Life's back in momentum

28th June 2006, Wednesday

My 3rd day of work was in full swing relatively early the morning when Phillis tried his very best to report to work early as we retrieve the samples we had prepared which was kept incubated overnight and prepare them for scanning and collection of results...
The last few steps were abit tedious and require total focus and I felt I might have ruin one of the set in the end though our mentor, the Beauty was always a foot off the accelaerator and adopt the "it's ok, we'll see mode"...
In the afternoon we just analyze the results which I expected to be tedious and hefty and it is but I think I will get the hang of it...

I had a few opportunities to talk to a couple of the 3 "Big Heads" in our group and they didn't have a tinge of air when they acknowledge my arrival into the department which you will never see SeBan be that condescending ever...

So the work is getting into track, the bosses maybe be demanding but not discriminating...then the colleagues are generally quite friendly...
This Malay girl who is assisting BY with the preparation part of the group is quite nice to chat with especially when you didn't unveil the fact that she is idling about...
Jason, a chap handling another platform is friendly though is rather rserved and almost always restricted himself with work and certain close colleagues...
Kian Moon (if that's how you spell his name) put "S" in stoic but can be quite informative and should be a close ally when you need one...

The rest of the group still feel indifferent of my presence but I am already feeling at home more than my former workplace...
God I have gotta stop belittling my former workplace but hurling accolades for this current one but I don't think I will stop that for a while to come...

Mr Wong, the utility guy got hold of me today and I will be getting my official staff pass in a week and with the network account and a workstation of my own..we can start rock and roll, baby...


The company which my fomer company spent millions of dollars with equipments and machineries just moved within our vicinity and they had an open house to their brand new office today with a reception...
I thought of asking BY to come along an hour before knocking off but she seems to be occupied with work, so I strolled along the myriad of sky bridges to the building a stone throw away before she called claiming I had not "jio" her...
So there we were mingling with the sales and technicians whom I had grown accustomed to over the years while BY seems to be there for the freebies...
Of course we spotted some familiar faces incuding of 2 of our heads...
Some of them were of course surprised about my sudden defectionas I had no opportunity before to tell them about it...
Finally we complete our tournage with some food who Michelle, one of the sales encouraged us to pack some to bring back since there had been much surplus and it would be a wastse..
After some hesitation at first, we duly packed some food which I deemed might be breakfast to tomorrow...

Back home 2 pieces of news to continue to lift my mood further as my lass would be back on Friday evening which always the earlier the better...
And then I checked my bank account and the pay the former employeres had owed me is in finally without the hassle of chasing them for it...woohoo...

Finally for the World Cup, it was sheer disappointment that the on-form Spain went wayward agasint the uncle Le Bleus as Vieira and Zidane scored the winner in the dying minutes..
It would be the repeat of the 1998 World Cup final as they would face Brazil in the q-final after they soundly beat Ghana...
There would be 2 days of sabbatical after 2 long weeks of footballing action as the quarters begin on Friday...

Germany vs Argentina: I will surely want the Argentines to win so I go with a 3:2 victory to the blue stripes...

England vs Portugal: The English will be having that slight edge and they might just make it to their first semi since 1990, so 2:1 to them

Italy vs Ukraine: Italy has the luck with them but for how long? Scheva would want to score against the Italians without the fear of going back to Milan next season...I think Ukraine might nick this from penalty once again

Brazil vs France: Could France continue their superiority since 8 years back? I doubt so...Brazil to win by 2 clear goals...

Japanese word of the day:勢 ~se-i~(Momentum) It sure is good to get everything on track with such ease...

Heart & Soul

27th June 2006, Tuesday

I was overcame with drowsiness last evening while watching "Desperate Housewives" and was amazed I was tuning to the final moment of the Italy-Australia match when I woke up to switch everything off..
Well it took a controversial penalty in the final minute of the extra time for the Italian to see off the resilient Aussies....
Then the Swiss missed all penalties in the shootout against the Ukrainians and now it's these 2 in the quarters...

This evening Brazil should quashed Ghana despite some resistance though I am hoping for the massive shock of the tournament I have been craving for...let's say 2 nil for the Brazilians...
Then the tie of the round of 16 when Spain meets France which I hoped the Spainards will not stop short of their recent form by eliminating the French as they should be at this stage...let's say 2:1 for Spain....

My 2nd day at work began with me reaching work just minutes after 8 when only the likes of BY, Beauty and a perm student, Chee Seng (whom BY mentioned who has no life as he would report for work early and leave for home late since he's a M'sian)...
Work didn't kick start when Beauty had to wait for the NTU attachment lad, Phillis who had been handling the chore for the past months...
Then we are short of a vital item which have yet to be delivered and the trio of us went for coffee at a cafe nearby...woahwee...2nd day into work and now I am having coffee during office hours...
I know this guy is notorious to idle but this is perhaps a bit far-fetched but hey I am not complaining...
Well I did try to build some rapport with the NTU chap who might impart some knowledge for work to me for weeks to come....

Back to work, still waiting and soon I hit the gym as with some fast jogging...

After lunch, Beauty was no where in sight and spent sometime chatting with BY till Phillis beckoned me about the arrival of the items we had been waiting for and we decided to proceed forward.without him. and we did though Phillis was still jittery to do on his own...
Beauty came in at around 3 claiming his friend's car broke down on the way back...
For the next hour or so, we just proceed to complete only around 20% of what I have to do on routine basis in the future...

At least some satisfaction for the day of work so far...

Liaised with the HR lady, Michelle regarding the marriage leave issue when she was sorry to inform me that I missed my chance as the company's policy is to claim the 3 days off a month after the solemnization...but I will try to verify that again...
I also checked with her about my leave and pay status and she advised me not to make a din with my former employers as she would liaise on my behalf..and she did and made an effort to do it this very day which once again showed the admin here really do care about their employees with that degree of heart and soul...god....I surely had made the wisest judgement when I jumped ship...

Japanese word of the day:心配 ~shin-pai~(care) Surely beats those assfreaks from my former company who couldn't care less about your welfare

A Warm Welcome

26th June 2006, Monday

The big news over the weekend would be that my lass would be coming home a week earlier which of course sent me to delirium after waiting such a long time...but now I am in the fix that I will have to apply leave just merely a week after starting work...
Nonetheless I will see what I can do to resolve this issue...

I woke up at 3 knowingly that I will need to report for my official first day at the new place to catch the grudge match between Holland and Portugal...
Ooh yes, a game of shame with 16 yellow cards and 4 red ones and my beloved Dutch was woeful to lose with an early Maniche goal...
There was no nice slick football I had been anticipating with a Cocu blast which came off the crossbar been their best chance...
Now they would be looking back on a mediorce World Cup with 3 goals scored and 2 conceded with only Robben, van Peirse and van der Sar the best overall performers.

I wouldn't mind Portugal be the rightful winner because they had been more superior so far in the tournament and will meet England in the quarterfinals who dispatched Ecuador tamely with a Beckham's free kick...
But now they are likely to be without 3 star automatic starters in Deco, Costinha and Cristiano Ronaldo through bans and injuries against England whom I hoped someone who beat them soundly as a WC wannabe doppelgangers...
Meanwhile Argentina beats Mexico in extra time with a classy Maxi's volley and Germany demolished Sweden in 12 minutes with a Podolski brace to meet in a tasty quarterfinals tie which I hope Argentina who now becomes my next best-supported team will beat the host nation who is priding with their new found form ....

My prediction would be Italy beating the Aussies tonight perhaps 2:1 but the Socceroos may perhaps pull the biggest shock thus far...
Then Switzerland who soundly beaten S, Korea in the final group game square up against the Ukraine which is the most even match in the 2nd round and it's hard to call but I am going with the Ukraines...

BY went to bring one of her street cat to the vet so I was without the key literally to the new office if I report early...thus I have the liberty to wake up at 7 and report to the admin on dot at 8.45am
As staff started to stream in wearily this Monday morning, there were a few others waiting to be initiated by this nice lady from the HR known as Alison...
The mark of professionalism is evident from the file they prepared for us with all the crucial information which I believed my former workplace wouldn't be bothered to conjure up...

Alison briefed us through some vital informations about the company and what to look out for as well as the e-portal for employees which of course had been what I was so used to which led me to bring out some comments which I hoped the fellow new recruitments made up of fresh graduates wouldn't feel that this know-it-all defector just wanna showed off his knowledge to the organisation...

Then the part which made me really feel special about joining when Alison bring the whole lot of us around the admin office to be introduced to all the staff there including a few big shots...perhaps my new director who adopts this friendly environment in which anyone even the lowest ranked personnel to feel welcome in this big family...
They even post photographs of everyone the company's webpage...
Such a stark contrast to been treated as "dispensable consumables"....

