Positive Now!

The players are devoid of confidence. Everything that could go wrong are happening to us. This lack of confidence is turning our negative cycle. We badly need a change of luck and the only ones who could do it are ourselves. Never stop believing...We will come good. YNWA

Ah Beng Jiak Liu Lian

Yesterday me, Dap, Serene and Pearly went to watch the local
musical, Broadway Beng - Jiak Liu Lian at the big Liu Lian (Esplanade). When Pearly jio-ed us sometimes back to watch the Ah Beng themed musical, we were still apprehensive. What kind of LC musical will this turn out to be? Alas, during the show, we could not help laughing loudly and singing along with the hokkien songs (or is it just me..hahah). By the end of the show, we were really happy, having fully enjoyed the performance by the quite brilliant Sebastian Tan. Dap was part of our jokes afterwards because her alma mater - Si Ling School was featured.

I must say that the 2 hour show was definitely worth watching. Nothing beats a generous amount of hokkien in a local production ;)

浪花一朵朵

This is the song I learned ...to sing to her when I was still wooing her.Its the same song I was made to sing by the sisters to clear the 'last hurdle' during our wedding. Its 7 years now... Happy Anniversary my dear...

He who made the people happy

50 years ago, this great man from Glenbuck arrived at Liverpool FC...



You'll Never Walk Alone, Shankly

Champagne on Beer budget

Everyone expects the gaffer to deliver the champagne to the table. But I wonder why there are so many of them failing to recognise that he has to do it with such pathetic amount of money. Despite this, he has improve us so much, with much wheelings and dealings, against the odds. The real devils are the 2 bloody Yanks!





YNWA Rafa!

Is there such a thing called Blind Faith?

"Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing" I have been scoffed at recently for having "Blind Faith". To which, I didn't even bother to counter. I am not stupid! I am not being/to be manipulated. I can see, think and analyse for myself. Above all, because of what I've learned for myself, I have faith and hope :)

你快樂所以我快樂

I made a wish and sent it to heaven...



Happy and healthy always

Can't get you out of my head

I won't back down

33 years "young" today. Its the morning after. My beloved Reds lost again :((shucks!no 3 points and the Near Nirvana feeling) Didn't sleep well. Was thinking about my life so far and of course a large portion of the thought centred around the Reds. I kept telling myself that I should be satisfied with my life so far. I've got my lovely family, a good career, a bunch of great mates and etc...But I would have love it so much to see the Reds do what they did when I started falling in love with them - Dominating the league and Europe. Will my wish come true? Regardless... I'll Never Walk Alone :)

Standing in Solidarity, we fear none

Oh God!

I am getting desperate... We have suffered for years since when our beloved Kenny D left after the Hillsborough Disaster took its toll on him, since Graeme Souness introduced his changes too fast and broke up an ageing but still great team... False dawns after false dawns since then, with the latest being the all talk and no action, 'dumb and dumber' new co-owners... All hard earned profits we made are used to service the debts they have incurred. My beloved Reds are in tatters and I really pray that divine intervention happens soon. YNWA

Obsession

The downside of it is the hollowness you feel when things are not going well. You have nothing or no one that can help you take the pain off your mind.

The upside is when things go well, you are as close as you can be to Nirvana. Joy and fulfilment burst your heart

Why do I bother? Cos its my religion! YNWA

Too obvious?

Since I was posted back to HQ on the 1st October, many colleagues from other departments have been telling me that I look a world of difference from when I was still in my last post. When I asked them to elaborate, the replies would contain words like "radiant", "looks happier", "less stressed". Hahahaha...am I being too obvious? You mean I have it written all over my face?

Hearts of the Lions

Today is the first day of work in my new workplace. Well it should be old workplace as I am going back to where I started out - Technology Department. And the first highlight of my return was the news I received that the Op LH contingent is very likely to be activated for the overseas mission to Indonesia. I am part of contingent for this quarter (Oct to Dec 09). I immediately sms-ed my wife to inform her. She freaked out. Then about an hour later, I got the news that the Contingent has indeed been activated but my Director had pulled me out of it because of the many tasks awaiting me to take over. Somehow, I was filled with quite a bit of disappointment. In contrast, my wife was elated when I sms-ed that I was pulled out from the contingent. Its been 1 1/2 years since my second overseas missions in Sichuan and I thought I would be experiencing the very meaning and fulfilling mission again this time. As I am writing, I have just gotten a message that the Contingent has just flown off from PLA. I wish my comrades a safe and successful Op LH...

F1 2009

"Nothing Else Comes Close" is this year's Singapore F1Race Tagline. Its 3 weeks plus to go and all the preparation works are coming thick and fast and in the intensity and high pressure level like no other standbys (well, nothing else comes come, right?)in the whole work year. This 'difficult to breath' situation is familiar and is going to last till standdown is given in the wee hours of 28th September...

