I told you so....

Read The Star online this morning and this headline captured my attention - Female bookie, 21, nabbed. The headline basically says it all. But read further and you'll find that this 21 year old is actually an accountancy student. See? See what young people can do with their knowledge? And now we want to teach them to use an M16?? Please, use your brain.

 

 

NS + Firearms?

I read this news while I was taking my lunch break, and I thought to myself "I'm so going to blog this"... Right after I take my world cup nap, of course.

 

So here I am, wide awake (not really) and ready to go guns blazing... To read story, click here.

 

I have no idea why the NS Department is so keen to allow trainees to handle M16 assault rifle and live ammunition. WHY? WHY? I just don't get it. These 18 year olds will be handling a real gun. What values are they trying to instil in those kids? That guns are fun? That holding a gun gives you boldness? So MAYBE there's a perfect explanation to this, and there are advantages in training a bunch of 18 year olds how to handle a M16 (i can only think of one. A lame and risky one). But there is just too much risk involved in it.

 

"This follows Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's announcement that the practical training would be voluntary. Only the theory part would be compulsory. Any trainee or parent who was apprehensive about firing live bullets could apply for exemption. Furthermore, the NS Department would question the trainee before allowing him or her to go through with live firearms training."

 

What kind of questioning would be given by the NS Department? I wonder...

 

"Do you want to fire live bullets?"

"Do your parents allow you to participate in this training?"

"Would you end up pointing the firearm and shoot me?"

"Are you in a bad mood?"

"Do you hold a grudge against anyone here?"

"Would you purchase a M16 in the future?"

"Are you one of those with tendencies of violence?"

"Are you a Hitler fan?"

 

Whatever it is.... It's so risky. Let me give you several examples of situations where things would go wrong, and would go horribly wrong with the presence of M16s. These examples would be under the category of "bad". I'll leave the "horrible" and "unthinkable" situations for you to imagine.

 

1. Girl just broke up with boyfriend, because the boyfriend was cheating on her, with her best friend. All 3 are in the same training camp.

 

2. Boy plans to study the same course with the girl of his dreams. They were about to get into the same intake when boy was called up to go NS. A chance of a lifetime gone. Boy's sorrow is deepened when he receives an sms from a friend on the "outside" that the girl of his dreams got attached.

 

3. Trainee is angry with the trainer for pushing them too far in training. Same trainer is at the firing range.

 

Better be safe than sorry loh. I wonder if any politician (with a sound mind) reads my blog.

The World Cup 2006 (10)

England 1 vs Ecuador 0

"Who the man? I the man. Who the man? I the man. *throws up*"

Man, he does look pale... I know the football ain't that beautiful in this game, but I still wished I had seen the match. No Astro...*sob*. A Beckham free kick sealed the game. He made history by becoming the first Englishman to score in 3 World Cups, all in dead-ball situations.Can anyone tell me if he's the first to throw up in a World Cup match?

Portugal 1 vs Netherlands 0

Portugal's performance was pretty impressive. The 3 frontmen for Netherlands tried to expose Portugal's defense with their speed, but Scolari's men did exceptionally well to break the attacks. I wonder how they will match up against England. I would say Portugal go into that quarter final match as favourites to win. But they'll have to hope that Beckham doesn't feel queasy next Saturday.

So there goes my team of choice again. Czech Republic gone, and now the Netherlands. Won't be seeing these 3 guys in action together anytime soon.

What I think about Anonymous (2)

Update!!: It would seem now that Anonymous has multiple personalities. Read his/her comments here!!

A Moment Gone

Thought I saw a rainbow yesterday at Jalan Ipoh. It was a lovely sight and a wonderful experience after a day's work and trouble with public transport once again(I shall not discuss it now). Then something happened. I saw a 2nd rainbow. It wasn't as beautiful as the first one, but i was just thrilled to see 2 rainbows at once. It's just an amazing sight.

