My Past World Cup Experiences

7th June 2010, Monday

4 days to the big football bonanza which comes once every 4 years...the World Cup!
Excitement filled me as I contemplated on how to keep myself awake for some wee hours matches for the next few weeks.
Applying is the top option and I have catered a few days (yah not more than 4-5 days) to be taken strategically

Would be backing a few favorites for this tournament but would love a fairy tale dark horse story much like Turkey-South Korea in 2002 and less like Greece in Euro 2004.
Thank goodness for the time zone from South Africa (which is around an hour off the GMT) means we can at least catch 2 matches comfortably at the 7.30pm and 10.30pm slots.

I still remembered football took a huge chunk of my life since 1993 when I was introduced to Manchester United and the Premier League.
However my World Cup journey began way earlier:

Italia 1990: Remembered a famed local Mandarin DJ cum commentator kept stressing the name "Ba Jiao" which is a direct translation of Roberto Baggio of the Azzurri., otherwise it was Carlos Valderama's mop that really drew alot of entertainment back then.
Struggled to stay up to catch Maradona and his Argentine contingent reclaiming the cup from West Germany but went down to an Andreas Brehme's penalty. Dozed off halfway through despite RTM's attempt to keep people interested with one of the Star Wars films.

USA 1994: Fully exposed to the intensity of the World Cup held by the land of the global big brother who treated "soccer" is a sports for the kids.
Andres Escobar's assassination, Maradona's shameful drug charges, Iordan Letchkov's bald patch and Henrik Larsson's blonde locks were some of the highlights.
The magical strike partnership of Romario and Bebeto took the Selecao into the final but it took missed penalties from Baggio and Franco Baresi gave Brazil their 4th World title.

France 1998: Before the tournament, not many people heard of Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane, how that was to change dramatically.
Missed quite a big chunk because of my military commitment but was glad to catch a few swashbuckling games live including Bergkamp & Kluivert s' combination to eliminate Argentina.
Posh David Beckham was expelled for kicking at a playacting Diego Simeone while Croatia backed by a talented squad with the likes of Sukar, Prosinecki and Boban sent them to the semi finals only to be undone by the hosts especially a particular Lilian Thuram.
A mysterious breakdown by Ronaldo saw him making a last minute entree into Mario Zagallo's line-up but by then the damage was done as the hosts, France demolished the South American giant with a 3-0 hiding.

Japan/ South Korea 2002: Perhaps the most exciting World Cup for me personally. Fresh out of college, I had to make meet's ends by plying trade as a car accessory salesman, so could not catch a lot of early games being played at the same East Asian timezone.
I also went on a Genting trip with the missus back then with out university mates and caught a few matches there as well.
A World Cup for the underdogs saw a resilient Guus Hiddink-led South Korean team ousting the likes of Italy and Spain, while beating Portugal in the group stage. Many remembered the games as biased refereeing favoring the co-hosts.
Japan, USA, Senegal and especially Turkey had a great outing while defending champions France dwindled in the absence of Zidane and knocked out without scoring a goal.
Ronaldo helped Brazil blazed into the final (with Rivaldo's Academy Award winning acting skill against Turkey) with his 8 goals inclusive of the brace in the final itself.
I had footballing chums like Foo and a couple of course mates that kept me very much wrapped in the festivity just north of our island.
Had my hand of gambling (legally) but resulted in me shouting my voice coarse in that semi final duel when Germany nicked a 1-0 win over South Korea.
It was a bad experience for me and I swore off betting on football for life.

Germany 2006 : Not the best timing to start a new job while caught in the World Cup fever.
Remembered a lot of cagey games in this tournament and some of the games did not lived up to its billing.
Netherlands self destructed in the round of 16 against Portugal while Argentina could not get past host Germany in the quarterfinals meaning I really had no one to support by the latter stages.
For France to beat hot favorites Brazil in the Qfinals, signaled the 98 champions are returning to form and another 1-0 feat over Portugal saw them meeting Italy in the final.
Zidane who had set his retirement plan after the finals, went out in disgrace by headbutting foul-mouthed Marco Materazzi which was the most vivid scene from that edition of the World Cup

So what would this year in Africa's first World Cup be like?
Would Spain lived up to their billing or would there be a surprise winner?
Plenty of stars were left out or receded due to injuries, so perhaps the platform for a new Schillaci, Hagi, Suker, Diouf or Podolski to shine out.

4 days and counting then

Japanese word of the day: 選手 ~sen-shu~ (Player) Wonder if Messi would really take this year by storm

Age is just a Number

13th April 2010, Tuesday

With the missus out of town, managed to beckon the guys for some sort of a meet up despite time constraint.
Lili had a hair appointment surprisingly just a stone throw away from my place which warrant CS a few hours to hang out with me and TW who distinctly indicated that he would be available for the whole of Sunday than originally penned on Saturday.

My nostalgic weekend began on Saturday evening when I was tracking some old friends on Facebook.
Despite being a staunch advocate to ban such networking tool because of the evil tales which crept out of the closet, it was afterall great to catch up with old friends or acquaintances.
Managed to join a group for my secondary school which I had good memories of unlike my junior college years and even finally caught hold of my first real puppy crush though I was resistant to request for a friend addition.

The day began at 10-ish when TW as scheduled albeit hastily over the phone mentioned that he would drop by around 10.
I was barely nibbling my tasty cookie (milk chocolate and macadamia) when he made the house call.

It was apparent that CS would only reach an hour later, so we did the next best thing than merely doing the waiting game: play Pro Evo Soccer on the PS.
We tried to emulate the FA Cup semi final for that night between Spurs and Pompey (which the latter amazingly snitched it despite problem off the pitch) before CS made a much earlier entrance.

