Thursday, May 31, 2007
you don't have to force ur smiles for anyone...
Been hearing this new opening song of Bleach for quite a while, waiting to find the mp3 file eh, hehe. It sounds really nice, even though I dunno wat the singer is singing (unless with subtitles done up by the fan-subbers).
Based on the subtitles done up by Dattebayo, there's this particular line which I like a lot:
You don't have to force your smiles for anyone.
It's ok to smile... for yourself.
I guess I've been like that when I was younger, always trying to make everyone ard me happy, sometimes at my own expense. Up til one point during my army time, I started wondering whether it was worth it, trying to always be helpful, making ppl ard me happy, when it's kinda inconvenient for me sometimes.
This line pretty much sums up what I now start to believe in. Take care of myself first. You'll always get taken advantage/for granted when you're too helpful.
posted by sc @
4:06 pm
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Thursday, May 24, 2007
opps, inzaghi won the champions' league
A Pirlo free-kick deflected by Inzaghi (opps) at the stroke of half-time brought the momentum to Milan's side in which otherwise, Liverpool actually played well and might have taken the lead if they had that extra bit of quality in finishing up front. Gerard had a couple of long-range opportunities which he would've usually done well with, but he lacked the composure of a big-match player.
Jankulovski struggled to keep Pennant at bay w/o much support from the midfielders and Milan had a few close scares due to errors when he lost the ball as he lacked pace. He was eventually substituted by Kaladze as he was on a yellow. Xabi Alonso wasn't playing much as well, only making all the professional fouls to stop Milan from building up their attack, w/o receiving a yellow. (the referee seemed rather biased towards the Reds when it came to cards...) I just wonder why Rafa played Kuyt as a lone-striker when he's a link-player who plays well sitting behind a main striker.
Liverpool's tactic seemed to work well in the first half when they pushed a lot of players forward to stop Milan's flowing game. Milan seem to like to work the ball slowly from defence up and with slow defenders around, Liverpool players stumped the flow when they move between Milan's midfield and defence line. Liverpool had no choice but to open up in the 2nd half when they were one goal down and that gave Pirlo in particular, space and time to work with, to do his magic.
The moment of magic that made the difference, a well-timed ball from Kaka for Inzaghi to beat the offside trap and bring the ball near the by-line and stroking it under Reina's arm, breathtaking. I've never seen any striker in the EPL stroke a ball so gently, so full of class. EPL strikers tend to strike the ball, Inzaghi stroked the ball into the net in the Champions' League final eh, that's the difference. That's what Inzaghi is all about, he can't dribble or hold the ball when he's outside the box, can't take on defenders, but he's always there, at the right place and the right time. Absolutely deadly in the box. He took Milan 2-0 up and Kuyt pulled one back for Liverpool but that was all Liverpool could cheer about for their effort.
The first half's stats really show the difference between English and Italian teams. Milan had 2 shots, 2 on target whereas Liverpool had 5 shots, 1 on target. Lol, seems to me Italian teams always thrive on efficient play. Liverpool had the likes of Alonso, Gerrard and Riise as long-range specialists, Milan, matching them evenly with Seedorf, Pirlo and Kaka. Only Liverpool took a lot of long range efforts, of which only one (ironically from Peter Crouch in the 2nd half, eeewww) required a save from Dida.
posted by sc @
4:59 am
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
amazing race!
Wow, haven't had such a shagged day in a long time, brings back good old memories as well. Was in sch for a Shiseido (pronounced she-say-do as told by the presenter) talk in school and aft tt, it was a short marketing meeting b4 i couldn't siam from Yeeling and had to go for their "amazing race" dry-run, lol.
It turned out much better than expected eh, it was fun searching for clues for our next destination and with Nic's quick thinking, we were fastest to reach the 1st checkpt (besides the fact tt we were the 1st team to set off lar). Then it was walking, walking and walking before ending up at Carrefour.
