Dubai crisis

The Straits Times Index closed at 2732 in the evening today, dropping by one percent. It managed to shake off the Dubai crisis as what I had expected. But in contrast to the other Asian countries like Japan where the markets rebounded, ours is still considered a bad sign

People have warned that Dubai might spark a brand new global financial firestorm because of the practicality of sovereign debts. Before you worry, I can calmly tell you that you need not to

It has been happening for more than half a year since March where many people are hastily returning back to their countries after losing their jobs. Actually, this might be one of the closing chapters of the financial crisis

Abu Dhabi, the neighbour of Dubai, was expected to clear the mess by bailing the latter out. However, the guys from the banking and financial sector got it wrong

Dubai World needs US$60 billion which is about one third of what the US government used to save AIG a year ago. Lehman Brothers had debts which amounted to a hefty US$616 billion in contrast

Naturally(or rather financially), last Friday would be a good day for people looking for bargain deals as Asian markets would be affected by this boomz(oops)

Alamak, but the stock market was closed due to a public holiday. So sad. Well, no point crying over spilt milk. At least Singapore is not in trouble currently

H1N1 rap

As 2009 is coming to an end, I have decided to write a song about this year's flu pandemic. More of a rap actually. Listen up people

Once upon a time
There was a crime
That offence was to not wash your hands
not check your temperature
not do all those crap
that save yourself from getting Sars
Sars, what is Sars? Who cares about that?
We have a new friend come this year
He was first known as swine flu
but that didn't sound really too cool
coz we were scared, we did feared
It was in the press, on the TV
everyday, each day, once a day
we will hear and see all the news about him
Ironic, isn't it?
Why is he so popular?
He killed so many people
And we follow him more than anything else this year
except for Michael Jackson
Although he's on the headlines
but he's even harder to catch than a Suicine
Why am I talking pokemon here?
Oh please come on man
let's get back into the room
the room that is meant for H1N1 patients

Chorus
H, One, N, One
put on your mask if you have a flu
because if you cough or sneeze
you will be spreading this stupid disease
H, One, N, One
avoiding consuming pork
and say no to Mexico
but you can still afford to grin
as you can get a flu vaccine

It is so strange
First they say Mexico was where it originate
Then they changed and said it was from Asia
However, there is still no proof
who the hell started this goof
or maybe you can ask yourself
why am I stuck in this vicious cycle?
Then the government started paying attention to it
only because many people were affected by it
thermometers were a hit
masks were equally in
or rather anything good will be bought by people
It's all in the mind
it is the mentality
of a human, who wants to play it safe
but at the end of the day
it is the shops who have the last laugh
Quarantined was the retro phrase
we've used it for more than five years
and some of us got to experience it
for seven long days
just because our friend was infected with it
Well done, my pal

Chorus
H, One, N, One
put on your mask if you have a flu
because if you cough or sneeze
you will be spreading this stupid disease
H, One, N, One
avoiding consuming pork
and say no to Mexico
but you can still afford to grin
as you can get a flu vaccine

A few months later
the W, H, O
who? who cares
they were the ones who declared this virus as not so crucial
People started to relax
schools were back to normal again
the government changed the colour back
I just felt so ermmm cracked?
Everyone started to pretend
this influenza has come to an end
but but, then again
it was on the news yet again
you can get a vaccine to protect yourself
at the nearest clinic from your house
and the news started looking sick
with full of images of jabs
day after day
I see needles pierced into people's arms
it was so unsightly but the TV station didn't pity me
broadcasting the news was their number one priority
and now I am feeling drowsy
what happened to me?
was it because of the whisky
or due to this flu pandemic?

