. How scary! I think I am glad to say that I wasn't a victim. I did like some of the toys and Happy Meals but I certainly wasn't hooked. Think back to Hello Kitty queue days....*shudder*
The book then got slightly more disturbing. It now went on to the people who worked in the restaurants. Those people that you see behind the counter and in the kitchens etc. I had heard all along that McDonald's job is shit and pays shit as well blah blah but all along I had thought "well yeah, its a simple job, so of course the pay is low". But this book showed the other side of the story. That the major fast food chains had deliberately kept wages low. Since they were big and powerful and often contributed funds to politicians, they were able to oppose minimum wage laws from being implemented. At the same time, they were also strongly anti labour unions, firing any employee who attempts to join unions blah blah. In addition, they threw out my favourite economic theory in the process. There is this theory about how specialization for workers would lead to higher productivity and thus good for firms as well as good for workers as they earn higher wages due to their productivity. But when fast food chains made workers specialise in doing certain stuff in kitchens, they also had machines which were "idiot proof" so to speak, taking the skill away from the job. And thus they were able to fire workers as and when they wish since training another worker is damn easy. And this also makes wages low.
The next section well and truly got me very very disturbed. It talked about the food sources of the fast food chains, how the french fries taste so nice because of the flavouring. But the most disturbing part of all are the meat packing factories in the USA. In the USA, meat is processed by several large meat packing factories and in turn these factories provide meat for the few fast food chains. Like the fast food chains, the meat packing firms wield enormous power over politicians and so are able to keep wages low, and continue to have poor working conditions etc. But thats not the only thing. It's one thing to work in poor conditions, but it's quite another thing to have to risk your life in your job. The book describes how cheap and unskilled Latino workers are forced to cut meat quickly to keep up with production speeds, risking being cut by knifes held by other fellow workers who are working very fast as well. Others risk having their hands crushed or their heads ripped off. Yet some others have to stand in ankle deep pools od blood. And others have to expose themselves to chlorine and stuff when they clean the meat packing factory at night. I nearly wanted to puke at the details written in the book. A weird sense of injustice came over me and I was really angry at the fast food chains and meat packing factories. I nearly swore never to eat another fast food meal again. That was how disturbed I was by that section. But then I realised that sweatshops of other brands for clothes and shoes might also have the same problem. Would I boycott them as well?
In a way, this represents the long standing problem in Economics of efficiency and equity. From the meat packing firm's perspective, there is a steady flow of cheap Latino labour, so why not make use of it? Using them is efficient. Forcing them to work faster and harder is productivity. But as a society, do we want to progress down that path? Do we just want to be concerned about the numbers? whether we fulfill the production quotas? whether we keep costs to the minimum in whatever way we can think of? So much so that when people die, we simply replace them with another guy. BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEAP? Or do we sometimes have to stop and take stock of ourselves and think: "Hey that guy is a human too. He is not just a number in the payroll, or a money making machine. Let's give him a break. And give him what is humanly acceptable, not just what is economically acceptable or what will look best to your bottom line. It is a struggle, and we are no nearer a solution than when Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations. Socialism tried to be equal, but "some people turned out to be more equal than others". Sweden tried to be a welfare state and achieve economic efficiency at the same time, but they also failed to a large extent. I hate having limited knowledge....
Well I guess I will continue to eat my KFC because I like it a lot. But I will give McDonald's or BK a miss next time, simply because their food sucks in my opinion. I don't want to be swept into a vegetarian movement or an anti sweat shop movement just because of a book, because like what Li Yeng said we must take everything with a pinch of salt, and I also feel I would need to learn more about such issues before I make a stand. But at the same time I hate the feeling of just typing on my blog and moaning about how traumatised I am by the conditions described in the book.
HOW?
Liverpool 231004
Finally have time to relate my Liverpool trip last Saturday. Overall the trip was pretty good, but the beginning of the trip was horrible. The coach was supposed to set off at 730am but the stupid driver only started to let people get on at 725am. And as expected, it set off late at 750am++. God damn it, couldn't he let people on earlier since he was doing NOTHING on the empty bus before that? But never mind, the best thing is the 2 drivers were not National Express coach drivers. They were drivers from some private company. And guess what? They had never been to Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool before, the 2 destinations on the trip. GOD DAMN IT. How can they send drivers who have never been to any destination before? (there were 2 of them as well!!!) Let alone TWO destinations. Luckily the guy sitting beside me ( I was sitting in front) had been to Stoke before and so we were not that lost in Stoke. But still valuable time was lost. The same thing again happened in Liverpool as we drove around in circles trying to look for the bloody coach station. When we had made 1 big round, one Liverpool fan came up to the driver to tell him where to go. Thank goodness...if not I don't know how long more we have to go on circling Liverpool city centre. I had already lost 1 hour by then, reaching at 130pm instead of 1230pm. The match was supposed to kickoff at at 515pm. Lots of things to do before then.
First of all, a quick walk around the city centre. I thought it would just be another mundane and ordinary gloomy UK city and my first impression proved to be correct. I failed to understand how it can be European City of Culture in 2008. But......
I soon sensed that this was no ordinary city. The buildings look that little bit nicer than Manchester and it had a river!!!! I am a sucker for rivers. Most of you would have been bored by my numerous pictures of rivers in Paris, London, Prague etc. So shall not bore you all anymore. The Mersey river (is that its name? Please correct me if I am wrong....) is not that nice, but still saw a lot of couples sitting on the benches beside it... now that's nice :P
Liverpool's position beside a river meant that its history was inextricably (is there such a word? My English is failing me..jia lat) linked to the river. But due to time constraint I could not visit the museum.
Yet another name synonymous with Liverpool is The Beatles. I have not heard many of their songs, think only heard of Yesterday before. They had a museum dedicated to the Beatles at the Albert Dock area beside the river. But again, I decided not to go in due to the lack of time. It was about 230pm now....
At about this time, I received a call from the guy whom I was supposed to pick up my match ticket from. He was supposed to be at the stadium by 2pm to meet his friend and I was supposed to meet him before the match to collect the ticket. But screw up again!!! He was stuck in traffic on the stupid motorway (should be called SLOWWAY) and he is scared that he might not be able to make it on time. But he also didn't want to dua me. So he said he know that tickets were still on general sale (a lot of returns apparently, but pathetic Liverpool. Ordinary league match also cannot sell out.) and so he would phone the ticket office and book one for me and I can collect it at the ticket office at the stadium. Nice of him to do that, but that means I have to go early (because I am kiasu :P) to collect the ticket. Bummer. Got to quicken my footsteps now. But not before......
....I get to the most famous building in Liverpool! Well at least I found this out after I came back. The following description is from this website :
The Liver Building
Probably the most photographed and well known building in Liverpool. It is located at Pier Head and stands proud and majestic against the skyline of Liverpool and the riverfront. The building is made of reinforced concrete and was the first large scale building of its type. It was built in 1911 for the Royal Liver Friendly Society.
This impressive architectural masterpiece features a pair of clock towers from which shipping could tell the time as they passed en route along the river. The clock faces are actually larger than the clock face of Big Ben in London. In fact, they are the largest clock dials in Britain. In 1953 electronic chimes were installed to serve as a memorial to the members of the Royal Liver Friendly Society who died during the two World Wars. At night time the clock dials are illuminated.
A statue of a Liver Bird spreading its wings from the top of each clock tower enhances the glory of the building and its impressive features. The Liver Bird, the official mascot of Liverpool is a cormorant (seaweed bird) which in bygone times could often be seen flying alongside the Mersey River with seaweed in their beaks.
The Royal Liver Building is still the Head Office for the Royal Liver Friendly Society.
I noticed the 2 Liver birds from far and thought that the building looked magnificent and I just had to take a photo with it in the background. Only now do I realise the building in the foreground is not the actual building itself. Bummer...oh well, it was the only way I could capture the building with the 2 birds anyway since the building was so tall :(
Name of the nice boulevard in front of the Royal Liver building is:
Clearer shot of the clock facing the river:
With no time to lose, I headed straight to the bus station to take the bus to Anfield. A bus had to be faster than walking the 4km to Anfield right? WRONG. I reached the bus station at about 245pm. And waited until about 310pm for the bus when the poster clearly said 248pm and 256pm like that would have buses. God damn it, why put the poster there when it isn't accurate! And there were supposed to be 3 services running to Anfield. If the frequency is like that with 3 services, I shudder to think what would happen with only 1 service.
But oh well I should not be surprised by anything since I am in my third year. Finally managed to reach Anfield at about 330pm.
It felt very much like Highbury, in the sense that there are 2 storey terrace houses surrounding it, restricting its development. No wonder Liverpool are eager to move to a bigger stadium. But would they be able to fill it? :P After some quick photos I quickly went to queue to collect my ticket. And was I in for a big big surprise....
THE KOP END!!! THE KOP END!!!! My ticket was in the world famous Kop End!! The stand where thousands of Liverpool supporters stood on the terraces singing "You'll never walk alone". And me, a non-Liverpool supporter gets to sit there! How unfair life is :P (I had overheard some Liverpool supporters complaining on the coach that their seat was not in the Kop End but at Anfield Road Stand, where I think my original ticket is supposed to be. Hehe)
So with this pleasant surprise, my day brightened considerably (in contrast to the gloomy weather all day long in Liverpool...) and I realised I had about one and a half hours to kickoff. I quickly proceeded to...
