a time to rest

Stopped working. A time to rest and recharge.

That says a lot doesn't it. Back to what i'm so good at.

Slacking and doing nothing.

Just that the body doesn't lie. No longer the young man i was.

3 more weeks!! Overload??



you are so beautiful
在我眼里你永远最美
连你一个微笑也都会让我醉
你所谓的幸福我想给
以为手不放开就是痴心绝对
爱与美 难道
笑容没了距离有了快乐也走了
还是真心走了彼此不信任了
终于懂了 真的

很想说有你是幸福的
很想说我的心是你的
很想说你真的误解了
很想说你真的忘记了
my love

爱了
就有坚持理由
别说我会留在路口不会走
爱你会直到最后

很想说有你是幸福的
很想说我的心是你的
很想说你真的误解了
很想说你真的忘记了
很想说会好好疼你的
很想说爱你是自由的
很想说你是否听见了
很想说我们可不可以复合

ring like a bell

Do what you are good at.

If you are a runner.... run.

If you are a bell.... ring.




What a day!! Had a jam-packed day of sports.

Basketball in the morning.

Soccer in the afternoon. It has been so long since i last kicked a ball. Almost forgot how it feels like. And i think i s**k. But great fun with friends nonetheless.

Got to admit i'm old now. 不认老也不行。

But the stupid periodic rain throughout the day dampened the experience to a certain extent. So freaking irritating.

And now i'm officially shagged out.


Went Muddy Murphy for the unxpected show yesterday. But did not manage to get anything irish.

A classmate (who is already married) will be flying off for holland before migrating to london very soon. Bye Bye Sihui.




Newcastle have appointed midfielder Scott Parker as their new captain following the retirement of Alan Shearer.

Magpies manager Glenn Roeder also revealed goalkeeper Shay Given will be vice-captain at St James' Park.

Roeder told the club's website: 'I had a decision to make about appointing a new skipper after the retirement of Alan Shearer and it's one I gave an awful lot of thought and consideration to.

'In Scott and Shay I found myself fortunate to have two outstanding candidates for a difficult role in replacing a Geordie legend like Alan who was such a magnificent skipper for this club.'

Roeder added: 'It's such a big honour and in Scott and Shay, they have all the qualities I was looking for and there were so many reasons why either could have got the job.

'However, Shay's position as a goalkeeper came into it and obviously Scott as a central midfielder is more in touch with the whole side.'

Parker, the 25-year-old former Chelsea player, will lead his side out for their opening fixture of the new campaign in the Intertoto Cup clash with Norwegians Lillestrom at St James' Park tomorrow evening.

He was out of action because of glandular fever at the end of last season when Shearer's knee injury forced his premature retirement, and Given was asked to take over as skipper for the remaining three games.

Parker joined the Magpies in a £6.5million move from Stamford Bridge last summer and was so impressive that he was touted as a candidate for the holding midfield role in England's midfield for the World Cup finals.

However, Sven-Goran Eriksson had overlooked him even before illness sidelined him.

ZIDANE

I know this is a bit late. But for the benefit of the person at the back there.... yes ITALY are the world champions coming out trumps 5-3 on penalties (1-1 after extra time). Congratulations ITALY. Well done FRANCE.

Well the main talking point at the end of the game will not totally be the crowning of Italy as world champions. But rather the red card shown to the legendery zinedine zidane after his headbutt on materrazzi. More on that later.

Some pointers on the finals by the great analyst. Not a bad final actually. Not very exciting. Not very boring. First fifteen minutes was france's game... rest of first half was italy's... second half was astonishingly dominated by france with italy sitting back (and quite comfortably i might add)... extra time was still france... even after zizou went off. But without their top two penalty takers and with italy confidently converting all five of theirs... france was no match. As the saying goes if you don't miss you win. Someday.

It's really the battle of the defence. Cannavaro and thuram were excellent. Even the defensive midfielders shone. Makelele and gattuso worked their socks off. I was particularly impressed by makelele. Superb. Pirlo was man-of-the-match. I thought makelele played better. As they say defence is the best form of attack. True for this world cup isn't it.

