all gone

If they're all now dissing me, then there's nothing else left for me here, is there? So why bother continuing it?

select and enjoy

I used to think that life is about making choices and how we deal, cope, or adjust with the result of our decision.

The list is endless; A or B, supporting Manchester United or Liverpool (no contest here), hating Chelsea or Arsenal (both!), taking this or that job, or even deliberating between rice or noodle for lunch. Then, you wait & see what choice that life is gonna throw you next and the same process is repeated all over again.

It's like that one of Make Your Own Adventure series. Only this time, you can't skip several pages to know the actual result.

However, recently I feel more & more strongly that the choices offered to me are no longer options that I have the luxury to think about before making the decision. So what's the point of offering them to me if the selection is already decided beforehand? It's not life anymore, it's more suitable to call it slavery.

If that's the case, then why should I bother? All I just have to follow is the script already laid out before me. No discussion, no consideration, it's either this way or the highway, Jose.

It should be very easy to do so, but I think I still have this thing inside me called heart & mind. What if they say no to the plan? What if my heart & mind decide otherwise?

What will happen if I throw the script out of the window? Will thunder & lightning strike me down? Will they send me to the farthest point of the earth? Why should it be their way and not my way? Whose life is it anyway?

It leads me to think that God is not writing the story but it's the collaboration of people around me instead. Perhaps there's always a third option that I miss out in the fine print, and it has something to do with the Almighty.

Is it really just about making choices?

no. 17

Different shorts
Different numbers
Different names

Same battle chant
Same results
Same green & white

It's no. 17
Time to raise another banner to the rafter

commercial head

For all Radiohead's rant about commercialism and what they think & feel about it, they can't deny the fact that it's their fans who provide the final say. They can scream and curse all they want, but the fans will still shell out their money for all piece of works from the band.

If they're so against it, then they should just release all of their songs for free to the world and give the finger to EMI/Capitol from the start. Or give up all those dollar & cents that they've earned from the label to the charity of their choice.

The only thing that's gonna stop me from getting myself Radiohead's The Best of DVD is my bank's account.

all hails indiana

The world's most loved archaeologist is back complete with his fedora and whip. And we missed him a lot, did we? I did, at least.

The story was meant to be Hollywood's best kept-secret, but I hit the spoiler right away from some guy who called the posting a "review". What a joke. If what he meant by "review" was to keep everyone from watching the movie, then he succeeded. When you do your so-called "review", you're not supposed to give away the movie! That's the essence of actually going to the movie! Ugh...

Anyway, I was kinda a bit disappointed after learning that Lucas & Spielberg decided to choose it as their topic. I thought it'd make the story cheap and not very creative. The moment the crystal skull is revealed, I just know that it would be quite similar with the story in Ruins, which is still the best The X-Files fiction out there.

But in the end you still have to give credit where it's due. And this time around, Indy can still crack his whip. Though I'm not that convinced with them following that Superman Returns-plot. It's very lame, I should say. But if that's the only way to keep the franchise going, then I'm all for it.

4 stars, baby...coz it's Indy, for God's sake!

beat LA!

My love affair with basketball began since I was about 8 or 10 years old. It started mainly because Pa & Ma were ballers themselves (even though Ma would always remind us that she's a starter, while Pa was a benchwarmer :P).

Then, when I grew older and could watch TV past 9 PM, they were showing NBA matches on TVRI. I had no idea what NBA was back then. All I remembered was wondering on why they kept showing the same game from the same teams. The teams in bright yellow against the teams in green & white. I cheered on the green team without knowing who they were and why. I guess that's because I just like the colour.

It was only in the Nineties when the Jordan-generated craze swept the world that I realized that the old games on TVRI were actually the Finals series between Lakers (the bright yellow team) against Boston Celtics (the green & white team). I was actually witnessing one of the greatest rivalries among 2 legendary NBA teams. And back then I've pleaded my allegiance to one team only.

As years went by, I've learned the history of the team, the 16 championship banners, Red Auerbach, and of course the triumvirate of Bird, Parish, and McHale. My love for the team was unwavering even though we've turned from a legendary team into a laughing stock in the past 10 years. Until this season when Danny Ainge pulled KG & Ray Ray from the hat and made them Pierce's teammates.