There would be way too many superiority on this 1st day alone to make it honour to serve this new company than my previous shit-hole...
The safety meaning was a very elaborative session...maybe a bit too elaborative but was crucial for the greenhorns....
The accident hall of shame lasted till 12 when we were released for lunch...and I took the opportunity to hit the gym since we had 2 full hours to dispense...

When we were back, more on fire safety before a tour around the lab with full frontal of what all the safety features there are around the place and my first safety tour which was 4 years too late....

After we bidding the knowledgable safety officer, Cheong farewell for covering almost every aspect of the lab safety which makes the 2 useless counterparts from my previous poo-bowl who really was receiving wages for doing nothing..
talking about wages, I can really forget about getting what was owed to me for at least a fornight more...God Damn It....

Anyway we were finally issued temporary passes which will enable to manuveur around the place with such ease and the final part to make me feel at ease in the new environment...
The hospitable Mr Wong who is in charge of allocating the passes and our workstations really ensured we know where we are to be resided not just dump us to thrive on our own....
My French supervisor who was so caught up with work, showed her consideration when she had planned where she would want to be located...

Well I surely had been singing the praises for my new workplace but the real test will be put through when I actually get to work..but not today as I spent the remaining less an hour chatting with the "Beauty" mentor once more who BY warned me can stabbed me on the back if I made any mistake due to his negligence in supervision as he did with an attachment student before...
However, we really seemed to clicked when we chatted and BY did agree he is okay when work is not involved directly...
A guy living on the high life, he even went shopping with suspected gay-friends on a Monday evening like this...
Well in days to come I am hoping for similar warm reception from more colleagues....So far things are looking rosy...

Japanese word of the day:歓迎(Welcome) Not once in the last 45 months of that shithole when the admin people bother to come say hi to me...just be glas they remembered to pay me on time...

End of My First Career

23rd June 2006, Friday

Seriously if you ask me how do I feel about my final day in the very first full-time job of mine which began 45 months ago, I have to say I don't feel sad nor thrilled nor indifferent...
A very muted feeling I am experiencing with the top agenda of the day been fulfilling my clearance and hope I get my last pay soon...I have like $50 left to spend...

Anyway came into work today, basically do the last minute handover though Bobby is nowhere to be seen...
As expected my supervisor gave me a parting gift and in exchange, I gave her the card of gratitude as she bidded me all the best...
I had nothing much to tell the rest anyway but in a very diplomatic fashion, sent them a farewell email to tell them to keep the good name (if there is one) going and I will treasure the good times spent with them (if there is any)
In other words, continue to survive under the reign of JxMMy D...muaahaahaahaa

With my PC and IT stuffs cleared (though I am still stranded with the last check from the admin lady of the COMIT team which MIA when I visited her a while ago), the final nail into the coffin would be administrative aspect with the remittance of my staff pass which i think I will proceed to do so at the end of the day just before I am leaving...

Then I will head for my neighbourhood hairdresser for her to shear off the black jungle on top of my cranium as the mass of the hair could not be hold in position by any hair gel I had used so far...
I am looking for a clean look to start my new career with...

My sister begged me to stop writing about World Cup related rumblings here but I gotta continue what I started and I am regretted to say with the tournament half way gone I am not really feeling the quality and sheer excitement I had been expecting...

However with the usual suspects making into the second round Ghana shocked the world when they ousted the strong Czech Republic when the former beat U.S.A 2:1 while the Czechs went down 2:0 to the Italians who eluded from a tie against the Brazilians...

Fatboy Ronaldo scored a brace as they squashed the hapless Japanese 4:1 when Ronaldihno too picking up form for the latter stages while Australia barely sneaked through with a 2:2 draw with the Croatians with Kewell scoring a late, late equalizer...

So for the round of 16 thus far we have Germany meeting Sweden (Germany should win), England meeting Ecuador (I am rooting for Ecuador but I think the English should progress), Argentina vs Mexico (no doubt the Argentines), Netherlands vs Portugal (I am saying the Dutch here and pray to whatever deities that they will make it), Brazil vs Ghana (With players peaking, the reigning champions should win this tie) and Italy vs Australia (Italy is lucky to be facing the teams from Group F other than Brazil as personally I still don't feel the Azzuri is strong enough to win this tournament)

The final 2 ties will be determined this evening:

Switzerland vs South Korea (Group G)
The Swiss is a tough nut to crack and their team is gelling each time I see them play but I am surely rooting for the only hope for Asia
Prediction: Switzerland 1 : South Korea 2 (Still yet to see the young striking sensation Park Chu Yong, perhaps this would be the game to see him coming to world stage)

France vs Togo (Group G)
Seriously the French's fate lies in the hands of the other group tie...
They should have no problem disposing Togo unless something really ridiculous happened.
Prediction: France 2 : Togo 0 (Maybe the absence of Zidane would be advantageous to them)

Spain vs Saudi Arabia (Group H)
The Spainards will send in some 2nd stringers for sure but the likes of Reyes, Iniesta and Joaquin are far from pretenders. The Saudi would be leaving after a slightly better showing than in 2002
Prediction: Spain 3 : Saudi Arabia 0 (I will like to see a Spain-Argentina final at this juncture, so the Spainards had to prove themselves to be a realistic finalist)

Ukraine vs Tunisia (Group H)
After the mauling of the Saudis, the Ukrainians are handed a lifeboat which will see them through after yet another good result against the North Africans...a goal will do the job
Prediction: Ukraine 1 : Tunisia 0 (It's really hard to tell as Tunisia still has a chance themselves)

Well a weekend which seems like a short rest for me as I begin a new career in my short working life...let's hope the new one would bring better things and a more lasting affair since I am well-known to be resistant to job-hopping

Japanese word of the Day: キャリア ~kya-ri-a~(Career)It's unbelievable that some of my friends had changed as many as 4 jobs within 2-3 years alone...

Covering Familiar Grounds

22nd June 2006, Thursday

It's quite unbelievable that I was able to be hustled up at 3 in the morning to catch Argentina vs Holland.
The Dutch held the Argentine to a goalless draw and it was a gritty performances and some 2nd-stringers such as De Cler, Kuyt and Boularhouz surely have a stake in the first eleven when the Dutch face the Portuguese in the 2nd round.
With the performance of an also 2nd-string Argentina, I can safely say they should had no problem seeing off Mexico in the knock-out phase.
Portugal beat Mexico despite having 5 regulars been rested to prevent a 2nd yellow card shown and gave Scolari the 10th consecutive wins in WC and I pray that Holland wouldn't be their next scalp
Angola failed to beat Iran as they were held 1:1 and thus cannot progress and Ivory Coast finally win despite been 2:0 down when they beat S&M 3:2

Here's tonight's final round games:

Czech Republic vs Italy (Group E)
Italy is not safe while the Czech need to win..they will rush Baros to solve their goalscoring problem...
But if Italy perform like they did against the U.S.A, the Czechs will have a chance...
Prediction: Czech Republic 2 : Italy 2 (It would be an ordeal task for the Czechs but I supposed they would make it)

U.S.A vs Ghana (Group E)
The Ghanians would be inspired to face the Americans who still in with a chance for 2nd round qualification
Prediction: U.S.A. 1 : Ghana 1 (It would be a case of so close yet so far for the Black Stars)

Japan vs Brazil (Group F)
Even with a lacklusture Brazil, Japan wouldn't really stand a chance with their weak offense and seriously Kawaguchi will be trying to hard to keep the Brazilian attack as bay and I wouldn't mind seeing the likes of Fred and Robinho for once in starting lineup
Prediction: Japan 0 : Brazil 2 (Japan doesn't deserve to make it to the 2nd round and most probably won't)

Croatia vs Australia (Group F)
The Aussies surely want to do well after the injustice against the Brazilian and it's quite clear that Croatia is on their warpath...
Prediction: Croatia 1 : Australia 2 (The Socceroos will unleash their attack on the haples Croatia or so I think)

Anyway it was great to wake up at 8 in the morning, though I am not sure I had adequate sleep time after my unearthly awakening a while back...
I was hoping to reach Yusof Ishak House in NUS before 10, complete in an hour's time and hopefully join BY for lunch at Holland V where I hope to grab a "thank you" card for my current supervisor...
I didn't forsee the matriculation process for the new school year has begun and the wellness center was congested with army of PRC students undergoing their medical checkup as well...
So my anticiopated smooth process had been hampered by a long waiting time from station to station...
The blood test was one of the last station before the doctor's consultation and I was waiting patiently for my turn when I overheard one of the PC students encouraging his comrades to position their health records so that the nurse will pick theirs first and I had been waiting in vain when I should be done by now..
So not saving any grace, I immediately told the nurse about it and she realized the loophole and said she would be more than happy to draw blood from me first as the students do deserve to wait for they have the entire free to wait...
After the doctor consultation and the X-Ray examination, my check up was completed and it was around half past eleven...
BY had went to Ghim Moh for lunch and told me she would pack lunch for me, so I had sometime to burn but still gotta get that thank you card...
Then recollecting my varsity years that my uni's coop bookstore do offer some cards and the nearest would be at the forum where the central library.. As I strolled up the walkway linking to forum, I had a strong wave of nostalgia overwhelming me as I reminiscenced those happy days when I would scamper around the campus from faculty to faculty for lessons, guitar classes, orientation games and even "Jam N Hop"...
NUS is after where I met the love of my life and gives me so much as well...