Goodison Park...home of Everton FC. There is this long standing joke among Liverpool supporters. Liverpool has 2 big clubs: Liverpool FC and Liverpool FC Reserves. It's a dig at their rivals across Stanley Park, Everton, whose achievements pale in comparison to Liverpool's. But still it is a big club in its own right and my stadium fetish kicked in once again.
PS: My "take photo of myself with timer" skill not bad eh? :P
With that, I began to walk back towards Anfield, cutting across Stanley Park which I had read about numerous times.
Who would have thought such a tranquil park divided such an intense rivalry...
Goodison Park as seen from Stanley Park. That unmistakable shade of blue....
Finally had time to go around Anfield itself.
Statue of Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool manager in 70s (I think?)
The inscription reads: He made the people happy
What it doesn't say: He made the people of Manchester miserable
Gate dedicated to Bill Shankly.
Hillsborough memorial. The day when people died when they were only supporting their football club. Sad....
Gate dedicated to Bob Paisley. Another legendary Liverpool manager in the 70s to 80s (again I am not entirely sure). He brought them 3 European Cups, as can be seen on the gate.
Kop End again.
Could not resist laughing at the T-shirt shown above. You've got to hand it to them, there's a certain amount of resemblance between Rooney and Shrek (both ugly like hell) and Van Nistelrooy and the Donkey (both look like horses). Really funny =)
And so it was on to the match itself. Think I forgot to mention the opposition was Charlton. But strangely enough, I did not even see a single Charlton jersey around, not on the coach, not anywhere around Anfield or in the city centre. Before the kickoff, the entire stadium sang their "anthem", "You'll never walk alone". Men and boys standing up, raising their scarfs, and singing in one voice. Pretty moving stuff. Thought that the atmosphere would be like this throughout the match but was pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was not any better than Old Trafford on an off-day. And they have the cheek to laugh at Old Trafford for being quiet. Bah... But got to see 2 excellent goals scored at my end. The one by Luis Garcia was an absolute beauty. I could see it was special from the field. But I was even more amazed when I saw the highlights. Seems like a good buy for Liverpool for now. More pictures (yes unfortunately its not the end of this post yet :P):
Above and below: The Kop End, with a ghostly figure in the bottom picture :S
Getting ready for the 1 minute silence in memory of Bill Nicholson of Tottenham Hotspurs who died, as well as Ken Bigley, the British hostage beheaded in Iraq.
Me in Anfield! Thanks to the nice old man behind me who helped me take this photo. He even offered to take a photo of me when Liverpool had scored! But his son was shocking though. Think he was about 8 or 9 years old but he was spewing vulgarities like twat, cunt, fuck and flying paper aeroplanes throughout the match. But think I am the least qualified person in the world to criticise other people for scolding vulgarities :P
Final score. And final photo of stadiums. *phew*
After the match, I had about four and half hours to kill. Walked round Anfield again while trying to wait for the guy (whom I was supposed to get the match ticket from) and pass him his Millwall ticket (which I had helped him collect from another guy. I am such a nice helpful young man :O) but could not reach him on his mobile so decided to heck care (that guy stays in London anyway...). And so back to the city centre.
Apparently there's this "world-famous" Mathew Street in Liverpool which is supposed to be the birthplace of Beatles. not sure how true it is but the touristy side of me surfaced and I went to take a look.
Banner reads: Welcome to Mathew Street, Birthplace of the Beatles
The street itself was not long, perhaps just about 100m++. But there were lots of clubs and pubs on both sides. I looked through some of them and saw some really HOT ang moh babes dancing, and they were dressing really *gulp* skimpily. Certainly raised the temperature despite it raining heavily :P
The street itself
One of the pubs
Isn't Liverpool just so nice at night? =)
Is that the end? Unfortunately no. Just as the coach was about to leave the station after everybody had boarded, well almost, two guys starting arguing with the driver. I suspect that the coach is full already and the 2 guys probably had one of those "open" tickets which does not guarantee them seats and so the driver could not let them on. The 2 guys probably got pissed because they waited and so they started scolding the driver "You fucking cunt, don't say anymore. You bastard. blah blah blah...." And horror upon horror, 1 of them even started pushing the driver and shoved him to the ground. Not once, not twice, but three times. Nobody went to help the driver. I wanted to, but I was in the inner seat of the upper deck and..and...oh well yes I am humji also lah ok? But the 2 guys left after the fight had broke out for like 7 or 8 minutes and the driver phoned the police and so we were delayed yet AGAIN. The police siren was soon heard and after some time they apparently caught the 2 guys hiding in the bushes somewhere. Well, violence never pays..... and so I finally left Liverpool at 1215am (supposed to be 1140pm). It's been a long day...and congratulations on managing to read until the end =)
First of all, a quick walk around the city centre. I thought it would just be another mundane and ordinary gloomy UK city and my first impression proved to be correct. I failed to understand how it can be European City of Culture in 2008. But......
I soon sensed that this was no ordinary city. The buildings look that little bit nicer than Manchester and it had a river!!!! I am a sucker for rivers. Most of you would have been bored by my numerous pictures of rivers in Paris, London, Prague etc. So shall not bore you all anymore. The Mersey river (is that its name? Please correct me if I am wrong....) is not that nice, but still saw a lot of couples sitting on the benches beside it... now that's nice :P
Liverpool's position beside a river meant that its history was inextricably (is there such a word? My English is failing me..jia lat) linked to the river. But due to time constraint I could not visit the museum.
Yet another name synonymous with Liverpool is The Beatles. I have not heard many of their songs, think only heard of Yesterday before. They had a museum dedicated to the Beatles at the Albert Dock area beside the river. But again, I decided not to go in due to the lack of time. It was about 230pm now....
At about this time, I received a call from the guy whom I was supposed to pick up my match ticket from. He was supposed to be at the stadium by 2pm to meet his friend and I was supposed to meet him before the match to collect the ticket. But screw up again!!! He was stuck in traffic on the stupid motorway (should be called SLOWWAY) and he is scared that he might not be able to make it on time. But he also didn't want to dua me. So he said he know that tickets were still on general sale (a lot of returns apparently, but pathetic Liverpool. Ordinary league match also cannot sell out.) and so he would phone the ticket office and book one for me and I can collect it at the ticket office at the stadium. Nice of him to do that, but that means I have to go early (because I am kiasu :P) to collect the ticket. Bummer. Got to quicken my footsteps now. But not before......
....I get to the most famous building in Liverpool! Well at least I found this out after I came back. The following description is from this website :
The Liver Building
Probably the most photographed and well known building in Liverpool. It is located at Pier Head and stands proud and majestic against the skyline of Liverpool and the riverfront. The building is made of reinforced concrete and was the first large scale building of its type. It was built in 1911 for the Royal Liver Friendly Society.
This impressive architectural masterpiece features a pair of clock towers from which shipping could tell the time as they passed en route along the river. The clock faces are actually larger than the clock face of Big Ben in London. In fact, they are the largest clock dials in Britain. In 1953 electronic chimes were installed to serve as a memorial to the members of the Royal Liver Friendly Society who died during the two World Wars. At night time the clock dials are illuminated.
A statue of a Liver Bird spreading its wings from the top of each clock tower enhances the glory of the building and its impressive features. The Liver Bird, the official mascot of Liverpool is a cormorant (seaweed bird) which in bygone times could often be seen flying alongside the Mersey River with seaweed in their beaks.
The Royal Liver Building is still the Head Office for the Royal Liver Friendly Society.
I noticed the 2 Liver birds from far and thought that the building looked magnificent and I just had to take a photo with it in the background. Only now do I realise the building in the foreground is not the actual building itself. Bummer...oh well, it was the only way I could capture the building with the 2 birds anyway since the building was so tall :(
Name of the nice boulevard in front of the Royal Liver building is:
Clearer shot of the clock facing the river:
With no time to lose, I headed straight to the bus station to take the bus to Anfield. A bus had to be faster than walking the 4km to Anfield right? WRONG. I reached the bus station at about 245pm. And waited until about 310pm for the bus when the poster clearly said 248pm and 256pm like that would have buses. God damn it, why put the poster there when it isn't accurate! And there were supposed to be 3 services running to Anfield. If the frequency is like that with 3 services, I shudder to think what would happen with only 1 service.
But oh well I should not be surprised by anything since I am in my third year. Finally managed to reach Anfield at about 330pm.
It felt very much like Highbury, in the sense that there are 2 storey terrace houses surrounding it, restricting its development. No wonder Liverpool are eager to move to a bigger stadium. But would they be able to fill it? :P After some quick photos I quickly went to queue to collect my ticket. And was I in for a big big surprise....
THE KOP END!!! THE KOP END!!!! My ticket was in the world famous Kop End!! The stand where thousands of Liverpool supporters stood on the terraces singing "You'll never walk alone". And me, a non-Liverpool supporter gets to sit there! How unfair life is :P (I had overheard some Liverpool supporters complaining on the coach that their seat was not in the Kop End but at Anfield Road Stand, where I think my original ticket is supposed to be. Hehe)
So with this pleasant surprise, my day brightened considerably (in contrast to the gloomy weather all day long in Liverpool...) and I realised I had about one and a half hours to kickoff. I quickly proceeded to...
Goodison Park...home of Everton FC. There is this long standing joke among Liverpool supporters. Liverpool has 2 big clubs: Liverpool FC and Liverpool FC Reserves. It's a dig at their rivals across Stanley Park, Everton, whose achievements pale in comparison to Liverpool's. But still it is a big club in its own right and my stadium fetish kicked in once again.