Off we swooshed to AMK for lunch and it's fun just cruising with my buddies, only if CS could curb his volatile reception to lady drivers.
Lunch was at Popeye's Chicken which was rather steep a price for fast food but the quality in terms of the fried chicken and other side dishes like their marsh potato definitely is a breathe of fresh air from that offered by Col. Sanders.

CS kept us hanging with something brewing from work while TW filled us in with a rather cringeworthy ploy by a female student of his, on playing the heart of a fellow student to produce work for her.

After wiping clean the tasty chicken and spilling jam on pants for some, the burgeoning crowd in the joint was getting rowdy and we decided to head to Funz Center.
The objective was to source for a new game for yours truly and Quantic Dream's "Heavy Rain", a suspense thriller looked like the prime choice as I told CS that i was more into adventure with a good spin in plot these days than RPG.

Didn't lingered long at AMK Hub and left for my place as Lili was on the verge of finishing her styling appointment, meaning CS could not stay for long.
It was indeed the case as we were a few yards from reaching my place yet we still get to see the awkward control of Heavy Rain while hearing the rest of the scoop of sleaze off CS in the end... Good Times.

After the Pepsiman left to pick up his lass, TW stayed for a tournament on PES, using the uber powerful Spanish squad which we both reckon would do good in the World Cup.
It was midway when TW got a call from CS, claiming that I had dropped by relic of a mobile phone in his car and he would make a return trip from Jurong after sending Lili back, just to return it to me.
I thought it was just an excuse to just catch up which did not transpired.

What was more bizarre was that beside my mobile, TW had dropped his car keys in the passenger seat of CS' car as well which was verified by the latter.
They claimed it was voodoo when I mentioned the name of "the Big O" as we kicked off the day and it came back to haunt us.

TW had intended to hitch a cab ride to fetch his key until I offered him the missus' Ford Focus as a the alternative, meaning at least he would save on the cab fare.
It turned out to be a cool ride as we started speaking about how time had just flew by (with some real classic on Class 95 really helped orchestrate the mood).
In the end despite heading towards the fourth decade of our existence, a good 22 years since we became friends, we still very much remained the same pair of goof balls as age and what not would not deter us off the way we wanna lead our lives.

Despite not granted a longer time than expected, I felt it was real nice to catch up with them again as the havoc we can create when we are all in attendance.

Surely at my age, you would not think one would take urgent leave with the excuse to look after an ailing wife but spend the day finishing up a newly bought console game... yah age is afterall a number as the mindset remains.

Japanese word of the day: 年齢 (Age) The body does tell the real age somehow

Not The Festive Season I Had Expected

22nd December 2009, Tuesday

This the season to be jolly...well not exactly.

Just as I closed in on my final day of work with a long break in view, I got the unfortunate piece of shocking news from my Secondary School chum, HC about the passing of a fellow mate of ours, HT.
I had not been keeping up with almost all my Secondary School chums and had last seen HT years ago, I believed still in the university.
His passing really shook me, especially at our tender age when life barely started.

The following day I hitch a ride in HC's Mazda down to Rivervale Link where the wake was held.
I refrained from having a peek of HT's cold corpse after offering my farewell at the alter and the revelation of suicide really raised a lot of eyebrows though I thought it was not appropriate to probe further as his grieving mother might not be in the right state of mind to tear open that grievous scar again.

The wake did offer a rare opportunity for me to catch up with HC and Zan who was globetrotting as a SIA pilot these days.
The former claimed that I would only get to meet them for occasions like weddings and funerals which I could not refute.
Both were speaking about stocks and living the high lives these days but the same level of caramaderie existed between us; if only HT could thought things over and not resort to ending his fragile life.
The news report stated no cause of the trouble that led to his planned death as the police as they usually would, suspected foul play.

Despite seeing the last of a good friend from the yesteryears, I was still upbeat of a jolly festive season until Vincent called on Friday night that EK and Reedy s' old man who had been en route to recovery after his car accident months ago, suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest and passed on.

Unlike HT's situation, the signs were foretelling for a while, still it drew alot of sadness from the entire La Tendo clique.
There would be no yuletide partying as scheduled which was not totally a bad thing considering the element for laughter, Mr and Mrs Lim, could not make it in the first place.

The pair worked their magic when we gathered at at the wake, the second in 3 days for me, on a very soggy Sunday.
With the exception of Chan who was preoccupied with his booth at China Square on that day, the whole crew made up for the lost time we would have for the X'mas eve despite the fact that we ought to mourn for the senior Tay, perhaps he would like to see us doing our usual banter.
Vinny was constantly soliciting our mutual acquiantances from Iwate, Fure and Kumiko, to Karen and Reedy respectively and slowly drew the other swinging bachelors and bachelorettes into the equation as the topic then osmosized into homosexuals.

The weekend started pretty bright and early on Saturday as we headed to town as scheduled to beat the ERP gantry before 11.
It was going to be whirlwind time shopping the Orchard Road belt although at the end of it, I had the biggest haul and even contemplated on capping my burgeoning budget which spilled that of the intended amount with a pair of cool looking jeans which cost an even cooler price of $600 at "Bread & Butter".
Fortunately there had been some sensible restrain for us as the missus nearly succumbed to temptation at the Burberry's boutique as well.

The movie of 2009 or at least the latter half of the year surely was James Cameron's 13 years in the making extravaganza "Avatar"
It was my first foray into watching 3D film and was overall impressed with the technology despite GV being overly protective of their hefty 3D glasses which tend to slip of the bridge of the nose.
The film which banked on a whole new emotion capture technology and what not had a good storyline and smooth flow to it.
Its strong characterism tends to grip its audience who were captivated by their emotions near the end that one tends to forgo the high definition shit at that juncture.
The storyline had alot of rib on the American military policy and their constant invading of other people's lands and culture at the same time Cameron took a leaf out of Miyazaki's "Princess Monoke" with all the in-sync with the nature theme.