Chorus
H, One, N, One
put on your mask if you have a flu
because if you cough or sneeze
you will be spreading this stupid disease
H, One, N, One
avoiding consuming pork
and say no to Mexico
but you can still afford to grin
as you can get a flu vaccine

PSLE/ Foreign Talents

Today is the release of the 2009 Primary School Leaving Examination and I just learned from the news that a China gu niang is this year's top student. She scored a whopping 290 compared to the two something something my secondary school mates and I got

I am sure that the girl will continue her studies here at a secondary school but as for her tertiary education, she may choose to return to her country. The question here is not only whether she will be a tertiary student in Singapore but if she will still be living here after collecting her O Level certificate

Going back to their motherland in search of greener pastures is not surprising for many foreign students here. In the end, Singapore might just be a "nanny" for nurturing these foreign talents instead of winning them over to stay here permanently

Since it wants to attract more people here to compensate for its deteriorating birth rate, the government should be less broad-minded in the immigration policies. Unlike other ang moh countries, there is no such thing as a language test as a pre-requisite to PR application here. Foreigners can easily come and go

The China gu niang should excel in secondary school too but this does not mean local pupils have to be afraid. Just be mentally prepared. At least we have an edge over them in terms of host vs. guest

25 Nov

This is it

I have made up my mind. I am going to wear that pirated Arsenal jersey to school tomorrow. Just hope that not too many curious people will stare at my shirt. Now that I have decided on the top, I can starting thinking about which pants should I match it with

After a couple of days of observation, I have come to a conclusion. The Mcdonald's monopoly contest is over. Maybe I am outdated, maybe I am just slow, because I realized that nobody had those game pieces on their trays while enjoy the fast food. After the monopoly thing, there's a new burger and the China guy was asking me try it during lunch today

It is some chicken teppanyaki burger and its $3.50 price turned me off when I saw it. Ok, let's go join the queue for some economical rice instead, I told myself. I will try it one day if Mcdonald's decided to print coupons again and if it still exists in Singapore

Lucky

The world's oldest sheep has passed away in Australia according to its owner. It lost the battle against the blazing heat which paid a nasty visit to the south-east area of the country

Lucky, the sheep, died at the age of 23 years, 6 months and 28 days at the farm where she was born. Her owner, Delrae Wetgarth, said that they tried putting air-conditioners on the animal but unfortunately Lucky couldn't make it

The ewe was given the title of the world's oldest sheep in 2007 by the Guinness World Records when it was 21 years old. Lucky reached almost twice the normal top age for sheeps which live about 10 to 12 years but succumbed to the heat

RIP Lucky

The lift, or should I say lifts, screwed me inside out upside down today

In the morning when I left my house and walked towards the lift lobby, the lift was at 11th floor, one floor below. I stretched out my hand to press the up button but just a spilt second earlier, some moron at the ground level pressed the down button before me. So the lift when down since it operates on a first come first serve basis and not by distance

As I was rushing for time, I decided to take the other lift at the other side of the block. So I spent around twenty seconds walking there, pressed the button and waited patiently for that vertical transport vehicle to arrive. After a while, I sensed something was not right, the lift was still at first floor, it didn't move! Then one guy, who walked from the side where I was first at, strolled past me and said that the elevator was spoilt

Ok, I think I can start thinking of a good reason to explain why am I late to the teacher. "Cher, you see, my house the lift #$%^&*, one went down when I pressed up and the other early morning spoiled liao" For your information, the teacher was even later than me. Maybe she got trapped in the lift

In school, I had to take the elevator from second to eighth storey since walking up the stairs would make me half-alive by the time I reach my destination. When I reached the lobby, the lift was at eighth floor, never mind I can wait. The lift goes down all the way to first floor, stopping in between halfway through much to my displeasure. Finally, it was coming up to second floor after waiting for about two minutes. The doors opened and a packed lift full of people like sardines was what I saw

I took the bloody stairs and was half-alive after reaching eighth storey

While I was reaching home in the evening, I walked towards the lift which was nearer to my house(the one where it went down when I pressed up) and I saw this sign



!@#$%^&*~? Lifts, you all really owned me today man...

