[D]ance [i]n [t]he [M]emories

Another Victory Over The Argies

2005-11-14T11:41:00.000+08:00

Sven-Goran Eriksson's men's performance on last Saturday evening against Argentina sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that England will be one of the major contenders for the World Cup 2006 in Germany. It was a colossal match, both teams putting their finest display, only that the Lady Luck smiled on Michael Owen to deliver the killing blow at stoppage time at the end of the game. With this match, England has once again defeated the mighty Argentina for the second time in a row in an international meeting since their last meeting at the World Cup 2002 in Korea-Japan. While the last meeting was decided by David Beckham's 'revenge' penalty kick, this time it was decided by Owen's header. While almost everyone thought that the match would end up as an entertaining draw, one should never conclude the outcome of the match until the final whistle. Take another example of the Euro 2004 match between England and France and you will know what I mean.

Festive Season

2005-11-02T11:58:00.000+08:00

One can tell that the festive season is already happening with the noisy and distracting but somewhat welcoming waves of fireworks in the night sky. Though they lack the grandeur and intensity of those prior to welcoming the new year or the Merdeka special, it is easy to be mistaken that it is the Chinese New Year celebration instead of the Deeparaya. As we Malaysians live in a multicultural, multiracial society, we tend to share the excitement and the festive mood together even though some of us do not actually celebrate some of the festivals. The irony that fireworks are played during Deepavali and Hari Raya(and even Christmas!) serve one fine example. Anyway, wishing all Hindus in Malaysia a Happy Deepavali and all Muslims in Malaysia Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri..............and now where's the lighter and my pack of Moon Travellers?

Hail King Phillips!

2005-10-18T11:51:00.000+08:00

For the first time in 7 meetings in the English Premier League, Aston Villa have finally defeated their Midlands nemesis, Birmingham City, thanks to a superb Kevin Phillips strike in the 19th minute. It was shown live on Astro SuperSports at 7 pm, which I would have catch it had not been my grandma's birthday dinner at a simple decent Chinese restaurant at the same time. Though football is my passion and especially since the team that I have been supporting since I was 7 would be playing that time in an important derby clash with the Blues, I'd still perform my filial duties first :) By the time the reunion gathered over my aunt's place, the match was over and I could only catch several seconds of the Manchester City-West Ham match. It was only through my brother's GPRS-enabled mobile phone that I got to know that Villa won.

Kevin Phillips, a former England international, has been impressive since donning Villa colours. Past statistics have shown that he's been known to be the match-winner in derby clashes, notably during his days with Sunderland and Southampton. Now with Villa, he has done it again. Hope with this victory, the Villans will start climbing the Premiership ladder and fight for a place in Europe. Many things can happen in the next 29 games!

No More Credit Card Facility at Petrol Kiosks?

2005-10-12T17:19:00.000+08:00

It's being a happening topic lately that the petrol stations will be discontinuing the credit card payment facility due to the decreasing affordability of the stations to bear the service charges levied by the banks. I don't know how this idea popped up but I only knew about it over Mix.FM Morning Breakfast Show by Richard and Shaz couple of mornings ago.

Several members of the public had voiced out their sheer disapproval that it's really gonna be hugely inconvenient for the many lot of us who chose the card to avoid the queue, or saving the cash in hand for other purposes.

I for one is a regular user of the credit card payment facility as my reason is just like anyone else's: convenience. Though it is arguable that fraud is an absolute possibility here, it doesn't make any difference if you were to go shopping at a nearby department store using a credit card, or if you ever were to shop online.

So how? Just put it this way: Banks should place consumer interest first and their profitability second. I understand that banks levy charges on petrol kiosks for providing the credit card payment facility as one of their services. If wouldn't be a surprise if the kiosks owners cringe on seeing a customer swiping her credit card to top up petrol into her car cos they will have to bear the service charges. Banks & the kiosks owners association (can't remember the association's official name) would have to work out something. Discontinuing the card payment facility is one major step backwards on the increasing significance of customer service......................and don't tell me they eventually gonna start thinking of shifting the charges to customers to bear instead! :X

Did Beckham-sama Deserve The Red?