During the dinner after the movie, Bryan gave Chan the early X'mas present as he had chosen him with the Japanese edition of "Final Fantasy XIII" which came with his FF13 edition Playstation 3.
This was followed by my gift to Vincent and Karen's to Miyano the following day as it would be scattered for this time period due to the many little reasons about everyone's whereabouts this period.

While we are planning to meet up for X'mas eve since that day was vacated just for the party, my own family X'mas dinner was a blast as Mom and Sis cooked up a storm and we certainly had our fill for this time of the year...

Well still need to instill some jolliness despite a sullen end of 2009...

Japanese word of the day:かなり(Jolly)Sure hope 2010 will be a much more jolly year to be in

Welcome back David, Seeya Around Jimmy

18th August 2009, Tuesday

Last evening, there was a major shake-up in Star World's weekdays scheduling.
Being an avid follower of the Asia premier English language channel on cable owned by STAR TV, I had always liken to get myself entertained especially with a good laugh from the myriad of comedies, realty TV programs and of late TV talk shows after a "hard" day of work.

Gone was the back to back episodes of "Friends" which had made like its 20th re-run on the network but it's popularity is still undiminished especially to a sucker like myself who can laugh at the same joke over and over again, same case for "Seinfeld".
In replacement, the programmers astutely replaced the 7.30pm slot with re-run of "Everybody Loves Raymond", the multi-Emmy winning sitcom about a poor chap Raymond Barone (played by Ray Ramano) caught in between his wife and his overly-disruptive family which basically stolen the show in many instances.
I had caught an episode here and there of the 9 season long series but surely it was a tasteful addition to the daily broadcast of sitcom re-runs in tune of "Seinfeld,"Friends" and at times "Two and A Half Men".

After weeks of intense advertising, the network also welcome "The Late Show with David Letterman" or at least the "Best of" episodes for 2009 before the normal syndicated show, aired one day after the telecast in the States.
Back in 1995 to around 1997, the previous incarnation of Mediacorp's "Central (no okto)" known as "Premiere 12" used to show the CBS late night talk show that could rival NBC's "The Tonight Show" on daily basis.

From 11pm to 12 am, my buddy TW and I would stay tuned to the telecast and that together with several sitcoms (like "Friends", "Seinfeld" etc), were our first foray into American style sense of humor which had been a intrinsic part of my everyday life now.
Not that I am pro-star-spangled banner or anything but I could relate more to the humour of the American and usually of the dry humor of the British more than our local type which lacks form and characteristically shallow.

Back in those days, Letterman like many of his late night contemporaries would tend to make fun of anything and everything happening and current affairs in the United States.
The politician namely the incumbents in the White House are always at the brunt of the ribbing..back in those days, Bill Clinton was known as "Big Bubba" and his Lewinsky-gate could not escape the constant hounding by Letterman and we simply dug that.

When TCS (Mediacorp's previous persona) ended their reign of "Late Show", an important part of our lives had been disrupted but by then I was in the army and had not much time to watch TV.

Over the next decade, David Letterman can only be seen on youtube but it kind of defeat the whole purpose being a daily night talk show.

When Star World decided to bring in ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" since 2008 (or was it late 2007), I was enchanted by the energy of late night talk show and Jimmy being a young upstart in the field as compared to Leno, Letterman or O'Brien got his writers to make jokes which incoporate a lot of actual scene editing which really satirized the actual event.
Since the show is based in Hollywood, the guests are usually directors, actors, comedians, musicians etc who plug their latest works which surely was up my alley as it gave me a glimpse of some films that might ultimately come to Singapore.

I would have hoped Star World to place "The Late Show" alongside "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" but it was simply wishful thinking as they felt the viewers in Asia are not prepared to watch 2 late night talk shows side by side, so Letterman literally bumped Kimmel of the late night slot.

I have grew an affection to Kimmel and his motley crew of relatives and security guards like Uncle Frank, Guillermo, Cleto and the Cletones, Cousiin Sal etc, now I just need to reacquaint myself with David Letterman again with his Top 10, Paul Schaffer, Rupert Jee, Biff Henderson etc.

Japanese word of the day:夜遅く (Late Night) You don't expect me to sleep so early do you?

Rest in Peace, King of Pop

26th June 2009, Friday

Shellshock was exactly what I felt when I heard of the passing of Michael Jackson whom I refer to as Wacko Jacko in recent years had passed away at his Bel Air Mansion due to cardiac arrest at the tender age of 50.

The jokes made of his child molestation trial was actually a mean to see that people still care

Despite his demise over the past decade with the line of controversies and failed resurrection of his music career, the King of Pop is still an icon and certainly played a crucial part in my childhood...no I was not touched by him anywhere when I was young only perhaps my soul...hmm even that doesn't sound right.

I think it was when I was 7 or 8 when my paternal aunts were still crazy about American pop music with MTVs and Solid Gold back in the mid 1980s.
When the music video of "Beat it" came on, I was bought. The catchy tune the spectacular dance choreography and Michael, still black back then, with his signature red synthetic jacket surely had the whole world under his feet.

Michael Jackson - Beat It

Uploaded by sofresh305. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

This made Michael my idol back in 1986

My aunties bought me the "Bad" album in 1987 and it nearly "dissolved" into the cassette tape player when I listened to it such umpteen times.

Then I caught the music video of "Bad" and I was hoping to get what Michael was wearing at the same time what happened to his skin.
But it was at this juncture that MJ looked the most decent before he went on to pay more visits and surely more truckload of money to his plastic surgeons.

Even in 1991 when his "Dangerous" album, I was quick to buy me a copy. Like "Bad", this album had high replayability with so many great songs and of course he outdone himself with those MVs which was ahead of its time.