I got a card eventually (a cheaper one but at least the message inside is relevant; and I realized there hasn't been a large selection of "Thank You" card for your benefactors around)...
Then I board the direct Bus 95 from the Forum which was a updated service since I had left NUS back to Bouna Vista but I still got quite sometime when I got there before BY came back from lunch...
I had been reluctant to go back to my workplace with JxMMy expected to be around...but with time to kill, I did went back to check some e-mails while my wretched colleague was basking in some crappy dance music and immediately got a SMS from BY and I felt so exhilarated to waltz in and walt back out in mere seconds and not returning back here for the rest of the day...

My time in my new workplace is basically trying to assimilate into the whole working environment and mingle with my future colleagues rather than picking things up which is quite impossible without hands-on...
So far beside been chatting with BY whenever she is free, my other company would be that "Beauty" mentor whom seem to be living with high life with highlighted hair and tattoo on his hips...
There would be some other who would occasionally chat with me btu I felt I didn't step out too much to mingle with the rest...partially because they had been cooped up with work but majority would be not gracious enough to make an effort..afterall I am still an outsider at this juncture and I would be wearing that weird disposable blue lab coat which is way too "oustanding"...
Then the problem about this new workplace is that both the lab and the office would only be acessible with a staff card, so for someone like myself without even a temporary card, I am sort of disabled and required the presence of BY to open ways for me even when I want to hit the loo...
which was why when she was cooped up with work yesterday, I had that urge to answer the nature's call and predictably was locked out.. left with no where to go I had to go back to my workplace till BY was liberated from work to hand me back my bag which I brought over now so that we can secure from work together...

Nevertheless I hope the uneasiness with my new colleagues would be resolved soon enough and I could fully assimilate into the workplace with minimal obstacles...

Japanese word of the day: 親しい ~o-ya-shi-i~(Familiar) NUS would tear down and get rebulit but I am sure the yellow roofing which we used to guide our freshmen with will still be there...

Filling In With Info

21st June 2006, Wednesday

After the startling late wake-up, I got up myself merely 5 minutes past 6 when I thought I was late once again...
Intended to watch the 3 am clash between Sweden and England but later discard the idea as I felt more justified to save energy for the morning clash tomorrow...
I also realized that the $26 I paid for my World Cup package by Starhub didn't include 8 concurrent matches beamed on Channel 22 of the Sports tier which I didn't subscribe in the first place... I felt I had been robbed of the promise of the full 64 matches telecast...or at least live telecasts and I am set to miss live transmission of games like S. Korea & Switzerland as well as Ghana vs U.S.A.

Yesterday afternoon was a 2nd day at my new department and got to chat with my supposeldy mentor..let's just know him as "beauty" as given by BY and some of her aides...
This gentle-speaking beauty who is infamous of taking long breaks and idling from work while taking advantage of his co-workers' generosity is touted to be a gay as well..
He is a bit girlish but I really dunno the gay part as only time will tell...
He showed me the step-by-step protocol as well as the hefty manuel once again and we discussed about the job scope and all...
Somehow I feel the high throughput training that I had been undertaking when I first joined would come in useful and hope to impress my French supervisor...
On the way back with BY, she then filled me in on the different personalities within the department especially those I would be working closely with and inevitably, there seems to be at least a group spirit which I had been craving for after being stand-alone for the past year or so
She also mentioned that the heads are really tolerant with those who are slow or perpetual pretend to be slow while the diligent ones would always be arrowed with a heavy workload which will be complimented by illustrious appraisal as well...
Overall I think there is a certain degree of camaraderie in my new workplace and as notified before the entire place is more of a office style rather than a scientific lab style..
Politics is omnipresent but I think I will just focus on picking up the ropes and fulfill my duties as much as possible first...
Got home by around 7 last evening, after spending some time speaking to my French supervisor just when it was knock-off time...a sign of what is to come with this new job...but at least I am willing to work late over here...

Well getting increasing intolerant to stay within the vicinity of my current workplace though it's an obligation to see through the final few days...
I now let JxMMy do all the work which I think he loves to hog on anyway and beside minimal housekeeping my role in the lab now seems void
I am close to finish the clearance and most probably will submit my staff card which gives me access to almost everywhere by Fri afternoon and hope that I would see my final pay early next week...

The final round of the group phase began and Germany beat a depleted Ecuador handsomely when the latter rest as many as 5 regulars including their original strike force who scored 4 goals in the first 2 games...
The Germans started with only one change and Klose scored a brace to lift him to the top scorer chart with 4 now...
In the other game which is inconsquential, Poland ended Costa Rica's hopes of ending on the high by beating them 2:1.

Sweden continued their unbeaten run against England when Larsson scored a last minute equalizer... I think the English would be sore about the result as well as the possibility of losing Owen for the rest of the tournament...
I am really sick of all the hype of this English team and hope Ecuador would give them a run of their money...
I am not a big fan of Germany as well but they seem well capable to progress far into the tournament with that home advantage and stand better chance seriously than my beloved Holland, Portugal and Italy...unless the Swedes turn on the form to oust them in the next round...

Ok the run through for this evening's games:

Portugal vs Mexico (Group D)
Mexico has not yet qualified and will want to get a good results against the Portugese with the prospect of even ending the group as the leaders to prevent meeting the inspired Argentines in the next round...
Scolari is certain to rest the 5 players on yellow card after gauranteed qualification.. meaning the Mexicans will be glad to not face a side without the likes of Pauleta, Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo
Prediction: Portugal 1 : Mexico 2 (Scolari said he wouldn't play the 5 even they are 30 nil down, let's hope he keep to his words)

Angola vs Iran (Group D)
The Black Antelopes still stand a chance to qualify but require Mexico to lose by at least 2 goals to Portugal and they beat Iran by 2 goals or more...
Angola might join T&T as the only team not to score in the tournament unless the likes of Akwa and Mantorras can find their scoring boots.
Iran would be sore to lose their first 2 games by 2 goals margin and would want to exit with a high and hope their German-based players will inspire them...
Prediction: Angola 1 : Iran 2 (I am going with the Asians for their experience and now with only pride to play for, they should be under less pressure to perform)

Argentina vs The Netherlands (Group C)
The crunch match to determine who will be the Group C leaders but seriously I don't think we will be seeing that classic quarterfinals from France 98 when Bergkamp inspired the Dutch to win...
Van Basten want to rest as many as 8 players with 6 on yellow cards and the 2nd-string players like Kuyt, Hegdwies, Babel, Jaliens etc would come close to matching the Argentine players if Pekerman choose to rest some players as well, he still have the likes of Cruz, Aimar, Messi and Tevez to call upon
Prediction: Argentina 2 : Holland 0 (van der Sar will be very preoccupied tonight and let's hope he wouldn't face an onslaught from the Argentine)

S&M vs Ivory Coast (Group C)
S&M surely is down and out and will be missing some star players like Kezman and Koroman in addition to those they had already missing through injuries.
Ivory Coast should continue bring about their limiltless energy to display why they should be the best team that is unfortunate not to qualify for the 2nd round...
Prediction: S&M 0 : Ivory Coast 3 (or more) (Wouldn't mind seeing more goals scored against the hapless Serbs)

Japanese word of the day:同性愛(Gay)Hope Beauty wouldn't reprise the Razor Ramon HG gimmicks in front of me..FUUUuuuu

All Can Hug Together & Die!!

20th June 2006, Tuesday

I was quite awake last evening till around 11 plus when I prepared to watch Ukraine took on the Saudis and I fell into slumber, only woke up at around 1 plus to switch off the TV...
The next time I got up again after a weird dream comprising of my lass' homecoming and some Warcraft-LOTR medievel warfare thing, it was 10 minutes to 7...
Like groundhog day, it was a week ago when I struggled to wake up on a Tuesday when I didn't even stayed up late to watch football...

