Fallen out of love with the beautiful game...

Football, dubbed 'The Beautiful Game' not by me, but by everyone in this world who knows football.

It seems a long time ago that I am one of a few kids who played football in the middle of the afternoon no matter how bright and hot the sunlight is. To others (including me now), we looked like 'sohai' at that time. But looking back, that is the time when I enjoyed playing football most. I enjoyed so much that at that time, eventhough playing under such hot conditions, yet I still doesn't feel stupid. xD

Gone are those days...

Days of fully enjoying football and playing without pressure is replaced by intense and pressured matches. I don't know why. Recently, every match is like a very intense competition, that sometimes even looked like a fight to me. I saw 'monsters' on the pitch. That whenever the ball is with you, you had them tackling you without a second thought. Monsters... Some of them are really monsters!!! Seriously, I already treat some of them as monsters. The only thing they lacked is the ability to shoot fire out of their mouth. Other than that, the way they hunt you down, trying to injure you, is like nothing else but a monster. Look here, I'm not saying that you can't have sliding tackles while playing football, but what are we playing now? World Cup? Olympics? English Premier League? Spanish Premera Liga? Or Serie A Italia? NO! We are not even playing in a amateur school competition in Malaysia! So why must you play that rough? Or is it whether you don't have the brains to think that such rough tackles might injure people? Or are you just like what I said: Monsters? My health is more important, I don't wanna play with monsters and risk myself getting injured.

And because of such intense matches, as Chinese say 火药味, the pressure rises. There will be zero margin and tolerance for mistakes. Whenever you did a mistake, in your ears, words of blame from your teammates are the only words you heard. Just like today, I shot three times, none went in. But that's not what I'm frustrated with, what I'm frustrated with is after each of the three shots I took, I heard complains, I heard blames. 'Walao, you should have passed the ball!', 'Damn, you think you can score from there?', 'WTF are you doing? How can you shoot from there?', 'Can't you cross a better ball?'... And the faces I see, all are blaming expressions.

I wasn't angry, I was just frustrated...

I had enough, when football has become such a rough game, and the pressure to play well is such high, I think it's time to take a break. I don't wanna have any conflicts with my teammates and my opponents as well. I know that if I continue playing under such conditions and pressure, it's not gonna be a matter of whether I will run riot, but when I'm gonna run riot.

It shouldn't be this way, it just shouldn't be this way.

When I missed a shot, what I wanna hear is 'Good try!', not 'Walao... what are you doing?'

When I did not pass the ball well, what I wanna hear is 'Try to pass this way...', not 'Can't you see that I'm here, why did you pass there?'

When I scored a goal, what I wanna see is clapping hands, not faces with expressions that read 'Oh! That is what you should have managed! (理所当然) Nothing to celebrate then...'

But I blame nobody, there's nobody to blame. Its just that the nature of this game has changed. Playing under such intense pressure just make people crack out those demoralising words. I admit that even I myself might say those things to my teammates (even teammates who are my good friends) when they do not play well. But what I wanna say is, it just shouldn't be this way...

I think its fair to say because of these, I've fallen out of love with football. I'm sick of playing with pressure. The football that I wanna play is zero pressure, 100% recreational football. I wanna play football that is win or lose, life goes on... I don't want to play football where you lose and there's like no tomorrow.

Today, I tried to show what I feel. When I had a mistake, I was blamed, but I said loudly 'Nevermind lar! (又不用紧啦)'. I know at that moment nobody is gonna catch what I actually mean. But what I really wanna say is: Why scold me? It's just another mistake. Life goes on right? It's not the end of the world! Why so pressure?

I've said that I wanna take a break from playing football. And hell yeah I seriously mean it! I don't know for how long. A week? A fortnight? A month? A year? I don't have a single clue now. But football is in my blood. I love sports, and football IS my favourite sport. 1 thing is for sure: I will be back!

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

52 years ago, the 'Union Jack' came down, and the flag that would now be known as 'Jalur Gemilang' went up.

Yes! Malaysia is 52 years old! Err... still very young lar... Where got old?! xD

But hor... although still young but got some 'health' problems already ler. Like Teoh Beng Hock case, Port Klang Free Zone case, Istana Toyo, MCA conflicts, plus never-ending haze and H1N1...

Must start to take care a bit ler... When 'sick', must eat 'medicine'. When not 'sick', also must eat some 'vitamins' wan ler...