And also if you want to win the world cup... take a leaf off the italians' book. Just create a football scandal for yourself back home.


There are no words of consolation for losers.


Back to zidane. Personally i thought the headbutt was executed beautifully. I don't believe zidane to be the kind that will attack people out of nothing. And the look on his face talls me that materrazzi must have said something really really bad. I really want to know what. It's a sad way to end really. Should have been a fairytale. But it's even more sad what some people stood out to say. Remember leboeuf?? He said he was ashamed of zidane. What right has he. The france president was better. Actually no one had expected france to be in the finals in the first place. And it was because of zidane in the second round and quarters. I'm not saying i condone his actions. I don't. But the emotions of players playing the game is what make this game still so interesting. I don't blame him. I still think he's the best creative central midfielder of his generation. All the hype about totti and ballack. Nothing compared to him at his peak. And zidane even won the golden ball award for being the best player of this world cup. I also don't know how it happened. Seems like most of the votes were cast by the media before the red card was flashed thus denying cannavaro of the honour. Some of them are sure to regret it.

BYE BYE ZIDANE.


Finally seeing some serious office politics at work today.

Awaiting my free coffee!!!

italy -- france

The world cup finals matchup is finally decided. After two 0300hrs matches.... it will be ITALY VS FRANCE for the greatest prize in international football. But mentally and physically tiring to catch the matches while still having to wake up early to go to work the next day (technically is right after the match lah). Tired!! Double shag.

Semi-final One : Germany vs Italy

Great match for fans and neutrals alike. After a lot of boring matches at this world cup this will be one of the more riveting matches in germany. Better than germany vs argentina i think although it almost ended up the same way - penalties. BUT it was not to be for the hosts who conceded just one minute before the referee blows the final whistle. Germany played well actually although they lacked penetration. Italy was composed as usual. Very close during regulation time. Although italy definitely deserved to win in extra time. Suddenly found the energy to pour forward and attack. Great tactical switch by bringing on the strikers. Caught germany on the backfoot. Luca Toni did well but not really dangerous. Gilardino came on and made the difference i feel. Italy even managed to hit the woodwork twice before scoring two goals. So it should actually be 4-0 right. Great strike by grosso. Made up a bit for his dive against australia though the second goal was probably inconsequential but nice pass by gilardino nonetheless. Italian defence was solid led by captain cannavaro and the safest pair of hands in buffon. And the fullbacks even provided the greatest goal threats with one scoring and the other hitting the woodwork. Deserved victory i feel. Made my "italian" friend so happy.

Semi-fianl Two : Portugal vs France

Not as exciting as the first match. France not as impressive as they were against brazil. Zidane started well but i think he tire towards the end but still got the job done. Fake ronaldo (as much as i detest him) played well like i said he could play but still resorted to diving and whining and complaining. Sigh. Henry did nothing much but earned the game-winning penalty. That was enough anyway wasn't it. Barthez seriously looks and plays like a clown sometimes almost gifting a goal to figo and sending the match to extra time. Seems like the luck is with france huh. They got to improve more if they are to beat italy on sunday. Portugal was poor really. Only figo and fake ronaldo playing.

Zidane vs Figo. The early end of international football for one of them yesterday. Both played for real madrid so supposed they are friends. It was touching to see them hug and change jerseys. Another lasting image of this world cup.

Disclaimer : Some images "kop" from an "italian" website.

Bye bye Luis Figo. *Claps*






Captains should lead their teams by example. The two finalists definitely have captains that made a difference. Little surprise both nominated for player of the tourament. Inspirational.



Cannavaro....


and Zidane.


The biggest headache england manager steve mclaren is having now is supposedly who to name as his captain after hero david beckham selflessly stepped down. It seems like the race is down to between chelsea captain john terry and liverpool captain steven gerrard. Let me give my ten cents worth. If i am the england manager (i promise i will do a better job than sven) i will name stevie gerrard as captain. John terry will play ok regardless of whether he is captain or not. But gerrard is different. I think he needs to feel important before he can play at the level we know he can and want to see him play at. So to make him play even better can drop lampard as well and pair him up with a proper defensive midfielder like say scott parker of newcastle fame. Or owen hargreaves who endeared himself to one and all against portugal. Or michael carrick on the basis that he is a geordie boy.