Well it could be the fatigue accumulated for a too relaxed start of the week...
Seriously yesterday my workday was only highlighted when I went over my new workplace hoping to get started to be taught about the equipment I would be taking charge of primarily...
Unfortunately the senior guy who was supposed to teach me was on leave...
Nonetheless my future supervisor, the French lady showed me around the place despite been terribly held up with hefty workload and introduced me to some of my immediate colleagues...
I had been to the lab area before but the majority belongs to another department while ours under the cogulated group is occupying a much smaller space but they managed to optimise the scarcity to adorn the whole place with high tech equipments and generally the place looks neat unlike my current workplace..

Of course my direct interaction was with BY who seemed to be pretty well-liked by her co-workers and even the bosses when she could even tease and gossip with one of the 3 heads, this messy but obliging-looking one known as Mark...
We also went back together when she made a rare knock-off at around 5.30pm and chatted about some ongoing politics within the office and how the senior who was supposed to impart knowledge to me can be really "a loafing piece of shit"...
She also gave me an insight on the death of the Russian post-doc I mentioned end of last week, claiming that he committed suicide by jumping off a building much due to stress from work and at home and how his own boss as well as our executive director snubbed him when he approached them for help...
On hearing that, it makes even more sense to leave this sinking ship of heartless assfreaks who some like JxMMy and those minions in the admin would never abadoned the ship for eternity...surely they should all hug each other and go down that whirlpool and should never resurface again!!

I left at around 4 pm from my first half day at my new playground, close to boredom after reading through the manual for the equipment I am supposed to operate...
Back to JxMMy's hellhole, it seems like it was Monday with very little activity in the service front as my soon-to-be-axed obnoxious colleague was too engrossed in his bootleg 80s disco collection...
Despite just meeting some of the guys over the new place, I am sure none of them would be close to JxMMy's pedigree of irritation ever...

Last evening's World Cup matches surely had to be some that drew my least interest and I was more into sitcoms on Star World than the game between Togo & Switzerland...

Apparently it was a night for the Europeans as the Swiss down the Togolese 2:0, the Ukraine even their goal differences with 4 past the hapless Saudis who blamed it on a wet pitch for their downfall and Spain comes from 1 nil down to beat a gutted Tunisia 3:1 with a late blitz of goals which sees Fernando Torres now leading the goal-scoring chart with 3...

This evening begins the final round of the group phase with 8 teams already qualifying for the round of 16...
Only Group E and Group G without any automatic qualifiers with the final game being the peunltimate affair...
The final group games would now be played concurrently to avoid any chance of match-fixing and 4 games would be played for the next 4 nights at the 10pm time slot and 3 am one...
It is really strange that Group C would be played at 3 am on Thursday morning while the group behind them would be playing first at the 10 pm slot...
If it was by conventional scheduling, I would be able to watch my Holland-Argentina game at a nice comfortable time of 10pm...sure is baffling...

Anyway the prediction for the first 4 final group games:

Ecuador vs Germany (Group A)
I can forsee German gaffer, Klinsman resting some players on yellow cards against the South Americans who had picked up momentum in their first 2 games...
The fight to see who finish on top and an easier tie in the next round...
Prediction: Ecuador 1 : Germany 1 (It really depends on whether the players want to step off the gas in more prepared for the knockout phases... but I believe the Ecuadorians will want to continue playing nice attacking football and continue keeping clean sheets)

Costa Rica vs Poland (Group A)
Playing for pride for both teams..The Poles especially will be in dire need to finish on the high after a woeful tournament had not seen them finding opposition's net at all so far...
Paolo Wanchope will be retiring from international scene after tonight's game and his team-mates surely wanted him to have a wonderful swansong
Prediction: Costa Rica 2 : Poland 3 ( I am expecting an entertaining attacking affair with both teams with nothing to gain and just out to entertain the global audience before they depart from the tournament)

England vs Sweden (Group B)
The Swedes have to at least draw with England to stand any chance and hope T&T don't beat Paraguay.. However T&T has to beat Paraguay by 3 or more clear goals and hope that Sweden has a goalless draw against England...
The English will want to test Rooney's fitness after his recovery and he may yet make his mark against a boogey team they haven't beaten in years...
The Ibrahimovic-Larsson strikeforce had yet to show their potential and if they fail to do so in their 3rd attempts, I doubt Sweden will progress far...
The defence on both sides haven't been really tested thus far and tonight's game should gear them up for more potent attack in the next round
Prediction: England 1 : Sweden 1 (The English still fail to beat Sweden and I doubt Rooney will be back on top form as yet)

T&T vs Paraguay (Group B)
T&T still stands a chance to qualify for next round but will need their strikers to up their tempo to score 3 goals or more against a mean Paraguay defence...
Santa Cruz and co. surely want to find the net for the first time as well and T&T might be the best platform for them to do so...
Prediction: T&T 1 : Paraguay 2 (Seriously I doubt the Carribeans will succeed with their paper-thin and ageing squad...but they will have happy memories of their inaugural WC of course)

Japanese word of the day: 地獄の焼跡 (Burn in hell) Most of the people in my current and soon-to-be-former ought to

Gear Up...

19th June 2006, Monday

Will be learning the ropes from my future employers in the 2nd half of the day and hope it would not be too difficult for this old dog to learn new tricks...

The weekend had been balmy to say the least as I spent the entire Father's Day Sunday within the vicinity of my room, taking loads of pictures of my figurines, watching a few anime, recollecting some old Music Station episodes I had recorded years back and in the evening the World Cup matches...
My wife called around 1 plus and we had quite a hefty chat which led to her time limit been reached and she had yet called back home...
Well 3 more weeks before we can skip all these long-distance relationship shenanigans....

Went for my usual "hauling" at La Tendo on Saturday and was expecting to go back early for the 9pm Portugal-Iran match but ended up having dinner with the gang...
I think on Saturday I was at my tactless and blunt behaviour once more and perhaps may have offended people in the heat of things...
As years go by, I tried to keep my mouth shut when I need to but it's alot easier said than done...
Then again this group of friends had been the ones occupying the void when my lass had been missing in my social life for the past few months and hope we can continue to blossom to further friendship beyond our interest in Japanese anime and figurines...

Going through the matches over the past 3 days and boy I had only got the score for the France-S. Korea match as Park Ji Sung score an unlikely equalizer to add France into their World Cup scalps...

Can't say the same about Japan but at least they have GK Kawaguchi to thank for saving the PK from Srna... It was a dull affair as I predicted it would be as the Japanese surely lack the cutting edge in front of goal especially Yanagisawa who missed a blatant sitter....they deserve to be knock out by Brazil...

Like many lacklusture giants, Brazil didn't perform but still manage to squeeze through with a victory over the battling Australians...

They should really now pondering if they would be as dominant as Argentina who put 6 past the beleagured Serbians and 1 Montenagran... Cambiasso's wonder goal from a 24 pass build up was fantastic and Tevez and Messi show that they can come off the bench to score...

I fell asleep for 3/4 of Holland's match against Ivory Coast and 2 quick goals from Van Peirse and van Nisterooy ensure they manage to head into the 2nd round without needing a result from the final game which looking at Argentina's form they are unlikely to get one...
Ivory Coast surely didn't deserve to be knocked out and they wouldn't if they are in any groups except C and E

Talking about Group E, Ghana clinched the first victory for participating African nations and did so without bumbling Kuffor and an effective attack which killed off the lacklustered Czechs...but Cech surely has to be the best goalkeeper of the tournment for saving at least 5 probable goals in succession before a thumping shot from Muntari killed off the game...

I thought the Americans would hit another surprise when De Rossi showed ECW how to make a man bleed when he elbowed McBride and Zaccardo scored an own goal more likely to be associated with Lim Tong Hai...Of course the Americans went to have 2 of their own players sent off too in a rollercoaster affair...
A depleted squad has to face the inspired Ghanians and hope for something from the group which is the most wide open for the final round...

As for Group D, Portugal expectedly go through but like Brazil they failed to inspire but then it would be a sin if they don't dispose Iran and Angola which they did...
Mexico failed to find the net against Angola which I am glad didn't bother watching...

