http://202.157.174.100/20060808-carscratcher/Player.html
You never know who is watching you when you scratch a car!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
How much is a blow job worth?
http://cupcate.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c2251f58b7549d00d10a7beb598bfa.html
Click on the above link to listen to this radio program. Pretty cruel. Not necessarily saying what the guy who was cheated on did was correct, but whoever said "Hell hath no fury a woman scorned" would seem to be incorrect!
Beware of what you do!
Click on the above link to listen to this radio program. Pretty cruel. Not necessarily saying what the guy who was cheated on did was correct, but whoever said "Hell hath no fury a woman scorned" would seem to be incorrect!
Beware of what you do!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Hooligans The Untold Story
| The ugly side which continues to plague English football, albeit a minority... | |
Gary Neville Interview
Gary Neville: United in my veins
By LEE CLAYTON
'Gary Neville, he's a red, he's a red, he's a red... 'Gary Neville, he's a red... 'He hates Scousers.'
The Manchester United supporters love Gary Neville. And not just because he hates Scousers. He is the ferociously competetive shop steward of a right back who has become the leader of a team hoping to win back the title from Chelsea. It would be his first title as captain.
And here, in a remarkable insight into his love and passion for Manchester United, Neville looks back on the joys of his career and reveals what it takes to become a cult hero at Old Trafford.
--------------------------------------------------------------
'United, Liverpool. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan... they are the clubs with real tradition, history and power. Others may try but nobody else breaks into that and they never will.'
When I stop playing, I’d love just to travel round Europe watching United with my mates. What’s better than watching your team play football and having a few drinks and something to eat after? Criticising them if they lose, jumping around hysterically if they win.
I saw men screaming, with the veins coming out of their neck, on Deansgate the day after we won the European Cup. Nothing in their life made them do that before, nothing in their life made them do it since. You can spend 30 quid on nothing these days, on absolute rubbish. Or you can get the buzz of your life out of watching United.
I always tell the young players here, if you look down at your shirt and see a Manchester United badge, you’re not having a bad day. You’re doing all right. The day I don’t have the United badge on my chest will be a sad one for me. I don’t think I can ever have the same feeling playing for another football club. That is no criticism of anyone else, but I am so ingrained in United and it is such a big part of my life.
I’m not naive enough to think there is only Man United. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Bayern Munich have more than got enough right to suggest they’re at the very top of the game, with United and Liverpool. Those clubs are the ones with the real tradition and history and power. They have the immense following. Others can try, but nobody breaks into that.
And they never will.
The biggest clubs can have bad seasons, bad decades even, but they will never be abandoned or forgotten. That might be seen as me having a go at others, but it’s the reality. I know because I’ve seen United climb back up from the depths. I didn’t grow up watching United win championships, but that didn’t stop me loving the club or feeling it.
I always say this to the fans when they talk about who owns the club or who the directors are or who the chairman is: when you first walked into that ground at the age of five or 10, you didn’t walk up the steps from the refreshment bar and think, who’s that sat over there in the directors’ box? You fell in love with that team running out in that red shirt, in that great ground, on that green pitch. That was what drew you to the club and made you think, wow, that’s got me. And it’s an addiction you have for life.
Managers are important, so are directors and players, but we all come and go. It was walking into the stadium, that’s what gripped me, the size of it – I was in awe of the whole place. I just love everything; the badge, the history.
You can fall in love with a player but, deep down, you know he’ll leave one day. That’s why I always say that the people within the club are just there to serve it. It’s the club and the badge that matters so much. The players are just adding their little bit to a massive depth of history.
'Medals are great, but the real miracle is that I shared a dressing room with six of my best mates and my brother for more than 10 years.'
You will find a few people around United, influential ones, who weren’t sure I would make 50 games, never mind 500. I spent most of my teenage years waiting for rejection. I still remember my shock at being one of the 16 picked out of 200 kids in the under-11s. That letter through the post was the most unbelievable thing I had ever seen.
I still wonder why I was invited back every year, and it can only have been attitude. If training started at 5pm, I would be there at 4.15, passing against a wall. I knew I had to do that when I saw the skills of local lads like Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt at 13. Then the out-of-town kids joined us, like David Beckham, Keith Gillespie and Robbie Savage. I was a central midfield player and I thought, ‘I’m not as good as this lot, nowhere near’.
People assume that a career in football falls into your lap, that you were always going to play for Manchester United. They don’t see the challenges you have to overcome and they forget the dozens of players who never quite make it.
If you aren’t the most talented player in the world, you have to sprint to keep up. You have to make sacrifices. When I left school at 16, I made the conscious decision that I would cut myself off from all of my mates. It sounds brutal, and it was selfish, but I knew that they would be doing all sorts of teenage things that I couldn’t get involved with, even if that was just having a few drinks.
I’ll always remember my dad telling me: ‘You’ve got two years to give it a real go. Never look back and wish you’d done more.’ Medals are great, but the real miracle is that I shared a dressing room with six of my best mates and my brother for more than 10 years. It sounds like a cliché, but I’ve been living a childhood dream.
There are times when I could have played better, games when I might have made fewer mistakes, but one thing I would like to say for myself is that, from the age of 16 to 31, I’ve given everything. Your best is the least you should give, but we’ve all seen players who have fallen short because they haven’t applied themselves. Players with much more talent than me. And if I ever thought I’d cracked it, that would probably be the end of me.
'Schmeichel used to hammer me, Bruce ripped me to shreds, some of the first team were animals, they were so aggressive and so demanding. It was brutal. Now foreigners don't expect to be shouted and screamed at...football is becoming softer.'
It will go down as a legendary youth side (1992), and that’s not me bragging. It has to when you look at Ryan Giggs captaining Wales, David Beckham captaining England, me winning 80-odd caps, Paul Scholes becoming one of the very best United players, Nicky Butt winning six championship titles, and the same with my brother, Phil.
It was a freak that will still be talked about in 50 years, and not just because of the six of us, but because of all the others who have gone on and are still playing or working in football. Robbie Savage and Keith Gillespie have been Premiership players, internationals.
We were brought up in a hard school. Our youth coach, Eric Harrison, was tough with us, the manager was tough with us and then, when you got close to the first team, you had to deal with Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Paul Ince. You couldn’t be a wimp with those lads.
I’ve always said that they saw us as a threat to them as a winning group. Those players had already won medals and they were thinking, is this bunch of kids going to keep me in championships?
Peter Schmeichel used to hammer me. We would be practising and he would just pluck my crosses out of the air as if to say: ‘You’re not good enough.’ It was only three or four years later that he came up to me on a team day out and said: ‘You’ve proved me wrong.’ That is the education that people don’t see.
I still remember Steve Bruce ripping me to shreds at Elland Road, Mark Hughes charging at me just because I hadn’t played the ball into the channel, Eric Cantona giving me the stare, Keaney and Incey snarling. And that was before you had to face the manager. It was a hard school, but the best education imaginable.
It was all about the levels, the standards that you have to produce, and they were incredibly driven. They were animals, some of them. To be honest, you could say that they weren’t nice people to play with at times. They were so demanding, so aggressive. You lived or died by it, but we came through it.
They were brutal at times, some of them, and it is getting harder and harder to be like that now. Generally, you’re talking about a more sensitive player now, a more technically gifted player.
Foreign players don’t expect to be shouted and screamed at. Football is becoming softer.