 

My gratefulness towards the Painter in the sky turned to disappointment and frustration when I thought "Aiya!! No camera!!". Haha. And the only person I shared this special moment with was this old man sitting in front of me. He pointed to the rainbows and asked me what it is. I think he has a mental disorder... Anyway he was a sweet and polite person. Felt good that I spoke a few words to him.

 

Anyway, Cely has some nice pictures. She has a camera...

The World Cup 2006 (9)

Oh, hey, Pavel... What's going on? Why you're looking so down? Oh... you don't want to talk about it? Oh, you'll just show me some pictures? Oh ok.... Let's see now.

Oh, another 1 of your teammates did something stupid to earn a red card in last night's match? I can see what you mean. You guys struggled with 10-men in the last game too, against Ghana. It must have been even harder last night, huh?

Ya, I saw Italy's second goal too. Amazing how this dude actually beat your off-side trap and scored a goal, huh?Petr almost managed to steal the ball away from his feet... It was so close. He tried his darnest, I'm sure. To be fair to him, you all did leave the defense exposed... I guess you all really trust him to deliver the stops while you all chased the game.

Yea, I feel for you, Pavel. Can I call you Pablo? Pablo is so much easier to pronouce, and it sounds cool too. Oh Pablo is an Italian name? Is that what you think, you racist?!!

Ok ok, I'm sorry. I know you're in a bad mood. Your last tournament and the team failed to perform up to your potential. I was hoping you all would go all the way. I guess now you'll have to let the younger ones fulfill your dream now, huh? Oh speaking of younger ones, I have a picture of one of your young teammates... Can you recognise him?

That's right. It's Tomas Rosicky, the headless chicken. Now we both know why Fergie didn't buy him... So inconsistent. Anyhow, I do hope he'll find his head soon. He has potential. I still believe that.

The World Cup 2006 (8)

Where were you when this happened?

I was sound asleep. Thank God for replays!! Heard people talking about how he controlled the ball with his chest and let fire, but no one talked about the technique of that shot. Did you notice how the ball dipped so quickly?

yes, Crouch... You need to learn how to do that.

False Alarm? / Rant On Stupid Questions (1)

Yesterday our company's new internet policy rolled out. We had to make changes to internet properties and all that... The first big impact was that I was unable to activate msn or google talk. There were also several websites that I frequent, and now they are blocked. In a way, it's a blessing in disguise, because I read too much on my computer. And sites like Blogger, YouTube, and my blogs (b4jc, malaysianlah, fccjournal) were still available. I suppose I won't be able to visit these sites as often as I have, just to be cautious.

Anyway, after writing an email informing everyone of my absence from the chatroom world and a few hours of boredom, I found that msn and google talk has been revived!! HAHA!! So happy. But feel so stupid for giving a false alarm. It's not like the end of the world mah...

Today again I am unable to use my google talk and msn. So I'm not too sure how this will gonna work out. Aiya, I'll just get a internet connection at home lah...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I really dislike expressions like "huh?" and "what?" in writing (sms, msn) . I mean, it's already hard enough to understand the question in a face-to-face encounter. At least in face-to-face conversations there is a possibility of noice. But now you have the message recorded wo... MSN, SMS?? They like to reply my long statements with 1 inconsiderate word + question mark. Then I have to ask "what do you not understand about what I said just now?"... You see?? I write a 10-word long sentence, then they post 1 word, and I have to reply with another 10 words... At least have to courtesy to say "Sorry, i don't understand what you just said. Can you explain more?"... you see?? 12 words in response for not understanding a 10-word long sentence is more reasonable, don't ya think?

And more often than not, all they need to do is to read my message again and activate their brains into thinking mode. Super disrespectful oh... Next time when I get such a response in writing, I'll just assume this formula :: 1 word + question mark = brain status idle + Come back later.

The Gold Survivor / BRB? / Futsal Boots

This is the sole survivor of the school of gold fishes in our aquarium. My initial theory was that they all died of depression and had suicidal tendancies. But I'm beginning to suspect that this little gold fish was the master mind of it all... You watched Finding Nemo right? You saw what they are capable of... Maybe we should buy another 6 more fishes, then place the camcorder to record down this little guy's movements... Hmm...