Starting on next Thursday, I will be able to witness the same series again as both teams will meet in the Finals one more time since 21 years ago. And one battle voice will be summoned from the old Boston Garden passionately...

BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!!

winning reflected

Right. Okay, we win it all in the end. This is not a post to gloat or boast, I've passed that stage now where all that's left is only that afterglow feeling of savouring everything in the shining light of victory.

But I just can't help it, can I? NOW YOU (yes, you know who) CAN ALL FUCK OFF!!

It's been another unforgettable season, and I couldn't remember any other time when I was more nervous than that early Thursday morning watching the drama unfolded itself in Moscow.

All is well in winning. Everybody gets the urge to forget all the pains and just soaks in the feeling. And if the Megastore cash registers keep on ringing to the roof, then you can't just mock the club as being Merchandise United. Tell it to your clubs' CEO and he won't care a bit about it as all clubs would love to be in United's position now.

I also try my best to contribute to the bottomline for the Glazers by ordering in some of that Champions League winners product range. And knowing myself, it's just another chance to remind me that my usual delayed decision-making will have impact to the future and other events.

Just great, eh? Now, where's that winning feeling? I could use a cup or two.

holland v

We were saluting King Ludwig of Bavaria, and laughing when I suddenly just couldn't stop thinking about Creep. It was one of many sad songs that the singers sang during the night, and I made a remark why the singers chose to sing such songs with their guitars in such a supposedly-happy place.

The outcome was inevitable. It stabbed me right in the heart, twisted it deeper, left it there, and went.

I really don't belong here.

jog

I had been doing my self-imposed diet for about 4 days when I joined the first after-office jogging session last Thursday. We jogged, or mostly walked in my case, around the Singapore River and back to the office. It turned out that there were quite a lot of people who also jogged during that time. So at least we're not the only ones getting the looks when we passed Clarke/Boat/Robertson Quay. I mean you're not visiting those places wearing sweaty shirt, shorts, and sneakers, right?

There were 9 of us that evening, and for the first 1 or 2 clicks we're still in the groups. Then, we're separated into 4 groups as we couldn't keep up with those with better stamina. But in the end, most of us managed to regroup somewhere near the office.

I had to admit that it was quite fun, and was such a welcome distraction to seeing cubicles all the time. I was also quite surprised with the distance that I ran. I guess it had to do more with pride than stamina after seeing most of the girls kept on running like they're seasoned marathoners.

Once we got cleaned up, we all went to Sakae Sushi for dinner. Then, the boss said the magic words. "Guys, eat & order whatever you want, ok?"

So much for my diet & self-discipline...

doubting no. 7

I've had my doubts on Ronaldo ever since he joined the club. Not sure why. Maybe it's the stepovers, his early tendency to fall easily, and his preference to take the glory for himself rather than simply passing the ball to a more open teammate.

Maybe it's because Ruud and Keano had aired their disapproval of the boy in the training grounds, and both of them were the "been there, done that" guys so I tend to agree with them more.

But when Ronaldo is still at the club, while Ruud & Keano were shown the door, should've told us something about what the Boss sees within the boy. It speaks once again about the experience and uncanny instinct that he has about spotting talent.

Even after Ronaldo won his first league title last season and scoring more than 30 goals this year, I still wasn't fully convinced about him until last night.

We were one goal down, Chelsea was only 3-point away, and we got the penalty. No. 7 stepped forward and put the ball down. Lehmann was in the goal. The same scene was replayed again in my mind: Ruud, Lehmann, penalty, and Martin Keown the Ugly Monkey.

This time around Ronaldo looked down at the ball in full concentration; all United supporters around the world held their breath as our season rested on Ronaldo's shoulders. He kept his cool and scored when Ruud failed, and even when the penalty had to be retaken, he scored again near the same spot as the first one. We roared with him, and then my view of him would never be the same again.

He's proved lots of people wrong, and he's also proved me wrong. And I love it.