PS: My "take photo of myself with timer" skill not bad eh? :P
With that, I began to walk back towards Anfield, cutting across Stanley Park which I had read about numerous times.
Who would have thought such a tranquil park divided such an intense rivalry...
Goodison Park as seen from Stanley Park. That unmistakable shade of blue....
Finally had time to go around Anfield itself.
Statue of Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool manager in 70s (I think?)
The inscription reads: He made the people happy
What it doesn't say: He made the people of Manchester miserable
Gate dedicated to Bill Shankly.
Hillsborough memorial. The day when people died when they were only supporting their football club. Sad....
Gate dedicated to Bob Paisley. Another legendary Liverpool manager in the 70s to 80s (again I am not entirely sure). He brought them 3 European Cups, as can be seen on the gate.
Kop End again.
Could not resist laughing at the T-shirt shown above. You've got to hand it to them, there's a certain amount of resemblance between Rooney and Shrek (both ugly like hell) and Van Nistelrooy and the Donkey (both look like horses). Really funny =)
And so it was on to the match itself. Think I forgot to mention the opposition was Charlton. But strangely enough, I did not even see a single Charlton jersey around, not on the coach, not anywhere around Anfield or in the city centre. Before the kickoff, the entire stadium sang their "anthem", "You'll never walk alone". Men and boys standing up, raising their scarfs, and singing in one voice. Pretty moving stuff. Thought that the atmosphere would be like this throughout the match but was pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was not any better than Old Trafford on an off-day. And they have the cheek to laugh at Old Trafford for being quiet. Bah... But got to see 2 excellent goals scored at my end. The one by Luis Garcia was an absolute beauty. I could see it was special from the field. But I was even more amazed when I saw the highlights. Seems like a good buy for Liverpool for now. More pictures (yes unfortunately its not the end of this post yet :P):
Above and below: The Kop End, with a ghostly figure in the bottom picture :S
Getting ready for the 1 minute silence in memory of Bill Nicholson of Tottenham Hotspurs who died, as well as Ken Bigley, the British hostage beheaded in Iraq.
Me in Anfield! Thanks to the nice old man behind me who helped me take this photo. He even offered to take a photo of me when Liverpool had scored! But his son was shocking though. Think he was about 8 or 9 years old but he was spewing vulgarities like twat, cunt, fuck and flying paper aeroplanes throughout the match. But think I am the least qualified person in the world to criticise other people for scolding vulgarities :P
Final score. And final photo of stadiums. *phew*
After the match, I had about four and half hours to kill. Walked round Anfield again while trying to wait for the guy (whom I was supposed to get the match ticket from) and pass him his Millwall ticket (which I had helped him collect from another guy. I am such a nice helpful young man :O) but could not reach him on his mobile so decided to heck care (that guy stays in London anyway...). And so back to the city centre.
Apparently there's this "world-famous" Mathew Street in Liverpool which is supposed to be the birthplace of Beatles. not sure how true it is but the touristy side of me surfaced and I went to take a look.
Banner reads: Welcome to Mathew Street, Birthplace of the Beatles
The street itself was not long, perhaps just about 100m++. But there were lots of clubs and pubs on both sides. I looked through some of them and saw some really HOT ang moh babes dancing, and they were dressing really *gulp* skimpily. Certainly raised the temperature despite it raining heavily :P
The street itself
One of the pubs
Isn't Liverpool just so nice at night? =)
Is that the end? Unfortunately no. Just as the coach was about to leave the station after everybody had boarded, well almost, two guys starting arguing with the driver. I suspect that the coach is full already and the 2 guys probably had one of those "open" tickets which does not guarantee them seats and so the driver could not let them on. The 2 guys probably got pissed because they waited and so they started scolding the driver "You fucking cunt, don't say anymore. You bastard. blah blah blah...." And horror upon horror, 1 of them even started pushing the driver and shoved him to the ground. Not once, not twice, but three times. Nobody went to help the driver. I wanted to, but I was in the inner seat of the upper deck and..and...oh well yes I am humji also lah ok? But the 2 guys left after the fight had broke out for like 7 or 8 minutes and the driver phoned the police and so we were delayed yet AGAIN. The police siren was soon heard and after some time they apparently caught the 2 guys hiding in the bushes somewhere. Well, violence never pays..... and so I finally left Liverpool at 1215am (supposed to be 1140pm). It's been a long day...and congratulations on managing to read until the end =)
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Somebody left his dick at Old Trafford?
Reyes PRE match comments..
"What can they do to me? They can shout at me, they can spit at me but they haven't got a gun to shoot me, so why should I be afraid?"
Post Match
'In all my sporting life I have never received so many kicks as in Manchester,' said Reyes.
'It was the hardest match I have played in England and the referee should have stopped the violence of the Manchester United players.
'I received more blows in that match than I have ever done in the Spanish League and I finished on the ground covered in bruises.'
Fuck off back to Spain if you can't play like a man. Otherwise there's always Porto to join.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Time of my life? You bet...
Video of Ruud celebrating after his penalty
Sorry I can't stop writing about football recently. But the video above was just so good that I keep on repeating it. His face told it all. How much playing for Manchester United meant to him. Have you ever seen Henry smile, let alone celebrate, after scoring? Sometimes it isn't just records that make you a legend...
Video of Rooney's goal with really funny commentary
Video of Ruud's goal again
Sorry I can't stop writing about football recently. But the video above was just so good that I keep on repeating it. His face told it all. How much playing for Manchester United meant to him. Have you ever seen Henry smile, let alone celebrate, after scoring? Sometimes it isn't just records that make you a legend...
Video of Rooney's goal with really funny commentary
Video of Ruud's goal again
Monday, October 25, 2004
It's just another game, or is it??
Can there be another moment as wonderful as that when Ruud rolled the ball into the Arsenal net? Can there be another moment as sweet as that? I don't know. All I do know is that I jumped out of my seat when the ball rolled in, hugged another guy and generally just went berserk. AND I haven't had that feeling for a long long time now. That feeling when you just felt that you can kill me there and then and I would have died with a smile on my face. Maybe a bit extreme but you get my drift...
As for the game itself, a war of attrition would have been the word to describe it. And no doubt that the main talking point will be was it or wasn't it a penalty? First of all, I freely admit that I am the most biased fan there can be, but I shall still try to be as fair I can be. Hands on heart, I would say it was not a penalty. The contact, if there was (I do believe there was slight contact), was soft to say the least. And in any case, I think Rooney was looking for it. But I remember Andy Gray saying this a long time ago (while trying to defend Pires add!):
What we tend to forget [when watching slow motion replays] is that these are players who are going at high speed or twisting and turning and any sort of contact, no matter how slight, will send them tumbling even if it is not intentional...
As for the game itself, a war of attrition would have been the word to describe it. And no doubt that the main talking point will be was it or wasn't it a penalty? First of all, I freely admit that I am the most biased fan there can be, but I shall still try to be as fair I can be. Hands on heart, I would say it was not a penalty. The contact, if there was (I do believe there was slight contact), was soft to say the least. And in any case, I think Rooney was looking for it. But I remember Andy Gray saying this a long time ago (while trying to defend Pires add!):
What we tend to forget [when watching slow motion replays] is that these are players who are going at high speed or twisting and turning and any sort of contact, no matter how slight, will send them tumbling even if it is not intentional...
Though I was pissed off when he said that, I actually find that it makes a lot of sense. But more importantly, it boils down to the fact that a penalty is never given if the players DOES NOT fall down even though he has been impeded. How many times when you yourself are playing and you push the ball past a the player and then the player touches you, stops you from progressing but yet the foul can't really be considered a foul since the contact was slight. Campbell stuck his foot out, intent on halting Rooney's progress when Rooney had clearly gotten the better of him, and then tried to withdraw it slightly seeing that he could not get anywhere near the ball. The truth of the matter is THAT foot is going to impede Rooney's progress since Rooney was turning so quickly, whether there was a touch or not (You would have to jump up or get around Campbell's foot to continue the run and that is hard to do in such a split second and the chance will be gone) . And that is a 'foul' in the moral sense. So in Rooney's position, do you dive and ask for it? That's the question... The argument by David Moyes that Rooney is a big strong lad and can't be brought down with that contact does not hold water at all in my opinion, especially when you consider the statement by Gray.
Another thing to observe is that if you watch the replay of the second goal. Vieira did not track Rooney or Saha running into the box. He simply stopped running after Saha had gotten past him. His team may have been attacking to look for the equaliser, but mentally they had lost. How do you explain the fact that their captain, who had been at his imperious best all afternoon simply stopped running and let Saha get away other than he had given up? This brings me back to the point that Arsenal lack BOTTLE. Once you put pressure on them, they can't respond. I was amazed at their ability to take the physical game but once United scored, they had given up. They have no plan B. So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease United don't fuck up next weekend, maintain the pressure...and we will see what the outcome is.
Positives: The defending was marvellous most of the time, Silvestre looks like he sleeps with Ferdinand or something. The second goal was a joy to watch, the type of football that has been missing, with wingers going down the channel, cutting the ball back across goal.