And of course line up david beckham on the right. Let him reach 100 caps lah. Ok? Ok.



Below is a picture of a so called "Bean" located in Chicago if i'm not wrong. Nice. Supposedly shows the entire skyline of the city.



Have you been to the "Bean"?? Get it?? Been... Bean... Hahahahahahahahahaha....



To end this off on a happy note:

BYE BYE FAKE RONALDO. *Claps* *Taunts* *Boos* *Whistling*


Go home and cry.

bye bye england brazil argentina and ermm ukraine

Watched three of the four quarter-final matches over the last two days. Add in some basketball and a long trek to east coast to.... hmmmmm.... relax. Then steamboat at marina.

And also reminded myself that my talent lies in spilling my drinks wherever... whenever.

Result : 10 hours of sleep today. It has been so long since i slept for so long. Song4.

World Cup 2006. As someone puts it aptly... it can be renamed to Euro 2006 now.

Germany-Argentina was dubbed as the match that should have been the final. Overhyped in the end. Boring match. Stupid substitutions. One great knock-back (or knock-down depending on how you interpret it). Four ultra-confident penalties. One not very confident defender taking a penalty. And a goalkeeper that won it for them. Germany through.

But probably the image that people will remember and talk about will be the kahn-lehmann handshake and encouragement. Sportmanship?? Or for the cameras??

England-Portugal. Not very exciting also. Not much chances at goals. But truthfully england played much better in this match than the others. Especially when rooney got sent off. Owen Hargreaves was great. And he wears no.16. I like. Maniche shoots a lot from long range. Seems like he takes a lot of confidence from his goals earlier. Must have felt like he could do anything. But he couldn't. Haha. Beckham cried. So sad. I quite like him.

On first look the red card seems very harsh. But after watching the replay maybe it is just about justified as it looks like he did stamp on cavalhro. But cristiano ronaldo is also an idiot. Running so far to protest. Read article in which he claimed his innocence that he did not ask the referee for a card for rooney. Then why was his stupid hand moving. And his whole performance was about diving and acting. With his undoubtable talent and pace and ability why does he have to do this again and again. And when the foul on him was rightly not given... he complained like there was no tomorrow and looked ready to fight. Stupid. Idiotic. Disgusting. Don't really like him now. Perhaps it will be better for him to leave man utd now or else sure kenna whacked.

But england really sucked at penalty shootouts. Paul Robinson is not a good penalty saver as he shows us. Even gerrard and lampard who take penalties for their clubs don't even look like scoring from the moment they stepped up. Similar to ayala. Ricardo was good. Good to see viana miss. Petit's penalty was terrible. But they were lucky as england really sucked even when they have a chance to go 2-1 up. Perhaps they deserved to win the match in normal and extra time. But portugal deserved to win the shootout. As an england fan puts it: we always lose at penalties.

Brazil-France. Boring first half. Much much better after henry scored. Zidane was immense. What a player. Brazil was super disappointing. No ideas no nothing. Started to play and work hard way too late. Not their year. But take nothing away from france. Some of their play were magnificent and flowing. Passing much better than sorry brazil.

Then thanks for the ride home mh.

My prediction is that the winner of the Germany-Italy semi will win the big prize. Not that my predictions are ever accurate.



My friend put up pictures of his work place. I thought i might do the same. If so just to show the differences in working environment.




Know my work area??

Yup... thesorry "table" on the left of the picture. Hastily assembled on my first day of work with 5 used pellets. At least the room is air-conditioned.



There... a closer look at my table. Great isn't it. A temp table for a temp worker. Idea.



The warehouse where we take our stuff from. Only boxes and more boxes. But the big trolley is fun to manuveur.

Yeah... back to this place tomorrow. Work again. How to watch the semi-finals when they are all at 0300hrs??

Sigh.... shag.




But if one day you call...
And there is no answer....
Come fast to see me.
Perhaps I need you.