52 years... Malaysia has gone through high and low, but who doesn't? The only best thing to do is to learn from mistakes, then grow and mature! ^^

Malaysia Boleh! 1Malaysia boleh!

Once again, Selamat Hari Merdeka!

My favourite player leaves my favourite club

When I started this blog, I told myself not to make this blog look like a football blog. So, I've not posted anything about my favourite game so far. But today, that 'record' will be broken. All but because my favourite player will leave my favourite club. That's right, while I'm surfing the net just now, I saw the news that Andrei Shevchenko (my favourite player) will leave Chelsea (my favourite club) within the next few days. Although expected, but still I'm devastated.

Sheva (short form for Shevchenko) wanted first team football regularly, however Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti cannot guarantee that, so Sheva was told that he can now leave the club and seek for another new club.

Okay... A bit of a history here. Sheva is one of my favourite players ever since the day I started watching football. During his time at AC Milan, he was famous for his speed and dribbling skills. He proved that he is one of the most leathal strikers in Europe, let alone Italy, during that period. Sheva truly became a Milan legend for the number of goals he scored for them. In 2003, Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club and began his persuit of Sheva. AC Milan hung on the Sheva for 3 years by keep refusing Chelsea's offers to buy the player. Reason? Because Sheva is just too important for AC Milan. From here, it can clearly be seen how good Sheva is. Somehow in 2006, Roman got his dream come true, or more importantly, I got my dream come true too! Sheva became a Chelsea player, during which he also became the most expensive player in the English Premiership at that time. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing Sheva play for my favourite club. Expectations were high, especially due to his expensive transfer fee and high wages. He made his debut against Liverpool and scored! But Chelsea will then go on to lose the game 1-2. After that, Sheva began to fade away. The then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho even altered his formations to accommodate Sheva better in the team. However, Sheva failed to settle in the team and his performances were nowhere near his peak. A dull second season then followed. And after scoring Chelsea's final goal of the 2007/08 season, he was loaned back to his old club, AC MIlan. There, he again failed to recapture his form. Eventually this season he returned to Chelsea, but not for long. Although Ancelotti followed him from AC Milan to Chelsea, but even he cannot guarantee that he would use Sheva regularly. Sadly, Sheva opted to leave.

Sheva's leaving actually follows a list of patterns. Firstly, Ukraine (Sheva's country) strikers always seem to be unable to succeed in the Premiership. Sergei Rebrov formed a leathal partnership with Sheva when both of them are at Dynamo Kiev, but failed dismally during his Premiership stint. Then we got Andriy Voronin (although still a Premierhsip player now), who is Sheva's striker partner in Ukraine national team, deemed surplus to requirements in Liverpool.

Secondly, Sheva also follows a long list of failed Chelsea strikers over the past few years (damn I hate to say this, it just shows that many have failed at Chelsea). From Adrian Mutu, to Hernan Crespo. From Mateja Kezman, to Claudio Pizarro. Hmm... maybe Chelsea just have tendency to fail previously successful strikers? xD

Anyway, based on the strikers that Chelsea have right now, including 2 golden boot winners Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, it might really be best for Sheva personally to leave the club.

Overall in 2 full seasons at Chelsea, Sheva scored 22 goals. But perhaps his best contribution to the club would be the unleashing of his strike partner Drogba. Remarkably, Drogba's best 2 seasons for Chelsea so far are actually during the 2 seasons Sheva is in the club!

All the best in whichever club you join! Sheva ^^

Andrei Shevchenko celebrates goal.

Sheva in one of his final few games for Chelsea.

Didier Drogba and Andrei Shevchenko

Malaysia 'Chaos' Association?

The news headline today reads 'MCA deputy president Chua Soi Lek sacked'. Reason? The infamous sex scandal happened nearly 2 years ago.

What can I say about this? When I heard Chua was sacked by the MCA party president Ong Tee Keat because of this reason, I was like 'Are you kidding?'

I personally felt it was super harsh. Why suddenly sack someone because of something that happened so long ago? Furthermore, Chua definately has took his responsibilty. After the scandal, he resigned from all posts, and faded away from the political scene. Then, Chua decided to take part in the party elections at the end of last year, competing for the deputy president post. Ong, who was going for the party president post at the time, publicly said that there are no 'menu' or specific preferences as to who he wants his deputy to be. Ong claimed that he will work with whichever candidate who was voted as his deputy.