22 Nov

I wanna write a complain letter to a forum but have yet to come to a decision on which newspaper should I write to. I think The Straits Times would be a pleasant choice since it has high readership. My Paper's forum is full of weird and strange readers. Today newspaper can be considered but I seldom read it

I read Lainhe Zaobao everyday but I am not going to write to them because I know I will have problems phrasing my Chinese words. Maybe I shall go take a look at how people write complain letters for reference. Don't worry SP, it's not about you but I think it will happen one day

Anyway, if you are eating Mcdonald's regularly to collect the monopoly game pieces, I really don't know if I should I suggest you to eat more or stop eating it because the promotion period is coming to an end

I checked the website and four words stunned me. "This promotion has ended" What does that mean? All the game pieces have ran out or the big winner who heng heng tio Sentosa Cove has emerged? I thought the contest was until 2nd December?

I took a look at the winners gallery and those lucky idiots only won themselves a TV, MP3 player, vouchers and Mcdonald's food. Some of them look pretty retarded especially the small winners who won an apple pie or some other food. This winner really turned me off. http://mcdwin.com/winners/winners-kellie-chua-jia-qi.html

Recently, I felt like planning a gathering with my poly classmates during the holidays but have no idea how to start of. I thought of asking them to climb Bukit Timah Hill with me but then again, I don't know if they are sporty enough for it

Maybe we can go to someone's house for mahjong or something and I thought Zhiteng's place would be a good idea, just that I am afraid we will irritate his neighbour with all the noise. My house is definitely out as I reckon I am the only human on earth who can tahan my bedroom's fragrance

Watching a movie would be more realistic but I don't know what movie is suitable for everyone. The Myanmar girls won't want to watch a Chinese show neither do the guys want to watch a film about dancing and singing

Ideas, I need ideas! I am sure I can think of them. My friends, see you during the holidays and let's have fun then, provided if I'm still alive

Fake Arsenal Jersey

(Photobucket sucks)

Check this out! I've got an Arsenal jersey!

Yeah, I know what you are going to say. It is fake, an imitation, a mockery. Whatever, what do you expect when it was bought at the pasar malam? Who cares if it is fake, I am going to wear it out and maybe even to school. It is fake anyway so I don't see myself as a traitor to Liverpool

Speaking of which, you must be wondering why I didn't choose a Reds jersey instead? Because I didn't want to make my favourite club look stupid by wearing it

Since I am on the topic, I might as well talk about football. It's the end of the story for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The list of the 32 countries competing in next year's event have been confirmed. I have already set my heart on supporting Chile and New Zealand. I just love the underdogs

Although the qualifiers have ended, the animosity between national teams still exists. Like Algeria vs. Egypt and France vs. Ireland, especially the former which led to violence. Wonder if such things would happen if we qualified for the World Cup one day at the expense of Thailand? The Shin Corp-Temasek saga might be brought up again

Before I forget, Singapore and Thailand had just ended a war on Wednesday with the Lions winning 1:0. The national team never fails to break my heart, whether it is financially or psychologically. When I place a bet on them, they will lose. When I lose confidence in them and decided not to bet, they end up being the winner

Singapore currently sits in second spot of Group E, one point ahead of the Thais. Not a bad position since there are only two games remaining. I have a feeling that Singapore make it to Qatar in 2011.

They have the ability to do it, just don't break my heart again, please

Hor Fun

The art of cooking and savouring hor fun

For fussy eaters, for people alone at home who are cooking for themselves, for others who want to cook something different, for the simplicity of the cooking method

There are many kinds of hor fun. Seafood, chicken, pork, vegetarian, it all boils down to one's creativity. Seafood hor fun is an easy dish to prepare

You would need approximately 700 grams of hor fun, chopped garlic, dark soy sauce

Slices of red grouper or any other suitable fish, prawns, a couple of eggs, a packet of veggies like cai xin and cornstarch for thickening

Heat up the wok and pour a bit of oil, spread the oil around by turning the wok. Fry the garlic until golden brown and a fragrance is sensed. Add the hor fun and fry till it turns natural brown. Scoop up and place onto the plate or plates that will be used to serve