I MUST & WILL survive!!!

Taipei Day 7

The girls enjoying their drinks at the streetside cafe

We had some shopping at the
早市 near our hotel. Bought some very nice
水蜜桃 and guava

Megan wanted to have a pic taken with the cute characters on the pillar outside
小林煎餅 shop

Megan having her silent moment before checking out from our 'home' for the 7 days. She and Matilda were repeating the cheers of "
台灣加油" and "
我愛台灣" (they picked up from the Typhoon Morokat charity TV show) all the time, on that day

Taipei Day 6

Very nice chicken soup restaurant in
師大夜市. Dap had
蛤仔chicken soup while I had
鳳梨苦瓜 chicken soup. Pigs blood cubes and vege made up the rest of our dinner.

Didn't take any pics except the 2 above for the whole day... 6 days of carrying Megan is no joke!

Taipei Day 5

Megan enjoying her cake @
古宮 museum. A big pity that photo-taking are not allowed in the museum

Nicely mod car outside the Adidas Original shop @ the quite groovy
敦化南路

Yielding to pedestrains? Why didn't they use the simple "giving way"? Hahaha

Taipei Day 4

中正纪念堂

西門町

Famous Mee Sua (I don't find it nice though)

台南 cuisine = Nice!

Yummy indeed

Taipei Day 3

Waiting for food @ Kiki (Sichuan Cuisine: had Pigs ears and spicy bamboo shots amongst others)

Matilda @ 101

Matilda & Megan with the 101 mascot

Megan & Me @ 101

Guppies catching in
繞河夜市

Taipei Day 2

九份老街

九份

Nice spread of very fresh meat and vegetable @ Momo Paradise (Its eat till u drop)

Waiting for the food to be cooked in the steamboat @ Momo Paradise

鮮芋仙 Desert

Taipei Day 1

Our Home for the 7 days in Taipei

The girls in my life enjoying
啊給 fishballs in
淡水老街

Ferry Jetty @
淡水


Matilda & Megan enjoying the
捷運 (MRT) ride to
士林


The sign shows it all. Haha Not! (Didn't take any photos at the Night Market as too tired from carrying Megan)

Taiwan Holiday

Or should I spell it as Taipei instead because there's effectively where we were for the whole of the 7 days. We could not go anyway outside Taipei as a result of the most devastating Typhoon that hit the Island nation in 50 years, a week before our trip. We were already thinking of calling off our trip after seeing all the news report in the papers and TV. Was a bit devastated as we had been wanting to go for our first trip to Taiwan.


Luckily, as the days drew nearer, we got to know that Taipei was relatively unscathed. In fact, Taipei was not even raining much for the few days prior to our trip. On hindsight, I wished Taipei was raining a bit more ... for the entire 1 week we were there, it was bloody bloody hot! I have a bit of a tan now. Because of the fact that we could not go to any of the other attractions outside Taipei, the highlights of this trip were the shopping, eating and more shopping and more eating... I think I have eaten a whole months worth of my normal intake of food in my seven days there. Luckily because of all the walking while carrying a 14kg 2 year old, I did not put on much weight - 1 Kg only


Well on the whole, purely on the merit of all the things in Taipei (boh pian), I would rate the trip as slightly above average. I was most impressed with the courteousy of the people. I was offered seats everytime I board the MRT (was carrying Megan all the time!). Also, taiwanese girls are mostly pretty, with nice figures :P And they are so 'tair' in the way they talk, no matter whether 15 or 55. Not saying that I am sucker for this 'tair-ness' but it beats the 'por la' way that many Singaporean girls talk anyday :P Taiwanese food, from roadside stalls to the restaurants are also nice. The major minus point though, has to be the super hot weather! We were sweating loads! Will remember not to go Taiwan in August again.

Red Heart - Part 3

The Reds on Cruise:

This song for the gaffa, Rafa Benitez

Red Heart - Part 2

The Reds on Cruise:

1st song is for Carragher - Vice Captain

2nd song is for Jay Spearing (promising reserve team player)...hahah he was not expecting that

Red Heart - Part 1

The Reds on cruise:

Hahahah... Sore throat + A pint too much = Bad bad singing. Torres was a little embarrased but still acknowledged me. My effort paid off :)

I miss Scuba!!!