It reminded me of our "amazing race" kinda game we had back in sec sch councillors' camp. It was then organised by a company i still remember, called Outdoor Consultants. We raced around the CBD area reaching checkpts with historical significance where we had to complete tasks as told by our grp leader, one of those Outdoor Consultants ppl.
During our final year in sch, due to lack of numbers, we were requested to fill up the vacancies. Since we were already Sec 4, we were very closely-knitted and since we've been through the camp b4, the program did not change much, we cleared all the stations in the "Amazing Race" very quickly and since we knew each other sooo well, teamwork was not a prob at all. It was my most enjoyable camp ever, unforgettable. :)
posted by sc @
8:11 pm
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Sunday, May 20, 2007
elitism
Hmm, the Straits Times recently had an article toking abt how elitism might appear in Singapore. The poll results were pretty interesting, that students in "elite" schools were actually more likely to feel inferior and more likely to have a bad impression of the "elites" that is defined as those who excel in studies, sports etc.
Did I feel inferior back in JC? *naw* Most of the people in school are our friends and they don't behave like they're one class above the rest. Well, at least that was what I experienced back at NJC then. There were only a few people who behaved like they were better than the rest (and they actually really were) but thinking that way makes me dislike them, not envy.
The competition was definitely stiff, but it pushes me to work hard and try to be on par with the better students. That was then, when hardwork still mattered. Now at uni, do feel kinda inferior at times eh, cos hardwork doesn't really equate to results anymore. The pace is so hectic, it takes a bit of genius to do well. Me being a slow-learner, I need time to absorb the stuff I am learning and the pace doesn't really allow it. But again, the people don't really behave any differently from what I mentioned earlier back in JC days. Elitism still not widespread from what I see ba, hahaha.
posted by sc @
10:24 am
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Thursday, May 10, 2007
ice skating!
Wow... I finally enter the skating ring at JEC for the 1st time at 22 yrs old. Have been living so near JE for 10yrs and counting, a 20min bus ride in the past, a 10min walk + 5min MRT ride now and I've never been to the JE's Fuji Palace. Got jio-ed by my uni friends and I thought why not give it a shot, lol. 6 of us, me, Daniel, Zhihua, Pearlyn, Yong Kai and Weide had a wonderful time. (maybe not Pearlyn who fell quite a few times =x) She hasn't roller bladed or skated b4 so she's actually done very well for a first-timer.
It turned out much much better than expected, probably I've fallen enough through my roller blading experience at ECP. Been blading there twice only actually, still haven't mastered it, hahaha. I had a clear record today, din fall at all, luckily, cos falling while ice skating is not only painful, it's WET, zzz. Not bad really, due to the promotion for going in 3's. Free skate rental, unlimited skating time. We could skate a round or 2, rest at 1 side and chit-chat, den another rd or 2, another round of toking cok. It was also a gd hideout from the horrible weather these days. Still waiting for the photos which Daniel took to come in, argh!
After tt, JE being my terroritory, I played host and took them to the coffee shop where the famous (at least to CSS/RV ppl) Duck Rice stall is. Just as we sat down, the fruit stall aunty came over and offered to take our orders with her special kind of paper on which she takes down our orders individually and then paste them on the cups when our orders came. After some decision making, she came back to collect those little papers and returned with our drinks. A real cheat indeed. I ticked the $1.50 box for orange juice and she returns cancelling the $1.50 box and ticking the $2.50 box. I repeated myself 3 times before she understands I'm asking her why it's $2.50 and not $1.50 and she explains they don't have fruit juice at $1.50. WHAT A CHEAT. She didn't even bother telling us and just upsized our orders as she liked. Felt like not taking the drink or paying her but hai, decided to just drop it. I'd never buy stuff from tt fruit stall ever again eh, zzz. If her service was gd I won't have minded a single bit tt she upsized our drinks.