The crucial part here is to put a small portion on each plate only because when you pour the gravy over, it will look just nice to the human eye and not overflow

Repeat the first two steps of frying the hor fun to prepare the gravy. Add adequate water and when it is boiling, add the vegetables. Add meat or seafood depending on which one takes a longer time to cook. Add dark soy sauce and salt for colouring and taste

Finally, before turning off the fire, add cornstarch a little at a time to thicken the gravy. At last, pour in the beaten eggs and turn off the stove

Serve with green and/or red chilli

The thick and velvety gravy melts in your mouth upon the first bite of meat at the top of the hor fun. You use your chopsticks and spoon to scoop up the hor fun and a elegant sense of fragrance is felt. Add a slice of chilli to your spoon of hor fun for a tantalizing experience. Slowly lift up the egg flower in the gravy and eat it at a slow yet exciting pace

Hor Fun is really an art

Chinese Lessons

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that Chinese Language teachers need to come up with new and innovative ways to teach students. He claimed that Singapore made a mistake by making students learn Chinese by rote, example spelling and dictation

I have to agree with him, no doubt about that. The right way should be to get the students interested in the language first before imparting more knowledge to them

Not trying to be hao lian here but I still can't believe that I got an A1 for my Chinese in O Level. I belong to the ang moh breed of generation Y Singaporeans and my spoken Mandarin is CMI, let alone writing

So much so for being an ang moh but I do enjoy Mother Tongue periods especially during secondary two. The teacher was creative and conducted fun lessons that entertained the class for one whole hour

If I were a Chinese teacher, these are some things which I will and will never do

Watch Mandarin shows
Let's see what can I think of. Erm, the basketball-themed Hot Shot? No, not suitable for the non-sporty type. Police Story by Jackie Chan? The students will be more interested in the actions then dialogue. Ok, how about Initial D? Cannot what the hell is Jay Chou talking lah! Alright, forget about it. Dota, anyone? Eh, what do you call Dota in Mandarin?

No spelling and dictation
They are just like sit-ups. Practically useless but still favoured by many retarded people. The bottomline about spelling tests are memorizing but it is of no use

You memorize all the nonsense and score full marks this week, you memorize the next one for next week's test and score full marks again. You continue this routine week in week out but at the end of the day(or year), how many words have you actually memorized?

Actually, another reason why I disagree on having spelling is that it is very easy to cheat, therefore the results may not reflect one's linguistic ability accurately. How easy is it to cheat? Right here now, you are going to discover some world-class cheating methods for spelling never reavealed before by Raymond the professional cheater

If you know what are the words which are going to be tested, just write them down on a peice of paper and hide it somewhere during the test. In your pencil case, under the table or if possible, just place it underneath the spelling book or paper

If you don't know how to write the word, wait until the test is over and while people are handing in their answers to the front, grab one quickly and copy that bloody word

You see? It's so simple



I cannot believe that my spelling was so jialat in the past

Encourage creative writing
I remember when I was in secondary four, there was once when the composition title was "The computer and I"

I knew that all the other idiots (aka my classmates) would definitely write about the advantages of using a computer and what they use the computer for etc. Being the odd-one-out, I always try not to follow the crowd and be unique

I decided to write a horror story. I bet not many people in this world would not have thought of it given that the title was on computers. This was roughly how my story went

My parents bought a new computer because the previous one was spoiled. I immediately switched it on the very night and started playing with it. It was midnight and I finally switched it off and went to bed

Suddenly, a glow came out from the monitor. I looked at it and a voice came out asking me to come back. The computer was switched off already. I got really scared and rushed out of the house and spent the night the guard house downstairs

I told my parents the incident the next morning and they did not believe me

I can't remember how the story continued later on but this is a rough summary of what I wrote. How much marks would you award for that? The teacher who marked my script was either afraid of spooky stuff or belong to the old-fashioned style of teachers. I reckon it is the latter

Throughout my secondary school life, I had written a number of classic compositions which made me an overnight hero in my class and even the whole cohort

Like the narration of the affair which I had with Si Han during flag day and the one on whether money is important. These are all good memories where I can occasionally take them out to read to recall. I still keep my Chinese file at home

In a nutshell, just let students be creative to get them interested


A good example of poor Chinese

Ring Ring Ring. Ok, it's recess time

ITP talk

I wasted 90 minutes of my life this afternoon attending the ITP talk. It is useless and simply a waste of our time.