Negatives: Surrendering possession cheaply (73% Arsenal to 27% United at one stage...what the fuck...) and I was in a pub, not at Old Trafford =(
We'll keep the Red flag flying high, coz Man United will never die.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Travel
A fan's tale of an away trip to the Prague game
This is the reason why I have always been so fascinated by the game of football. It's not just the game itself, its also the act of following YOUR team all around the country, overcoming travel screw ups, braving vicious opposition fans but at the same time also enjoying yourself. Such as travelling to a foreign country and taking in the sights and sounds before a game of football. I have been lucky enough to do that during Euro 2004 and I absolutely enjoyed it. Having a seafood lunch by the river Douro in Porto and enjoying some red wine, before going to a magnificent stadium to watch football in perfect weather. What a way to enjoy life. Shame that Singapore is no longer in the Malaysia Cup.
And this is also the reason I am going to Liverpool this Saturday to watch Liverpool take on Charlton. Besides Man United, Liverpool are the only other club I consider a giant of the English game and Anfield also intrigues me. Hopefully nothing screws up and I can be there on Saturday. Also going to watch Ajax Amsterdam in February. Really looking forward to that. Thanks Irving!! Maybe it would be nice to jot down other games which I would really like to watch.
1. World Cup final
2. European Championships final
3. Champions League final
4. UEFA Cup final
5. Rangers vs Celtic
6. Barcelona vs Real Madrid
7. AC Milan vs Inter Milan
Guess that's all for now....
This is the reason why I have always been so fascinated by the game of football. It's not just the game itself, its also the act of following YOUR team all around the country, overcoming travel screw ups, braving vicious opposition fans but at the same time also enjoying yourself. Such as travelling to a foreign country and taking in the sights and sounds before a game of football. I have been lucky enough to do that during Euro 2004 and I absolutely enjoyed it. Having a seafood lunch by the river Douro in Porto and enjoying some red wine, before going to a magnificent stadium to watch football in perfect weather. What a way to enjoy life. Shame that Singapore is no longer in the Malaysia Cup.
And this is also the reason I am going to Liverpool this Saturday to watch Liverpool take on Charlton. Besides Man United, Liverpool are the only other club I consider a giant of the English game and Anfield also intrigues me. Hopefully nothing screws up and I can be there on Saturday. Also going to watch Ajax Amsterdam in February. Really looking forward to that. Thanks Irving!! Maybe it would be nice to jot down other games which I would really like to watch.
1. World Cup final
2. European Championships final
3. Champions League final
4. UEFA Cup final
5. Rangers vs Celtic
6. Barcelona vs Real Madrid
7. AC Milan vs Inter Milan
Guess that's all for now....
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Irritants
Malcolm Glazer is at it again. That bastard. Some things just don't change.
Yes somethings just don't change. Not sure if you VS 4A guys out there remember our dear Jonathan. Yes that nerdy and loser Jonathan. I forgot to tell you all that he is in UCL. He is studying Physics. AND he is also from MOE. What the hell. Was trying to do work with my friend in the refectory (aka canteen) today when he came and sat with us. (Had met him on the road earlier in the morning) And SOMETHINGS JUST DON'T CHANGE. He still laughs hilariously at jokes which are not funny, and then adds in a comment which is also not funny. How?? Help! I don't want to hang around losers. Other girls might mistake me for a loser.
On another note, visit this BBC Radio program on "Is ownership of the club important?"
Its a 3 hour long talk show discussing ownership of football clubs. Though the focus is primarily on Man United, there are lots of perspectives from small clubs as well. Pretty interesting. The important parts are all in the first 1 hour 50 minutes.
And yeah, the empire has crumbled. 7 draws out of 10 games is no good. Fuck. You can officially add Prague to the list of places I hate now. Fuck.
Yes somethings just don't change. Not sure if you VS 4A guys out there remember our dear Jonathan. Yes that nerdy and loser Jonathan. I forgot to tell you all that he is in UCL. He is studying Physics. AND he is also from MOE. What the hell. Was trying to do work with my friend in the refectory (aka canteen) today when he came and sat with us. (Had met him on the road earlier in the morning) And SOMETHINGS JUST DON'T CHANGE. He still laughs hilariously at jokes which are not funny, and then adds in a comment which is also not funny. How?? Help! I don't want to hang around losers. Other girls might mistake me for a loser.
On another note, visit this BBC Radio program on "Is ownership of the club important?"
Its a 3 hour long talk show discussing ownership of football clubs. Though the focus is primarily on Man United, there are lots of perspectives from small clubs as well. Pretty interesting. The important parts are all in the first 1 hour 50 minutes.
And yeah, the empire has crumbled. 7 draws out of 10 games is no good. Fuck. You can officially add Prague to the list of places I hate now. Fuck.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Keep the faith
The kingdom has fallen. People are fleeing in all directions or kneeling down begging for mercy. The merciless red tide pours forward. Waves and waves of attack relentlessly eroding away the confidence of the people. "It's all over!"
Yes, it's now a massive 11 point gap between United and Arsenal.
But wait! Has Shihua given up?
The answer is a big fat NO. Certainly not in the next 7 days. I will reserve my judgment until United play Arsenal on 24th October. (But actually I think even if United loses that game I will still remain optimistic =) )
Here's why. Everybody has been going on about the 11 point gap. Let's actually analyse the fixtures. If you look at the games United have already played, they had actually faced everybody in the top eight besides Arsenal already. Arguably, the really bad results have come against Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham, and perhaps Chelsea since they didn't even get a point. Well you can argue that you can only beat those in front of you (for implying the opposition faced by Arsenal aren't as strong) and even though teams like Middlesborough and Everton are in the top 8, United should really have beaten them like days of old. I really can't say anything against that. But if the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea do manage to get a draw off Arsenal, voila! They've dropped 6 points AND still technically UNBEATEN. Which brings me to the game next week. As Schmeichel said during the highlights show, it could be 14 point gap, but it could very well be reduced to 8 points too! And United still remain the best equipped team to beat Arsenal. For one good reason, they aren't AFRAID to go out and kick those arses. Too many teams have been afraid to have a good go at attacking Arsenal and just packed their defenders in front of the box. it might work against Chelsea who have consierably less creativity but if you jsut sit in front of the box waiting for Henry, Reyes, Pires and Bergkamp to come at you, you are just inviting trouble. For one thing, United will go out there and press the fuckers all over the pitch AND keep the ball decently when they win the ball back.
Hmm, but even if they win, 8 points is still a huge gap. Yeah no doubt about that. But I must point out one thing, Arsenal have never won the league when they have been put under huge pressure. In 97/98, United collapsed and Arsenal cantered home with 2 games to spare. Same case as in 01/02 when United failed to put any form of sustained pressure. And I don't even need to mention last season. But when you look at 98/99 and 02/03, when United do manage to hang onto their coat tails, they start faltering in late March etc. Yeah so what is my point? Get to within 4 points by beginning of March, and Arsenal would start feeling the heat. 2 consecutive draws or a lost and then United would be right back in it. So if United win on Sunday, its 8 points, and that means 4 points to make up from then till February. Doesn't sound too daunting now right?
Relying on a team who have not lost in 49 matches to lose 4 in the next 29 games is nigh on impossible you say?
Absolute rubbish. If football worked on the law of averages, we should all just shut up shop and go home. THE BALL IS FUCKING ROUND! Anything can happen! if Henry and Campbell get injured, they are fucked rather big time. And as I said, you don't need to lose 4 games, a couple of draws here and there and you STILL DROP POINTS (EXACTLY like what United are doing now). There's still 6 months more of football to be played. As the saying goes, a week is a long time in football, what more 6 months?
AND most importantly, FORM IS TEMPORARY, CLASS IS PERMANENT.
Keep the faith.
Yes, it's now a massive 11 point gap between United and Arsenal.
But wait! Has Shihua given up?
The answer is a big fat NO. Certainly not in the next 7 days. I will reserve my judgment until United play Arsenal on 24th October. (But actually I think even if United loses that game I will still remain optimistic =) )
Here's why. Everybody has been going on about the 11 point gap. Let's actually analyse the fixtures. If you look at the games United have already played, they had actually faced everybody in the top eight besides Arsenal already. Arguably, the really bad results have come against Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham, and perhaps Chelsea since they didn't even get a point. Well you can argue that you can only beat those in front of you (for implying the opposition faced by Arsenal aren't as strong) and even though teams like Middlesborough and Everton are in the top 8, United should really have beaten them like days of old. I really can't say anything against that. But if the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea do manage to get a draw off Arsenal, voila! They've dropped 6 points AND still technically UNBEATEN. Which brings me to the game next week. As Schmeichel said during the highlights show, it could be 14 point gap, but it could very well be reduced to 8 points too! And United still remain the best equipped team to beat Arsenal. For one good reason, they aren't AFRAID to go out and kick those arses. Too many teams have been afraid to have a good go at attacking Arsenal and just packed their defenders in front of the box. it might work against Chelsea who have consierably less creativity but if you jsut sit in front of the box waiting for Henry, Reyes, Pires and Bergkamp to come at you, you are just inviting trouble. For one thing, United will go out there and press the fuckers all over the pitch AND keep the ball decently when they win the ball back.
Hmm, but even if they win, 8 points is still a huge gap. Yeah no doubt about that. But I must point out one thing, Arsenal have never won the league when they have been put under huge pressure. In 97/98, United collapsed and Arsenal cantered home with 2 games to spare. Same case as in 01/02 when United failed to put any form of sustained pressure. And I don't even need to mention last season. But when you look at 98/99 and 02/03, when United do manage to hang onto their coat tails, they start faltering in late March etc. Yeah so what is my point? Get to within 4 points by beginning of March, and Arsenal would start feeling the heat. 2 consecutive draws or a lost and then United would be right back in it. So if United win on Sunday, its 8 points, and that means 4 points to make up from then till February. Doesn't sound too daunting now right?