2005-10-09T17:08:00.000+08:00

I watched the England vs Austria World Cup qualifying match last night with enthusiasm and faith that Sven-Goran Eriksson's men will thrash the out-of-sync and managerless Austrian team at Old Trafford, home of David Beckham's former team, Manchester United. Just as what he did in the last two matched with his current club Real Madrid, playing as right flank pounding lethal crosses towards opponent's territory for either Crouch or Owen to pick it up and deliver the goals. It was Mr. Dependable, Frank Lampard who smacked the goal from the penalty spot.

And then the unexpected came. Beckham was judged to have fouled Austrian defender Andreas Ibertsberger in an aerial challenge and was given a yellow card. Then about 30 seconds later, he was controversially sent off after he was judged to have fouled the same player with a last-second restrained challenge, and left Ibertsberger on the ground 'grimacing' in pain. I thought the yellow card was harsh. Beckham jumped with his hands down and tried to head the ball, not the man. Then I thought the red card was even harsher. At the very moment, I knew Beckham knew that it's gonna cost him if he were to stick a leg out to challenge Ibertsberger for the ball, and he didn't. It was just a contact of the Austrian's boot and Beckham's knee.

It is time for video refereeing to be implemented for soccer, at least on such international occassion like the World Cup. Too many controversial decisions had been made, and will be made.

Villans Down In The Dumps

2005-10-07T17:13:00.000+08:00

David O'Leary's men really need to pull their act together and start making positive results ahead after when the World Cup qualifying fixtures come to an end by 13 October. One quick look at their current standings and the past few matches point to one obvious flaw in their ranks: DEFENCE!

It was sad and unfortunate that several key players are out of action for some time, including the stalwart Martin Laursen who had to pull out from duty for the entire season due to a major knee injury. Four players were plagued with knee injury: Laursen, McCann, Hendrie, and Ridgewell. Hughes is down with sports hernia, Baros is out with achilles and Phillips is out with calf injury.

I seriously think that they may not be making it to the European stages next season via the Premiership. Their only hope now lies with the two knockout-competition cups: Carling and the FA. Come on Villa!

Music To My Soul

2005-09-09T14:20:00.000+08:00

It's RETRO 80s for me anytime, and the early 90s CantoPop + contemporary JPOP hits vetted out from the animes and some drama series. Though I do catch up with the latest hits on the weekly top 30s but the 80s music goes deep in my soul.

Notable names such as Police, Tears for Fears, Fine Young Cannibals, A-Ha, Johnny Hates Jazz, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley, Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Madonna, Bryan Adams, Shakin Stevens, & George Michael/WHAM.

...and Jacky Cheung's.

MERDEKA!

2005-08-30T22:29:00.000+08:00

What does Merdeka Day mean to me? A public holiday! ^_^
But it also means to remember that Malaysia achieved its independence from colonial rule on 31st August 1957 (took me a while to recall the exact year). I've been brought up with 11 years of History lessons that how importance a nation that is independent and can rely on its own to grow and prosper, but one can easily forget the dates :P

When I was a kid, I used to wake up early on Merdeka Day to catch the live telecast on tv of the marching ceremony held at Dataran Merdeka. Now I'd rather spend the early morning continuing my slumber! :)

A Fine Sunday

2005-08-25T09:11:00.000+08:00

Sunday could never be better without a sunny and clear blue sky. I woke up, although dazed, but happy to welcome the birds chirping melodiously outside my room windows, as one of them gently flapping its wings towards to my outstretched hand beckoning it to stand on my index finger.....nah, I was just dreaming. :)

What would my typical Sunday be? The entire edition of the Sunday Star (and yes, especially the Sports section), one-fourth of Astro cable tv (who watches all the channels at the same time?!), half a loaf of PS2 (no, it's not one of the ingredients in baking a Danish cake), some Streamyx digital dual-loads, a moment with Julie the small-tailed ebony living being, and washing my car.

