nail biting moment..

Watching the Man U match against Fulham on Saturday was a heart-stopping and nail biting moment for yours truly. It was like watching them play in a cup final or the last few matches before the end of the season where losing is not an option. Yet, that was the 28th Premier league match, with still 10 more matches to go. It was heart-stopping probably because Fulham put on a strong fight and the score line of 1-2, in favour of Man U, did not reflect what happened on the pitch. Man U’s performance was less than stellar with Fulham getting half of possession, based on my own gauge.

2003 was the year when Man U last won the Premiership title and the way they are playing this season, it is obvious that they really want to bring this season’s trophy back to the north. Players’ performance and fitness also played a part and this season, Man U players are on top of their form. The boys from the 90’s like Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are in top form. Off course, the player that has been impressive from the start of the season would be Cristiano Ronaldo. That guy kicks ass! His skills and speed can terrorise the opponents. During Saturday’s match, when it looked like it would end in a draw, Ronaldo ran from before the halfway line up to the penalty box of Fulham’s, outrunning the opponent’s defence and rammed the ball to the right hand corner of the goal-post to score the winning goal at 88th minute, in front of their supporters who were seated behind the goalpost. The celebration after the goal was like it was the match that really mattered. The whole team thanked the supporters after the match and it was a great moment.

Winning this match against Fulham meant that Man U is 9 points clear of Chelsea, who is involve in a Carling Cup Final on Sunday, hence not playing a premiership game. Making the gap bigger meant that there is more pressure on Chelsea to win their remaining 11 matches. Honestly, I don’t really care - I just hope they continue to drop points - :-P - so that Man U can continue to widen the gap.

This Cristiano Ronaldo guy – his English seems to have improved remarkably since he first joined the club in 2004. When he first came to England, I understand that he spoke minimal English. Now, it seems like he was born to speak to language. Watch the interview.



10 more matches till the end of the season equates to 10 more nail biting moments for yours truly when watching Man U play.

already??

It seems like only yesterday when all of us were looking forward to this 4-day weekend. Now, in about 12 hours, some of us will be back at the office. What a drag! On the bright side, this will be a short working week - 3 more days and it is the weekend again. Yahoo!

world without music..

The other morning, after a few minutes of starting my regular running session (well, okay, more like jogging - I cannot run. Well, I can but not very fast though), my iPod went dead all of sudden. This has happened before during my runs but it would recover by itself within seconds. This time around, it went for a good minute or so without recovering. I tried to revive it - hitting pause and play again a few times did not work. I tried choosing a different play list, that didn’t work either. Then, I tried resetting it by pressing the ‘menu’ and ‘play’ buttons at the same time. All these were done while I was still moving with my jog. It was not easy I tell you – meddling with your iPod on your arm while trying to main the speed of your job. But alas, after resetting my iPod, it still did not revive, much to my dismay.

I have never run or jog without the company of my iPod, being the music junkie that I am. Those fast songs that blast into my ears during my running/jogging sessions, keep me going. The music made the long distance seem shorter. But that morning, with 7km still left to go before the end of my run, I was left in the world of silence. The only sound that I could hear, other than the vehicles passing by on the road, was the sound of my breath. I was dreading it and 7km seem like a daunting distance.

Questions went through my mind while I jog without my music – silly thoughts actually – like did I charge my iPod? If my iPod could not be salvaged when I get home, does this mean I need to buy a new one? The thought of having a new iPod was tempting but I wasn’t ready to invest in a new one. Then, I thought, if I am left with no choice but to get a new one, which model would I get? IPod video? IPod Nano so that it would be easier on my arms when I run. Plenty of thoughts crossed my mind while I continued my run. The next thing I knew, I was at the last few hundred metres and the dreaded run without music came to an end.

It took me less than 30 seconds to revive my iPod the moment I got home. It came back to life after I plugged the power in, which did not surprise me but at the same time, I was relieved because I know that I did not have to invest in a new MP3 player. I hope that my iPod will not fail on me again while I am running. I know there are people out there who prefer to run without music but I can’t. Music is the next closest thing I have to a coach to motivate me while doing my exercises. I am, after all, a music junkie. What will the world be without music? That run without music was enough to tell me what it would be like - painful.

ghost town..