Finally predictions for tonight's games:

Togo vs Switzerland (Group G)
After last evening's draw the group is still very much still playable...
The Swiss need to find that elusive goal while Togo would be feeling they might have a chance...
Prediction: Togo 1 : Switzerland 1 (Should be even steven once more and I would fancy S. Korea topping this group)

Saudi Arabia vs Ukraine (Group H)
It's do or die for the Ukrainians after that Spanish demolition which they look terribly weak...
Against the Saudis, Scheva and gang will have the opportunity to put matters straight...
The Saudis themselves were too unlucky not to win after Al Jaber's late goal was cancelled off by an even later equalizer, and a win against the Ukraine would be a great opportunity for 2nd round qualification
Prediction: Saudi Arabia 0 : Ukraine 2 (Actually this should be a very open game but I think the new Chelski prized asset will have to open his goal scoring account somehow)

Spain vs Tunisia (Group H)
The final round 2 match and Spain is hungry to keep their momentum going...
Against the North Africans, they have the most ideal opponents to continue their goal scoring way...
The biggest query is whether Raul would start or the successful Villa-Torres partnership will remain
Prediction: Spain 3 : Tunisia 0 (Unless this is Czech-Ghana No. 2 when the Africans lead the on form European squad into a free fall)

Japanese word of the day: 沈黙を保ちなさい(keep quiet) I should really do so even in front of people I know very well

Life is Fragile

16th June 2006, Friday

My lass called last evening for the very first time this week...
I thought she would be harping over the bed and other new renovations after I had sent her the pictures the day before...but she didn't sounded as enthusiastic as I had anticipated...
In retrospect, I got a niggling feeling inside that she might not be that keen to come back to Singapore...
She did admit they she is not relishing the thought of coming back and see the sight of her old man again as the serenity of the European backdrop surely makes her forget about the woes back home...
But then what is she talking about?
She got a new family in us now, doesn't she?

Came to work today with the intention to just pack whatever things here that I want to bring back.
Beside the physical aspect, I also brought my portable hard disk to transfer all my files which I hope I can clear my PC soon with the COMIT...
Then again don't forget it was with my office's PC, that my last hard disk crashed...so praying hard no chance of dejavu...
As the mood carried over from yesterday, I am now ready to leave this place more than ever...
I couldn't wait for a day at work not seeing that obnoxious JxMMy who was buzzing the whole freakin' place with the continuation of his Kitaro best collection..
My supervisor who the girls had always mentioned to be pretty "fake" with the way she handle issues and even interpersonal relationships too perhaps start to feel I am a surplus
I really need to break away from her way of "nestling" us especially her love-child, Mr JxMMy D...
Well wish the both of them embrace in each other's warmth till eternity where the sun don't shine...

This morning however I was been informed from our supervisor that a Russian post-doc in a neighbouring lab passed away yesterday...
which really make my hair stand at my back as I could have swear I saw him walking along the corridor with his wife who was carrying their adorable infant...
He was healthy and no sign of what my supervisor just broke to us about..
Until now the cause of death is still unknown
Personally I don't know him well despite having dealings with him when he sent his samples for us to process... Despite been a Russian, he was much easier to deal with; almost fuss-free and no nonsense or complain from him unless there had been some grave mistake with his final results...
Heard he was a jovial person who would casually socialized with the predominant group of ladies in his lab, better than those PRC guys..
His passing would sure be taken hard by the rest.. and what a tragic end for someone so young and with such bright future ahead of him....and his infant would be fatherless in his growing up years...
Life is surely fragile & one should live it to the fullest..which is why I should try to live mine without the onimous entity known as JxMMy who never failed to torment me mentally & spiritually...
I would offer a small sum of money for condolescences if they had remmitted my pay...

Well I believe some Costa Rica players would feel life has been fulfilled for gracing the stage of World Cup now that they had been eliminated in the group stage by a very effective Ecuadorian side
I didn't followed the game closely but it seemed like the team from Quitos surely can score when they need to with frontmen Delgado & Carlos Tenorio scoring for the 2nd successive matches...
I think the benchmark of whether they would really perform and sneak into the quarter finals would be that final game against the Germans.

Well England could be their prospective opposition in the knock-out phase and if England still performed so sluggishly, Ecuador might stand a chance of eliminating them...
T & T held on all the way to the last 6 minutes before conceding that harsh goal from Crouch...
They still stand a mathematical chance of proceeding to next stage as they need to beat Paraguay and hope that England beat the Swedes soundly...

The Swedes too need a late, late goal from Ljungberg to clinch their first goal and first 3 points and ensure the showdown with England would determine who might be the top team to face possibly Ecuador...
Paraguay too had to chartered flights home together with the C. Ricans and Poles merely a week since the competition started...

I do notice the goals are being scored very late in recent games... since the Aussie needed 3 goals in last 10 minutes...we also seen Iaquinta scoring a late 2nd for Italy against Ghana, Neuville scoring in the stroke of fulltime against the Poles, Tunisia draw at the last attack of the game and the 2 Group B matches last evening...perhaps that would be the best time to find the net in Germany this year I guess especially when players are physically and mentally sapped...

Well my beloved Dutch would be playing tonight as the Group of Death starts round 2...

Argentina vs S&M (Group C)
S&M who brought only 22 players to the tournment now also lost Man Utd defender, Vidic for the rest of the tournament...we also seen how the makeshift defense failed to deal with Robben's pace..
The Argentine didn't have a player in the mold of Robben unless Messi when he is fully fit...
But Pekerman decided to replace Cambiasso with Luiz Gonzalez which signal that attacking notion they will be instilling...
The Serbian attack had to do much better if they are to score goals which is crucial to win games..duh
Prediction: Argentina 2 ; S&M 0 ( I think Argentina would make use of this game to further emphasize their coming ot age)

Ivory Coast vs the Netherlands (Group C)
It is apparent that the Africans wouldn't want to drop anymore points and they sure had the players to show for it..Drogba, Akale, Zokora, Dindane etc. look good in match 1 and if Bonaventure Kalou picks up form as well the weak Dutch defence will have a long game...
I think the Dutch once more had to bank on the likes of Robben, van Pierse and Snijdier...
Van Nisterooy will want to score but he will have to do much better while Kuyt didn't seemed like an inspiring substitute in the first game...
Prediction: Ivory Coast 1 : Netherlands 1 (I am being optimistic seriously...I hope my favorite Oranje would step up the gear and score more goals to prove me wrong)

Mexico vs Angola (Group D)
The Mexicans would play 3 up front once again to score more goals but Borghetti seems off color at times...
The Angolans did a fantastic job holding Portugal to just one goal the last time round but would most probably been prised open at higher frquency in this match
Prediction: Mexico 3 : Angola 1 (That one goal from Angola shows the Mexican defense is not that strong)

Saturday....

Portugal vs Iran (Group D)
Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be uninspiring at times in the first games and hard to imagine that with a wealth of talent in the midfield, the Portugese cannot impose themselves more
Iran too needs some inspirations from their Bundesliga based players...
Prediction: Portugal 2 : Iran 0 (The Portugese will definitely click at some point unless Iran did a S. Korea from 4 years ago on them)

Czech Republic vs Ghana (Group E)
Koeller might start after all, and surely the Czechs can be even better and we shall see a close fight in the midfield between these 2 squads...
Ghana needs at least a point in this game to stand a chance to the 2nd round but will find the Czechs much harder to beat than the Italians
Prediction: Czech Republic 4 : Ghana 1 (I envision to see Kuffor burrowing his head with another mistake made)

Italy vs U.S.A (Group E)
The Italians claimed they knew nothing about the American players which showed their arrogance..
But seriously the supposedly stars of the US squad like Donavan, Reyna, McBride, Beasley & Johnson had to stepped up to cause any dent to the Italians' pompousity...
The American defense had been tormented by the height of Koeller would have their nerves wrecked further with the likes of Luca Toni & Alberto Gilardino.
Prediction: Italy 3 : U.S.A 1 (I doubt the Americans would have a good showing as of 2002 seriously)

Sunday...

Japan vs Croatia (Group F)
It's do or die for the Japanese as they need a more composed defense and more fluke goals from Nakamura to break down Croatia who with the likes of Pdrso and Klasnic look capable to scoring even against the world champion if they had more precision and luck..
Prediction: Japan 1 : Croatia 2 (Jaa....kondo mata ne...)

Australia vs Brazil (Group F)
One of the most interesting match-up pitting Hiddink's wily tactics against the raw talents of Brazil...
The Samba kings gotta pick themselves up from the criticism while I feel the Aussie should keep Cahill as a surprise substitute once again after they had tired the Brazilians...
Prediction: Australia 2 : Brazil 2 (I am looking for that same shock result from the Conferderation Cup years back)

France vs S. Korea (Group G)
The French got to score eventually and I feel the Koreans might be the one to let them score...
However S. Korea had collected European scalps like Portugal, Italy and Spain in the last WC, perhaps they are accustomed to add some Gallic flavour into their collection...
Prediction: France 1 : S. Korea 1 (It could jolly be a French victory, just see if Advocado can organise his defence properly)

Japanese word of the day: 壊れやすい~wa-re-ya-su-i~(Fragile) My spirit would after being tormented for such prolong period by you-know-who...