Last night at my HTAC SO reunion, 2 of my cronies were talking about their respective plans to upgrade their Scuba skills. Hearing them talk about Scuba made me so envious! Its been 8 years since I last dived. I remember all the fun and great experiences in my diving days. We were so on the ball! The almost weekly boat rides out to P. Hantu were followed by dives in bad visibility. They were good training though and brought about the greater appreciation for the good dive sites overseas (remembered being blown away by what I could see in the water of pre-commercialised P. Redang). I enjoyed diving so much that at one point I was even considering making a career out of it. Alas, the good days didn't last and our divings 'ground to a halt' when my mate is cheated by his dive shop partner. All of us have since 'retired'...all except Alvin. Alvin was the last in our group to pick up diving but he is the only one regularly diving now. In fact, he is damn super on about diving. His underwater photographs even get featured in dive magazines from time to time.

Sigh. When will I get to dive again?

NDP - Duty to Nation

I have just handed over duty after a 12 hour, weekend DO shift. On another day, I would be getting ready to go back to home sweet home. Not today. I am going to continue to work till almost this midnight. Its National Day and I am on standby at the F1 Paddock Carpark. And if that's sad, I will be on standby again tomorrow at Istana for the National Day Reception. *Sigh* Boh pian...Hobson's choice. Well, I should be getting used to this, shouldn't I?

Since the NDP in 1997, I have been involved in many NDPs...er I can't even remember exactly how many. The most memorable has to be the 1st one -

when I was in the RSN Guard-of-Honour contingent. Months of months of training, everyday waking up at 5am in the morning to draw arms, all to ensure the clockwork like drills in the 4 main parades that year. The NDP being the last one, was also the easiest one (shortest time, least amount of drills). It also filled us with the most pride, with TV coverage, 55000 live crowd watching in the stadium. Without being biased, the Navy No.1 is by far the smartest - White peak cap, white uniform, white boots. And the attention of the crowd and bystanders during training and rehearsals never failed to vindicate this.

Anyway, my role in NDPs nowadays is very different. For starters, there is none of the glamour that I basked in as a Guard of Honour. Instead of the all whites of the No.1, I am donned in the hue of navy blue. And instead of being part of the performance, I am in the back seat, on standby for any contigencies (touch wood). Regardless, despite the small complaints, deep down, it still fills me with pride to be able to contribute in the biggest National celebration event of the year :)

Gracias Xabi Alonso

To the tune of the Beatles' song, "Ob-la- di, Ob-la-da": "A-L-O-N-S-O, its Alonso, Xabi Xabi Alonso..."

The greatest, longest transfer saga for this summer has finally come to an end. Xabi Alonso has gotten what he wanted. It still does my head in, trying to figure out why such a top top pro like Alonso will want to go to the circus that's Real Madrid. Anyway, Alonso was adamant and there's absolutely no way Rafa would have done any better in dealing with that. Full credit to Rafa for not being bullied by F-ing Real Madrid and keeping to our valuation. I won't begrudge Xabi.... kudos for handing in the transfer request and saving us your massive, loyalty bonus. One of Rafa's first signings for Liverpool, Xabi has been nothing short of brilliant for us. Testimonial of his class must be the determination displayed by Real Madrid in signing him.

Xabi, thanks for Istanbul, the wonderful goals, the superb passes, the brilliant tackles....

Thanks for the memories...

Nunca caminarás solo

"Chairman Mao has never seen the greatest show of red strength"

Its been a week since Liverpool came, saw and captured the hearts of many Red fans of this tiny island nation. I bet many of the Liverpool staff and players would have been shocked at the level of support that fans from 7000 miles away from home(Liverpool) could reach. Even Carragher and Sammy Lee who were here (the last time Liverpool came to our shores) 8 years ago would have been surprised at the huge support this time round. All the peripheral events prior to the match have one thing in common - Red fans galore. Even I was surprised by the Singapore Reds when I was in the stadium. I must say that theres probably more Red shirts in the stadium than NDP time. It was definitely leaps and bounds better than during the match eight years ago. At least this time round, theres some Kop songs being sung, albeit by small sections of the crowd only. Just as suspected, theres still some way to go for Singapore's Reds. But definitely, theres big progress. I still remember the first time the Reds came to Kallang all the way back in 1991. 99 percent of the fans back then were so much more ignorant about the Reds. One instance which sticks out was when it was announced that Steve McManaman (an exciting youth player then) was coming on as a sub, the majority of the crowd were laughing at the stadium announcer, and saying that he should have pronounced it "Steve McMahon". Steve McMahon was of course the midfield dynamo of the first team. But I and my mate could tell at once, from where we were, that the player about to come on was indeed the tall and lanky McManaman and not who the majority others thought it was.

Talking about progress, I really really wish that the team can build on last years great great effort and emerge the Champions this time round. Alas, we were so bloody close - 4 bloody points short! With Rafa at the helm, I am really sanguine about the prospects. By the look of the support in Singapore I am surely not alone in the level of optimism... Whatever it is, the famous team in Red will never be short of support :)

SANGUINE = WITH HOPE = RED

Red Tour

My beloved Reds are coming to Singapore! They will be playing against the Singapore National Team - the likes of Noh Alam Shah (in my opinion the best Singapore striker since Fandi Ahmad), Lionel Lewis (best since David Lee) and Daniel Bennett.