Relying on a team who have not lost in 49 matches to lose 4 in the next 29 games is nigh on impossible you say?
Absolute rubbish. If football worked on the law of averages, we should all just shut up shop and go home. THE BALL IS FUCKING ROUND! Anything can happen! if Henry and Campbell get injured, they are fucked rather big time. And as I said, you don't need to lose 4 games, a couple of draws here and there and you STILL DROP POINTS (EXACTLY like what United are doing now). There's still 6 months more of football to be played. As the saying goes, a week is a long time in football, what more 6 months?
AND most importantly, FORM IS TEMPORARY, CLASS IS PERMANENT.
Keep the faith.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Pictures and Videos speak a thousand words
Got so many things to write about...both good and bad...but very very mundane...so if you got lots of work to do like I do, better not read on.
First the various pieces of good news :). I finally got my Man United membership pack after it had gone MIA at my old apartment.
AND....
Yeah right~ like it's real....
But you just have got to hand it to the marketing people at Man United for coming up with silly ideas such as this one and the one below:
Notice the name right at the bottom of the list :P Perhaps they did see my post a few days ago :)
Now the next happy thing:
YES YES!!!! I have my FIRST Man United ticket for this season!!!! Yippee~~ I can just imagine the Champions League music playing now with both teams lining up. But I won't be facing the teams but rather behind them since I am in North Stand :(
"Stop complaining! You have a bloody ticket!" I hear you say? Well I do have a right to complain. The tickets for this match went on general sale, which means any dude can just log onto the net and buy tickets for this game now (which is pretty disappointing actually since Man United are supposed to be so popular). And that means people like me who are members and applied long ago are ASSURED of a ticket.
Sometimes in life, your words can come back to haunt you. I was thinking about the previous paragraph last night and then this morning, I received the following email *grrrrrr*:
Dear Mr Shihua Toh,
MANCHESTER UNITED V Charlton Athletic
OLD TRAFFORD, 20/11/2004
KICK OFF 12:45
Further to your application in respect of the above game, we have to advise that, because we were oversubscribed, a ballot was held and unfortunately you were unsuccessful on this occasion. Please accept our apologies for the disappointment our response will inevitably cause but trust you understand the difficulties we are faced with when demand far exceeds supply.
If you would like further information, please contact the Ticket and MatchInformation line on +44 (0) 870 757 1968. If you would like to apply fortickets for another match simply visit the website at: http://www.manutd.com
Thank you for your continued support which is very much appreciated.
Yours faithfully
Mr A Chubb
Ticket Office and Turnstile Operations Manager
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Absolutely pissed off. Never been rejected twice before during last season but now I have been rejected 3 times in a row!!! What the hell man. If I can get my hands on that Mr A Chubb, he will KNOW what is the true meaning of DEMAND and SUPPLY.
And still more unhappy stuff. Happily bought the books below from Amazon after being influenced by Lynne to READ and Li Yeng pointed out that book in Waterstones which I should really read as an Economics student.
But before I could open the book and read a single page....this happened:
Yes...my readings are piling up like nobody's business....perhaps taking 2.5 units this term is not such a good idea after all since EVERY course requires a lot of reading. AND the last 2 books were on average 40 pounds each. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? 120 Sing dollars for a textbook?? Bloody hell. If not for the hassle of photocopying the books I would have done it. Screw copyright laws. Think somebody should start putting online versions of these books on Kazaa *pissed*
Pissed but perhaps not as pissed as the Taiwan Foreign Minister:
Video of "speech" on Bi Sai and Lam Par
Scroll to the middle of the page and click on either the second or third pink box. I know that this is a bit late... but still wanted to share it in case Singapore's censorship didn't allow the video to be shown.
I am probably the least qualified person to comment or criticise on what he said (since according to official estimates in BMT 7 out of 10 sentences I speak contain expletives :P). But what amazed me the most was the Foreign Ministry's initial defence of the minister which said he was just using language which is closer to the people in the audience and trying to be closer to them blah blah blah. What a load of crap! As my friend pointed out, did that guy mean Taiwanese all speak like that all the time? And most importantly, would you select me as Foreign Minister of Singapore since I am so good in expletives? I rest my case...
First the various pieces of good news :). I finally got my Man United membership pack after it had gone MIA at my old apartment.
AND....
Yeah right~ like it's real....
But you just have got to hand it to the marketing people at Man United for coming up with silly ideas such as this one and the one below:
Notice the name right at the bottom of the list :P Perhaps they did see my post a few days ago :)
Now the next happy thing:
YES YES!!!! I have my FIRST Man United ticket for this season!!!! Yippee~~ I can just imagine the Champions League music playing now with both teams lining up. But I won't be facing the teams but rather behind them since I am in North Stand :(
"Stop complaining! You have a bloody ticket!" I hear you say? Well I do have a right to complain. The tickets for this match went on general sale, which means any dude can just log onto the net and buy tickets for this game now (which is pretty disappointing actually since Man United are supposed to be so popular). And that means people like me who are members and applied long ago are ASSURED of a ticket.
Sometimes in life, your words can come back to haunt you. I was thinking about the previous paragraph last night and then this morning, I received the following email *grrrrrr*:
Dear Mr Shihua Toh,
MANCHESTER UNITED V Charlton Athletic
OLD TRAFFORD, 20/11/2004
KICK OFF 12:45
Further to your application in respect of the above game, we have to advise that, because we were oversubscribed, a ballot was held and unfortunately you were unsuccessful on this occasion. Please accept our apologies for the disappointment our response will inevitably cause but trust you understand the difficulties we are faced with when demand far exceeds supply.
If you would like further information, please contact the Ticket and MatchInformation line on +44 (0) 870 757 1968. If you would like to apply fortickets for another match simply visit the website at: http://www.manutd.com
Thank you for your continued support which is very much appreciated.
Yours faithfully
Mr A Chubb
Ticket Office and Turnstile Operations Manager
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Absolutely pissed off. Never been rejected twice before during last season but now I have been rejected 3 times in a row!!! What the hell man. If I can get my hands on that Mr A Chubb, he will KNOW what is the true meaning of DEMAND and SUPPLY.
And still more unhappy stuff. Happily bought the books below from Amazon after being influenced by Lynne to READ and Li Yeng pointed out that book in Waterstones which I should really read as an Economics student.
But before I could open the book and read a single page....this happened:
Yes...my readings are piling up like nobody's business....perhaps taking 2.5 units this term is not such a good idea after all since EVERY course requires a lot of reading. AND the last 2 books were on average 40 pounds each. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? 120 Sing dollars for a textbook?? Bloody hell. If not for the hassle of photocopying the books I would have done it. Screw copyright laws. Think somebody should start putting online versions of these books on Kazaa *pissed*
Pissed but perhaps not as pissed as the Taiwan Foreign Minister:
Video of "speech" on Bi Sai and Lam Par
Scroll to the middle of the page and click on either the second or third pink box. I know that this is a bit late... but still wanted to share it in case Singapore's censorship didn't allow the video to be shown.
I am probably the least qualified person to comment or criticise on what he said (since according to official estimates in BMT 7 out of 10 sentences I speak contain expletives :P). But what amazed me the most was the Foreign Ministry's initial defence of the minister which said he was just using language which is closer to the people in the audience and trying to be closer to them blah blah blah. What a load of crap! As my friend pointed out, did that guy mean Taiwanese all speak like that all the time? And most importantly, would you select me as Foreign Minister of Singapore since I am so good in expletives? I rest my case...
Thursday, October 14, 2004
A Whole New Look
Heh~ completely changed the look of the blog. Nice eh?
Had to figure out how to add in the HTML code for quite a bit of stuff since the original blog skin didn't come with a lot of stuff like the comments link after posts, title of posts etc. But nothing is ever too difficult for me! Am I smart or what? :P
AND most importantly there's a tag board now! NOW that is what I call a blog. Yippee~~
Had to figure out how to add in the HTML code for quite a bit of stuff since the original blog skin didn't come with a lot of stuff like the comments link after posts, title of posts etc. But nothing is ever too difficult for me! Am I smart or what? :P
AND most importantly there's a tag board now! NOW that is what I call a blog. Yippee~~
So near yet so far...
My next door neighbour (yes the one who blasts music) has a PS2/X Box/W rectangle (or whatever game console there is on the market).
AND he is playing a football game. I can hear the in game commentary going "Ashley Cole....Zidane"
DAMN DAMN DAMN. I WANT A PS2.
Talk about burning your bridges.
Evil and jealous me: Go and complain about the noise. AGAIN.
AND he is playing a football game. I can hear the in game commentary going "Ashley Cole....Zidane"
DAMN DAMN DAMN. I WANT A PS2.
Talk about burning your bridges.
Evil and jealous me: Go and complain about the noise. AGAIN.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
When reality clashes with idealism...
Once upon a time, there was a course in the Economics Department in UCL called Economic Policy Analysis:
The course aims to provide final year students with the opportunity to explore the way in which economic theory and evidence can be used to analyse topical policy issues. The course should be of particular value to students who intend to work as professional economists in government departments or other agencies, where they will be expected to provide economic analysis and advice on specific issues of policy, including new and unfamiliar issues about which textbooks say very little.
Wow! Sounds interesting yeah? And in truth it is.