Leave It To Me, I'll Deal It Myself

2003-09-02T23:33:00.000+08:00

My minor flu seemed to get better and after a 3-day weekend break, I was back at work, currently working on an internal information system based on Visual Basic 6 language. There was supposed to be an evening badminton session organised by my company's sports club but I decided to pass, as I was still recovering from the flu. As for the sports club, the company has been enthusiastic over promoting healthy exercise and thus the all-year sports among its employees. Members were divided into 4 teams, namely after the four seasonal weather periods. Funny thing was that ever since I joined the company about 2.5 weeks ago, I'm yet to be slotted into a team! :( and it's almost half as good as missing out on the bowling event, *double :( *

When I reached home after going through a 1.5 hour jam, my mum told me about the recent blackout in the northern states of Malaysia. I was surprised, went for the newspapers and ohhh...that was some news. Fortunately, my neighbourhood was not affected or else I would be just feeding the mosquitoes!

My sister wanted to play Ragnarok Online over her notebook but sadly for her, the game couldn't run at its full video capability. Despite the various settings and a check on the version of the video driver, it couldn't be helped. Some chunks of incompatibility here between Ragnarok Online and ATI Radeon graphic display for notebooks...hmmmmmm.

The Other Side Was Here

2003-08-30T23:52:00.000+08:00

Aston Villa had finally won! They outclassed their neighbours Leicester City 3-1, and the poignant outcome of this was that Juan Pablo Angel finally buried his unfruitful 2 previous years with Villa with 2 quick goals, which Villa took the lead in just 20 minutes! Good on him and hopefully he will contribute even more to the team in the future.

My badminton game was not up to mark as I hoped today. Just so many rookie mistakes and my jumping smashes mostly met the net instead of the opposite half of the court. Coincidentally, I had a bit of flu but I would not blame that for my abysmal performance but at the same time I thought that was why I could not play well. Excuse, excuse, excuse :)

After dinner, the four of us went straight to the internet cafe. Since it's Merdeka Night, and Monday is a public holiday, we folks battled out with our 'heroes' in Warcraft III until 1 a.m.! I thought the cafe operator and I misunderstood on the payment but I ended up paying 50 sen less....hoho.

Rainy Day Man

2003-08-27T22:36:00.000+08:00

Raining period was back! It usually came in the evenings and although it made the weather cooler, the peak traffic period in KL were even busier. Today I was lucky to escape from the torrid time as I left my office at my record earliest at around 5:45 pm. As I walked towards my car, it started to drizzle and surprisingly, the traffic at nearby Menara Weld was at its minimum. Soon I reached Jalan Tun Perak and the many traffic junctions were at their usual schedule. A short burst of speed past Mahameru Highway and I found myself at NKVE Highway at last. The sky grew rapidly darker than usual when I arrived at Shah Alam as it was going to rain anytime. Thank goodness as I reached home, and the sky began to unleashed its avalanche.

Henry V

2003-08-09T21:11:00.000+08:00

Badminton session as usual, only 20 minutes arriving at the hall earlier. I have been trying to search for Henry V DVD at the lower ground floor of Wisma Fui Chiu but to no avail. It's a Shakespearean-style war movie set in medieval England & France starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) but it's a rare find here around Klang Valley. My hunt is still on.

Terminatrix vs T-800

2003-08-07T22:55:00.000+08:00

A fine Thursday! *sniff* Oh, I could smell the warm air around me. If only it rain and makes the environment cooler. I missed the 3rd day of the After life series last night as I went to catch Terminator 3 at the Midvalley Megamall. As for my comments on the movie, I'd say the ending was unexpected but then when I thought back about the subtitle of T3 'Rise of the Machines', it made sense and seems like there is gonna be another Terminator movie in the future, this time in my opinion it's a completely new world and the war between humanity and AI (Artificial Intelligence) is on. What I don't understand was how on earth the T-X got defeated by Arnie's T-800?!? Oh well, a movie has got to be a movie.

