Soccer Update (18 June 2008)

It was raining heavily for a good part of the afternoon and I thought the game would not go on. Thankfully the skies cleared and we have word from Lampard that lifted the spirits: "Game on. See you later".

It was 5 on 4 today and it looked like a slaughter was on the cards: Chng, Wee Kiat, Maurice and Jeremy versus Jack, myself, (one of the Commercial guys), Alvino and Lampard.

They led 4-0 at one stage, but we fought back and managed to lead 6-5, then 7-6, then 8-7 but lost in the end (11-12).

Wee Kiat was a constant thorn in our flesh and his irregular speed bursts gave us some issues. His one-twos with Maurice muddled our defence, and Jeremy was there to provide the throughpasses but luckily Jack was there to clean up. Still the trio scored goal after goal relentlessly.

One goal for me today, a long range left footer tunnelling in off the post. Other than that, I didn't have much contribution to the team apart from setting up a couple for Alvino and Jack.

Our game ended early as it was drizzling but it was a good workout.

A Day of Sorts

We (Prata, WM and myself) drove into Malaysia on a day trip to settle some business matters.

We should have known it was not going to be an ordinary day when things started to cock up early in the morning with Prata not receiving our SMS texts and was late in meeting us.

I had burnt a couple of CDs to entertain ourselves for the long hours of driving. But when we put on the first CD and Madonna's "4 Minutes" came on, WM and I noticed Prata's pained look while the two of us were bouncing our heads up and down.

Evidently he is not a fan of hip hop. We had to change CDs. Chinese songs and competitions to see who can hit the high notes kept us going till we reached our destination.

In the end, we waited 3 hours to process our work with the authorities. Half of the time was because Prata forgot to bring a receipt to the post-office and had to come back for it. One hour gone because of that.

We left the place around 4 plus, bought some stuff, had durians and embarked on the journey back.

We were reaching the first toll plaza when WM had a brilliant idea - play the hip hop CD, max out the volume and bass, and blast shock the toll employee with our "mobile disco" through the wound-down windows.

It was a perfect plan and our "mobile disco" was rocking with Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" when we pulled into the toll plaza.

I was first disturbed when I first noticed that the toll booth had no visible windows. Nobody reached out a hand to hand us a toll ticket.

Squinting our eyes through the darkened glass, we picked out a bearded face looking at us with a look of resignation. Following his cue and up-pointing finger, we looked up and saw the sign "For Touch-N-Go only".

We had entered the wrong toll lane.

It was a gargantuan mistake. A car had already pulled in behind us by now.

Making signs to the other car to reverse back and let us out, the driver grudgingly did so, definitely cursing beneath his breath. Sheepishly, we waved thank you in return.

We entered the right toll lane this time but somehow "My Humps" never quite hit the right note again. After we cleared the toll plaza, we were rolling around in laughter and embarrassment! :D

That was not the last of it.

After averaging 140~150kph, we reached the other toll plaza in no time. The battle plan was the same - shock and awe, hip hop style.

"My Humps" was once again blasting to the max volume when we pulled up beside the toll booth. The rear windscreen was actually shaking with the vibration from the bass!

With a deadpan face and nonchalent look, I handed over the ticket and cash to the shell-shocked minah who was manning the booth.

While waiting for the receipt, I maintained my deadpan look. I chanced to turn my head around and observed WM and Prata with red faces about to explode with laughter. Hurridly, I swung my face to the minah again and maintained my Don Corleone facade with composure.

The minah was restraining her laughter when she passed me the receipt. I could tell she was about to explode with laughter. I gave her a this-happens-every-day shrug and we drove off coolly. Soon we were doubling up in laughter... great success!!!

We thought of pulling it off again at the Singapore Customs checkpoint but thought better of it. The long massive jam killed off all our moods in the end!

This might be my last trip to Malaysia with the boys (the bosses are making noise why so many people need to go together) but I fully enjoyed it and will remember the funny incidents for a good long time.