The subsequent years saw Michael heading toward his demise with all the allegations, trials, nose-droppings, hooking up with Lisa Marie Presley, making babies with his nurse etc etc.

All I could say is Michael was my very first pop idol and I am sure to many millions of children (damn doesn't sound right in this context again) back in those days.
As I told my buddy over MSN, if he had stayed sane and black till these days, his legend would continue always and always.

Well here's my ode to the icon and the true King of Pop, may you rest in peace (that is if you didn't fake your own death that is)

Japanese word of the day: マイケル・ジャクソン (Michael Jackson) Man MJ was a god in Japan as well...they might even offer him their offsprings

Taking Up Dead Space?

4th May 2009, Monday

The May Day long weekend was pretty well spent in my books.
With my folks off to another Northern excursion back to Mom's relatives' place in Johor, we were left in charge of the apartment again.

Got to hook up with 2 of my buddies as well as managed to watch a whole chunk of backlog of doramas in my computer.
I even caught a nearing 3 hour long commemorative special from Fuji Television, on their 50th anniversary, reminiscing some classic dorama series from the past with the slew of top billing actors and actresses we had watched since young surely helped to make the occasion even more meaningful, especially yours truly who is infatuated with nostalgia.
The show was hosted by SMAP, and perhaps Tsuyoshi's last live appearance before his scandal. Anyway heard he will not be charged, and could make a comeback soon...we'll see.

My weekend really started on Thursday when TW came over for some Pro Evolution Soccer fun.
I actually had intended to organize an impromptu gaming session at CS' place on Friday but seemingly my wife-doting buddy had to commit his time to his bride, and felt perhaps we could catch up on Thursday itself.
We sure had a good time taking Spain national team (our favorite outfit in the game) and simply wallop our opponents (in amatuer mode of course); but the penultimate objective was to totally humiliate England which we both loathe (in the game and perhaps in real life) but after umpteen attempts we just couldn't win convincingly.
The playing took a toll on the missus who was gracious enough to leave the room for us.
A good chat to catch things up with each other ended at around 2 when he hailed a cab home, very much similar to another of this session back in December.

While the missus went on a hiking trip with her business partners at the South Ridges walk, I decided to find my own program when I called up CS who as usual in the comfort of his home, playing his beloved games.
Things sure got a bit lonely without TW or Foo but we made the best of things when he showed me the latest in the game industry, the usual of whetting my appetite even when I find it hard to squeeze time to concentrate in engaing in console games (hard to multi task unlike playing FM).

The bulk of the time there was when he let me have the hands on on a chilling game he even had chills down his spine while playing in the day time, "Dead Space".

This horror game from EA Games is much unlike any other of the same genre such as Capcom's "Resident Evil" series.
The game which very much inspired from the 1997 sci fi horror flick "Event Horizon", will create a spine-chilling atmosphere as the protaganist, engineer Isaac Clarke unraveled the mystery over the annhilation of the crew onboard the Ishimura Planet Cracker ship.

CS left me on my own for most of the time and as much as I had a strong disdain towards such game despite an urge to pick up Resident Evil 5 though, I found the control easy and not too nauseous.
The developers surely know how to create the morbid environment which at times you as the player would not be sane enough to explore.
Fans of grotesque slasher movies like Saw would love the amount of blood and innards that one can generate while dismembering those alien creatures, which love to sprang out from no where to scare the shit out of the player.

The game won many awards and accolades and for a casual player myself who got intrigued enough to continue on, it sure deserves to be rewarded.
On some level, the game is much more than just blind slashing and killing, there are several stages when you need to seek the best solution with your other skills like Statis and Kinesis to get machineries to work.

The game took me to 1 plus when I saw CS was pretty bumped up for the night though he was cool enough to give me a ride home in his brand new Mitsubishi Lancer with all the dazzling gadgets as we would expect no less.

Saturday was basically home bound with the missus who was preparing for her make-up competition on Sunday with Karen as the model.

A couple of good results going for the teams I support with Man Utd beating Middlesborough in a rather yawn-inducing affaor but one wouldn't have time to even bat an eyelid in the El Clasico at Santiago Bernabeu with the irresistable Barca machine went riot over the hapless host, Real Madrid with a 6-2 scoreline which could be more for the Catalans.
Both teams are on course for their domestic titles and I hope to see them squaring up against each other in the Champions League final, though Barcelona surely deserve to win it as in all competitions they are in, for showing the world such delightful positive attacking football.

I didn't had the chance to catch up with the final of my Wrecker buddy as Foo sort of bailed me out (but to spend time with his other half is definitely take the precedence) as I made the journey to Tampines alone to catch the Cup preliminary round which didn't end up good in terms of the scoreline (as I have expected) but the spirited display and the cheers I heard for the team was pretty heart-warming.

Japanese word of the day: 恐怖 (Scare) There were moments we just scared each other, pretty silly that we couldn't stop laughing

Khatib FCC could be the next Facebook

6th February 2009, Friday

After completing the final IPPT yesterday afternoon for my recent IPPT Preparation Training (IPT) course, I have paid my due for this work year with regards to that painstaking debt we national service men had to commit if we are fit enough.

As anticipated, I did not made the grade but 5 legitimate chin-ups surely was an unprecedented phenomenon in my long history of IPPT for sure...

While I was granted 2 sessions being stand down during the Lunar New Year (yeah will plan subsequent IPTs around this holiday), the truncated amount of time spent at the Khatib FCC allowed me to meet some old acquaintances, with a pleasant twist near the end.

I was always a loner going for such trainings since it was tough to coordinate to any chums who had profligancy in attaining the minimum scores for the test, due to the time difference in our "window period" (attributed to our birthdays).
I rarely made an effort to pick up conversation with mere strangers as they would always be negative about the entire training, unwilling to put in a wee bit of effort to train and demanding "out-pro" vehemently.