'I was playing for England and earning £210-a-week, now money has created a distance between the working class and football, but I can't stand it when a fan says "I paid your wages"'
I came into football at the right time, in the sense that the money has catapulted. I’m not going to apologise for that, but it wasn’t why I came into the game in the first place. I signed a contract at 16 which promised me £29.50 a week for two years, so I didn’t come into this for the money. I came here because I loved playing football and playing for United.
At 18 I got £210 a week and I was playing for England. In fact, I was playing for England for £230 a week, because it went up 20 pounds a year. Because it went up to £1,000 a week after that, it didn’t make me a different person, and am I going to turn it down when the club increases it to £5,000?
You can’t tell me that the players of the 60s weren’t earning a lot more than the plumbers or the electricians so, while I appreciate that football has given me a great lifestyle, I don’t think I should apologise for that. But I do accept that, combined with the media coverage and the superstardom of players, the money can create a distance between the working class and a working-class player.
You can see that sometimes when you hear a fan say: ‘I paid this or that, I paid your wages.’ I can’t stand that, to be honest. My dad would never say that when he was taking us to watch United.
Of course we appreciate what the fans spend to watch the club, but I honestly believe you get your money’s worth when you consider the rewards you get. You could spend the same on 10 beers or a family night out at the cinema, and I can’t believe you’ll get the feelings that come from watching United.
If you were watching in the ’99 season, whatever you spent following us around, believe me, you were still well in credit. You have memories that will last you a lifetime. It has given you feelings that made you shiver.
People talk about the crowds changing, especially at United, and maybe it has, but there are still those moments when it is incredibly raw. And you can still sense that passion when you go to the pubs in Salford and you see the MUFC tattoos on the knuckles. This club can enthrall you. That’s what Manchester United does, it grips you and gets you if you really want it.
'No, I don't think another team will ever win the treble... and I say that as part of of a team that hopes to do it again'
The ’94 team is always mentioned as being one of the best United teams, certainly the most powerful, but I think the manager realised in 1995 that it was never going to win the European Cup. They were obviously ageing and they were set in the British way, very powerful.
He needed to bring in a more fluent type of football with elements of the ’94 team still in place, like Keane and Schmeichel. He then brought in the younger players, a couple of foreign ones and then David May, Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, and we went through our European education.
No, I don’t think there will be another treble winning team and if there is, good luck to the team that does it because they will have one hell of a time.
I’m saying that as part of a team that hopes to do it again, but also as somebody who knows what it takes. And everything has to go like you wouldn’t believe. You have to win game after game in the last minute.
Everyone remembers the celebrated matches that season – the European semi-final in Turin, the FA Cup semi at Villa Park and the European Cup final itself – but they forget that there were others like against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
We were one goal down with five minutes to go and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ends up scoring the winner in the last seconds. So many things have to go well. If Dennis Bergkamp scores a penalty against us in the FA Cup semi, Arsenal probably win the Double. But we came away from Villa Park that night thinking something might be happening, and then we knew nothing was going to stop us once we won in Turin.
Even at 2-0 down to Juventus, I remember Becks coming over and saying: ‘C’mon, we can do this,’ and he’s not really the type for that.
To have belief even in that situation was incredible, because the defence had endured a 20-minute nightmare. I was caught out for one goal, losing Inzaghi, and Jaap Stam was being run ragged down that side. Ronny Johnsen was all over the place. We were playing very poorly but we were a decent bunch of lads who managed to pull off a freak. The Treble will be a freak. I just can’t see it being repeated.
By LEE CLAYTON
'Gary Neville, he's a red, he's a red, he's a red... 'Gary Neville, he's a red... 'He hates Scousers.'
The Manchester United supporters love Gary Neville. And not just because he hates Scousers. He is the ferociously competetive shop steward of a right back who has become the leader of a team hoping to win back the title from Chelsea. It would be his first title as captain.
And here, in a remarkable insight into his love and passion for Manchester United, Neville looks back on the joys of his career and reveals what it takes to become a cult hero at Old Trafford.
--------------------------------------------------------------
'United, Liverpool. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Milan... they are the clubs with real tradition, history and power. Others may try but nobody else breaks into that and they never will.'
When I stop playing, I’d love just to travel round Europe watching United with my mates. What’s better than watching your team play football and having a few drinks and something to eat after? Criticising them if they lose, jumping around hysterically if they win.
I saw men screaming, with the veins coming out of their neck, on Deansgate the day after we won the European Cup. Nothing in their life made them do that before, nothing in their life made them do it since. You can spend 30 quid on nothing these days, on absolute rubbish. Or you can get the buzz of your life out of watching United.
I always tell the young players here, if you look down at your shirt and see a Manchester United badge, you’re not having a bad day. You’re doing all right. The day I don’t have the United badge on my chest will be a sad one for me. I don’t think I can ever have the same feeling playing for another football club. That is no criticism of anyone else, but I am so ingrained in United and it is such a big part of my life.
I’m not naive enough to think there is only Man United. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Bayern Munich have more than got enough right to suggest they’re at the very top of the game, with United and Liverpool. Those clubs are the ones with the real tradition and history and power. They have the immense following. Others can try, but nobody breaks into that.
And they never will.
The biggest clubs can have bad seasons, bad decades even, but they will never be abandoned or forgotten. That might be seen as me having a go at others, but it’s the reality. I know because I’ve seen United climb back up from the depths. I didn’t grow up watching United win championships, but that didn’t stop me loving the club or feeling it.
I always say this to the fans when they talk about who owns the club or who the directors are or who the chairman is: when you first walked into that ground at the age of five or 10, you didn’t walk up the steps from the refreshment bar and think, who’s that sat over there in the directors’ box? You fell in love with that team running out in that red shirt, in that great ground, on that green pitch. That was what drew you to the club and made you think, wow, that’s got me. And it’s an addiction you have for life.
Managers are important, so are directors and players, but we all come and go. It was walking into the stadium, that’s what gripped me, the size of it – I was in awe of the whole place. I just love everything; the badge, the history.
You can fall in love with a player but, deep down, you know he’ll leave one day. That’s why I always say that the people within the club are just there to serve it. It’s the club and the badge that matters so much. The players are just adding their little bit to a massive depth of history.
'Medals are great, but the real miracle is that I shared a dressing room with six of my best mates and my brother for more than 10 years.'
You will find a few people around United, influential ones, who weren’t sure I would make 50 games, never mind 500. I spent most of my teenage years waiting for rejection. I still remember my shock at being one of the 16 picked out of 200 kids in the under-11s. That letter through the post was the most unbelievable thing I had ever seen.
I still wonder why I was invited back every year, and it can only have been attitude. If training started at 5pm, I would be there at 4.15, passing against a wall. I knew I had to do that when I saw the skills of local lads like Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt at 13. Then the out-of-town kids joined us, like David Beckham, Keith Gillespie and Robbie Savage. I was a central midfield player and I thought, ‘I’m not as good as this lot, nowhere near’.
People assume that a career in football falls into your lap, that you were always going to play for Manchester United. They don’t see the challenges you have to overcome and they forget the dozens of players who never quite make it.
If you aren’t the most talented player in the world, you have to sprint to keep up. You have to make sacrifices. When I left school at 16, I made the conscious decision that I would cut myself off from all of my mates. It sounds brutal, and it was selfish, but I knew that they would be doing all sorts of teenage things that I couldn’t get involved with, even if that was just having a few drinks.
I’ll always remember my dad telling me: ‘You’ve got two years to give it a real go. Never look back and wish you’d done more.’ Medals are great, but the real miracle is that I shared a dressing room with six of my best mates and my brother for more than 10 years. It sounds like a cliché, but I’ve been living a childhood dream.