Not A Happy Man

15th June 2006, Thursday

I am not a happy man today...
There are 4 main reasons that can make a man like me not feeling jolly at all...

1) A Hungry Man: Well at times, but rarely do I get angry over prolonged starvation..

2) A Sleepy Man: Recent World Cup ongoings surprisingly did not have a toll on my sleep time and last evening's matches from 12 to 5 didn't interest a wee bit to stay up for

3) A Horny Man: With the missus out of town..maybe but seriously this is the last thing on my mind right now...

4) A Penniless Man: BINGO!

It's pay day and while fellow colleagues collected the money they had right to acquire for a month's hard work..mine is still being held up hostage at the company finance department..
The signs were there when I checked through internet banking and did not see the remittance of the pay for this month...I started getting cranky and paranoid that they might had had "embazzled" my pay as they did with BY when she made the jump months back...

I got to work this morning and still found the status of my current pay on reflected on our online database system which prompted me to check with the recently-departed LF whether she had got hers...
It was from her that I realized that through some obscure company policy, the pay would be retained until the whole liability form is been cleared and I had yet began to hunt down people from the admin to do the respective clearances...
With a raging desire to get my pay after the payment of bills and recent money output for wedding dinners, movies, toys, renovation (inclusive of that unexpected $120 for electrician fee), my bank account seemed to be hitting a chronic state of emptiness...

So I went to do my clearance which constitute of 15 people. three quarter of which I had no affairs with yet it had to be done...
In the end, I managed to get 2 to sign and this hostile and uncaring lady even said I should have do clearance closer to my final day...
Even so, when would they actually remit my pay??
I am in dire state of desperation, fearing I would never see that money I had rightfully earned and starting to be disenchanted by this freakin' company and the people running the show behind it...
I couldn't wish to leave this god-forsaken place as soon as I can at this juncture..

Of course without pay in the bank, I was basically going through motion for the entire day with the least zeal in me..and JxMMy with his Kitaro New Age music crap in the morning surely didn't help the cause...
So I most probably had to endure another week or so without the pay and had to check meticulously the actual amount they have to pay me...

Anyway there had been stuff for me to bank on to keep afloat...the final phase of renovation of my room went smoothly and now the bedroom is really cozy and turned out to be what I had expected...

The Bed: As mentioned the mattress would only be available closer to the wedding date due to taboo, so at the meantime I had to sleep on my old super-single with another single mattress to occupy the remaining space...looks pretty awful as my sister mentioned to be very "kampong" style..
The bedframe is quite sturdy and the whole platform railings is very nicely done.
The drawers are made for ease of usage as well...



The Bookshelf: $800 seems to be really worthed it as it matches the whole theme of the room and bears capacity enough to hold whatever books, magazines etc my lass possessed



The Japanese Ceiling Lamp: One main feature of the whole Zen/Japanese style theme my lass wanted comes from this ceiling lamp which is meant for her laptop station directly below it. When turned on in a dark room, it sure gives a romantic ambience...





The Japanese Paper Clock: Well this is actually a gift from Eriko and Sou when they came over in March, surely suits the whole Japanese theme, so I feel it's nice to show it... However had to bend the second ticker hand outwards if not it's movment would be hindered by the minute hand.



Oh yeah I have to ensure that the clock is free from contact with water, even a few droplets if not it would be ruined for sure...

Finally the World Cup matches recap...

The Ukrianians had a terrible showing and felt as if they gave their Spainish opponents too much respect...
But for once the talented Spainards seemed to show the potential they possess and click as an effective unit in both attack and defense.
Scheva found it hard to open goalscoring account in the World Cup with so little supply from his team-mates while David Villa of Valencia got a braced though none from open play..
But Torres did and what a build-up to that stunning goal from a central defender by the name of Carles Puyol...

The all Arabic affair ended with an exciting 2:2 draw especially when Saudi Arabia though they managed to win so late into the game from that Sami Al Jaber's goal but their defence truly shot themselves in their foot for letting Bolton defender to score the unlikely equalizer at the dying seconds...
But I must say I really like the 2 goals the Saudis had scored and they are showing this team resembles more of the 1994 batch rather than the 2002 batch....

Germany needed a late, late goal created and scored by 2 substitutes...but think they deserved the victory after one obvious goal which Klose and Ballack successively hit the woodwork..but the Poles surely had put up a good fight but losing a player from sending off surely is too much an ordeal from their free-scoring neighbours...

Tonight's games don't look too enticing but it's the World Cup so you never know:

Costa Rica vs Ecuador (Group A)
Should be a pretty evenly matched affair.
Ecuador should be pretty confident after their 2:0 victory over the hapless Poles but in Paolo Wanchope, the Costa Ricans seemed to have a good source for goals...
Prediction: Ecuador 1 : Costa Rica 2 (well seriously not an easy game to call, can be the other way round or just a draw)

England vs Trinidad and Tobago (Group B)
After that successful draw against the Swedes, the Soca Warriors are ready to pull another major upset against an England who crushed their neighbouring Jamaica in a recent friendly...
Well just ensure they don't have someone to score an own goal and they may get a 2nd 0:0 draw...
Prediction: England 1 : T&T 0 (Got a feeling John Terry would take over the scoring duty tonight as their strikers continue to be useless)

Sweden vs Paraguay (Group B)
A must win for the Swedes but they would need the Paraguayans to continue their X'mas mood with another own goal as the Swedes found it hard to score as well.
Recent internal squabblings which the Dutch is famous for might act against them...
Prediction: Sweden 1 : Paraguay 1 (think they would be aggrieved with yet another poor performance before venting all their fustrations on their final game against England)

Japanese word of the day: 不運 (Unhappy) Now I know the feeling of people working in private sector when they were never paid on time...

The New Bed

14th June 2006, Wednesday

Today marked the final phase of the renovation of my place with the installation of the king-size bed frame as well as the book shelf...
We will have our trusty electrician, Keong to come do some adjustment of the electrical point beside the bed as it would hinder the bedside drawer...as well as installation of my lass' Japanese style hanging lamp...
I know I shouldn't have Mom taking her own annual leave to safeguard the place while Dad would be taking a half day leave to thoroughly quality-controlled the final product before we hand the contractor the money and bid au reviour to him, his Brokeback comrades and that naggy wife of his...

Talking about my old man, after been snubbed by us for vociferously bemoaning about how badly he was treated at work (and it was barely 2 weeks into the new job), he suddenly became very moody and just showed everyone his authentic "base of wok" foul face...not like we really bothered but poor Mom was at the brunt of his cold treatment for the past few days...
Seriously he had the mi-life crisis cum menopause cum prolonged menstral mood swing all accumulated, waiting for explosion like Mt. Merapi or Sakurajima....
But I would actually hope he kept his silent spell, rather then kept whining all day and night long...

Anyway would be looking forward to the new bed, though it's a pity due to some traditional old grandmother's taboo, we can't send the mattress until we are formally been married or something...
I could still have bigger space to enjoy the World Cup actions with...

Speaking of which after the high tempo action of Monday evening, last night affairs were much muted...not when the 3 matches featured the most probable and defending champions, Brazil, 1998 champions, France and the ultimate minnows of Togo..

Seriously S. Korea is Asia's best hope to progress to the round of 16 but last evening's 1st half performances left a lot to be desired and even conceded a goal to the outsider of all outsiders, Togo who had money squabbling and a coach who made an U-Turn after resigning from the post...
If they had not have their captain sent off for the 2nd bookable offense, they might held on for a win as the Koreans scored only after Togo is down to 10 men...
Once again Ahn Jung Hwan showed he can only scored in the big stage with the winner which his current club, Metz would be wondering why is he such a different player when he played for them

Well at least the Korean did what the Swiss and French can't do...that's scoring...
Cannot believe that the French still bore that goal-scoring jinx left from 2002 against a resilent Swiss squad who might grab a winner if Barthez were not lucky enough to stop the ball before it crossed the line..
But it is quite apparent that the Swiss lack a striker with cutting edge and even Frei might not be that good...
Of course the French could argue all tournament long how the Russian referee did not reward them a clear penalty when Mueller stopped the ball with his hand...