It is exactly the same as the previous one in mid-July. The same boring speakers, their same lousy powerpoint slides, their same speech with the same old not-funny jokes and the same corked up management by the school which resulted in one long queue of students waiting to take their attendance. Note that I use the word "one"

Halfway through the event after two speakers had spoken, some students started to leave the auditorium but were blocked by some idiots guarding the exit door at the back. I can understand why they were so eager to leave, because the whole thing was really silly

SP, I suggest you to send your lecturers to attend some courses on presentation. Maybe you can get them to take up the "Oral Communication" and "Report Writing and Presentation" modules taught by fellow lecturers. They seriously suck at presentations and speeches

One more thing, please use your brains for often too. You should get the students to teach you back some common sense. Is scanning the card the best way to take attendance? And you only have one scanning machine for a few hundred people? Where did our school fees go to?

The school's vision is to be a leading institution. Maybe we should get someone who is good enough to lead first before anything else

CSG

Never mind that I wasn't at Apec to join in the fun with Obama, Hatoyama, Arroyo, Najib, Susilo and the others. I got to see one of my favourite politicians in person today

He is none other than Chee Soon Juan!

Pardon me if you feel offended or uncomfortable with my preference but I just like him and have been supporting him for a long time. Spotted him while I was at the West Coast hawker centre opposite West Coast Plaza during noon

He and a few other party members, including his sister, were selling the party's newspaper but nobody dared to buy. I was with my dad and I know he doesn't like Dr Chee so I dare not say anything. If I were alone, I would definitely approach them and buy one to take a look

The pitch of his voice is actually quite low but he has good oratory skills. He has a smart brain and does make use of it just that he uses it wrongly and gets himself in trouble time and again

However, people should not just judge him based on his baseless comments. Hopefully, someone(or even himself)can educate him the right way to talk to fulfil his potential

Could it be me?

President Who

President Who visited an all-girls secondary school with some Chinese roots yesterday while on a state visit

President Who? Who are you referring to?

Ok, I mean the paramount leader of the country which has numerous emperors in the past. He is in town to attend an important forum that has been the headline of all the local newspapers for the past week

I felt rather, erm, awkward when I saw him entering the school and heard the conversation he had in a video chat with some of the school's students who were in his country for an immersion programme

The replies in brackets are my replies to him if I were one of the "lucky" students

"How are you doing there?" (Oh fine, we trust the national security here just that we will have to be careful what we eat in case there's melamine inside)

"Make sure you study hard!"(Of course we will but many of your students are also doing so in our country, hence we feel threatened by their presence and the competition involved)

"Do make new friends there"(Yeah, we have made more than enough of them here in our country already, there are bountiful amounts of your countrymen everywhere on our streets)

"Learn more about the culture"(Your culture? You mean talking loudly in public or browsing magazines for free at a shop? Or coming to a foreign country for greener pastures and complain everything about it?)

***

Alright, I am off to watch Singapore vs Thailand. The match will begin in fifteen minutes. Singapore, you better win because i have placed eight dollars on you. Please don't let me down

Why do molecules of normal haemoglobin not attract each other?

Why do molecules of normal haemoglobin not attract each other?