There are times when I could have played better, games when I might have made fewer mistakes, but one thing I would like to say for myself is that, from the age of 16 to 31, I’ve given everything. Your best is the least you should give, but we’ve all seen players who have fallen short because they haven’t applied themselves. Players with much more talent than me. And if I ever thought I’d cracked it, that would probably be the end of me.
'Schmeichel used to hammer me, Bruce ripped me to shreds, some of the first team were animals, they were so aggressive and so demanding. It was brutal. Now foreigners don't expect to be shouted and screamed at...football is becoming softer.'
It will go down as a legendary youth side (1992), and that’s not me bragging. It has to when you look at Ryan Giggs captaining Wales, David Beckham captaining England, me winning 80-odd caps, Paul Scholes becoming one of the very best United players, Nicky Butt winning six championship titles, and the same with my brother, Phil.
It was a freak that will still be talked about in 50 years, and not just because of the six of us, but because of all the others who have gone on and are still playing or working in football. Robbie Savage and Keith Gillespie have been Premiership players, internationals.
We were brought up in a hard school. Our youth coach, Eric Harrison, was tough with us, the manager was tough with us and then, when you got close to the first team, you had to deal with Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Paul Ince. You couldn’t be a wimp with those lads.
I’ve always said that they saw us as a threat to them as a winning group. Those players had already won medals and they were thinking, is this bunch of kids going to keep me in championships?
Peter Schmeichel used to hammer me. We would be practising and he would just pluck my crosses out of the air as if to say: ‘You’re not good enough.’ It was only three or four years later that he came up to me on a team day out and said: ‘You’ve proved me wrong.’ That is the education that people don’t see.
I still remember Steve Bruce ripping me to shreds at Elland Road, Mark Hughes charging at me just because I hadn’t played the ball into the channel, Eric Cantona giving me the stare, Keaney and Incey snarling. And that was before you had to face the manager. It was a hard school, but the best education imaginable.
It was all about the levels, the standards that you have to produce, and they were incredibly driven. They were animals, some of them. To be honest, you could say that they weren’t nice people to play with at times. They were so demanding, so aggressive. You lived or died by it, but we came through it.
They were brutal at times, some of them, and it is getting harder and harder to be like that now. Generally, you’re talking about a more sensitive player now, a more technically gifted player.
Foreign players don’t expect to be shouted and screamed at. Football is becoming softer.
'I was playing for England and earning £210-a-week, now money has created a distance between the working class and football, but I can't stand it when a fan says "I paid your wages"'
I came into football at the right time, in the sense that the money has catapulted. I’m not going to apologise for that, but it wasn’t why I came into the game in the first place. I signed a contract at 16 which promised me £29.50 a week for two years, so I didn’t come into this for the money. I came here because I loved playing football and playing for United.
At 18 I got £210 a week and I was playing for England. In fact, I was playing for England for £230 a week, because it went up 20 pounds a year. Because it went up to £1,000 a week after that, it didn’t make me a different person, and am I going to turn it down when the club increases it to £5,000?
You can’t tell me that the players of the 60s weren’t earning a lot more than the plumbers or the electricians so, while I appreciate that football has given me a great lifestyle, I don’t think I should apologise for that. But I do accept that, combined with the media coverage and the superstardom of players, the money can create a distance between the working class and a working-class player.
You can see that sometimes when you hear a fan say: ‘I paid this or that, I paid your wages.’ I can’t stand that, to be honest. My dad would never say that when he was taking us to watch United.
Of course we appreciate what the fans spend to watch the club, but I honestly believe you get your money’s worth when you consider the rewards you get. You could spend the same on 10 beers or a family night out at the cinema, and I can’t believe you’ll get the feelings that come from watching United.
If you were watching in the ’99 season, whatever you spent following us around, believe me, you were still well in credit. You have memories that will last you a lifetime. It has given you feelings that made you shiver.
People talk about the crowds changing, especially at United, and maybe it has, but there are still those moments when it is incredibly raw. And you can still sense that passion when you go to the pubs in Salford and you see the MUFC tattoos on the knuckles. This club can enthrall you. That’s what Manchester United does, it grips you and gets you if you really want it.
'No, I don't think another team will ever win the treble... and I say that as part of of a team that hopes to do it again'
The ’94 team is always mentioned as being one of the best United teams, certainly the most powerful, but I think the manager realised in 1995 that it was never going to win the European Cup. They were obviously ageing and they were set in the British way, very powerful.
He needed to bring in a more fluent type of football with elements of the ’94 team still in place, like Keane and Schmeichel. He then brought in the younger players, a couple of foreign ones and then David May, Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, and we went through our European education.
No, I don’t think there will be another treble winning team and if there is, good luck to the team that does it because they will have one hell of a time.
I’m saying that as part of a team that hopes to do it again, but also as somebody who knows what it takes. And everything has to go like you wouldn’t believe. You have to win game after game in the last minute.
Everyone remembers the celebrated matches that season – the European semi-final in Turin, the FA Cup semi at Villa Park and the European Cup final itself – but they forget that there were others like against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
We were one goal down with five minutes to go and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ends up scoring the winner in the last seconds. So many things have to go well. If Dennis Bergkamp scores a penalty against us in the FA Cup semi, Arsenal probably win the Double. But we came away from Villa Park that night thinking something might be happening, and then we knew nothing was going to stop us once we won in Turin.
Even at 2-0 down to Juventus, I remember Becks coming over and saying: ‘C’mon, we can do this,’ and he’s not really the type for that.
To have belief even in that situation was incredible, because the defence had endured a 20-minute nightmare. I was caught out for one goal, losing Inzaghi, and Jaap Stam was being run ragged down that side. Ronny Johnsen was all over the place. We were playing very poorly but we were a decent bunch of lads who managed to pull off a freak. The Treble will be a freak. I just can’t see it being repeated.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
20 Legend
As one of the Strettie End Favourite goes...
You are my Solskjaer,
my only Solskjaer.
You make me happy,
when skies are grey.
Oh Alan Shearer,
Is fucking dearer.
Please don't take,
my Solskjaer away...
After having enjoyed the services of loyal players like Solskjaer, Keano, Giggs, Scholes etc etc etc, can anyone blame us for lamenting the level of commitment of the likes of Richardson?
As one Stretford End banner reads simply>> 20 Legend
Steve Tongue meets a man who really does smile at adversity
Independent 29 October 2006
Amid all the excitement of Manchester United's struggle to evict Crewe Alexandra from the Carling Cup last Wednesday night - two long-serving heart-patient managers, the late winning goal from a teenaged debutant and so on - one significant aspect was understandably overlooked: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played 120 minutes of football.
During long periods of the little pixie's career, that might have been the ration for half-a-dozen games. Worse, for the past three seasons this time of year has resembled not so much the autumn of his playing days as the grim Norwegian winter. But suddenly, delightfully, Solskjaer is enjoying an Indian summer, the calendar no longer ringed with knee operations.
Ask how many of those there have been and the baby face creases up in concentration. "Let me have a think now. The first one in September 2003, then a major one in August 2004 - that was the [cartilage] transplant - and another one in summer 2005, same type of injury but a different place in the knee. So three decent-sized operations. And lots of arthroscopy and things in between. They've been inside the knee a few times!"
The day after undertaking a full shift like last Wednesday's, rather than one of his famed cameos from the substitutes' bench, he takes things "a little bit easy - swimming, on the bike, no running, not at my age". But there is no apparent discomfort as he bounds up the stairs at United's training centre, where over the past three years he spent so many long, hard days of rehabilitation.