The Afterlife

2003-08-05T18:04:00.000+08:00

I told myself I am going to wash my car the next day and hopefully I don't laze over it and postpone it to another day. In the Discovery channel, it's day two on the documentary Afterlife and it showed the Torajan Christians in Indonesia in dealing with their deceased. According to their beliefs, when the person dies, the body will be preserved and kept until the family organised a formal burial ceremony. The 2nd part of tonight's show was about an old Hong Kong woman shopping to prepare for her own afterlife.....yes, that included clothing, photograph, and the search for her niche lot at a temple conumbarium where she wanted to be after she dies. Another section of the Hong Kong part was about a lady getting help from a specialist in organising a funeral for her deceased father. This reminded me of the funeral proceeding for my late grandfather who passed away in April last year. How I really missed him.

Hungry Ghost Festival

2003-08-04T23:01:00.000+08:00

My right eye was a little sore yesterday and I got worried that it looked slightly purplish near my eyelash, but this morning it got better and I was grateful. The day had been relaxed but dull, serene but humid. I was sad to see a dead cat lied rotting at a pavement near a bank which I went to settle some bills and cheques. Just two days ago I saw another dead cat lying on the ground while I was cruising along Damansara-Puchong Highway. *sigh* In conjunction with the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Discovery channel in Astro will be screening a documentary about it called Afterlife. It's a four-day 1-hour series and just tonight I caught the first day of the series and it showed a typical process of the Phor Thor, the exhumation of the deceased from cemetery and a Singaporean family whom their deceased parents were exhumed from the cemetary, which later were moved to a conumbarium to be rested in peace.

First Day of the Month

2003-08-01T21:59:00.000+08:00

A pinch and a punch, on the first day of the month! That's an Aussie saying I heard from my good friend in Adelaide when I was there for my studies. This just means that on the first day of the month like 1 August here, go pinch and punch someone at their shoulder or back while quickly telling them this sentence for good luck ahead. A fine humid day, boy how I miss the rain. I thought of going to the bank to get my ATM card upgraded to their chip-embedded type but I decided to do it this coming Monday and find out some info from my friends about it first. The sports channels have been actively showing the incoming new season of the English Premier League and I just could not wait for the new season to start.....especially in the case of my favourite club since Standard 2 (Year 2 of my junior school); Aston Villa ! Now with David O'Leary at the helm, thrashing Portsmouth in the opening game will spell blessing of a fruitful season ahead.

The Order of the Phoenix

2003-07-21T21:50:00.000+08:00

Finally finished reading the latest Harry Potter book. I must say that it's a much different Harry Potter as himself on his 5th year at Hogwarts. A sign that he's growing up being at the mid-teens, and an intriguing character called Luna Lovegood...hmmm. It was really a good read and after finishing the last chapter, I don't even recall what was on the first few chapters of the book. I'd reread the book soon and I did have a thought lingering in my mind halfway thru the story, on whether this episode will be featured in the movies. Now that Daniel Radcliffe & Co are filming the 3rd chapter of the saga Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, which is scheduled to be released in mid-2004, it is their final part of the contract that they will be in this show business. Rumours have it that Daniel didn't want to continue after HP:PoA as he wanted to focus on his studies. Is it true? Rumours can just be rumours, not if you played have Persona 2 on the Playstation! :)

Last evening I was invited to a friend's birthday BBQ dinner at Ara Damansara near the old Subang airport. The dinner turned out to be a birthday celebration for three friends!

Grandma's Birthday Dinner

2003-07-19T23:48:00.000+08:00

This day me and my family and relatives (mother's side) celebrated grandma's birthday at Summer Palace restaurant. At the same time, the restaurant was the host for someone's wedding dinner. We had our occassion in one of the private rooms that has a karaoke set. Interestingly, we took the set and sang our hearts for the night to celebrate grandma's birthday, even grandma herself sang a few songs. In the end, it was an enjoyable night.