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A friend and I were conversing via msn. I asked for her opinion on something, only to receive a reply "brb". That was Monday. I wonder if she's alright...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _














This pair of boots has accompanied me since Oct 2004. I bought it to play in a KL North Inter-Church Futsal Tournament, of which my youth group amazingly won. Some of our players were playing futsal for the first time.

I've been looking for a futsal boots for months now. As you can see mine is really in a bad condition. The designs this time around really doesn't suit me at all. And it seems Umbro stopped producing futsal boots since Oct 2004, because all I see are new pairs of my old boots. And I really wanted to buy the same design and model. But they don't have my size.

Hope to go to 1U soon and check out the shoe shops there. I'm praying for a divine appointment. And a great discount.

The World Cup 2006 (7)

Let my words be few this time...

France 1 vs Korea Republic 1

- Henry did his best and was his team's best player. Sure, he did miss a great chance late on. But I don't think anyone expected him to pick out a deflected shot and make the most out of it. Without him, France would have gone 5 consecutive World Cup games without scoring a goal.

- Patrick Vieira missed a great chance to score the winner when the ball was cut back to him. At least he could respect himself better by hitting it on target.

- Let Ribery start, now that Zidane is injured and there is no more excuse. If what is said about him is true, then he will carry the team through to the Final 16. Let Tregezuet start too!! Make him the main stricker and let Henry be the playmaker.

- I hope this wasn't Zidane's last competitive game.

Brazil 2 vs Australia 0

- Adriano's goal was a lucky one.

- It's either Brazil and Ronaldo are putting on an act to fool their opponents (just like how they did to Germany in 2002 finals when Ronaldo had that stupid haircut to distract them), or they better put Robinho to start ahead of Ronaldo.

- For once, the Brazilian back 2 (considering Cafu and Roberto Carlos aren't really defenders) are reliable and strong.

- Don't think they'll win the World Cup this time. Am I being too bold with this prediction?

I think my words were too much to be categorized as few, ei?

The World Cup 2006 (6)

Ghana 2 vs Czech Republic 0

Wao!! What a breath-taking game!! For me, the Czechs go into this game as favourites. But Ghana looked like they could cause an upset in the World Cup. Never thought that the Czechs would be the ones chasing the game though. Rosicky looked like a headless chicken running whenever he tried to spark an attack.

They would go into their next game (against Italy) without some of their key players, who are either injured or suspended. I don't even want to know the name of the dude who got sent off when the penalty was given. Petr Cech didn't save that penalty, but if it were not for his heroics, Ghana would have emerged winners by as least 2 more goals.

Losing 2 to nothing to a side which the Italians beat by the same score ain't any confidence booster. Italy only need a draw against Czech Republic to qualify for the final 16, while the Czechs need a win for that assurance. Things ain't looking good for them now. I still hope they go through. Kudos to Ghana for such a brave performance.

The World Cup 2006 (5)

Argentina 6 vs S&M 0

Wouldn't it be scary - playing against Argentina, knowing that they have 2 quality strickers on the pitch, and 2 more magicians as capable on the bench? What more do I need to say when you see such a score line? It was Joga Bonito enough for me. Maradona seemed very pleased with them too.

The commentator said something stupid when the camera pointed at Maradona. He said something like "Maradona is a big fan, in every sense of the word"... I'm like "What?!"... I mean, what more needs to be said? "Big fan" totally does it, doesn't it? And how many senses are there in those words? Dumbness...

The World Cup 2006 (4)

England 2 vs T&T 0
Once again it's Beckham making the goals. England looked so much more lively with the 55th minute substitutions. I thought it was a pretty bold change for Swen, taking off Carragher for Aaron Lennon. Love to see those risk taking moves by managers. But Terry and Ferdinand were steady at the back, and Rooney's introduction to the World Cup pinned T&T to their own half.

Lampard managed quite a few shots on target. And I kept wondering if Gerrard was deployed in that role, he might have taken those chances much better. And sure enough, he proved just that in extra time with a beautiful swing on the left foot.

All in all, I really want to say...