As recently as last December Sir Alex Ferguson looked and sounded wretched when admitting that the prospects of a return to full fitness for one of his favourite sons were not encouraging, and that a testimonial match was under consideration. Solskjaer insists that his own concern was whether he would be able to return to the high standard demanded by himself as well as his club.
"There were times when I had pain in the knee and thought, 'Is this ever going to be 100 per cent again?' After the main operation, it was a test of patience. I had a cast on for three months and was in bed, just moving the knee, eight or nine hours a day. But I never went to sleep thinking I wouldn't play again. I was always positive about that, mentally preparing myself every night.
"There was a woman who worked with the Norwegian Olympic athletes and she made me keep a diary, writing things down about how I felt, which I did during training as well. When you write something negative, you realise that's bad and you must start thinking positively again."
Not that introspection was everything. Typically, Solskjaer was concerned to lift the spirits of fellow sufferers in the treatment room such as Alan Smith, who described his "inspirational" effect in these pages last week.
"I knew that I would be out for a whole season and that I couldn't contribute on the pitch, so trying to be a good example would help the young lads and anyone feeling sorry for themselves. As for me, I knew I would get back to playing but the worry was, 'Am I going to be good enough again?'
"Towards the end of last season, after a few niggles I must say I was a bit more doubtful. I didn't play particularly well in the reserves and dominate the games. But I noticed the difference after this pre-season. I played and trained with the first-team lads all the time and my own performance got up to that level. When you've had it in you before, you can find it again if you're determined and motivated enough."
The enthusiasm has never waned and can rightly be described as "boyish", stretching back as it does to earliest days in Kristiansund, a tiny town situated on three islands just off the Norwegian coast. Such was the hunger there for English football that consignments of Match Weekly and Shoot! would arrive every Thursday, the highlight of young Solskjaer's week.
As a footballer, he was a self-confessed late developer, whose professional career was further delayed by serving in the army for two years; he was 22 before joining a leading club, Molde. Success there led to an international debut in 1995 and, the following year, one of those chance occurrences that change careers and lives.
United wanted to sign Norway's central defender Ronny Johnsen and sent Ferguson's assistant, Jim Ryan, to watch an international against Azerbaijan. Ryan not only got his man, but found his eye taken by a young forward called Solskjaer, who scored two dazzling goals and was recruited as well, at a cost of ?1.5 million.
It was hardly a leap into the unknown for him. "I think I knew everything about Eighties football in England," he smiles. "Match Of The Day was always on and I used to write down all the team-sheets and formations. So I just jumped at the chance. Eighteen months after playing at a very low level with my local team in front of 50 or 60 people, I was playing with Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane."
Making an early impression at a club who had just done the Double was important. Ferguson gave him a couple of reserve games, then threw him on at home to Blackburn for the first of what are now almost 150 substitute appearances in a total of 345. "I've been asked many times what's the greatest moment of my United career. Scoring that goal in my first game and turning round to see that Eric Cantona was the first one coming towards me celebrating, that just made me realise, 'I'm at Old Trafford now'."
Those questioners might reasonably have expected an answer relating to events in Barcelona on the night of 26 May 1999; United's attempt to make history by completing a treble of Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League. Despite having finished as leading scorer in his first season, two years earlier, Solskjaer had become less of an automatic choice than a supremely reliable supersub. Many players might have resented the role.
Ferguson knew he had a genuine team player in his hugely popular Norwegian, and would drop in a carefully chosen phrase occasionally as a reminder of his faith. Such an occasion was the final League game of the season, at home to Tottenham, when victory was required to complete the first leg of the Treble.
"The main strikers were Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, who rotated with me and Teddy Sheringham. The last couple of months of that season I didn't play many games, but I was on the bench. We were drawing against Spurs and the gaffer put Coley on for Yorkey and said, 'If you haven't scored with 10 or 15 minutes left don't panic, I'll just put Ole on'. I still remember how my confidence shot up. That was his man-management, and it will always be with me."
As it happened, Cole scored the winning goal and Solskjaer was not needed. His reward, as well as a second Premiership medal, was a place in the FA Cup final victory over Newcastle the following week. Two down and a European Cup final to go.
"I just felt something big was going to happen to me that night. I spoke to a friend of mine before the game who said he was working a night shift and wouldn't be able to watch the last half an hour of it, but I asked him to make sure he did.
"It was one of those stupid things you feel. At half-time, one-nil down, I was looking at the gaffer and thinking, 'Why don't you put me on, I need to get on here,' but he put Teddy on. And eventually I came on and, well, we got two goals in the end."
Right at the end, of course, in quite sensational fashion, the second of them as David Beckham swings in another corner, Sheringham gets the faintest touch on and the slender choirboy with the machine-gun finishes off Bayern.
Best day of your life? "No, I wouldn't say that. But professionally, yes, I would say you can't top the last 10 days of that season, winning three trophies in 10 days. And all in it together, that's the best thing of all. I could never have been an individual athlete, like my dad, who was a Greco-Roman wrestler. I'm so happy to be part of a team, see how people gel together and work for each other and win together. That's one of the things that makes me want to go on in football after I've finished playing, as a coach or manager."
There is more to achieve before then. Aged 33 now, he has a contract until the end of next season, by which time United hope to have pushed Chelsea a whole lot harder than in the past two years and sustained a more lasting challenge in Europe. The boy from Kristiansund wants to play his part, even if he has more reason than most players to welcome the advent of those new, lavishly furnished, substitutes' seats.
"There's no chance you'll get me moaning about being a sub. I'm so proud of having been a part of the history of Man United. To be known as a good substitute at Man United is better than to not be known at all. My dad still says, 'You've been very, very fortunate, you've been at the best club'. It's just fantastic having been a part of it."
LIFE & TIMES: From the fjords to Old Trafford
NAME: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
BORN: 26 February 1973, Kristiansund, Norway.
VITAL STATS: 5ft 10in, 11st 6lb.
POSITION: Forward.
CLUB CAREER: Clausenegen FK; Molde 1995-96 (42 games, 31 goals); Manchester Utd '96-current, fee ?1.5m (345 games, 123 goals);
Premiership title '97, '99, 2000, '01, '03; FA Cup '99, '04; League Cup '06; Champions' League '99. Patron of Manchester Utd
Supporters' Trust.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER: 61 caps, 21 goals for Norway; debut v Jamaica '95; World Cup '98, Euro 2000.
AND ANOTHER THING: His father was Norway's Greco-Roman wrestling champion '66-71.
You are my Solskjaer,
my only Solskjaer.
You make me happy,
when skies are grey.
Oh Alan Shearer,
Is fucking dearer.
Please don't take,
my Solskjaer away...
After having enjoyed the services of loyal players like Solskjaer, Keano, Giggs, Scholes etc etc etc, can anyone blame us for lamenting the level of commitment of the likes of Richardson?
As one Stretford End banner reads simply>> 20 Legend
Steve Tongue meets a man who really does smile at adversity
Independent 29 October 2006
Amid all the excitement of Manchester United's struggle to evict Crewe Alexandra from the Carling Cup last Wednesday night - two long-serving heart-patient managers, the late winning goal from a teenaged debutant and so on - one significant aspect was understandably overlooked: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played 120 minutes of football.
During long periods of the little pixie's career, that might have been the ration for half-a-dozen games. Worse, for the past three seasons this time of year has resembled not so much the autumn of his playing days as the grim Norwegian winter. But suddenly, delightfully, Solskjaer is enjoying an Indian summer, the calendar no longer ringed with knee operations.