It turned out that Ong and Chua both won the posts they competed for. Ever since then, reports saying that they do not work well with each other never failed to surface. When choosing the party members for the Cabinet, Chua, who was the deputy president, wasn't given any posts.

Until today, the bombshell was dropped, Chua was sacked. This is a very controversial decision as Chua had took his resposibility, and was then VOTED in as deputy president. It's pretty clear that he had paid for his sins. But then, why was he sacked for the reason again? Is it really because of sex scandal? Or is it as certain reports said that Ong did not work well with Chua? Then again, Ong said he will work well with whoever voted his deputy? Oh... the questions could go on and on...

But one thing is for sure, this decision will cause unrest among some party members of MCA. However, to how much an extent still remains to be seen. Hopefully all the problems can be sought out as soon as possible to avoid splitting the party, which is the ultimate chaos. Furthermore, such a problem might also be emphasized by the Oppositions in order to challenge the position of BN...

Note: Above are all just the writer's opinion. Don't mean to offend anybody. xD

Iguana Invasion

It's a rainy day today. I was sitting on the sofa in my living room playing my handphone games (yes, I'm that lame). Suddenly heard my dad called me to look at something. Wow! I was shocked to see a small iguana on the floor! At first I was a bit scared (I admit), but then I felt that it's not everyday that an iguana happens to turn up in your house right? Lolz. So I decided to have a close up look at it. I don't have the habit of taking pictures of memorable things. xD. I have missed so many pictures worth taking in the past. Haha. As this time I had my phone in my palms, so I managed to take a picture of that iguana, before my dad chased it out of the house. And yeah! We didn't kill it! :)

Well... while it run, it looks kinda cute after all. It's not that kind of scary animal that I first thought. But then... I repeat, this is a small one... Don't play with the big ones... >.<

Losing streak (me in minesweepers) vs. Winning streak (Usain Bolt in 100m)

First of all, this post is a response to my cousin's post on his blog. Yeah! YOU!!!

Lolz! I've always considered myself a pro in Minesweeper @ MSN Games. Winning 3 rounds out of 3 against anyone is just kinda normal to me, just like Usain Bolt winning the 100meters athletics event.

Until recently... I've started to lose my advantage. I don't know why. Hehe. Maybe is bad luck? Or I used to have good luck? No no no... I've won so many times before, it couldn't be luck.

So conclusion is: I had bad luck in the game recently. xD

On the other hand, I talked about Usain Bolt just now. And yeah! He has won the 100meters again yesterday! Also, he broke his own world record set exactly a year ago in the Olympics! He slashed his old record by 0.11s to bring it to 9.58s. How fast exactly is 9.58seconds?

Well, in the time it took me to finish typing this sentence, he would have launched from his block, accelerated, and are now 100meters away from his starting point.

Usain Bolt has became one of my favourite sporting idols. Why? Not just because he is the fastest sprinter around, but also because he has a built which doesn't look like a sprinter! He is lanky (195cm), and not as athletic and muscular as fellow sprinters like Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell. Traditionally, 100meters world champions are not taller than 6 feet/183cm, and are usually very muscular. Such a built ensures top acceleration. When you have long legs, common sense tells you that it takes longer for you to move it doesn't it? Just think of 2 simple pendulums, one with a shorter string and one with a longer string, which 1 will swing faster when you release it from a same point? It might be a disadvantage to Bolt for having long legs, but it could also turn out to be an advantage because if he could take his strides at the same speed as his competitors, then his larger steps with his long legs would meant an advantage to him. And that's exactly what he did!

Sportsmen like Usain Bolt inspires me that lanky people could still use their long legs to their advantage! ^^

The lesson of the day is: When you don't have something which others have, you can work and exploit what you have and use it to the max! If you are not gifted with something others have, then surely you are gifted with something which others don't have! :)

OMG!!! Do I sound like a motivational speaker or what??? Oh well...

Clear-cut winner.

Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt.

Bolt Trademark.

R.I.P. Sly

Woke up today to a sad and shocking news that a mass comm diploma coursemate of mine has passed away.

R.I.P. Sylvester

Deja Vu

I know this is kinda random but when I came across this word today, I was like 'OMG!!! So long never experience it already. Almost forgotten about this thingy!'