Its been eight years since they last came to our shores, in 2001 - the year they won the treble (I went over to UK for my studies later part of that year and got pics taken with the throphies plus 2 more - Charity Shield & European Super Cup being the other 2).

My current favourite player, Stevie G could miss the trip due to the hearing of his court case. Bless him! I really think that he is victimised lah. He's no saint but surely he would not be so stupid as to commit those indisretions as claimed by the assaulted guy, who happens to be a scum supporter. Anyway, with or without Stevie, I would be singing my heart out to cheer on all the lads in Red. I have even got a banner made. Nah, not to enter some best banner competition organised by the local official supporters club (by the way, EOA is way better!). I got mine done way before even knowing theres such competition. I've always been inspired by all the banner of the Liverpool fans. Liverpool fans make the funniest, wittiest banners ever. I have always wanted to have a banner of my own - one which reflects the unique support that Liverpool enjoys in this part of the world:

Although I am not born and bred in Liverpool... And I don't speak with the coolest sounding Scouse accent...I am so much in love with Liverpool, and that love will not be inferior to those of any man for their 'birds' (slang for Girfriends)... Hahaha a bit of Singlish, Liverpool in 'exotic' chinese words and the unmistakable LiverBird... Will them scousers be impressed? I hope so :)



Although the tour organiser is trying very hard (too hard lah!) to create an Anfield-like atmosphere, I am not optimistic that Kallang will be transformed to be an Anfield next Sunday. I cringed when I read that they are naming the east stand the 'Kop' Stand and will be handing out scarves there. (wah lau eh! We are no Chavski lor). No fans in the World can rival the Scousers. And Singaporeans are not really super passionate and do not have a football culture of mass singing/chanting their support for their team/players. Also, I doubt the majority of the fans will know much songs/chants. That said, I will be doing my fair bit with my repertoire of songs and chants... Sure to have no voice after the match ...haha

Racial Harmony

"We, the citizens of Singapore,pledge ourselves as one united people,regardless of race, language or religion,to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity andprogress for our nation"

National Day is just around the corner and there are many Singapore flags being put up at the fences throughout my estate. The other day, when Dada saw the flags, she started to recite the Singapore Pledge - well, her somewhat distorted, abridged version. While listening to her, the above highlighted portion suddenly triggered a thought in my mind. Dada's pledge and the recent unrest in Urumqi, China reminded me of how lucky we are to be living in Singapore -Multi-racial and multi religious...all living harmoniously. The government really has done well! Long may it continue...

INERTIA

"One's relucatance to change its state of motion"...

I am posting out of the dragon's lair pretty soon, after F1 standby that is. Can't say I am particulary sad as its been tasks upon tasks, with little breathing space in between, at my current work place. That said, I am not exactly over the moon with the posting back to my old work place. Probably because I yearn for some fresh challenges as well. Sigh, life is so full of dilemma. Well, what choice do I have except ....Hobson's Choice? Hahahah...come what may lor

Finally Over!

Good riddance! The work plan seminar which I've been busy with for the whole week is finally over. Really happy. My big boss looked quite happy about it :) I've not have the best of mood working recently. In fact, getting a bit pissed with one thing after another being piled upon me. I even asked big boss whether did he think I was too slack that he just keeps letting me handle tasks upon tasks. I was of course joking lah. Not really angry with him as I think he is one of the nicest big boss to work for. My anger stems from the fact that the inept one keeps getting away from doing shit-not. I and my colleagues have been multi-tasking, working like crazy to cover his lazy arse. Every body knows that he is not working! I think my big boss does as well. But, I really don't know why big boss is giving him all the dispensation. Damn it! Anyway, I'll be posting out after F1. Good luck to the inept one!

Of Monsters & Aliens

On Sunday I watched "Monsters vs Aliens". It was my 1st movie for er like the longest time, nevermind it being my 1st ever 3D movie. After 5 minutes, I was blown away by the effects. Could not help saying "wow" silently to myself, many times. My oh my, I have been hearing and reading quite a bit about 3D movies and 3D TV. Never did I expect the technology to have progressed so far. However, after half an hour into the movie, I felt my eyes feeling a bit 'tired' - the kind of feeling one would get if looking at a projector's screen for too long. I decided to take out the 3D glasses to rest my eyes for a while and saw a couple of the other audiences doing likewise. Guess the 3D effects strain the eyes quite a bit. Other than the extra bit of strain on the eye, it was quite an enjoyable movie. Definitely an eye opener (pun unintended ..hahaha)