This time I did found a familiar face earlier on... A comrade from my ICT unit, whom I had mentioned I found boring speaking to previously.
With a couple more years to the golden age of 40, he was just strolling down the sunset as military reserves beckon.

The pleasant surprise I spoke of happened on the last actual training on Tuesday.
As the PTI made the reluctant troop get the body conditioned for the test with a short jog round the tracks, I spotted this rotund Malay chap huffing and puffing, making the efforts to keep jogging consistently.
He looked really familiar and instantly the acknowledgement that he could be our old footballing team mate back in the mid 1990s, Shaban.

During warm down, I approached him for confirmation of his ID and true indeed my natural gift of remembering people in my life and strong ability to put the right name to the picture works again.
In fact Shaban had noticed my presence since the beginning and always thought my name was that of my buddy, TW whom he had close allegiance back in their Secondary School days.
TW would be thrilled that I managed to reunite him with yet another old classmate whom himself had not met for like 13-14 years now.
As we exchanged contact numbers and had a brief walk down the memory lane, we both agreed that money can never buy the great memories we once shared in our lives.

I do forsee a mini get together with my buddies, myself and Shaban for perhaps coffee soon as we relinquish the good old days of training at the old pitch, something our aged (and for some of us "bloated") bodies would cringe at the thought of.
Surely another wonderful jab of nostalgia for me...

Actually also spotted an old University friend in the midst of unfamiliar faces. In fact he just lived a block or tow away from me but we never had the opportunity to meet again since start of my working life.
He was an avid S League fan back in those days with season ticket to watch Sembawang Rangers, would be good to chat with him over my renewed interest in local football; but missed the opportunity when I choose to speak to Shaban instead.

Japanese word of the day: 認識 (Recognition) Surely is one of my rare talent to recognise people I had encountered in my life

No Expectation for the New Year

31st December 2008, Wednesday

So we came to the final day of 2008...seriously 2008 doesn't feel like a complete year to me, more of like a few months which juxtaposition 2007 & 2009, well we'll see if 2009 itself feels like a year in 365 days...

On the macro, 2008 saw a new American president and more importantly the historical first black president to be elected.
In this time and age, the color of our skin as well as gender has reach a level of equality yet somehow there are still classes between the wealthy and the poor which increased exponentially with the financial turmoil.
The Bush regime left the States as well as the rest of the world in major debt and the subprime situation had caused such a tsunami experts were saying it will take the latter part of 2010 to see us back to the good days....so plenty to be pessimistic about 2009.
Though my sector had been given reassurance from the government, we can never rest on our laurels could we...to cut cost , the HQ might come out with drastic measures, so I better prepare for the worst.
As for now the employment status of me, the missus as well as the rest of the family remains status quo, and I hope it will stay so come the new year.

There are been alot of chaos in recent months for our fellow Asian nation and our attention had always been with our Japanese cousins.
Aside for the incredible hike in the yen rate, everything seems fine over there, though not as rosy as the new Prime Minister Aso had wanted it to be.
In Taiwan Ma Ying Jeou toppled the Green power while the out-going president Chen Shui bian is now facing the wrath of his corruption behind bars.
In Thailand we saw 3 PMs taking the seat of Thaksin who went from owner of Manchester City to a seeker of foreign asylum.

In local aspect, 2008 gave us plenty of excitement with our 1st silver medals from the Olympics as well as the inaugural F1 night race which received plenty of accolades.
Our Lions had a good showing in the 1st ever 3rd Qualifying round of the World Cup but sorely missed our 3rd Asean Cup.
We saw increase in price of public transport, telephone bills, electrical bills due to the erratic price of crude oil while COE dropped to the unheard of level of $1 for below 1600CC vehicles (while my missus' interest in owning our own car was not subjected to changes in COE of course).
Mas Selamat was still not to be found while Venerable Mingyi followed the footsteps of T T Durai.

In sports, Man Utd did the double while Spain got alot of reprieve with a spectacular year with the Euro 2008 victory, Nadal winning many Grand Slams and their cyclists doing well on Tour de France.
Michael Phelps won unprecedented 8 golds in the Olympics while Usain Bolt is really a bolt of lightning on the tracks.
Lewis Hamilton just barely beat Felipe Massa in F1 while Boston Celtic claimed the NBA title but not for long.
Heath Ledger joined the likes of Paul Newman & Bernie Mac in the obituary this year but The Dark Knight took the cinema by storm.
While Mariah got married again and Madonna got divorced, Britney made a comeback well so did Boyzone...
In the Asian scene, Lydia Sum would be missed but not really will Edison Chen who is now the unofficial hero to many testosterone-driven guys.
A pretty good year for Japanese movie scene with Studio Ghibli's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" and "Hana Yori Dango F" drawing big crowd to the cinema while Taiga dorama, Atsuhime once again drew the younger demographic to watch the yawn-inducing (not to yours truly) history lessons.
Tetsuya Komuro got arrested for swindling while Koda Kumi got into trouble over some quick words which offend the feminists.
People are still wondering if SMAP would still be a group come 2009 while their predecessors could jolly well be Arashi who had a great 2008 with many chart topping hits including the number hit on the year end Oricon chart.

On the domestic front, I bought Playstaion 3, a new iPod, a new CPU, a new home theater system, a really dear Shure earphones a new mobile and won an iPod shuffle while the missus topped the IT spending with a new laptop.
It also spelt a year of bad luck we had with our gadgets which is well documented.
Not to be outdone, my old man got a new LCD TV for the living room which also saw the previous CRT one got burnt to non-existent.

My parents enjoyed many trip to Genting as well as a short escapade to Hainandao while the missus enjoyed none for the year as she looked at me begrudginly for my 4 days stint to Japan for the Wonder Festival in February.
In April I went Kao-hsiung again for ICT and hope to not see the gloomy southern Taiwan pcity but seems like the Navy just wouldn't let me go for the new year again.