BUT it has no fixed textbook (duh! the introduction already says so!). Need to go library to find readings, and there are tonnes of readings to do. And there is a part on analysis of an unseen document in the exam. So guess what I did?
I took
1. Urban economics (just need the textbook)
2. Maths (no reading at all, no textbook, just do questions)
I hate taking the easy way out all the time. But I just cannot help it. At the end of the day, grades matter. And no matter how hard I try to convince myself, I can't tell myself that doing a lot of work is worth it if the subject is interesting. So much for being positive about this academic year :S
Remember the time when you were in kindergarten and lower Primary? The time when you stepped and walked on the TOP of monkey bars instead of merely hanging from them? The time when you climbed tress in school or climbed the structure holding the basket of the basketball court? The time when you SMUGGLE rubber balls to school to play football even though the school bans them?
Remember how much energy, courage and ingenuity (is there such a word?) that you had at that time? Stupid school rules (ban balls?!?! ban country flag erasers?!?! ban Dragonball cards?!?!) were meant to be broken. Obstacles were meant to be overcome. Structures and everyday stuff had uses other than what they were meant for.
But what happened in the intervening years? Years when responsibilities were added to our shoulders. Responsibilities as "representatives of our school" (CANNOT tuck out shirt! WEAR your school badge!!) Responsiblities as filial children (your PARENTS work so hard for you!! how can you not study hard???). Responsibilities towards your CCA (cross country finals coming! Cannot waste energy playing football!! Must train!!).
Years in which the fear of failure was instilled deep within us. Fail your mid years in Sec 4 will mean affecting your overall Prelim score, which will affect your chance of getting into a good JC in the first 3 months, which will mean that you will have to play catch up with those who were already in the JC for 3 months even after you score well in O levels, which will mean you put your chances of doing well in A levels in jeopardy, which in turn means you might not be able to get into university. Causes and effects, actions and consequences. Very clear cut, very cruel. There's no running away from it. So what do you have to do? Keep on running, try to stay ahead of the rest. What an irony.
Years when you were introduced to the harsh realities of the outside world. University graduates are everywhere on the streets now. (And the government is still not satisfied!) If you do not graduate, go be office boy, take home $1000+ Who the fuck wants to marry you? Who the fuck do you think you can support? Even better would be to do a post grad and STAY AHEAD. Grades are the most important thing, other things are secondary. INCLUDING your emotional development, your social development. ITS OK to be a nerd/egoistic bastard/selfish prat/irritating twat/scheming liar/hypocrite/ or just a plain loser... AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE GRADES, NOBODY would say ANYTHING. YOU would have the LAST LAUGH. But you know what's the most laughable thing of all? When you think you have done all that is required to MAKE IT, you find that all those things that you consciously or subconsciously ignored or neglected all those years ago are EXACTLY what other people look out for. Scholarship boards look out for people with leadership potential, with the ability to APPLY what they have learnt. Girls look for guys who are sensitive/caring blah blah blah. All the time spent in making that 75 marks into 95 marks turned out to be futile. It would have been better spent in your CCA room. All the time spent in solving those ridiculously difficult/what's the point Physics Olympiad questions could have been spent talking cock with your friends in the canteen instead. Social skills you say. So in the end what happens? You are fucked.
And perhaps the harshest reality of all. You CAN'T fulfill your dream of being a football player or a manager of Man United/Barcelona/AC Milan/Real Madrid. There is simply no future in it in Singapore. When your school banned any balls (so that you all won't accidentally kick out of the bball court, onto the road, and thus put yourselves in danger by trying to go out of school to pick up balls) so that you all can't play football, kids of the same age in other countries are already trapping full sized balls in professional academies. Is it any wonder?
Years in which you just get lethargic of work, sick of learning, scared of playing, while at the same time shouldering more and more expectations and responsibilities which you were completely ill-prepared for.
Is this an excuse for me to take the easy way out all the time?
The course aims to provide final year students with the opportunity to explore the way in which economic theory and evidence can be used to analyse topical policy issues. The course should be of particular value to students who intend to work as professional economists in government departments or other agencies, where they will be expected to provide economic analysis and advice on specific issues of policy, including new and unfamiliar issues about which textbooks say very little.
Wow! Sounds interesting yeah? And in truth it is.
BUT it has no fixed textbook (duh! the introduction already says so!). Need to go library to find readings, and there are tonnes of readings to do. And there is a part on analysis of an unseen document in the exam. So guess what I did?
I took
1. Urban economics (just need the textbook)
2. Maths (no reading at all, no textbook, just do questions)
I hate taking the easy way out all the time. But I just cannot help it. At the end of the day, grades matter. And no matter how hard I try to convince myself, I can't tell myself that doing a lot of work is worth it if the subject is interesting. So much for being positive about this academic year :S
Remember the time when you were in kindergarten and lower Primary? The time when you stepped and walked on the TOP of monkey bars instead of merely hanging from them? The time when you climbed tress in school or climbed the structure holding the basket of the basketball court? The time when you SMUGGLE rubber balls to school to play football even though the school bans them?
Remember how much energy, courage and ingenuity (is there such a word?) that you had at that time? Stupid school rules (ban balls?!?! ban country flag erasers?!?! ban Dragonball cards?!?!) were meant to be broken. Obstacles were meant to be overcome. Structures and everyday stuff had uses other than what they were meant for.
But what happened in the intervening years? Years when responsibilities were added to our shoulders. Responsibilities as "representatives of our school" (CANNOT tuck out shirt! WEAR your school badge!!) Responsiblities as filial children (your PARENTS work so hard for you!! how can you not study hard???). Responsibilities towards your CCA (cross country finals coming! Cannot waste energy playing football!! Must train!!).
Years in which the fear of failure was instilled deep within us. Fail your mid years in Sec 4 will mean affecting your overall Prelim score, which will affect your chance of getting into a good JC in the first 3 months, which will mean that you will have to play catch up with those who were already in the JC for 3 months even after you score well in O levels, which will mean you put your chances of doing well in A levels in jeopardy, which in turn means you might not be able to get into university. Causes and effects, actions and consequences. Very clear cut, very cruel. There's no running away from it. So what do you have to do? Keep on running, try to stay ahead of the rest. What an irony.
Years when you were introduced to the harsh realities of the outside world. University graduates are everywhere on the streets now. (And the government is still not satisfied!) If you do not graduate, go be office boy, take home $1000+ Who the fuck wants to marry you? Who the fuck do you think you can support? Even better would be to do a post grad and STAY AHEAD. Grades are the most important thing, other things are secondary. INCLUDING your emotional development, your social development. ITS OK to be a nerd/egoistic bastard/selfish prat/irritating twat/scheming liar/hypocrite/ or just a plain loser... AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE GRADES, NOBODY would say ANYTHING. YOU would have the LAST LAUGH. But you know what's the most laughable thing of all? When you think you have done all that is required to MAKE IT, you find that all those things that you consciously or subconsciously ignored or neglected all those years ago are EXACTLY what other people look out for. Scholarship boards look out for people with leadership potential, with the ability to APPLY what they have learnt. Girls look for guys who are sensitive/caring blah blah blah. All the time spent in making that 75 marks into 95 marks turned out to be futile. It would have been better spent in your CCA room. All the time spent in solving those ridiculously difficult/what's the point Physics Olympiad questions could have been spent talking cock with your friends in the canteen instead. Social skills you say. So in the end what happens? You are fucked.
And perhaps the harshest reality of all. You CAN'T fulfill your dream of being a football player or a manager of Man United/Barcelona/AC Milan/Real Madrid. There is simply no future in it in Singapore. When your school banned any balls (so that you all won't accidentally kick out of the bball court, onto the road, and thus put yourselves in danger by trying to go out of school to pick up balls) so that you all can't play football, kids of the same age in other countries are already trapping full sized balls in professional academies. Is it any wonder?
Years in which you just get lethargic of work, sick of learning, scared of playing, while at the same time shouldering more and more expectations and responsibilities which you were completely ill-prepared for.
Is this an excuse for me to take the easy way out all the time?
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Kiasuism at work
This blog is becoming easier and easier to write as time goes by. Just received the following email and just could not resist taking a dig at it.
Subject: Wednesday afternoons, UCL policy
Dear all,
Another reminder to everyone that all undergraduate teaching should finish
at 12.55pm on Wednesday afternoons and that graduate teaching after this
time should be avoided if at all possible.
Wednesday afternoons are extremely important for all our students, since
this is the time when they can take advantage of UCL's many opportunities
for personal development through taking part in extra curricular
activities. The need for teaching to finish at 12.55pm is especially acute
for those students taking part in field sports, since the completion of
matches and training in daylight hours is essential for the safety of the
participants.
I have learned that two Departments have scheduled undergraduate classes on
Wednesday afternoons and would be most grateful if these and, indeed, all
undergraduate classes scheduled for Wednesday afternoons could be
re-scheduled. If re-scheduling poses a problem, it is extremely important
that a decision to hold classes on Wednesday afternoons be discussed and
agreed with all students involved. If it proves absolutely impossible for
one reason or another to hold the classes at any other time but a Wednesday
afternoon, arrangements should be put in place for students who wish to
take part in extra-curricular activities on Wednesday afternoons.
The Wednesday afternoon policy is extremely important to our students and I
would ask you all to observe this policy. We should remember that several
of the league tables of universities are now taking into account sports
rankings. As the Sunday Times University of the Year, we clearly have a
position to defend...
With thanks to all for your cooperation in upholding this important policy.