Not that the talents of Brazil is that much better than France...against Croatia only Kaka's cracker was able to get them the 3 points...
However it was clear that the pressure was surely mounting on the Samba kings..
I missed this game and perhaps will watch the replay later to understand how the reigning champions actually performed...

Ok the last group to finish their opening games this evening:

Spain vs Ukraine (Group H)
Of course the Ukrainians had been sweating over the fitness of their star man Schevcenko who should feature tonight..
It's a doubt whether he would perform to be the most viable golden boot for this tournament which so far the usual suspects like Luca Toni, Henry, van Nisterooy, Ronaldo, Owen had all failed to open accounts...while a hattrick tonight will lift him above the likes of Klose, Wanchope, omar Bravo and Rosicky...
But I doubt he would have a supply line to feed his goal-scoring appetite...
Meanwhile if the Spainards can beat Ukriane, Group H is most probably for their taking... and alot depends on whether the Raul-Torres-Villa attacking tandem could work
Prediction: Spain 2 : Ukraine 2 (Really rooting for Scheva to win the golden boots this tournment of course the likes of Saudi and Tunisia are more probable goal-scoring targets than Spain)

Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia (Group H)
The all Muslim derby and with the Mexico-Iran game to go by, this match might have enough entertainment values as both team will be all out for a win as a draw would do neither no good when they faced the Europeans next...
Prediction: S.Arabia 2 : Tunisia 3 (The Brazilian-converted strike force should prove too strong for the Saudis while actually Tunisia has quite a good defence, so the Saudis might not score so freely)

Germany vs Poland (Group A)
The first 2nd round game begin with the host taking on a neighbour who never been able to beat them...
Seriously the Poles need a miracle after losing the most winnable game against Ecuador and perhaps they should had taken my wobbly-legs Dudek..
But I surely would relish the thought of the German been beaten by the Poles but most probably will never happen..I would not be surprise to see Kahn tonight...
Prediction: Germany 2 : Poland 0 (I think it is right for the Pole to be the first to be knocked out but then I think they still performed better than the Americans at times)

Well we anticipate my new bed and tonight's matches as I got permission to leave work earlier later...

Japanese word of the day: ベッド~be-ddo~(Bed) I would never envision myself sleeping on a king size bed all alone...

Request Answered

13th June 2006, Tuesday

Woke up with bleary eyes this early morning when my parents was shock that I was still in bed and the time was already 7...
Apparently I seemed to be awake when my mom first came in to hustle me up though I did not have any recollection of it...
I'm bewildered why I was so deep asleep when I didn't even watch the match at 12 am but did got up to off the TV when Italy was playing Ghana...

Well my request for lots of goals and most importantly spectacular ones had been answered by the footballing god up there (no not Pele or Maradona)...A total of 9 goals in 3 games and I can say except for Nakamura's fluke, Cahill's scramble and Iaquinta's poacher goal, I think the others surely beat many of the goals scored in the previous 3 days

I was deadon with my predictions as well despite some alteration from the scoreline I had first conjured...

I would have thought the Socceroos would be leaving Dortmund empty-handed in the early game yesterday when Nakamura sailed the ball over Schwarzer who seemed to be infringed by the Japanese strikers...
It seemed like GK Kawaguchi and his defence was going to hold through with 6 minutes left when the shrewd Guus Huddink made sublime tactical switch bringing fresh legs and lungs in Tim Cahill and John Aloisi who scored 3 goals in a blitz... The 2nd goal by Cahill outside the 10 yard box was a beauty even his poise when shooting...Kewell who?
My kinsman in Japan surely would feel it was a black Monday for them with earthquake and a tram accident to be preoccupied with back home...

I was dozing off when the Czechs grabbed the opener through a well worked header from who else but Jan Koeller but I was rueing the fact that I had missed Rosicky's wonderful brace, the first a 30 yard thundershot and the 2nd with the edge of his right boot...
Seems like Arsenal and Wenger would be really happy to get this player with so much skill and so little controversy...
The Americans did not kick up to gear and likely they might taste defeats against the Italians and Ghanians as well...
Meanwhile the Czechs ran short of striking option with injury to Koeller..but then when you got Rosicky, you can jolly well save on some lousy strikers anyway...

I would want to watch the Italians play especially with Totti and Pirlo getting back to form when they need to..and of course their nice blue jersey should be one of the most stylish in the tournament...
The Ghanians didn't seem that bad but just not good enough against the Italians, and highly likely they would not beat the Czechs as well...

Well the 2 Group E leaders seem to be getting into form in their first match so far together with Argentina and surprise surprise Australia & Mexico...

Here's the prediction for tonight's game:

Togo vs S. Korea (Group G)
Debutant and prospective whipping boys surely would take inspiration from the likes of T&T and Angola with the fact that the gulf between the giants and the minnows aren't that wide..
S. Korea will surely not want to follow the path of their Asian counterparts so far, going down 1:3 in their opening game...
Park Ji Sung would need to do a Robben and Rosicky to carry his team while striker Park Chu Yong (who is quite formiable in my simulation game) should be the key to scoring gioals that is if Advocado decided to play him of course...
Prediction: Togo 1 : S. Korea 2 (I just think the sem finalist of 2002 should win this but won't be easy for them)

Switzerland vs France (Group G)
A draw would be written in the book for that was the scores in the games these teams played in the qualifier...
However Henry might have found form finally for his national team and I felt Domenaech was making a mistake not to call up Giuly to replace the injured Cisse.
Many would be watching the young gun, Franck Ribery of Marseille for inspiration...
As for the Swiss, looking through their list of players it seems like their defence is the main asset they depend on...but look at S&M, you may have the best defence but when you can't score, you will never be able to progress
Prediction: Switzerland 0 : France 1 (France might just nipped it unless Barthez shot himself in the leg once again)

Brazil vs Croatia (Group F)
The match many had waited for as Brazil open their WC accounts as millions of people would be really interested to see the true form of the prospective champions...
Surely those lame warm-up matches are not supposed to take seriously... and many doubts would be raise on their relatively weak defence...
Croatia who recently lost to Poland, would be a stiff opposition though they don't have any household name to boast (except Niko Kranjcar but playing in native Croatia is not the most ideal platform to show what you can really do)
Prediction: Brazil 2 (or 3) : Croatia 0 (Ronaldo might find his scoring boots for WC once more while Adriano might be off form, you still got the likes of Kaka and Ronaldihno to bank on)

I would be really interested to catch that 3 am match once more...and with my room undergoing the final phase of renovation with the installation of my bed and book shelf perhaps I should apply for leave that is I can in the first place since I should be barred from applying for my resignation...see whether I could milk for some time off tomorrow *crossing my finigers*

Japanese word of the day: サンバ ~sa-n-ba~(Samba) Got a feeling the Brazilian might not be able to kick into gear as soon as the Italians or Czechs have.

Chronicles of A Wedding Guest

12th June 2006, Monday

Enjoyed a weekend highlighted by the World Cup and the 2 wedding celebrations I had attended of course...

The late turn-in on Friday evening (more like wee hours of Saturday morning) did not take a toll on me as I woke up at around 9 as the blinding sunlight could not be contained by the white curtain in my room..seriously need to get a suitable one once my lass is back...
Spent the entire afternoon working on my webpage while recapping that 3 am match I had missed between Ecuador and Poland and realized my choice of sleep had been justified...

Clad in what I felt was suitable for the occasion including that 3 inch shoes for my wedding as I took such golden opportunity to conform myself into it and found it much comfortable this time round...
Reached La Tendo at around 7 when the rest had arrived and waiting for Tay-chan to fetch us with his other brother's (the one that is not Eng Kiong) car.
In the end, I took EK's car to Grand Copthorne Hotel instead and with Tay-chan needing to fetch a couple of the Tri-Angle lads as well, Vincent and Ferris went on their on via their bikes.

I never realized Grand Copthorne was that hotel just beside Zouk discotheque..It was always the familiar backdrop during my "cheong" days when I was lining for entry to perhaps the hottest discotheque locally..as well as some overdosed with alcohol would just hung on the barricading walls at the entrance and even vomit if it got too far..