At work, the likes of BY and my French supervisor left for greener pastures while I was changed my work scope after the 1st quarter which see me working in sync with His Beautiness, yes he is still around.
Shitty Green became slightly more tolerable but he would not be around much for the new year.
While my previous employers saw major axing of lab and staff who many jumped ship over here, I look forward to my 7th year of employment (riciculously long in Singapore standard) in 2009, seemingly rather contended with my wage package, benefits and even my designation.
One of the main attraction at work, the gym is rumored to be closed in the future and I am crossing my fingers it would not be realized...I don't want to be lerthagic at work again.

Though we had not meet up as much due to the distance required to traveled to the new shop at Kallang, the La Tendo clique is still as closely knitted as ever with several new inductions, hope for more in 2009.
Had alot more of good times with my buddies especially ranting about movies, TV shows and local soccer with Foo while moaning at our luck with supporting Sengkang Punggol.
For most of 2008, I had been hounding CS to fix my PC but he was truly glad I join the PS3 community which see an exponential growth this year with the likes of Foo and Ferris being "baptised" into the knighthood as well.
As for TW, he pop the question to his lass somewhere in October or November but it took him a trip to San Diego to have the epiphany about getting hitch.
It's been a while since I last saw the likes of Selina and Cheryl but both seems well with their respective hubbies and their new homes.
Lastly lost much contacts with my University friends though the occasional meet-up on wedding banquets, same for friends from the Secondary schools.
Overall I had grew to be much more a hermit if I was a major one previously in the year of 2008...sad but true

While most of the spending had been on IT products, I had tried to curb spending on my hobby which see the reduction for figurines channeled to perhaps console games as well as my new found love for amazon and their great offers in DVDs.
Had not wander into any major investments though my current CPF ones are giving headaches as the government change some ruling which embargo transfer of funds unless a minimum of 20K is met in each acocunt.
As I felt most of 2008 just zooms past me without a squeak, my time might not had spent as useful as I hope them to be; then again no point remorsing over loss time...perhaps 2009 will see me making better use of whatever time I have.
Health wise, being pretty fit for the past year which is a blessing but there were several niggling issues which I hope will not make a return in the new year.

Finally marriage... Over the past month, my lack of basic husbandry had been exposed time and again. And the missus' grumble about me seems creditable.
I have to be one of the worst husband of all time but I am really glad my wife tolerate with my nonsense all these while.
I know I have to improve or I might lose someone so dear to me like her...Let's hope 2009 will be a year for me to change, though I still cannot change my personality to suit the company of people who I felt to be wasting my time.
The 2 major investment she had yearn so dearly, cars and babies had always been the first agendas I tried to dodge but not any longer I supposed.
However we can only focus our time and money on one and the latter seems more viable and it would bring much more life to everyone around us; once again my lack of preparation especially in the mental aspect is holding me back.
I am already such a lousy husband, what make you think I would be a a father...I shudder at the thought.

All in all, as much as I am not having great anticipation for the new year, I still have to face it dearly.
A rather hectic 1st 2 months awaits and I just want to get the ICT out of the way, hope everyone I love stays healthy and happy while I would gain more satisfaction in everything I do...
Seeya'll in 2009!

Japanese word of the day: 羞恥心~shu-chi-shin~ (Shame) The biggest surprise J Pop hit of the year and sometime I ask myself whether I have any Shuchishin

Live Japan TV

16th October 2008, Thursday

Japanophiles Alert!

Now there is a Windows P2PTV application which allow you to watch live streaming from most major Japanese broadcasting nation anytime, anywhere (as long as you have a Windows-running computer with stable network connection).
KeyHoleTV seems to be out for a while now and it is such a light Linux program which even a computer illiterate can download and install and stream the live TV across the Pacific Ocean in the matter of seconds.

Foo and myself were contemplating the availability of a live stream for the World Cup Qualifying 3rd round group game between Japan and Uzbekistan and I happened to stumbled to this with the magic of Google.
Although in doubt that there could be spyware attached to the application, Foo suggested "no venture no gain"... so waa laa, we now had pretty good quality live Japanese TV beset the slight lagging & negligible synchronization problem.

Imagine having the luxury of TV programs from the likes of TV Asahi, TBS, Fuji Terebi and NTV just on our LCD monitor with a touch of a button...
Not that we are in such dire need of Japanese anime, dorama and variety programs which are so readily available now on the net, but sometime you just wanna have the feel of being in Japan as I would just switch on the TV in the hotel room when I am in my 2nd homeland, even though I have no idea what ridiculous documentary was on or when every single channel is talking about long beans tainted with unknown chemical over and over again.
I am also a big fan of Japanese CM (advertisements) and marveled at how ridiculous (creative) they could be to advertise on sanitary pads, summer lagers or eye drops.

Sure had come a long way from the days when I had to rent VCDs of random episodes of "Music Station" or "Hey Hey Hey Music Champ" from Vision Anime in Adelphi and religiously record it on videotapes, so as to hope I can watch it when I am 90 years old.

Another good use of the software would be to catch J League which we had grew a slight interest in lately after watching how majestic Urawa Red Diamonds had become.
We just refuse to pay that obscene amount to Starhub who provide the footages on their sports tier (cos they couldn't afford Champions League next season).

There were a few AM digital radio stations registered to KeyHoleTv as well inclduing one at the bottom of the list called "Japanese Pop Songs" or something.
While expecting to listen to contemporary Oricon chart hits which would become ear worms like when you are just walking from shopping malls to shopping malls in Japan, you would be pleasantly surprised to listen to some true classics from many years back...some might even date back to the pre-Showa era...
Just let the music play while you relax around...perhaps "Watashi no Kare wa Hidari Kiki" would comes next up the playlist....