Pearlyn and Weide had other places to go to, leaving the 4 of us, me, Dan, Zhihua and Yong Kai and we went to IMM for a walk. Ended up toking cok at Secret Recipe where I tried their famous marble cheese cake (pic below, so aesthetically pleasing as well). Phew, really gd. The day ended with a delightful surprise when Zhihua passed me her LSM notes for me to take a look during the holis, together with a handmade bday card. Haven't had one of those in years, so touched!
posted by sc @
6:57 pm
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007
22nd
Today, my 22nd bday. Highlight of the day? Just this Birthday Firehouse that was free-of-charge when I had my dinner at Swensens with my family. Used to be very excited about my bday eh, making it special in my own way whether there's anyone to celebrate with me on the actual day or not. This yr, stayed home and do some marketing for CHESS Welcome Camp eh. Crappy...
posted by sc @
9:29 pm
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Wednesday, May 02, 2007
spiderman 3
Hmm, those ard me who I'll ask out to watch Spiderman 3 are all "booked" and I ended up watching myself in the aftnoon at JP. I couldn't wait eh, been dying to watch it. Missed a few movies in the past cos I kept waiting for someone who hasn't watched a show to pop up, ha, decided not to take the chance.
***WARNING: SPOILERS COMING UP!***
This instalment, not sure if its the final one, was pretty spectacular with Spiderman having to take on 2 enemies at the same time, and they're much more powerful than the previous few, their abilities being really the "special" kind unlike the villians in the previous 2 Spiderman movies who were "assisted" by technology (meaning they could die easily, haha).
Spiderman got possessed/infected by this "black thing" which actually came from outer space (according to the cartoon I watched last time, not clearly reflected in the movie). This "thing" survives by attaching itself to a host (just like a parasite) and makes the host more powerful but it also elevates the rage/anger or any negative feelings in the host which was what happened to Peter Parker when he was driven with rage and almost killed the Sandman (who was the real murderer of Uncle Ben), Harry Osbourne and "pushed" Mary Jane away from him by hurting her really bad.
The movie showed how jealousy can really get the better of you and it did with Mary Jane when she lost her lead role in a play and seeing how NY worshipped Spiderman, she felt really sad. Things were made worse as Peter couldn't fathom how she really felt even though he really loved her deeply. Being ostracized by people in real life because he's a nerd, he becomes really happy when he sees how people loved Spiderman. As a publicity stunt, he hung upside down on stage to kiss a girl he saved who was the Mayor's daughter or something (didn't really noticed carefully, maybe wrong, hehe) and this really angered Mary Jane as she felt this was something special shared between her and Spiderman/Peter only.
Enough of spoilers already I guess so how he managed to defeat 2 super villians I shall keep mum, hehe. Typical Spiderman movie with a slightly better ending than Spiderman 2, which ended in the lamest possible way in my opinion. A must watch! (like someone's gonna miss the show rite, ha)
posted by sc @
7:55 pm
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Tuesday, May 01, 2007
chinese customs - created?
Went to a temple in Toa Payoh to pray to my grandparents with my other relatives today. Sitting there and folding the yuan baos from the yellow paper which we will burn later on, I sort of realised, maybe such customs were created by people in the past to keep relatives close together?
I mean, I used to live with my grandparents, so my relatives will come visit them every now and then (children visiting their parents). So this kinda gathering also keeps the bonds between me and cousins, uncles, aunts etc strong I guess. Once my grandparents passed on, besides the reason of keeping the family tightly-knitted, there isn't much reasons to have gatherings eh. Besides those monthly gatherings which we make compulsory, such kinda Chinese custom practices also bring us together every now and then in a year, going to temple to pray to our grandparents, we'll sit around in between the processions and chit-chat while folding our yuan baos, haha.
I believe there is this slight possibility that religions are created by people (maybe from the govt in past civilizations) to keep the citizens under control. I agree that religion and law works hand-in-hand to prevent people from doing wrong(lots of gray areas here). So there's also this possibility that such Chinese customs are created to keep family bonds strong even after the senior generations have passed on eh. Just some food for thought, hehe. =P
posted by sc @
2:42 pm
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Gran Torino - Jamie Cullum
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