Welcome back, Rooney.

The World Cup 2006 (3)

wowsers!! Ukraine made Spain look so good - 4 goals to nothing. This was their fourth goal, a lovely stunner scored by Torres. Must also mention that the build up was awesome too. Great to see Puyol coming up and providing the assist. The whole experience made me go "WOW!!"

Glad to see Xavi back after a long injury. I thought he would miss the World Cup totally. Maybe my sources are as ignorant as I am. Or maybe it's just me. Anyway, glad he's back. I wonder why Fergie doesn't buy him. No, I am not an MU fan. I'm a Leeds United fan. While they are still struggling in the First Division, I'll divide my love for MU and Real Madrid. Yes I know all 3 aren't performing up to standard. I'm loyal like that. Ni'h.

Oh hey, that was the way I reacted to him!! We have something in common!!

The World Cup 2006 (2)

These 2 teams are recent World Champions. France won it in 1998, Brazil in 2002. France were suppose to give a good fight to defend their title in the Far East, but they failed to score in any of their group matches and bowed out. They were my favourite team then... sad. The way they beat Brazil in the '98 finals just caught my attention. Just like Leeds United. They impressed me enough to make me a loyal fan, then they disappoint me by getting relegated. Brazil boasted about their ability long before the World Cup. Their manager even conceded his starting line up a month ahead. And guess what happened in their first game?

France 0 vs Switzerland 0 / Brazil 1 vs Croatia 0

France played boringly ineffective in the game. Zidane (my favourite player) played the way he did in the 3rd game of 2002, where he was rushed back from injury. I don't know what Ribery was doing. And with that performance, France has failed to win 4 consecutive World Cup group stage matches. The next picture says quite a lot of words... slightly less than a thousand, if you know what I mean. And because of their lousy game, I was too depressed that I fell asleep, missing Brazil's match... 1 goal isn't much to show for, and I hope that they will show me what Joga Bonito is all about. I hope they score many more goals in their next game.

The World Cup 2006 (1)

How can a football mad blogger not blog about the World Cup, right? Here are my thoughts on some of the games played:

England 1 vs Paraguay 0

Like Sir Bobby Robson said, David Beckham sent in a beautifully weighted ball that was almost impossible to defend against. It looked like even if the defender didn't touch the ball, the goalkeeper wouldn't have saved the free kick. A narrow win, really. For England, and the World Cup, I hope Rooney plays - injury free.

Australia 3 vs Japan 1

I am a football fan that loves action. A good football game to me is 90 minutes of end-to-end, brilliant passing, creativity plus teamwork, a good (or oddly dangerous) goalkeeper and drama. I'm not too sure if this game provided what I wanted, but I only tuned in at the 80th minute and boy it was worth the while. Fatigue costed the Japanese 3 precious points, and Tim Cahill was their executer.

Czech Republic 3 vs USA 0

This is the best game of this World Cup thus far, and Czech Republic showed the world just how good they are. Tomas Rosicky scored 2 fabulous goals. I've always wondered why MU never bought him. He would be an excellent replacement for Paul Scholes. And I think both of them could play alongside each other too. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I'm sure all neautrals would too.

My Theory On Goldfishes / At The Lift

My dad left on Sunday morning to join mom in Singapore. Been home alone since then. Feeding the fishes once a day isn't a difficult task at all, considering the times we had dogs or cats as pets. But there were 7 fishes on Sunday. Today only 1 is surviving.

 

I noticed that 1 of the bigger fishes was swimming at a very slow pace on Monday night. I had a feeling that it was about to die. Probably old age, I thought to myself. I checked back on them once I got home from work, and true enough, it was dead. Then I saw the 2 other big fishes were swimming back-stroke.

 

Something was definitely wrong. It took me a while to realise that the power point for the water filter was loose and therefore not functioning. I pushed it back in, and the noise of the filter could be heard, and I was relieved. I went my way.

 

My friend from college, Wai Cheng, dropped by slightly before 9pm and so did May, who came from work as well. We had our conversation, yada yada yada, yada yada... and then it was 10pm. Time for the girls to go back. I told May about the dead goldfish and she replied "3". The 2 other fishes died too. 4 more left.