Actually I think this is the same program Yuu-kun introduced me weeks back but I never bothered to try...

Speaking of Yuu-kun, one of his ultimate goddess, Leah Dizon, the mixed-blood model and singer and the prime suspect to many hot-blooded Japanese's wet dream, came out to admit she is pregnant out of wedlock.
The guy who banged him seemingly is a dashing 20 something stylist or something and like Sarah Palin's underaged daughter's child's father seemingly willing to take full responsibility.
That surely is a shot to the heart to fragile Yuu-kun who was just about recovering from the devastation of finding out that young Miyazaki Aoi is already married.

Well Leah Dizon is a slut to begin with and you should not bear any illusion that she is going to stay chaste till she is married at the age of 35 or something.
Then again she sure has the quality to make a feeble man go rock hard down below...if you know what I mean.

So I am now ready to see Koda Kumi endorsing for a bust enhancing cream made from the placenta of over 35 years-old aunties....

Japanese word of the day: リア・ディゾン(Slut) Wonder did the same stylist screw my precious Takako Uehara

I wanna be a Picasso band member!

1st October 2008, Wednesday

After a great night walking down the nostalgic memory lane with TW on Sunday, he seems to be on the roll to seek some more material to relish those good old days.

Our love for Takahashi Rumiko's "Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻,)" is well documented as it was the endearing love story which we were addicted to during our puberty.
The uphill task of Godai to win the heart if Kyoko-san as well as finding a path he should lead after graduation was a storyline most people can relate to regardless which decade you are in when you watch the series (the series was referance from the mid 1980s).
The opening and ending themes of the series were as equally endearing to rabid fans like ourselves. Tracks like Anzenchitai's "Sukisa", Gilbert O' Sullivan's "Alone Again" and Matsuo Kiyomori's "Sunny Shining Morning" really builds the mood of the series.
However if we were to throw in the vote for our favorite themes of the series, it surely has to be the various songs done by the 3 men band, Picasso.
In total Picasso contributed 4 songs to the series all of which are melodic ending themes. The direction of "ci.ne.ma", "Fantasy" and "Begin the Night" was so well done, it was almost unparallel even till this day.

With the magic of youtube, you can often find the themes for your viewing pleasure but it seems like some kind sould out there even uploaded the original music videos from Picasso.
Though we had listened to their songs for the past 10 years or so, we never really know how the musicians look like, untile TW sent me the link to the video yesterday....now our lives surely is complete...

This is the original ending sequence for the anime series for "Begin the Night", a song we memorized by heart with the romanji lyrics back in those days:

This is the original music video:

The synopsis of the MV seems to be a romantic rendezvous between a caretaker of a observatory and Ugly Betty (maybe not that ugly at the time this was shot).
The scene began as the final show of the theater and the crowd departs; the lonely bespectacled caretaker portrayed by the lead vocals, Tsujihata was clearing up the rubbish the inconsiderate crowd left behind (seriously do you eat popcorns just to look at the sky?) when his love interest came in behind him, removing her jacket, revealing 7 layers of clothing within.
The actress is actually quite cute you must give it to her...
While singing about beginning a great night with her, he dimmed the light and taking full advantage of his position to put on an extra sky-gazing showing for her alone (itself may have cost her 500yen).
However to ruin a wonderful observation of the constellation and Milky Way, Tsujihata jumped in the foreground for his love confession.
Anyway you can just see the sillouette of Tsujihata which makes him much better looking without the face of course.
So where do the other 2 band members feature in this MV as you might say, they seemed to take on the role of security guards who dropped by the theater for their rounds then quietly leave, as not to disturb a romantic session between the 2...
Wow just when the geeky-looking lead vocals is about to get laid after 35 years of fruitless searching for a mate, the other members have to accept their fate and just watch from afar...
Man I am really aspired to be one of the background member now...'cos they are truly the ultimate losers in this loser band!

Just when you think things couldn't get even worse, I managed to find the MV of another song we really like from Picasso... "ci.ne.ma".
Below is the original animated sequence which truly is a piece of art that deserves the cult following:

Don't you just love the synchronized chime with the water doplet hitting on the brass key? Anyway here is the actual music video..be afraid...be very afraid:

Instead of the key, the chime now is synchronized with the poor little girl who dropped her kitten.
She was genuinely scared stiff when she saw the apparitions of the band in total fashion disaster running towards her. Hope she made enough money from the video to allow her a comprehensive therapy session to mend her mental wound.
For the rest of the video you see the trio of dorks doing their trade from the secluded dirt track to the grass field to even a scary cave; with the damsel in distress now severely wrecked from the ordeal especially witnessing how Tsujihata pull the poor effort to conjure what he think is a dance while the wretched background members listlessly play their accordion and bass respectively.
There is no relation to the cinema-themed love story as the song implies...
This video has no plot or whatsoever and truly has to be one of the worst (if not the worst) music video ever made... This was justified when the band had their eyes twinkled in the most horrendously primitive way.
In the end they wrapped our scarred heroine in their trenchcoat in a manner only Michael Jackson can relate to...

Sometime ignorance is a blessing... "Begin the Night" and "ci.ne.ma" will continue to be two of my favorite songs ever...but hopefully I would not be reminded of those awful videos...

Japanese word of the day: ひどい ~hi-do-i~(awful)Maybe Tsujihata and guys should do a Milli Vanilli and find some pretty boys to masquerade as them, so as to hide their awfulness

The Good Ol' Days

,u>29th May 2008, Thursday

My shipment from Amazon came in last evening as I pried open the box with anticipation even though the list of Blu Ray Discs and DVDs are already in the back of my hand since I bought online weeks before.
This led to an epiphany... "Do I really had all the time in the world to do everything I want to do at hand?"