Many thanks.
Michael Worton
Professor Michael Worton
Vice-Provost
email vp.arts@ucl.ac.uk
Tel 020 7679 7854
Fax 020 7916 8505
Pay special attention to the last paragraph. Now whoever said that only Singaporeans are kiasu are clearly way off the mark! This email is soooo kiasu!! Imagine your vice dean or whatever you call it in NUS sending an email to ALL undergraduates in NUS to say that "league tables of universities are taking into account sports rankings blah blah blah". Oh man that would immediately be picked up as kiasuism!! Hope you had a nice little chuckle at this email like I did. =)
Subject: Wednesday afternoons, UCL policy
Dear all,
Another reminder to everyone that all undergraduate teaching should finish
at 12.55pm on Wednesday afternoons and that graduate teaching after this
time should be avoided if at all possible.
Wednesday afternoons are extremely important for all our students, since
this is the time when they can take advantage of UCL's many opportunities
for personal development through taking part in extra curricular
activities. The need for teaching to finish at 12.55pm is especially acute
for those students taking part in field sports, since the completion of
matches and training in daylight hours is essential for the safety of the
participants.
I have learned that two Departments have scheduled undergraduate classes on
Wednesday afternoons and would be most grateful if these and, indeed, all
undergraduate classes scheduled for Wednesday afternoons could be
re-scheduled. If re-scheduling poses a problem, it is extremely important
that a decision to hold classes on Wednesday afternoons be discussed and
agreed with all students involved. If it proves absolutely impossible for
one reason or another to hold the classes at any other time but a Wednesday
afternoon, arrangements should be put in place for students who wish to
take part in extra-curricular activities on Wednesday afternoons.
The Wednesday afternoon policy is extremely important to our students and I
would ask you all to observe this policy. We should remember that several
of the league tables of universities are now taking into account sports
rankings. As the Sunday Times University of the Year, we clearly have a
position to defend...
With thanks to all for your cooperation in upholding this important policy.
Many thanks.
Michael Worton
Professor Michael Worton
Vice-Provost
email vp.arts@ucl.ac.uk
Tel 020 7679 7854
Fax 020 7916 8505
Pay special attention to the last paragraph. Now whoever said that only Singaporeans are kiasu are clearly way off the mark! This email is soooo kiasu!! Imagine your vice dean or whatever you call it in NUS sending an email to ALL undergraduates in NUS to say that "league tables of universities are taking into account sports rankings blah blah blah". Oh man that would immediately be picked up as kiasuism!! Hope you had a nice little chuckle at this email like I did. =)
Monday, October 11, 2004
I lurve Lillywhites
I can't believe the incredible bargain I found today at Lillywhites. (Lillywhites is this gigantic sports store which is one of the cheapest in London. Unfortunately that is also where most of my money goes to after buying Man United tickets.)
I bought the above jersey for just 10 pounds. 10 pounds!!! 30 Sing dollars!! You would even struggle to find this price in Peninsula Plaza. The grumpy auntie in Champion Sports Store confirm won't give such a price until like 10 years down the road.
This is my 5th jersey already, damn it I am such a sucker for jerseys.
Now if only Lillywhites can lower the price of Barcelona's centenary jersey to 20 pounds.. *prays*
I bought the above jersey for just 10 pounds. 10 pounds!!! 30 Sing dollars!! You would even struggle to find this price in Peninsula Plaza. The grumpy auntie in Champion Sports Store confirm won't give such a price until like 10 years down the road.
This is my 5th jersey already, damn it I am such a sucker for jerseys.
Now if only Lillywhites can lower the price of Barcelona's centenary jersey to 20 pounds.. *prays*
Saturday, October 09, 2004
International Week
I hate international week. It leaves me with a numb feeling. There is football going on, but it does not really concern me. Instead of looking at the weekend and noticing England vs Wales is on, its a blank weekend for me because United are not playing. No rushing down to Mortimer Arms after footy sessions on Saturday mornings for 1230pm kickoffs, or rushing back to my room to turn on ManUtd.com's match tracker if the match is not shown live on TV. Even in Singapore, I seldom out on Channel 21 and 22 on international week unless I have absolutely nothing to do.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the European Championships and World Cup. Matches like Brazil vs Argentina, Holland vs Germany and England vs Scotland still intrigue me. But while I watch for the good football that may occur and I cheer the goals, the blood inside me does not stir watching such matches. And I hate that kind of feeling. Perhaps its the "anti-apathy" feeling I have. I NEED to feel involved, and this neccesitates me to be a true-blue (or more accurately, true-red) fan of a team. Matches involving United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle etc affect United directly or indirectly, and thus I like to watch them. International matches do not stir me because I do not really support any team. After Euro 2004, I thought I had been converted into an English fan when I feel how passionate the "blokes" are, but watching England vs Austria in the first qualifier still left me numb when England conceded the 2 late goals. That's when I knew that I am still not a fan.
Maybe I am a true blue Singaporean after all.
I really should not question such a feeling of mine. It is perfectly normal. After all why should I get excited about England? Other than her being past colonial masters of Singapore and I am currently studying here, ostensibly there is no reason why I should support her national team. Ultimately when it comes to international football, I should still support Singapore and I think I do. When United played Singapore in 2001, I found myself cheering more for Singapore than for United. And I got mightily pissed off whenever we lose to Malaysia. I don't know how others think, but I REALLY REALLY hope that Singapore does make it to a World Cup in my lifetime. When I went to Euro 2004, I really envied those who were there to support their countries, holding their flags and scarfs up high and singing their national anthems with pride. I really want to be a part of that. But I can never do it really passionately unless its Singapore. So maybe its high time that I went for a match with the Singapore national team. Maybe I should try to get more of my friends to go, and they in turn get more of THEIR friends to go. I might just spark off some interest there. So hang on Singapore football, here I come!
Don't get me wrong, I still love the European Championships and World Cup. Matches like Brazil vs Argentina, Holland vs Germany and England vs Scotland still intrigue me. But while I watch for the good football that may occur and I cheer the goals, the blood inside me does not stir watching such matches. And I hate that kind of feeling. Perhaps its the "anti-apathy" feeling I have. I NEED to feel involved, and this neccesitates me to be a true-blue (or more accurately, true-red) fan of a team. Matches involving United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle etc affect United directly or indirectly, and thus I like to watch them. International matches do not stir me because I do not really support any team. After Euro 2004, I thought I had been converted into an English fan when I feel how passionate the "blokes" are, but watching England vs Austria in the first qualifier still left me numb when England conceded the 2 late goals. That's when I knew that I am still not a fan.
Maybe I am a true blue Singaporean after all.
I really should not question such a feeling of mine. It is perfectly normal. After all why should I get excited about England? Other than her being past colonial masters of Singapore and I am currently studying here, ostensibly there is no reason why I should support her national team. Ultimately when it comes to international football, I should still support Singapore and I think I do. When United played Singapore in 2001, I found myself cheering more for Singapore than for United. And I got mightily pissed off whenever we lose to Malaysia. I don't know how others think, but I REALLY REALLY hope that Singapore does make it to a World Cup in my lifetime. When I went to Euro 2004, I really envied those who were there to support their countries, holding their flags and scarfs up high and singing their national anthems with pride. I really want to be a part of that. But I can never do it really passionately unless its Singapore. So maybe its high time that I went for a match with the Singapore national team. Maybe I should try to get more of my friends to go, and they in turn get more of THEIR friends to go. I might just spark off some interest there. So hang on Singapore football, here I come!
Friday, October 08, 2004
Mourning the passing of another...
KOI!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I feel so du lan...and useless. I wonder if my tiny pond back in Singapore is jinxed, and every other week a fish has to die as sacrifice.
This morning, my sister told me that another of my koi died. This is the third one in like 2 months. The first one got eaten up by a cat (I knew it because I heard a splash and saw a cat running away and one of the koi disappeared), and so we put up those wire gauzes (dun know the proper name) which you use during BBQs to stop the cat. The second one had a wound by the side and apparently was attacked by one of the smaller "African" fish. So we removed the African fish and I thought that's that, all my koi can swim around peacefully and grow up happily. BUT NO!!! Another one had to die. Apparently it had not been eating had was becoming really thin. My dad took it out and put it into a pail and tried to feed it but it stil lwould not eat. By morning, it died. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I had chosen most of the koi MYSELF. I had rescued them from that overcrowded tank in Chong Pang Market!!! They can't die on me!!!!! The weird thing is that I seem to have a spritual connection with my koi. Had wanted to msg my sis last night to ask whether the koi were fine (I think I am going mad...), about the same time as it died I think. I really really hope none of them die anymore. I still want to feed them myself and see them swimming around :(
In loving memory of my koi:
The one which just died was either the one at the top or the one on the right. My sister isn't sure which. I seem to be the only one who can recognise each and everyone of them. The one which died of injury is the one with yellow head and black spots. My second favourite :(
This morning, my sister told me that another of my koi died. This is the third one in like 2 months. The first one got eaten up by a cat (I knew it because I heard a splash and saw a cat running away and one of the koi disappeared), and so we put up those wire gauzes (dun know the proper name) which you use during BBQs to stop the cat. The second one had a wound by the side and apparently was attacked by one of the smaller "African" fish. So we removed the African fish and I thought that's that, all my koi can swim around peacefully and grow up happily. BUT NO!!! Another one had to die. Apparently it had not been eating had was becoming really thin. My dad took it out and put it into a pail and tried to feed it but it stil lwould not eat. By morning, it died. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I had chosen most of the koi MYSELF. I had rescued them from that overcrowded tank in Chong Pang Market!!! They can't die on me!!!!! The weird thing is that I seem to have a spritual connection with my koi. Had wanted to msg my sis last night to ask whether the koi were fine (I think I am going mad...), about the same time as it died I think. I really really hope none of them die anymore. I still want to feed them myself and see them swimming around :(
In loving memory of my koi:
The one which just died was either the one at the top or the one on the right. My sister isn't sure which. I seem to be the only one who can recognise each and everyone of them. The one which died of injury is the one with yellow head and black spots. My second favourite :(
Being evil and happy to be screwing
Things have finally come to a head. It's war now. There is no turning back. It's time to stand up and be counted. Fuck my corridor!!! As I have mentioned earlier, the graduate tutor on my level is staying opposite me. She had finally had enough of the noise too and asked me to write a complaint letter. She had already filled in an incident report but nothing seems to have been done. So she hopes that by having 2 letters, the warden would do something about it.