 

We changed the water. And oh, and of course we removed the dead fishes. Got my parents to call me back and dad told me to put some liquid into the water. But still I saw another 1 looking like it's about to die too. I isolated it from the other 3 and headed upstairs. This morning 2 more died and only 1 is left.

 

I maybe wrong, but I think they all died of depression. First one was sick of its living environment (water) and committed suicide. The rest soon followed. I won't be surprised if the last one goes too. Everything is fine now, but it's lonely.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

While waiting for the lift today, something strange happened. I was singing a Kelly Clarkson song. I only know a bit of the chorus, keep hearing it during TV advertisements. I had no intention of singing this song, somehow it just got blurted out. I took control after 1 line. I wanted to forget about the whole thing - because I was singing a girl's song with a pretence girl's voice, and it's so not me. But then a lady in her late 20's (pure assumption) appeared. I knew she heard me singing. She knew I knew that she heard me singing (pure assumption). I turned and looked the other way, and it was then she farted (true!! true!!).  It was loud, I tell you.

 

I think she wanted to say "hey it's ok to blurt out and sing like a girl. Sometimes I fart like a guy too". And now I feel a whole lot better.

The trouble is...

I took a feedback form from the train station this morning. I browsed through the categories - politeness, helpfulness, product knowledge, appearance, friendliness, speed, cleanliness, facilities, announcement, punctuality, comfort, fare, etc... Most of those I would tick the boxes of Good and Satisfactory, truthfully. My frustration isn't with the KTM service provider, I realised. Sure they could do a lot better. But it could be a lot worse. I think the problem lies elsewhere.

 

Yesterday I had an appointment and I was already running late. The train that came had long coaches and only 1 small entrance at both ends. Now the design of this train is really stupid in my opinion. But nonetheless, it's a quality train - Well maintained, cheap, air conditioned. What's sickening is the attitude of the people inside the train. There's so much space in the middle of the coach, but no one is filling it. Instead, the entrances are cramped and crowded. Almost 50 % couldn't make it into the train. The other half did, but would suffer discomfort all the way back home.

 

Now I tried to direct traffic from the outside of the train, but the people on the inside ignored me. I almost wanted to bang on the window and yell at them, but nowadays there are too many people with camera phones. In the end, I had to wait for the next train.

 

I have a few suggestions for such trains to counter this problem and to make Malaysia all the more better place to live in.

 

1. Put a CCTV in the middle of each coach. Then for those inconsiderate people, use the speaker to direct them. If they ignore kind instructions, shout at each one individually by pointing out their race, colour of their clothes, what phone model they use...

 

2. Put a Metrobus conductor inside each coach. They are the best in this area. Even when the bus isn't full, they would make people cramp into the back of the bus. I'm sure they'll do a good job.

 

3. Give an officer a loud speaker and a riffle. Problem solved.

 

The thing is... this problem can be solved if people learn to be sensible to the needs of others around them. Why do we have to go through so much trouble and spend so much money to avoid the root cause - PEOPLE?? CCTV is expensive and hard to maintain, and hyper active teenagers will vandalize it. Placing an extra person in a crowded train just for the sake of traffic control is creating unnecessary positions and wasting money. A guy with a loud voice and firepower would be easily offended, and we don't need all that.

 

The problem is painful, the solution is simple - MOVE IN!!

 

 

What I think about Anonymous

Have you ever received a comment from this person called Anonymous? Well, I certainly have. In my blogging years (since April '05), I have received 4-5 comments from this person. And from those messages that Anonymous has left for me, the following are my assumptions of this person::

 

1. It's a person named Anonymous, appointed by the WWW to eliminate lousy blogs or down right lousy writing skills.

 

2. Has a very good life. And once in a while he (assuming he's a guy) chooses to use his time to encourage others to get a life too. Sometimes, people like me waste too much time writing things that ain't important or significant to the improvement of my readers' quality of life. And he knows that the only way to do that is 1 blog at a time, 1 comment on a post.