So we arrived after 8 and thoroughly missed the solemnization ceremony which was held just before the dinner...
Good food was raved by Vincent of course before the dinner and it would be a continous mind game with "Mr Gluttony" for food even when EK and his wife would be taking vegetarian cuisine instead...
The entire ballroom wasn't too big and there were most probably 10-15 tables as Matthew had mentioned to be not too big an affair...
The newly-weds followed the usual sequence of event and came in from seperate doors before rendezvous at the center point of the red carpet before waltzed down the aisle together to the stage...
Being staunch Christians, the pair invited a pastor who gave grace to Lord before we dug in...
The mad-cap and often boisterious fun we had for this "La Tendo" table began with Miyano and Vincent starting to tease Tay-chan of weeping while he was just rubbing his eyes in the dark..
While the couple later on showed a video montage of their album and church ceremony, the rest of us were busy preventing Vincent of having too much servings of the cold dish and shark's fin soup..
The alcohol consumption especially beer for our table was escalating with every seconds as well with binging drinkers like Vincent and Miyano as well as Chan and myself (later on)...
Then again a lot of people were asking and updating each about the score between England and Paraguay...

After the usual "Yam Seng" procession which we contributed a whole deal, then the newly-weds were to go around for photo-taking..
When they got here, Vincent was insisting Matthew to down a glass of beer followed by a glass of red wine (potent concoction) which the latter finished neither..but we did broke into a cheer which was quite hilarious as well as embarrassing to say the least...
At a certain moment when Miyano went to the Ladies and the next dish of mushroom with sea cucumber arrived, Chan asked Vincent shouldn't he served some for his wife, Vincent shrugged and said she wouldn't like it while taking a double share...
Miyano returned, very much incensed by her husband's insensitivity but the whole process was just too amusing to be taken seriously...
So was the time Miyano congratualed Vincent on leading a good cheer and the pair acted like they were total strangers showing admirations to each other...
I must say at the end of the dinner we were really full for gastronomical aspect as well as entertainment aspect...

After bidding the newly-weds farewell, our night just began as the whole lot of us proceed back to Bencoolen street after pondering which suitable karaoke box we could patronise...before deciding on the K-Box at Paradiz Center..
Boy we got the biggest room in the vicinity which could really hold up to 30 people without breaking into a sweat...
There were live telecast of the World Cup matches at one corner as well which is great as we would be updated of the scores between Trinidad & Tobago & Sweden as well as the 1st half of Argentina and Ivory Coast...
Vincent wasted no time to start the ball rolling with a really long George Lam remix repertiore which was not what we intended to listen to ever...the song got ejected after 10 minutes and we doubt it was even halfway through...
So we stayed in that room for a good 5 hours at least till 4 in the morning, working on our vocal chords as well as more beer which was included in our package...
I got to sing some Japanese tunes including a L'Arc~en~ciel number which I never expected to find here...
I was very impressed with Tay-chan's renditon of The Yellow Monkey's "Taiyo ga Moetairu" and it seemed like he really had some rock genes in him...
EK and wife did a mini concert of JJ's songs while Chan usually receptive to performing in karaoke provided back-ups on certain tracks...
Karen started the session binging on the snacks which led to our curiosity that she had not had her fill during the banquet...she stayed pretty dormant for the night before Vincent and Miyano tried to to inject some life in her...
Ferris did a few numbers but was seemingly down with flu and dozed off halfway through...
But the star of the night was Bryan who really can sing even did a Jay Chou rap to close perfection and little pretendance...
Of course the livewire couple tried to get the crowd going at times with their enka-Jpop numbers and at times just wild shrieking in "We Are the World" and "We will Rock You"...heehee

We parted ways at around 4 plus and I felt it was fun not justified for $28 per person..then again not everyday the whole La Tendo clique got to gather at one spot and had each other's company like that...

When I got home, Mom was already up and ready to embark for her M;sia home-going trip...

Sunday began at 12 noon as for an hour or so I tried in vain to contact Kian Huat who I had liaised to go to Rizan's wedding with, since we lived basically a stone throw away from each other...
A heavy downpour hindered our preparations to meet up but he duly picked me up 3/4 past 2 as we hoped that we would arrive just in time when Rizan had fetched his bride over from Bukit Panjang...
HC who days before caught me on MSN stating that his Penang trip had been prolonged and might not make it, came back just in the morning and fought fatigue (yah right) to wish his buddy a blissful marriage...
Nanzhou, whom I had not seen in years but always knew he had been hanging out with HC since their NS days, came as well with some other football kakis...
While waiting for Rizan's return, we of course indulged ourselves about the World Cup and the fact that most of them do gamble for certain matches started bemoaning how they lost...
Eventually my old neighbour and classmate appeared with the vociferous drummings at the backdrop as he and his pretty wife (who happened to be a junior of ours in our Secondary school and Rizan managed to win her heart after so many years) made their grand entrance in front of family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and all other well-wishers...
After finding a seat at the void deck, we started digging in of the authentic Muslim cuisine which is always a feature of Malay wedding while the crowd slowly proceed to take pictures with the newly-weds...
Eventually we took a picture with them as well but I had little opportunity to speak to the groom whom I had not met for quite a while as well...
We lingered for a while even as the couple proceed for a change of attire coming to 4 in the afternoon before bidding Rizan's mother farewell and each other farewell...

On the way back, had a nice chat with Kian Huat to catch up on some ongongs with our lives as well walking down some memory lanes as well...
Surely I think I should try to make some effort to meet up some of these old classmates of mine before my actual wedding in October...

My lass who stayed in for the weekend, called and said she had been following World Cup herself...and described how easy it was to manuveour around Europe for free & easy tour... but in my mind, I really hope she would be back by my side as soon as she could...

Finally to the World Cup...
So far 8 matches had been played for Group A to D and I would say the most exciting one has to be that Group C clash between Argentina & Ivory Coast which I was very impressed by the skill and power some of the Cote'de Ivore players possessed with Man Utd's target Didier Zokora and Akale been 2 which really caught everyone's attention...
It would be interesting if they managed to grab the equalizer after been 2 goals down and proved my prediction right...

The other more exciting game would be last evening's Mexico vs Iran which the teams came out to attack and could swing either way...but looking at the way Mexico play I got a feeling they might be the surprise package of the tournament

Germany, England and Portugal won respectively but leave a lot to be desired for the fact that they are some of the contenders for the title...
Germany showed attacking football and scored 4 goals with Frings' scorcher might yet to be the goal of the tournament (let's hope not), but Costa Rica goes on to prove that they have a leaky defence...
The English needed an own goal to win while the Angolans really didn't helped boost their former colonial rulers' confidence by restricting them to just a mere early goal especially with the talent they had in their disposal.

The biggest shock would be the fact T&T held Sweden to a 0-all draw with a 2nd choice keeper and a man down since early 2nd half (refereed by a Singapore chap)
The Swedes could still do well against Paraguay and most important England...but Ibrahimovic and Larsson got to find their scoring boots..because they had only a guy called Marcus Allback as back-up

The Pole played organised football but if they can't score against Ecuador (despite having the worst luck) they deserved to be out of the tournament...while Costa Rica might pip the other 2 for the runners-up spot with Germany definitely top of Group A

My beloved Netherlands proved my 1:0 prediction right...but al thanks to Robben really...without him I feel this Dutch squad is very average without much flair as well...
And thanks to the experience of van der Sar, as the defence looks jittery even against a Serbian attack which doesn't seem to go anywhere...
Ivory Coast would prove a strong test next...Let's hope they would play better and Robben continue his devastating form on the left wing...

Ok prediction for tonight's games:

Australia vs Japan (Group F)
Many tout this as a top Asian derby since the Aussies had pledged allegiance to the AFA...
But seriously the game can go anyway for 2 teams who I feel are slightly above average and could beat anyone on their finest day...
Prediction: Australia 2 : Japan 1 (I would go for a draw but I think the Socceroos and the wise tactician Hiddink might just carve out the result)

U.S.A vs Czech Republic (Group E)
Both teams are recentoly hit by injuries to key players though the Americans should have an almost full squad for gaffer Arena to choose...
The Czech had such latent potential and we had seen from Euro 2004 how good they can be in top tournament
Prediction: U.S.A 1 : Czech 3 (even with Roiscky and Baros, I think the Czechs are still a bit too strong for the Americans)

Italy vs Ghana (Group E)
This 3 am game is one I would like to watch but might be a dull affair...
So far the Africans showed that they could compete with the best and Ghana with Essien, Appiah and Muntari would definitely be among the best especially with recent form...
Totti will be starting behind Toni and most probably joined by Gilardino which is a very potent strike force and if Pirlo find his usual form , Ghana need a great wall to block all the ball into their penalty areas...
Prediction: Italy 2 (or 1) : Ghana 0 (The Italians will score but after seeing the Portugal-Angola match and that Ghana is of different pedigree than Angola, I think this will be a tight affair)

Japanese word of the day: ゴールス ~goo-ru-su~(Goals) I want to see more of those and more spectacular ones..so far I feel 2002 is much more exciting than this