:D

A Walk Into A Dating Agency

On Monday, I found myself walking into a dating agency. I have no idea why my legs took me there, apart from some curiosity as to how this stuff works.

But I was told beforehand by the agency that a friend sold me gave my number to them and that is why they were able to call me. I have no idea who is responsible for it, but I do have my suspicions.

Now I must reiterate that I am not looking for any relationship when I went there. I believe that God will arrange something for me, and to go there with an open mind (which I did) and leave with my wallet as it is when I went in.

Now the process is kind of scientific; you fill up page after page of profile forms including your height and weight, your highest qualifications, your job, your hobbies, etc. The profiler, after talking to you for some time (we ended up talking for 2 hours) will give a detailed assessment of you. The details are confidential, of course.

Basically at the end of the day, your profiler will know why you are still single, how many past relationships you have had, your family background and how many times you orh pee sai a day.

But what I felt most interesting was that I had my profiler (she's quite a looker by the way) tell me she cannot understand why I am single except that by my own choice. She actually told me she knows someone personally (a friend, not a client) whom she feels would be compatible with me. She went on to list down why girls would want to date me. It sure was ego boosting but I won't tell you what the list contained except that among the reasons are that I am tall, smiley and mature (not too quite sure about the last one). :x

Strangely she never told me the reasons why girls wouldn't want to date me. I am actually more curious about that list.

Now you might be curious... did I sign up with the agency in the end? Well, of course not! Do I look like I would, hello? Its $2,199 for a year's membership for mingling events, one-on-one outings, etc. It cost more than my 40D! There is a more basic package for $499 but nah, I ain't the fish on a hook.

I think I can get by for $0. I never believed that one had to pay for love (and I am not talking about those ah peks visiting red light districts). Plus, the process was a little too scientific for me - match two profiles, tick the like attributes and filter away the non-matchables, set two applicants up and voila, hope they click. Ka-ching!

But the experience was interesting as long as it lasted. Still, one does not hunt for love - I still think its the other way round.

R.I.P.

My uncle (husband of my auntie) passed away last week. He was 98. Amazing... he was a mere 2 years away from being a centurion (spelling correct?).

We visited him one Sunday when he was hospitalized, three days before he passed away. He still looked healthy and in the bright Sunday afternoon sunshine, kept waving us to go home.

A week later, we were standing before his coffin at his wake, paying our last respects.

Fragile this life, is.

Soccer Update (11 June 2008)

The game didn't go as well as I expected... I was bursting with energy but was "wasted" (as Maurice put it) playing goalie as nobody else would do the job.

But bright side of it was that when it came to selecting teams, all the chosen team captains picked me as the first draft and had to settle for a scissors-paper-stone to see who got me. It sure was an ego booster.

Our new colleague Jack joined us for the first time. By the end of the game, we christened him "Makelele" as he is all over the place and even scored two debut goals.

I had a bad game, didn't run much, misplaced many passes and scored one silly goal (it was a innocuous tap-in after Wee Kiat hit the tiang).

It is worrying to note that I have slowed down considerably over the past weeks. In the past where I could beat most guys to poke the ball away in the last moment before they got it, I could no longer do it. I can no longer do speed bursts or mazy dribbles. This also meant that I got myself into a lot more bruises as I couldn't get my foot away in time. Has age caught up with me?

After spending last weekend in bed nursing a cold, I now worry about Wednesday. A third bad game in a row? My form sure sucks now man.

Soccer Update (4 June 2008)

This post is one week overdue... my apologies!

I went to the game last Wednesday feeling like I just crawled out of one of Bear Gryll's peat-pits, very much in despair and in total trepidation.

As expected, I didn't play well, no goals, no outstanding contribution to my team and we lost most of our matches. I was a lone passenger on my team, left to walk around and unwilling to commit to any tackles.

Maurice, WK and Alvino asked me why I wasn't myself... to which I couldn't tell them the reason (but I know why). I just put it off as "a bad day" to which WK asked, "Bad day on your day off?"

Thankfully the week got better :)

And now I'm all geared up and bursting to perform for today's game. Stay tuned for the next update!