Ask how many of those there have been and the baby face creases up in concentration. "Let me have a think now. The first one in September 2003, then a major one in August 2004 - that was the [cartilage] transplant - and another one in summer 2005, same type of injury but a different place in the knee. So three decent-sized operations. And lots of arthroscopy and things in between. They've been inside the knee a few times!"
The day after undertaking a full shift like last Wednesday's, rather than one of his famed cameos from the substitutes' bench, he takes things "a little bit easy - swimming, on the bike, no running, not at my age". But there is no apparent discomfort as he bounds up the stairs at United's training centre, where over the past three years he spent so many long, hard days of rehabilitation.
As recently as last December Sir Alex Ferguson looked and sounded wretched when admitting that the prospects of a return to full fitness for one of his favourite sons were not encouraging, and that a testimonial match was under consideration. Solskjaer insists that his own concern was whether he would be able to return to the high standard demanded by himself as well as his club.
"There were times when I had pain in the knee and thought, 'Is this ever going to be 100 per cent again?' After the main operation, it was a test of patience. I had a cast on for three months and was in bed, just moving the knee, eight or nine hours a day. But I never went to sleep thinking I wouldn't play again. I was always positive about that, mentally preparing myself every night.
"There was a woman who worked with the Norwegian Olympic athletes and she made me keep a diary, writing things down about how I felt, which I did during training as well. When you write something negative, you realise that's bad and you must start thinking positively again."
Not that introspection was everything. Typically, Solskjaer was concerned to lift the spirits of fellow sufferers in the treatment room such as Alan Smith, who described his "inspirational" effect in these pages last week.
"I knew that I would be out for a whole season and that I couldn't contribute on the pitch, so trying to be a good example would help the young lads and anyone feeling sorry for themselves. As for me, I knew I would get back to playing but the worry was, 'Am I going to be good enough again?'
"Towards the end of last season, after a few niggles I must say I was a bit more doubtful. I didn't play particularly well in the reserves and dominate the games. But I noticed the difference after this pre-season. I played and trained with the first-team lads all the time and my own performance got up to that level. When you've had it in you before, you can find it again if you're determined and motivated enough."
The enthusiasm has never waned and can rightly be described as "boyish", stretching back as it does to earliest days in Kristiansund, a tiny town situated on three islands just off the Norwegian coast. Such was the hunger there for English football that consignments of Match Weekly and Shoot! would arrive every Thursday, the highlight of young Solskjaer's week.
As a footballer, he was a self-confessed late developer, whose professional career was further delayed by serving in the army for two years; he was 22 before joining a leading club, Molde. Success there led to an international debut in 1995 and, the following year, one of those chance occurrences that change careers and lives.
United wanted to sign Norway's central defender Ronny Johnsen and sent Ferguson's assistant, Jim Ryan, to watch an international against Azerbaijan. Ryan not only got his man, but found his eye taken by a young forward called Solskjaer, who scored two dazzling goals and was recruited as well, at a cost of ?1.5 million.
It was hardly a leap into the unknown for him. "I think I knew everything about Eighties football in England," he smiles. "Match Of The Day was always on and I used to write down all the team-sheets and formations. So I just jumped at the chance. Eighteen months after playing at a very low level with my local team in front of 50 or 60 people, I was playing with Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane."
Making an early impression at a club who had just done the Double was important. Ferguson gave him a couple of reserve games, then threw him on at home to Blackburn for the first of what are now almost 150 substitute appearances in a total of 345. "I've been asked many times what's the greatest moment of my United career. Scoring that goal in my first game and turning round to see that Eric Cantona was the first one coming towards me celebrating, that just made me realise, 'I'm at Old Trafford now'."
Those questioners might reasonably have expected an answer relating to events in Barcelona on the night of 26 May 1999; United's attempt to make history by completing a treble of Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League. Despite having finished as leading scorer in his first season, two years earlier, Solskjaer had become less of an automatic choice than a supremely reliable supersub. Many players might have resented the role.
Ferguson knew he had a genuine team player in his hugely popular Norwegian, and would drop in a carefully chosen phrase occasionally as a reminder of his faith. Such an occasion was the final League game of the season, at home to Tottenham, when victory was required to complete the first leg of the Treble.
"The main strikers were Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, who rotated with me and Teddy Sheringham. The last couple of months of that season I didn't play many games, but I was on the bench. We were drawing against Spurs and the gaffer put Coley on for Yorkey and said, 'If you haven't scored with 10 or 15 minutes left don't panic, I'll just put Ole on'. I still remember how my confidence shot up. That was his man-management, and it will always be with me."
As it happened, Cole scored the winning goal and Solskjaer was not needed. His reward, as well as a second Premiership medal, was a place in the FA Cup final victory over Newcastle the following week. Two down and a European Cup final to go.
"I just felt something big was going to happen to me that night. I spoke to a friend of mine before the game who said he was working a night shift and wouldn't be able to watch the last half an hour of it, but I asked him to make sure he did.
"It was one of those stupid things you feel. At half-time, one-nil down, I was looking at the gaffer and thinking, 'Why don't you put me on, I need to get on here,' but he put Teddy on. And eventually I came on and, well, we got two goals in the end."
Right at the end, of course, in quite sensational fashion, the second of them as David Beckham swings in another corner, Sheringham gets the faintest touch on and the slender choirboy with the machine-gun finishes off Bayern.
Best day of your life? "No, I wouldn't say that. But professionally, yes, I would say you can't top the last 10 days of that season, winning three trophies in 10 days. And all in it together, that's the best thing of all. I could never have been an individual athlete, like my dad, who was a Greco-Roman wrestler. I'm so happy to be part of a team, see how people gel together and work for each other and win together. That's one of the things that makes me want to go on in football after I've finished playing, as a coach or manager."
There is more to achieve before then. Aged 33 now, he has a contract until the end of next season, by which time United hope to have pushed Chelsea a whole lot harder than in the past two years and sustained a more lasting challenge in Europe. The boy from Kristiansund wants to play his part, even if he has more reason than most players to welcome the advent of those new, lavishly furnished, substitutes' seats.
"There's no chance you'll get me moaning about being a sub. I'm so proud of having been a part of the history of Man United. To be known as a good substitute at Man United is better than to not be known at all. My dad still says, 'You've been very, very fortunate, you've been at the best club'. It's just fantastic having been a part of it."
LIFE & TIMES: From the fjords to Old Trafford
NAME: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
BORN: 26 February 1973, Kristiansund, Norway.
VITAL STATS: 5ft 10in, 11st 6lb.
POSITION: Forward.
CLUB CAREER: Clausenegen FK; Molde 1995-96 (42 games, 31 goals); Manchester Utd '96-current, fee ?1.5m (345 games, 123 goals);
Premiership title '97, '99, 2000, '01, '03; FA Cup '99, '04; League Cup '06; Champions' League '99. Patron of Manchester Utd
Supporters' Trust.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER: 61 caps, 21 goals for Norway; debut v Jamaica '95; World Cup '98, Euro 2000.
AND ANOTHER THING: His father was Norway's Greco-Roman wrestling champion '66-71.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Bye bye Schumi...
In racing, he will always be my hero....
From The Straits Times
Farewell Schumi
German star thanks fans, Ferrari family for their support after his final race
SAO PAOLO - WHEN the end finally came, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was left struggling for words.
His glorious career had come to a dramatic end at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.
'Today, my racing career comes to an end,' said the German star. 'Obviously it's a special moment for me and I am proud to have lived my career with some fantastic people - namely everyone who is a part of the Ferrari family.
'There is so much to say - I can't find the right words.