First of all, I would like to say I experience Deja Vu quite often last time. Okay... For those who don't know what it is, it's really something you need to experience in order for you to understand it. Have you ever experienced something that is happening now seem to have happened to you before? It's like you have been in an exact same situation before when actually it is happening for the first time.

If you never experienced it before, then I'm sure you will feel unbelievable that such things would happen. But it exists!

I used to have Deja Vu few years back. Sometimes when a friend talk to me, I was like 'Hey, looks like you have said this exact same thing, in this exact same place, with the exact same surroundings before!' Of course this is impossible, how could the exact same thing happen twice? xD

Well... So far there is no conclusion as to why and how Deja Vu happens. Only some predictions said that maybe it has something to do with dreams. But how on earth could I dream of something that will happen in the future?

And the weird thing is, although it means you feel like something has happened before, Deja Vu doesn't go the way in which you can predict what happens next. In fact, it goes the way in which you have a memory of something that is currently happening, however you don't know what's next, but when it comes, you will go like: Oh yeah! This is it, this is what happened! Lol... weird weird weird.

Haha! It didn't happen to me for a long time already. Does it mean anything? Anyway I don't mind experiencing it again as it is not freaking at all. ^^

This post so random lar... Nevermind... To make it more random, I will just say there is a movie called 'Deja Vu', and there's also a song by Beyonce called 'Deja Vu' as well... zzz -_-"

Peace

A week that was...

6 days has passed since my last blog post, and it's the longest period of emptiness (no posts) since I started my blog. But it doesn't mean that nothing happenned to me. Lolz! So here are some of the happennings of the past week, a week that was:

~ Boring
It's the second week of my semester break and, basically, I did nothing. Zzz. Oh ya! I slept... zzz

~ Happy and Suprised
Found out my results for my past semester and it kinda shocked me because I, personally, think I did quite well, at least it's unexpectedly better than what I thought I will achieve. I managed to hold on to my 'clean record' of never being failed for any of my course subjects until now. My results for my 5 subjects this past semester are (Just for your info ya! Not bragging):
Public Relations: A (It's everyone's good work for making the PR event a success! ^^)
Media Planning: B+ (Miss Maha was quite strict in marking this paper, a number of classmates failed, honestly I don't know how I passed -_-")
Creative Strategy: B (Phew...)
Consumer Behaviour: C+ (Was worried about this subject.)
Principles of Advertising: C+ (Doesn't feel good about this subject too.)
Once again I made it, and I guess I've managed to raise my CPGA to above 3.00 (my target) after these results. Perhaps now I should go for 3.50???

~ Thrilling
My friend Yung Loo was robbed while walking near his home on Wednesday. The robber came with a motorcycle, pointed a knife to his neck, and took his belongings away. He lost his wallet with RM40+ inside, IC, driver's license, handphone, and some books in his bag. This happenned at a 'lorong' or alley between two middle units of a row of terrace house. And I only got to know about this incident the next day.

~ Special
On Friday, 7th August, at 12:34:56pm, it's the '123456789' moment which lasts for merely a second. But it wouldn't happen again ever in my life. And I missed it, by a minute. I was sitting in front of my PC chatting and when I realized it, it was already 12:35pm... T.T

~ Nostalgic
Invaded my (beloved) secondary school's football field to have a match between 'old boys' and 'current students'. Had to wait till 10am before we could start our match, and gosh, it was hot! After playing a while I cannot 'tahan' the heat already. The match ended 1-1. Keen for a rematch! And I want it early before the sun rises!

~ Exciting
The football season is back this weekend! With Chelsea vs Manchester United in the Community Shield. Can't wait for Chelsea to grab their first of many trophies this season! Wahaha~~

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (10)

On August 7th, 2009, at 12hr 34minutes 56seconds, the time and date will be:

12:34:56 07-08-09

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

And why there's a 10 on my title?

Because this is my 10th blog post!!! xD

For the first time ever...

For the first time ever...

~I read a Chinese ghost story book.
I love ghost and horror stories, read several of them. One of the horror series that I read most is "True Singapore Ghost Stories". But today, when I went to Popular at Bukit Tinggi Jusco, I randomly select a Chinese Ghost storybook and tell myself: Hey! Let's give it a try. I sat down on the floor, and opened the book. Gosh the words go from up to down (vertically), and the lines go from right to left... This brings me to my second 'first'...