Once again time is not a commodity or even a luxury I have despite I am much more fortunate than most of my fully employed peers.
I have no overtime to contemplate with (i.e. no extra pay)...
Seldom do I need to go back to work on weekends or public holidays...
Therefore my usual 9-5 weekday schedule, should yield enough time on the evenings and a complete 2 days weekend to satisfy my need to indulge in my own activities....

With the acquisition of the Playstation 3, my precious time is further divided in some console gaming.
Grand Theft Auto IV is a rough ride which not many gamers will put aside despite the intense violence and zero morality.
This Rockstar-made game had really packed plenty of information on the Blu Ray Disc and promised hundreds of hours of gameplay especially when you have to repeat car chase over and over again like myself who was still getting the knack of the 6 axis PS controller.
As much as I stand now I am barely 21% into the game, and another highly-anticipated game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots will be hitting the store worldwide in less than 2 weeks time...
Gaming on the console will surely take up huge chunk of my time for the rest of the year...

But I am greedy in terms that I have to devote some of my time for other activities like a game I never grew tired of Football Manager on the PC as well as catching up on anime series, Japanese doramas and variety programs, American TV series and movies all stacked up for my viewing pleasure.
This left whatever time remaining for my regular internet affairs (surfing, blogging, updating of webpage, hooking up with friend on MSN),manga and even neglecting my beloved collectible figurines.
Most of the time I can multi-task but it somehow takes away the joy of it all...
Though coming to work is not a dread, I wonder what I could do to maximise the spare time (had quite a bit these days with work becoming sparingly available) for some personal affairs....internet is the best option.
But work does provide me the opportunity to work out which is good for the health, cos highly unlikely I will workout on my spare time.

With most of my favorite past time restricted to the comfort of my nest, going out may become peripheral and non-essential.. But that's not the case 'cos I still enjoy hanging out with the La Tendo clique over a game of badminton (maybe no more karaoke) or movies though it is getting rare these days...
Or perhaps hitting the stadium for live soccer now with Foo which could be catching on with our fervent support of local football these days.
And definitely gaming sessions with the wrecking buddy can always prise me away from my home anyday....

All these manic yearn of more time suddenly made me nostalgic especially chatting with Chan over the MSN as I mentioned that I used to go on manga-reading marathon in my younger days...
Circa the late 1980s and early 1990s, a time when there is slow PC or Amiga which only the privileged will own and internet is almost unheard of...
A time when we were still using cassette tapes instead of listening to MP3s...
A time when snail mail is still very much in use and calling friend is through the phone at home as pager was such elusive asset to own...
A time with no Playstation 3 or NDS, with Nintendo console which we had to chip in money to head to some obscure, seedy shophouses to get our regular gaming fix...
A time when there was no cable network and only video tape recorder, TV only started at 3 pm on weekdays and 1 pm on weekends....
A time with no iPods, no Youtube, no Blogs, no Facebook, no Bittorrents; perhaps one the younger generation would shudders at the thought of living in...

However it was at this era which i felt was the most enjoyable...
Growing up in a middle income family, we had the most contemporary toys to play with but we made do with what we had.
That suits me perfectly as I was the best to scavenging for whatever there is around to play with.
I can easily have hours of fun just fiddling with a bunch of erasers or buttons or a slab of plasticine...let alone actual toys like Lego bricks which let my creative juices flow or even some cheap China-made boardgames like "百万富翁 (Hong Kong Edition of Monoploy)", "斗兽棋 (Animal Chess)" or "飞机棋 (Aeroplane Chess)".
As mentioned I could simply spent some days of my school vacation, embarking on my marathon of manga or comic, usually borrowed from friends or simply re-read whatever I possessed... Dragonball, Mr Kiasu and those from Malaysian artist, Lat were my favorites.
I was also religiously borrowing books from the library in my community and seemingly every TV program and every piece of literature was an eye-opener and never amazes me. These days I just felt cycnical of everything around and seemingly nothing was good enough and seems to be recycled on TV or in books.
I would write my own tales or draw my own comic and the sky was the limit as I had all the time in the world to do all that...
My childhood also filled with recollections of flying kites in the slope near my flat, cycling around the void deck, lighting an entire playground of candles on Mid Autumn Festival, playing tiny explosives of mischief known as "Pop" during the Lunar New Year period, making artificial X'mas tree when we yearned to have a special X'mas as seen on TV and even stamp collecting...

In those days time was never a factor and I seldom grew bored of doing something seemingly trivial...
Surely it was those good old days to cherish and hope it will forever imprinted in the folds of my brain as I grew old...

Fast forward 20 years to the present... It is simply being spoiled for choices or perhaps the bane of adulthood, you tend to consider too much of the consequences or repercussions while doing something...We ought to be abit more child-like or even naive at times to simply enjoy life!

Well after going through the list of items that sap my time away, one outstanding absentee has to be time to spend with my other half.
I may be a big kid, but I am somebody's husband as well.
Although I am no "filial" husband like EK or romantic lover like my buddy TW, I still try to learn the trade to be a considerably acceptable one, tendering to my missus' needs in all aspects though it is hard to come by like leap years, shooting stars or striking lottery.
Fortunately she is understanding to my own needs and try to align herself to it. She had her own little thing going for herself, so we both have our own space.
However she was yearning for attention whenever she is around and it is hard for me to reciprocate in the midst of my indulgence.
With that said, I wonder if I had the time in the world, would I shower her with more attention and care or things remains status quo...I feel it would be the latter.
Lastly with everything going on in my routine but eventful life, I wonder if I could squeeze in one element that could wipe out all competitors to fight for my time... a baby....

Japanese word of the day: 大人~o-to-na~(Adult)Being an adult somehow
just kills the fun of living at times...