Initially I had my misgivings about writing the letter. After all, it is still early in the term and people do tend to be more playful and stuff. But after last night, I feel that I simply have to write that bloody letter. I was in the basement last night doing my laundry when that same group of people walked past the laundry room. As they were walking past the laundry room, they saw me inside and started making "Shhhhhhh" sounds (mocking me for telling them to shut up the previous night when they were talking loudly in the corridor outside my room) and then started laughing among themselves. A mixture of humiliation and anger overcame me. It is exactly the same feeling that I got for the last 2 years whenever idiots in the lecture (British Indians) make noise and I tell them to shut up and get ridiculed by them instead. WHO THE FUCK IS IN THE WRONG?!?!?! Why is the level of apathy so high in modern society? Why should the majority suffer in silence and allow the minority who are in the wrong to continue whatever they are doing? If everybody tells them off, then this kind of situation would not happen at all. But instead, nobody does anything about the situation, and when somebody does try, they get ridiculed and become the butt of the jokes instead. And this means less people are willing to speak out. And thus perpetuates the vicious cycle. It's exactly the same situation EVERYWHERE. For example, I tell the stupid Indians behind me to shut up during lecture, and that piece of shit replied "No." and his friends laugh at me. What the hell? During the Twins Effect II preview in Singapore, a lady who was in front of me in the queue was not happy with the way there was no proper queuing system and complained to the security. The security did not do enough and more and more people were cutting queue by standing at the sides of the main queue. She told off a guy in front who was trying to cut queue and guess what? The guy told her off.
"Why cannot stand here? Don't stand here stand where? Stand at the back meh?"
At this point I got so du lan that I had to scold the guy. And I am not exaggerating here. I raised my voice against him (older than me) and said that he was wrong in the first place and he still dare to raise his voice against someone in the right. He could only mumble out a weak reply. Some people just have to be put in their place then they won't be so yaya. I also explained to a group of teenage girls in front of me that we cannot allow such people to "win" (ok ok I admit one of them was quite cute so I was eager to impress :P) and they nodded in agreement. I hope they would do so next time. In these times of heightened security concerns and globalisation, we must ditch this mentality of "what doesn't affect me doesn't concern me". Coz everything that happens will somehow find a way back to hit us. Iam sometimes guilty of this thinking of course. But at least I would like to think I do try my best to change it. I don't know how this whole apathetic situation can be changed, but I do know that we must change it. The majority MUST NOT SUFFER!
And now something more pleasing. Finally managed to fix up the table from IKEA in my friend's apartment. Was there on Monday to try and fix it but it was so difficult to screw the legs in because the screws were fucked up (cross head worn out pretty quickly and soon it was too difficult to turn it) and the screw driver wasn't really much help either. There were a total of 20 screws that needed to be in, by the end of 3 hours I only managed to screw in 6 completely, and my screwdriver in my jack knife was totally messed up by then. Felt so useless then. I am a GUY for goodness sake, screwing in stuff should not be DIFFICULT. Resolved to fix up the table properly no matter what. But it seems that I wouldn't be able to do it though. The 3 hardware mama stores around my area only sold flat head wooden screws (those with a rivet sort of head). The table needed self tapping or round headed screws. Finally today I found them at Robert Dyas' , a hardware chain. And even better they were plain slot (compared to cross slot, "-" instead of "+" slots in the head) screws which were not so easily worn out. So with those screws and a new screw driver, I headed over to the apartment and YESH the screws fitted perfectly and the job was all done within 20 min or so. Really felt a deep sense of accomplishment. It's always nice to see things fit together and work just as they should.
Perhaps something good came out of the Design and Technology classes in VS after all. Hated the design part but quite liked the part when we actually got to go to the workshops and use all sorts of equipment to create our pieces. Different types of saws, files, clamps, rivets, heat equipment (to bend acrylic I remember) and even solder were all introduced to us. Perhaps I should continue this technical work and learn more from my father. He knows how to do simple repairs on electrical stuff and also water pipes and all. I have always admired that and should have watched more last time when he was doing all those stuff. A lot of the problems around the house can be solved simply with a few tools and a visit to a hardware shop. I guess that shall be one of my aims when I go back to Singapore!
Oh another happy thing, did I mention I have no school tomorrow? :)
Initially I had my misgivings about writing the letter. After all, it is still early in the term and people do tend to be more playful and stuff. But after last night, I feel that I simply have to write that bloody letter. I was in the basement last night doing my laundry when that same group of people walked past the laundry room. As they were walking past the laundry room, they saw me inside and started making "Shhhhhhh" sounds (mocking me for telling them to shut up the previous night when they were talking loudly in the corridor outside my room) and then started laughing among themselves. A mixture of humiliation and anger overcame me. It is exactly the same feeling that I got for the last 2 years whenever idiots in the lecture (British Indians) make noise and I tell them to shut up and get ridiculed by them instead. WHO THE FUCK IS IN THE WRONG?!?!?! Why is the level of apathy so high in modern society? Why should the majority suffer in silence and allow the minority who are in the wrong to continue whatever they are doing? If everybody tells them off, then this kind of situation would not happen at all. But instead, nobody does anything about the situation, and when somebody does try, they get ridiculed and become the butt of the jokes instead. And this means less people are willing to speak out. And thus perpetuates the vicious cycle. It's exactly the same situation EVERYWHERE. For example, I tell the stupid Indians behind me to shut up during lecture, and that piece of shit replied "No." and his friends laugh at me. What the hell? During the Twins Effect II preview in Singapore, a lady who was in front of me in the queue was not happy with the way there was no proper queuing system and complained to the security. The security did not do enough and more and more people were cutting queue by standing at the sides of the main queue. She told off a guy in front who was trying to cut queue and guess what? The guy told her off.
"Why cannot stand here? Don't stand here stand where? Stand at the back meh?"
At this point I got so du lan that I had to scold the guy. And I am not exaggerating here. I raised my voice against him (older than me) and said that he was wrong in the first place and he still dare to raise his voice against someone in the right. He could only mumble out a weak reply. Some people just have to be put in their place then they won't be so yaya. I also explained to a group of teenage girls in front of me that we cannot allow such people to "win" (ok ok I admit one of them was quite cute so I was eager to impress :P) and they nodded in agreement. I hope they would do so next time. In these times of heightened security concerns and globalisation, we must ditch this mentality of "what doesn't affect me doesn't concern me". Coz everything that happens will somehow find a way back to hit us. Iam sometimes guilty of this thinking of course. But at least I would like to think I do try my best to change it. I don't know how this whole apathetic situation can be changed, but I do know that we must change it. The majority MUST NOT SUFFER!
And now something more pleasing. Finally managed to fix up the table from IKEA in my friend's apartment. Was there on Monday to try and fix it but it was so difficult to screw the legs in because the screws were fucked up (cross head worn out pretty quickly and soon it was too difficult to turn it) and the screw driver wasn't really much help either. There were a total of 20 screws that needed to be in, by the end of 3 hours I only managed to screw in 6 completely, and my screwdriver in my jack knife was totally messed up by then. Felt so useless then. I am a GUY for goodness sake, screwing in stuff should not be DIFFICULT. Resolved to fix up the table properly no matter what. But it seems that I wouldn't be able to do it though. The 3 hardware mama stores around my area only sold flat head wooden screws (those with a rivet sort of head). The table needed self tapping or round headed screws. Finally today I found them at Robert Dyas' , a hardware chain. And even better they were plain slot (compared to cross slot, "-" instead of "+" slots in the head) screws which were not so easily worn out. So with those screws and a new screw driver, I headed over to the apartment and YESH the screws fitted perfectly and the job was all done within 20 min or so. Really felt a deep sense of accomplishment. It's always nice to see things fit together and work just as they should.
Perhaps something good came out of the Design and Technology classes in VS after all. Hated the design part but quite liked the part when we actually got to go to the workshops and use all sorts of equipment to create our pieces. Different types of saws, files, clamps, rivets, heat equipment (to bend acrylic I remember) and even solder were all introduced to us. Perhaps I should continue this technical work and learn more from my father. He knows how to do simple repairs on electrical stuff and also water pipes and all. I have always admired that and should have watched more last time when he was doing all those stuff. A lot of the problems around the house can be solved simply with a few tools and a visit to a hardware shop. I guess that shall be one of my aims when I go back to Singapore!
Oh another happy thing, did I mention I have no school tomorrow? :)
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