'The things I will miss are probably the fans. In every moment, they have been behind me and have always supported me.
'Their support helped me perform, especially in moments when it was difficult.
'Over the years, that was immensely important. I can only say thank you to those people and those fans.'
The seven-time world champion finished his career with one of his most stirring drives. He started in 10th place and worked his way up to finish fourth and just off the podium.
But he still managed to find a metaphor to end his 15 years of extraordinary racing.
'In a way, it's a closed circle now for me because my Formula One career started and finished after 500 metres which was, maybe, a symbol of what happened on Sunday.'
His words referred to his first race and his last, which were hit by problems thatwrecked his hopes of victory.
But his actions on the track spoke volumes for his talent, speed, courage and determination as he stormed from the back of the field after a puncture.
'The race was chaotic, I think that's the right word,' he said, as rival and second-time champion Fernando Alonso began his celebrations.
Alonso finished second behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, but it was enough to give him the drivers' championship.
Said Schumacher: 'We really had a superb car. From the pure speed, we could have lapped everybody.
'So I have to say it was the perfect end to the season in terms of car performance. But for me, it didn't work out well.'
He needed to win his final race to keep alive his remote chance of another title.
But he punctured a tyre less than 10 laps into the race, dropped into last place, and finally finished fourth.
His plight brought tears to grown men in his hometown in Kerpen, Germany.
Around 750 fans watched the Brazil Grand Prix on giant television screens, many with faces painted in Ferrari colours.
'It's just so sad, sad, sad,' said one weeping middle-aged man after Schumacher suffered his punctured tyre.
'Formula One without Schumacher is over,' added another heavy-set man who was also in tears at the crowded sports arena near Cologne.
Schumacher won his last five world championships driving for Ferrari, for which he also helped win six constructors' titles from 1999-2004.
He added that his best memory was his win in 2000.
He said: 'We had a lot of hard work and setbacks, so when we finally won it, it was the most beautiful championship.'
Any regrets?
'There were things I would do differently. But if I went into that, it would get too intense and we don't have time right now.
'But there is the song 'My Way' and I think that is true right now.
'My dad was happy to see me after the race and he said: 'Finally, it's over'.'
'He was quite happy. I feel more relaxed although I think his heart rate was higher during the race than mine.'
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute to the driver, calling him one of the 'real greats of German sport'.
She said that Schumacher was helped by 'what are called German virtues in sport: hard work, meticulous preparation and, above all, the absolute will to make it.'
She added that he 'enriched his sport with a touch of genius'.
From The Straits Times
Farewell Schumi
German star thanks fans, Ferrari family for their support after his final race
SAO PAOLO - WHEN the end finally came, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was left struggling for words.
His glorious career had come to a dramatic end at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.
'Today, my racing career comes to an end,' said the German star. 'Obviously it's a special moment for me and I am proud to have lived my career with some fantastic people - namely everyone who is a part of the Ferrari family.
'There is so much to say - I can't find the right words.
'The things I will miss are probably the fans. In every moment, they have been behind me and have always supported me.
'Their support helped me perform, especially in moments when it was difficult.
'Over the years, that was immensely important. I can only say thank you to those people and those fans.'
The seven-time world champion finished his career with one of his most stirring drives. He started in 10th place and worked his way up to finish fourth and just off the podium.
But he still managed to find a metaphor to end his 15 years of extraordinary racing.
'In a way, it's a closed circle now for me because my Formula One career started and finished after 500 metres which was, maybe, a symbol of what happened on Sunday.'
His words referred to his first race and his last, which were hit by problems thatwrecked his hopes of victory.
But his actions on the track spoke volumes for his talent, speed, courage and determination as he stormed from the back of the field after a puncture.
'The race was chaotic, I think that's the right word,' he said, as rival and second-time champion Fernando Alonso began his celebrations.
Alonso finished second behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, but it was enough to give him the drivers' championship.
Said Schumacher: 'We really had a superb car. From the pure speed, we could have lapped everybody.
'So I have to say it was the perfect end to the season in terms of car performance. But for me, it didn't work out well.'
He needed to win his final race to keep alive his remote chance of another title.
But he punctured a tyre less than 10 laps into the race, dropped into last place, and finally finished fourth.
His plight brought tears to grown men in his hometown in Kerpen, Germany.
Around 750 fans watched the Brazil Grand Prix on giant television screens, many with faces painted in Ferrari colours.
'It's just so sad, sad, sad,' said one weeping middle-aged man after Schumacher suffered his punctured tyre.
'Formula One without Schumacher is over,' added another heavy-set man who was also in tears at the crowded sports arena near Cologne.
Schumacher won his last five world championships driving for Ferrari, for which he also helped win six constructors' titles from 1999-2004.
He added that his best memory was his win in 2000.
He said: 'We had a lot of hard work and setbacks, so when we finally won it, it was the most beautiful championship.'
Any regrets?
'There were things I would do differently. But if I went into that, it would get too intense and we don't have time right now.
'But there is the song 'My Way' and I think that is true right now.
'My dad was happy to see me after the race and he said: 'Finally, it's over'.'
'He was quite happy. I feel more relaxed although I think his heart rate was higher during the race than mine.'
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute to the driver, calling him one of the 'real greats of German sport'.
She said that Schumacher was helped by 'what are called German virtues in sport: hard work, meticulous preparation and, above all, the absolute will to make it.'
She added that he 'enriched his sport with a touch of genius'.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Who do you share your secrets with?
Thought that the article below is pretty interesting...
From The Straits Times
Oct 23, 2006
No bosom pal? You're far from alone, study shows
LONDON - LONGER working hours and a growing Internet society have left young men with almost no close friends, a study has found.
Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina repeated research conducted by sociologists 20 years ago and found that the average man has only two friends with whom they feel they can share their closest secrets.
This compared with 3.5 'confidants' in the earlier study, reported Britain's Sunday Times.
A quarter of the men in the study said they had no one in whom they could confide - twice the number of those who felt so in 1985.
These are mostly men in their 20s who have lost touch with their school friends, and pensioners who have outlived their peers.
The study found that close friendships have been replaced by groups of 'semi-detached' work colleagues and 'chatroom chums' on the Internet, The Sunday Times reported.
Duke sociology professor Lynn Smith-Lovin said people typically have as many as 750 acquaintances, but nearly all of them fail the 'trust test'.
'You would only share your most vulnerable secrets with a true confidant if it is already proven you can trust them,' she said.
'Another significant change is who we trust: 20 years ago, a young man might have discussed sports or politics and avoided the personal. Now, the best friend is more likely to be a spouse with whom we share more interests.'
About 38 per cent of the study participants said that they trusted their spouses, compared to 30 per cent previously.
The researchers surveyed 1,500 people and found that middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s had almost three close friends each.
From The Straits Times
Oct 23, 2006
No bosom pal? You're far from alone, study shows
LONDON - LONGER working hours and a growing Internet society have left young men with almost no close friends, a study has found.
Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina repeated research conducted by sociologists 20 years ago and found that the average man has only two friends with whom they feel they can share their closest secrets.
This compared with 3.5 'confidants' in the earlier study, reported Britain's Sunday Times.
A quarter of the men in the study said they had no one in whom they could confide - twice the number of those who felt so in 1985.
These are mostly men in their 20s who have lost touch with their school friends, and pensioners who have outlived their peers.
The study found that close friendships have been replaced by groups of 'semi-detached' work colleagues and 'chatroom chums' on the Internet, The Sunday Times reported.
Duke sociology professor Lynn Smith-Lovin said people typically have as many as 750 acquaintances, but nearly all of them fail the 'trust test'.