~I read a Chinese book with such word arrangements.
Those familiar with me would probably know that I hate, or should I say, simply don't know how to read a book printed that way. English books for sure wouldn't have this word arrangements, but even those Chinese books that I've read in my life are printed in my so called 'normal' way. It just feels weird for me to have my eyes read in a different way.

~I read a Chinese storybook this year!
Yup... Ever since I went into college, I kinda break my ties with Chinese books. I did read a few Chinese books this year, like those "How to chase a girl", "Laws of attraction", "How to make myself look good", "Mars vs Venus" kind of Chinese books (Okay I admit that... but I just read it in the stores, I won't buy it!). But this is the first time this year that I read a Chinese storybook/novel. Luckily I still don't have any difficulties reading Chinese! Lolz.

Hmm... Despite all these 'firsts', I still yet to buy my first book this year. I spend a lot of time reading books in bookstores, but I haven't spend a single cent on any books this year. Bookstores are my library. Ooops... Well, perhaps that's my way of reading, and that is without paying. By the way, it's a nice book. I read one of the short stories in it, quite scary and suspenceful, suit my taste ^^. But then... I have no idea about the title of this book! O_O

When will I buy a book and bring home and really read it? Erm... I'm thinking about it...

Speechless...

Today I went to BBK Jusco.
While I was walking, a Malay promoter gave me a brochure, I took it.
I can see that he's promoting some kind of cream.
Seeing that the group of people in front of me just ignored him, I stop and decided to give a bit of a reaction.
What I'm unhappy is that, before saying anything, he took my hand and applied that cream on it.
I was like, WTF???
'I just give you a reaction and took your brochure, did I ask you to give me anything?'
Nevermind...
I give him face.
I did not just walk away although my mind told me to when he gave me that cream without saying anything.
Then he took me to his booth and continue saying bla bla bla...
Okay... Bla bla bla...
Again... Bla bla bla...
Then... Bla bla bla...
After that... Bla bla bla...
Guess he did not know that when he took me to his booth, I am already so determined that he ain't gonna get any business from me.
I just wanna hear what he has to say.
Kekeke...
He said: This cream is good for you. Look at your oily nose, and those red rashes beside your nose...
Okay... I admit that. (Not gonna elaborate here coz this post just isn't about my oily nose!)
But I promised myself not to give him any business.
So... Bla bla bla... He bla-ed all he want.
Right or wrong for not giving him and his cream a chance?
At this point I dont know yet, but I do know that I'm a tough nut to crack.
After saying how good it is, he told me to buy that cream, RM15...
Very small bottle...
RM15...
I have lots of RM15 in my wallet!
Ooops!
'But you ain't getting even 1.5 cents from me.'
So I said thanks but no thanks to him.
Then he pretend to whisper to me that he personally would sell that cream at RM10 for me.
He said don't tell his boss...
Oh well...
If someone could so easily lower the price of the cream for any customer, then I think it can't be good no matter what.
Gotcha!!!
Haha... dude... you took the wrong step.
At first I ain't buying from you coz you weren't impressing me with your actions at the first place. (I'm being 'degil' here for not giving you chance >.<)
Now I ain't buying from you coz I felt your cream just doesn't worth my money. (Hey! Now I think I'm actually right for being 'degil'! ^^)
In the end, someone whom I think is his boss said to me: 'OK lar... sell you RM10 lar...'
I said NO.
NO NO NO NO NO...
Guess what? In the end, the promoter again asks his 'boss' want to sell how much, I guess the boss also know that I won't buy it anyhow, so he actually smiled and somewhat joked to the promoter: Sell him RM1 lah...
Ha Ha Ha... Very funny...
Did he know that he just made his cream looked even more worthless?
Before I go, I gave the promoter a pat on his back, and said thanks for the final time.
Phew... 'Thanks', as in 'Thanks for not troubling me anymore...'
Kekeke...
I walked away, with my usual 'cool' (self-proclaimed) walking style, like nothing happened.
Just thinking that: Hey, I got another story to write on my blog today! Woohoo... -_-"

Final note: I don't know whether the cream is really good or not.
I don't wanna know.
And I will never know.
But what I do know is,
I'm 'degil'.
And the way these guys do business ain't the right way.
And now my 'wise man advice': Perhaps you guys wont get any good business even if your cream is really good and effective, unless you change your way, and mind your words (to be more exact, your 'price').