Aaah, it is that time of the year again when our island becomes a ghost town, what with today being the first day of Chinese New Year. Practically, half of the population of this island has left town – the foreign Chinese would have gone back home (wherever home is that is outside of Singapore) to spend the holidays with their families, the expatriates would have gone for their holidays somewhere exotic and off course, some of our Singaporeans would have left town for their holidays too. What Christmas holiday is like in the West, that is how it is like for us this time of the year in the East.

I love this time of the year. At one point, I would be one of those people who would be in a hurry to leave for my holiday during this time. Not anymore now. It gets very expensive to leave time during this holiday season and especially if you planned to leave at the last minute. I love to stay put in recent years because this is probably the only time where I can actually hear silence. Yes, the atmosphere is different. All the shops and eating joints are closed (very rare that this ever happens in commercially-driven Singapore), roads are less congested and the human traffic is far less than any other day. I woke up this morning and could hear the difference – it was quiet unlike other ordinary day. I just love it!

On top of that, this is one of the rare times of the year where we get a two-day public holiday. What more could one ask for? I will not going back to work till Wednesday and I am relishing every moment of peace and quiet and time away from work. Two more days of lazing around in bed till late morning….aaaahhh, heaven…

can you keep up??

There are certain genres, which I only go for when going to the movies. Generally, I like chick flicks, comedies, animated and sometimes, drama and a little bit of action packed. However, every once in a while, I get talked into watching movies, which I am not too keen off.

A few years ago, my friends, Joe & Ken convinced me to see X-men. I wasn’t looking forward to it but went anyway. Initially, the movie was a little too intense to my liking. But at the end of it, I enjoyed it much.

A couple of nights ago, I agreed again to see another movie, which I am not keen off. Ken talked me into watching Ghost Rider, starring Nicholas Cage & Eva Mendez. First of all, I am not into Nicolas Cage and why do I want to see his movies. After failing to find an alternative movie, I caved in and went with Ken’s choice, to his delight.

There I was at the start of the movie, dragging it. The only plus at that point was the guy who played young Nicolas Cage. He was so hot! (His name is Matt Long, by the way). As the movie progressed, I was enjoying the CGI effects and the comic relief. One bit which I enjoyed much was when the modern day Ghost Rider with his modern day motorcycle as his ride, met up with the old day Ghost Rider who had his old ride in a form of a horse. Before they rode into the horizon, the modern day Ghost Rider asked his old counterpart, “Can you keep up?” That cracked me up.

Not a bad for a first movie of the year for me. I am looking forward to seeing the Hugh Grant movie, Music & Lyrics. It may be bad and corny but as long as Hugh is it, I am there at the cinema.

escapade...

Bloody hell! Has it been that long since I actually updated my blog?? Unf!@#$%believable!

It has been a crazy month. Work was one thing. Adjusting to an extreme change in diet was another. I was attempting to cut back my carbohydrate intake to just 10% a day that one week which led to some dire consequences. The mood swings were at the extreme and I was not coping with it very well. It got to a point where I had a row with a friend over NOTHING, was shedding tears like there was no tomorrow and it was not even my PMS week! Bizarre, I know. For a moment there, I thought I was going insane and may need to get help. But as I fine tuned my diet, I was right back on track. Thank GOD!!! I could not live with myself with my mood hanging low all the time.

You know you need a vay-kay when every little thing gets to you – that was how I feel each time I talk to anyone at work on projects that we are working on. However, we will be having a long weekend this week, what with Chinese New Year holidays. Four days off from work! Hurrah! What more could one ask for? So, yours truly is looking forward to getting away from the insane world of work and just chill.

Speaking of getting away, it reminded me of a Janet Jackson’s song called ‘Escapade’. That kind of song puts you in a mood for a holiday (another song is Madonna’s Holiday for obvious reasons). I remember watching her performed the song on the American Music Award in 1990 (God, that song is like 17 years old now!!) – I love it so much that I watched it over and over again and trying to follow her dance steps. But alas, I have accepted the fact that I have two left feet and probably why I have not quit my day job till now. I guess I will just have to enjoy the choreography from the video and just do the dance steps in my dreams.