My 'Pensieve'

2003-07-14T19:47:00.000+08:00

I got so engrossed with the new football management simulation game and the latest adventure of Harry Potter that I almost neglected my weblog! ^__^ True enough, I told myself way earlier before I blogged this that I would write something but I procrastinated (how I hate to use this word) and there I thought I have accidentally shelved my online diary yet again :)

No! I still blog, not for the sake of just blogging but also as my memory of what I did if I were to look back to at my site here someday. Take it as sort of my personal 'Pensieve' ;) 'Scuse me? What? A Pensieve is a magical basin of liquid that keeps a person's thoughts. Only found in the world of Harry Potter, and used by the great wizard Dumbledore. Now speaking of Harry Potter, I just bought the latest edition, Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix from Carrefour Subang Jaya. What thought to be a hard-to-get item two weeks ago turned out to be extremely easy as Carrefour had restocked and laid out a stall full of the latest Harry Potter book. Apart from the book, I went to get a new pair of sports shoes at Athelete's World as the previous shoes were worn bad and disposed.

Taken

2003-07-04T16:45:00.000+08:00

It's America's Independence Day! Let's hear the Star Spangled Banner anthem. I just happened to notice the advertisement on Astro satelitte tv about a new sci-fi drama called Taken directed by Steven Spielberg. From the look of the ad, it's highly intriguing and I couldn't wait for it to be screened, which is scheduled to be on this coming Sunday 6 July. In case you don't know what's this drama about, it's about alien beings visiting Earth in late 1940s onwards and was based on the famous Roswell incident in 1947. Stories were centred around a few families whose encounters with humanoid hairless aliens with big black eyes and spindly limbs. More information can be found in this website:
http://www.ilovestarmovies.com/taken .

Shortage of Police Personnel?!

2003-07-03T17:43:00.000+08:00

A recent survey by The Star press revealed a shocking revelation about the police force in the country. We all know that there is a shortage of police personnel in Malaysia but not with a little bit more detail of how short is that shortage until the survey popped up. In Petaling Jaya, one of the most densely populated areas in Malaysia and has the highest number of crime activities around, has a police-resident ratio of 1 for around 3,000 residents! The worst is Subang Jaya, considered medium-to-high class area with a ratio of 1 policeman for every 10,400 residents!! This is scary, and considering the recent spate of crimes, nobody will dare to go for evening walk. I for sure will see that I don't go 'astray' out of the house for no reason but catching fresh air.

Pottermania

2003-06-26T22:05:00.000+08:00

It's Pottermania time and look at how many of its books sold worldwide! Unbelievable, and simply amazing to think about it especially if that person is none other than the author herself, JK Rowling. By just her fifth book out of seven book series of Harry Potter, she is already richer than the Queen of the British Empire! Imagine when book 6 is out. The 5th book was sold out in a matter of moments and one has to wait for about 1.5 weeks before the next batch of stock arrives. My sister has been keeping tabs on it, though it costs a whopping RM89.90, it's still a tad cheaper than those sold in the US and UK. At the time being , I am rereading the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) as to keep up with the story and many details that I had long but 'naturally' forgotten. By the way, the telephone was finally fixed......

Monday Blues

2003-06-23T17:40:00.000+08:00

It's Monday blues but I felt like smelling orchids will keep the blues away...not! It turned out to be a true blue day as my house telephone got wrecked from a heavy mid-afternoon downpour. There weren't any much deafening thunders that time but when a call rang just after the rain, the phone gone berserk upon picking up. Calls could still be received but not answerable. It's time to get Telekom guys to come over and fix it up. Ironically and fortunately, my Internet line (another phone line) wasn't affected at all. Could it be a stray cat got stuck inside the phone cable linking to the exchange outside my house? :P Will only know when the Telekom-men come.

The Harry Potter Quiz?

2003-06-17T20:40:00.000+08:00

Poor Julie has white spots on certain part of her body and I suspect it could be the stray cats around the neighbourhood causing it. She is also prone to scratching, even straight after bath. I could not tell whether she just likes to scratch herself or it's those catprints that she always love to meddle with. Dogs really have a good sense of smell. Eventually I learned that it's her scratching that caused those white spots over her body, especially the area around her ears and neck. She needs more attention.

The day had none been any different from the rest and I was hoping for rain to come but it didn't come, at least for until the time I am blogging here. Now, for the Harry Potter fans out there, try this quiz and see which character you are actually aligned with! I got Harry Potter, and Hermione was close behind :)