'You would only share your most vulnerable secrets with a true confidant if it is already proven you can trust them,' she said.
'Another significant change is who we trust: 20 years ago, a young man might have discussed sports or politics and avoided the personal. Now, the best friend is more likely to be a spouse with whom we share more interests.'
About 38 per cent of the study participants said that they trusted their spouses, compared to 30 per cent previously.
The researchers surveyed 1,500 people and found that middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s had almost three close friends each.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Work blues
My boss is currently attached somewhere else until the end of the year. Which means that he has to do jobs on 2 sides. Which also means that I would also have to do 2 persons' jobs when he is not around. Which totally sucks because I am only a one bar, not meant to do a 3 bar job at all.
As if I am not dying under the pile of work (or rather the level of difficulty of work, I mean you don't ask level 3 hero to go fight a level 20 monster right?), along comes something extremely extremely shitty which creates extra work for me and my guys.
All I can say is, if you can't help, at least don't fucking screw things up. You can ORD happily but people got to clean up the mess after you! BIG FUCKING CHEEBYE!
And NO! I am a fucking normal human being. I am not the boss when you like it and someone whom you can push around when you feel buey song. If you so li hai, go talk to the star and bring my boss back lah!
At the moment, I feel dying is much better than being tortured till I ORD. WHY OH WHY???
As if I am not dying under the pile of work (or rather the level of difficulty of work, I mean you don't ask level 3 hero to go fight a level 20 monster right?), along comes something extremely extremely shitty which creates extra work for me and my guys.
All I can say is, if you can't help, at least don't fucking screw things up. You can ORD happily but people got to clean up the mess after you! BIG FUCKING CHEEBYE!
And NO! I am a fucking normal human being. I am not the boss when you like it and someone whom you can push around when you feel buey song. If you so li hai, go talk to the star and bring my boss back lah!
At the moment, I feel dying is much better than being tortured till I ORD. WHY OH WHY???
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Instinct
You know the kind of feeling whereby you can just FEEL that what you are doing is right?
The feeling whereby you will just smile while doing something, because you know it's going to turn out great?
I THINK I am blessed with that kind of feeling. Somehow or rather, most of the time I can just feel instinctively whether I am doing the right thing.
Like when Tong Leng clicked VJC for me, I did not kbkb and change it back to HCJC, because somehow instinctively I knew it was the RIGHT choice.
Like when I decided to take Economics in JC (and subsequently Uni). No second thoughts needed even though I knew nuts about Econs before I went JC. And no regrets either.
Like when I decided I wanted to be a staff instead of a PC.
Like when I decided to buy that pair of ADIDAS Clima Cool shoes at half price. When I tried them on, they fit just nice and when I went to the cashier, I KNEW I would love this pair of shoes. And I can't stop wearing them since.
Hmm, perhaps then you might be wondering why TosH screws up so many times then. Why are there so many clothes hanging in your wardrobe that you seldom wear because in the end it turned out to be crap. Why are there a couple of pairs of footwear that you bought even though they did not really fit you? Why are there so many wrong decisions that you had taken?
I have been thinking about it too, and I could only think of this explanation. Because that "Ah Har!" feeling is just too rare, just too scarce. It doesn't come all the time you know. And you start to doubt yourself. Have you lost that instinct? Or if it IS your instinct telling you not to buy, is it because your instinct is now NOT accurate?
I felt that today at Top Man. There was a long sleeve shirt going at $35 bucks which was a pretty good deal. I went to try it, but the sleeves were too long for my shorty hands, but there wasn't any smaller size available.
I was in a dilemma. "It's cheap! Buy it!" "The sleeves are too long! Don't buy!" I started to try to imagine the sleeves were not that long. I started to con myself that the style of the shirt is like that. Just to recapture that happy feeling of buying something that really suits you.
And after a while, I got confused as to which was my "real" instinct. But somehow or rather, I knew that if I had gone to the cashier, I would not have that feeling of satisfaction like when I bought the Adidas shoes. In the interest of my bank account, I decided not to buy. But yet now, I am still thinking whether I should have bought it....
Ok this seems to be a damn shopaholic post but that's not my main point...
http://ickleoriental.livejournal.com/591645.html#cutid1
I have been reading this blog for quite a while, and I feel it's one of the better blogs out there. The author and her husband seems to be a picture perfect couple. Newly married, good looking, and into endurance sports for good measure.
Looking at their wedding photos, you can just feel (and this is just my own feeling, whether it is true or not is none of my business...) that when the Father (is he called the father? or priest?) asks "Do you agree to take XXX as your lawfully wedded wife blah blah blah", they instinctively knew it was the right decision to take.
You just feel that they had that "AH HAR!" feeling.
And this made me think, one day, if (and it's a big if...) I ever have the chance to be in that position, would I have that instinct? The "AH HAR!" feeling that tells me that I should say "I do?"
Or would I be struggling just like today to make a decision? Or worse still, would I make excuses to make myself to say "I do", in the hope that everything would turn out just fine as though I had that "AH HAR!" feeling? You know, buying a shirt that doesn't really suit you, just coz you are scared somebody bought it and you will regret that you chose to follow that silly "AH HAR!" feeling?
I suppose I won't really know until that day comes. But I do pray that when that day comes, I can see myself smiling in a mirror somewhere, knowing that I have made the right decision, that she is THE ONE, and we will grow old together....
Just like my Adidas Clima Cool...
The feeling whereby you will just smile while doing something, because you know it's going to turn out great?
I THINK I am blessed with that kind of feeling. Somehow or rather, most of the time I can just feel instinctively whether I am doing the right thing.
Like when Tong Leng clicked VJC for me, I did not kbkb and change it back to HCJC, because somehow instinctively I knew it was the RIGHT choice.
Like when I decided to take Economics in JC (and subsequently Uni). No second thoughts needed even though I knew nuts about Econs before I went JC. And no regrets either.
Like when I decided I wanted to be a staff instead of a PC.
Like when I decided to buy that pair of ADIDAS Clima Cool shoes at half price. When I tried them on, they fit just nice and when I went to the cashier, I KNEW I would love this pair of shoes. And I can't stop wearing them since.
Hmm, perhaps then you might be wondering why TosH screws up so many times then. Why are there so many clothes hanging in your wardrobe that you seldom wear because in the end it turned out to be crap. Why are there a couple of pairs of footwear that you bought even though they did not really fit you? Why are there so many wrong decisions that you had taken?
I have been thinking about it too, and I could only think of this explanation. Because that "Ah Har!" feeling is just too rare, just too scarce. It doesn't come all the time you know. And you start to doubt yourself. Have you lost that instinct? Or if it IS your instinct telling you not to buy, is it because your instinct is now NOT accurate?
I felt that today at Top Man. There was a long sleeve shirt going at $35 bucks which was a pretty good deal. I went to try it, but the sleeves were too long for my shorty hands, but there wasn't any smaller size available.
I was in a dilemma. "It's cheap! Buy it!" "The sleeves are too long! Don't buy!" I started to try to imagine the sleeves were not that long. I started to con myself that the style of the shirt is like that. Just to recapture that happy feeling of buying something that really suits you.
And after a while, I got confused as to which was my "real" instinct. But somehow or rather, I knew that if I had gone to the cashier, I would not have that feeling of satisfaction like when I bought the Adidas shoes. In the interest of my bank account, I decided not to buy. But yet now, I am still thinking whether I should have bought it....