 

3. A very good friend. That's why he can say things like "get a life" or "stop being self righteous", because he knows that I know that he knows that I need honest opinions and truth. He comes by very rarely, but it's because he wants us to examine ourselves, instead of being overly sensitive and start getting angry at him and write a blog about him.

 

4. Despite being a good friend, you are most likely never able to meet him. Why? Because he has a life. He only has enough time to read our stupid blogs and leave a comment.

 

5. Good with words, especially with delivery of funny and sacrastic comments. Extremely homourous, without a doubt. If Anonymous is a dude, he'll probably be very charming around the girls too. Sometimes he pretends to be stupid by saying (writing) how dumb you look with that haircut when you post a picture showing your hairy toe. Isn't he just fun?

 

6. He uses very few words and only several phrases. And the same phrase could be used for 2 different post or completely different bloggers and they mean 2 different things. For example, "get a life" could mean "oh stop you're so funny" OR "oh would you do something better with your life like reading lousy blogs and put a comment under my name". With that, you can also tell that he thinks his audience are smart people, blessed with the ability to decode his message.

 

7. People think he hides and he's a coward. He simply doesn't want us to be disappointed and give up hope when we see his perfect life and think of ourselves as a failure. So even if he hides away, it's for our own good.

 

8. Ok so maybe Anonymous isn't his name. There's a perfect explanation to this - it's found in Point 3 part B. He also knows us well enough to know that when we are confronted with truth, we will want to argue but end up with name calling. Ever notice that "Anonymous" is such a hard-to-pronounce name when you're angry? It sounds stupid too when you say it loud. Try it. Stand up, put both fists at the side of your waist, and yell "Anonymous!!". It's even funnier when you do it in front of the mirror, with the facial expression and mouth movements.

 

So people, don't assume Anonymous is a bad person. Don't get angry when he was just trying to make you laugh. He means well. Ni'h.

Ridiculous.

I just heard a super ridiculous statement!! I cannnot imagine what kind of reasoning he will give if I confront him... tell me what you think.

My supervisor was on the phone with someone, and this is what I heard:

Supervisor:"Did ____ call you? Oh, not really ar?"

WHAT?? Did that guy on the other line just answer "Oh, ____ didn't really call me"?? I mean, how does someone really call you or not really call you? It's either he called, or he didn't call, isn't it?

So, any speculations as to what "he didn't really call me" means?? Here are the few dumb excuses which still don't bring any justification whatsoever:

1. He misscalled me.
2. He called me, but I cancelled the call.
3. He called me, but once I heard his voice I hung up.
4. He called me, but once he heard my voice he hung up.
5. He called me, but he called me "Susan", which isn't my name.
6. He called me, yes. but then he forgot what he wanted to say, so I asked him to try again later.
7. He called, I answered. But there was not a word said. We just stood there in silence.
8. He called, and there was a conversation going on, but we know neither was paying attention.
9. He called, I answered. Then the music came on and we just started to sing.
10. He called, we talked. But I can't remember what we talked about.

Nonsense.

Stop and Wonder

Have you ever stopped to just look up to the sky for 5 minutes? In my primary days there's this joke about someone who kept looking up to the sky. People who passed by got curious and decided to join him, longing to know what up there is so captivating. Then this dude had to explain that his nose was bleeding.

Gosh, I just realised how dumb and irrelevant this story is. This post is going the wrong way... I applaud you for reading till here and would like to encourage you to read on with the assurance that I don't intend to talk about nose-bleeds.

Have you ever stopped to just look up to the sky for 5 minutes? (No, this isn't a dejavu. You don't need an exit.) Seriously, have you? Take the time. It's worth it. Do it on the way to work. Do it in the car (passengers only). Talk a walk around neighbourhood. You'll find a painter at work.
















All these are not editted!! By the way, I'm loving ACDSee Pro. I don't think it's possible that a big bang caused this beauty. Someone, something must have masterminded it all. Don't ya think? Just stop and wonder. I hope you see that Painter too.