Ok this seems to be a damn shopaholic post but that's not my main point...
http://ickleoriental.livejournal.com/591645.html#cutid1
I have been reading this blog for quite a while, and I feel it's one of the better blogs out there. The author and her husband seems to be a picture perfect couple. Newly married, good looking, and into endurance sports for good measure.
Looking at their wedding photos, you can just feel (and this is just my own feeling, whether it is true or not is none of my business...) that when the Father (is he called the father? or priest?) asks "Do you agree to take XXX as your lawfully wedded wife blah blah blah", they instinctively knew it was the right decision to take.
You just feel that they had that "AH HAR!" feeling.
And this made me think, one day, if (and it's a big if...) I ever have the chance to be in that position, would I have that instinct? The "AH HAR!" feeling that tells me that I should say "I do?"
Or would I be struggling just like today to make a decision? Or worse still, would I make excuses to make myself to say "I do", in the hope that everything would turn out just fine as though I had that "AH HAR!" feeling? You know, buying a shirt that doesn't really suit you, just coz you are scared somebody bought it and you will regret that you chose to follow that silly "AH HAR!" feeling?
I suppose I won't really know until that day comes. But I do pray that when that day comes, I can see myself smiling in a mirror somewhere, knowing that I have made the right decision, that she is THE ONE, and we will grow old together....
Just like my Adidas Clima Cool...
Friday, September 22, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
If you are bored to tears like me....
As you can probably see by now, TosH is rather free these few days. Reason being that he is SUPPOSED to be on off for the whole week. Hmm, but somehow that doesn't stop him from having to go to camp for some work today... But oh well, better get used to using free time for work now... Seeing how teachers work nowadays...
Anyway this post is purely to link to some sites for your reading and/or entertainment.
1) http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=204
This story is basically about how one of the writer's friends manages to escape from NS. The writer's friend calls himself a conscientious objector to forced conscription. While admiring the courage to actually hatch a plan and successfully get away from the MPs, I cannot condone such an action. Yes maybe I do have a sour grapes mentality, I did my share of NS, why can't you? But it isn't just about that. Without any female presence outside (stop it Shihua!!!!! ), the only thing left for me to pull through NS is to think rationally about why NS was necessary. I don't like it, but I appreciate its importance. And fundamental to the success of forced conscription, taking into account our Singaporean kiasu mentality, is that everybody MUST serve unless you are medically certified unfit. We can't even AFFORD to start considering letting all these so called "conscientious objectors" serve in a "lesser" way because given how "niao" we are, everybody (ok maybe 80%) will start to use it to siam the combat vocations. Maybe the NS term can be shorter, maybe the training phase could be more dignified, but running away is not going to help Singapore in the long run. At least I now know that I can kill at least a few mother fuckers who try to invade lim bei's homeland with my SAR 21. (No, don't remind me I failed my shooting....)
2) http://rudesingaporeans.blogspot.com/
3) http://parkingidiots.blogspot.com/
Hmm, and the above 2 links are blogs to shame people that I have been reading. Slept in the library? Occupied 2 seats on the bus? Talked loudly on your handphone? Beware the power of the internet! You may find your picture on the first website the very same night when you go home and log on to laugh at other people!
The second one is more for drivers. How often have you felt super duper du lan when you finally found a parking lot in a crowded car park, only to find the idiot next to the lot had eaten into half the space? Well, with your handphone camera, fear not! Snap and post and the bugger will be shamed in double quick time! But of course there's a catch. PARK YOUR OWN CAR PROPERLY! (And believe me, you never know when you will be snapped... the amount of posts is amazing...)
4) http://www.petrolwatch.com.sg/
5) http://www.petrolwatch.com.sg/carpark_main.php
Ok, maybe should give some better links. Here's 2 websites that are GODLIKE for drivers. The first one tracks petrol prices in pretty much EVERY station in Singapore, for EVERY BRAND. (But god damn it they are in tacit collusion, their prices are the same!) The second one has car park prices but A LOT of car parks around Singapore. Really helpful for you to plan which car park to park your bao bei in. With it, you will never be fooled by the $8/entry at CHIJMES again!
Lastly,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDx1GLqvBO8&search=loose%20change > Loose Change Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?search=loose+change&mode=related&v=wJZlZP0vbCE > Loose Change part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7ipvgBLGc&mode=related&search=loose%20change > Loose Change part 3
Because everyone loves a good conspiracy theory! While I don't necessarily think what is being said in the video is true, it is certainly true that there are too many question marks over the whole thing... And similar to the Michael Moore (did I even get his name correct?) film, it is disturbing to say the least... (And yes I know Loose Change was damn long ago but I only watched it a couple of days ago ok?)
Anyway this post is purely to link to some sites for your reading and/or entertainment.
1) http://www.oikono.com/wordpress/?p=204
This story is basically about how one of the writer's friends manages to escape from NS. The writer's friend calls himself a conscientious objector to forced conscription. While admiring the courage to actually hatch a plan and successfully get away from the MPs, I cannot condone such an action. Yes maybe I do have a sour grapes mentality, I did my share of NS, why can't you? But it isn't just about that. Without any female presence outside (stop it Shihua!!!!! ), the only thing left for me to pull through NS is to think rationally about why NS was necessary. I don't like it, but I appreciate its importance. And fundamental to the success of forced conscription, taking into account our Singaporean kiasu mentality, is that everybody MUST serve unless you are medically certified unfit. We can't even AFFORD to start considering letting all these so called "conscientious objectors" serve in a "lesser" way because given how "niao" we are, everybody (ok maybe 80%) will start to use it to siam the combat vocations. Maybe the NS term can be shorter, maybe the training phase could be more dignified, but running away is not going to help Singapore in the long run. At least I now know that I can kill at least a few mother fuckers who try to invade lim bei's homeland with my SAR 21. (No, don't remind me I failed my shooting....)
2) http://rudesingaporeans.blogspot.com/
3) http://parkingidiots.blogspot.com/
Hmm, and the above 2 links are blogs to shame people that I have been reading. Slept in the library? Occupied 2 seats on the bus? Talked loudly on your handphone? Beware the power of the internet! You may find your picture on the first website the very same night when you go home and log on to laugh at other people!
The second one is more for drivers. How often have you felt super duper du lan when you finally found a parking lot in a crowded car park, only to find the idiot next to the lot had eaten into half the space? Well, with your handphone camera, fear not! Snap and post and the bugger will be shamed in double quick time! But of course there's a catch. PARK YOUR OWN CAR PROPERLY! (And believe me, you never know when you will be snapped... the amount of posts is amazing...)
4) http://www.petrolwatch.com.sg/
5) http://www.petrolwatch.com.sg/carpark_main.php
Ok, maybe should give some better links. Here's 2 websites that are GODLIKE for drivers. The first one tracks petrol prices in pretty much EVERY station in Singapore, for EVERY BRAND. (But god damn it they are in tacit collusion, their prices are the same!) The second one has car park prices but A LOT of car parks around Singapore. Really helpful for you to plan which car park to park your bao bei in. With it, you will never be fooled by the $8/entry at CHIJMES again!
Lastly,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDx1GLqvBO8&search=loose%20change > Loose Change Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?search=loose+change&mode=related&v=wJZlZP0vbCE > Loose Change part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7ipvgBLGc&mode=related&search=loose%20change > Loose Change part 3
Because everyone loves a good conspiracy theory! While I don't necessarily think what is being said in the video is true, it is certainly true that there are too many question marks over the whole thing... And similar to the Michael Moore (did I even get his name correct?) film, it is disturbing to say the least... (And yes I know Loose Change was damn long ago but I only watched it a couple of days ago ok?)
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