Seems that nobody managed to answer this question in the recent A Level Chemistry paper

Some people suggested that we will perish if that happened, others said Cambridge is trying to make them lose marks. The best answer would be the universal "I don't know"

I thought a more correct from someone was because they are no longer reacting groups hence 1 haemoglobin = 2a and 2b chains. All groups are used up in interacting with one another and hence each haemoglobin can only act as an individual molecule instead of attracting

Sounds quite logical. I wonder if it is similar to the one in Cambridge's answer sheet

Walking to school

Yesterday I walked from home to school for the first time. It took about twenty odd minutes of my life walking under the scorching sun while carrying a 2kg plus bag

Actually it wasn't really that far away from my home and I realized that walking and taking public transport is about the same duration. Don't understand how Zhiteng and I took 35 minutes to reach Clementi the previous time when we both walked there from SP. Maybe I walk fast, that's why

Ok the worst part has yet to come. I entered the school at Gate 4 and continued strolling for about thirty seconds. I arrived at the school's stadium and stoned there for five seconds

How should I walk? Just walk through the field for a shortcut and dirty my feet with all the soil or tour around half the stadium under the sun? In the end I chose the latter because I believed the field is closed to everyone except the birds looking for earthworms to eat

There was this guy jogging at the track and he kept looking at me and gave me a "why is this guy carrying a bag, wearing slippers and walking slowly here?" look. I stared back at him and gave him a "i am just a passer-by" look

Well, the good news was I took the long way but it was actually a shortcut after I walked out of the stadium and all the way straight to class. The bad news was I was drenched in sweat by the time I reached the classroom

A good experience to remember though and it saved me 69 cents too

Thaksin's visit to Cambodia

Former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Cambodia as an economic adviser to the local government has sparked controversy and fueled uneasiness between both countries ever since the news broke out

Mr Thaksin arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, today via a private plane at a military airport. Last week, Thailand responded to the unexpected appointment of Thaksin by withdrawing its ambassador from Cambodia. The latter reciprocated by withdrawing its ambassador too. Sounds rather childish to me

Cambodia PM Hun Sen's surprise selection of the ousted Thai leader has increased the acidic level of the sour relationship shared by both countries. These two neighbours had fatal clashes between bodies of troops over their land border over the past year

As a neutral, I can understand why Mr Hun Sen picked Thaksin. Both are golf companions during free time, improved ties after Cambodian protesters burnt down the Thai embassy and were good buddies for more than six years

The move has been seen as a political vendetta by Mr Hun Sen against current Thai leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. Analysts say the Cambodian PM wanted to embarrass Abhisit as the land of a thousand smiles refused to negotiate over disputed land near the Preah Vihear temple

Whether we wish to deny it or not, there is definitely a political agenda related to the appointment, not only from a financial point of view. His visit to Cambodia benefits both Mr Hun Sen and himself but a potential conflict is on the cards

9 Nov

Today was more like a Tanglin day. First thing in the morning before I step into school I met Nicholas. Then about two hours later, met Jian Nan. He was the one who called my name while I was entering the toilet. I felt so touched. He didn't forget about me after all since the fish-eating incident

Then I met Wai Yuen and we had an enjoyable time like talking about the stupid and nonsensical things we did and happened in secondary school. I think we are the only two remaining survivors of the endangered species who still remember their secondary school stuff

Ok time to read newspaper. Ciao

Oh by the way, I've an interesting video to share. Five seconds is all you need to have a laugh

8 Nov

Today's date is the 8th of November. Exactly two years ago, I am busy enjoying myself by now. My last paper ended on the 6th. Whenever November arrives since last year, I will have a nostalgia. A desire to return to the post-O level, pre-polytechnic period of my life

Maybe I shall elaborate on this some other time

Anyway, El Dorado is the Singapore Gold Cup winner again while Given Vision, whom I predicted will emerge victorious, came in second

Ok and Phil Mickelson was the champion for WGC-HSBC Champions tournament

Haiz

Sports

Sports sports, yeah here we go and if you think I am only a football columnist, think again

Although golf is the most boring sport ever on earth to me and I doubt I will ever play it in my life too, I do watch and follow it on a regular basis

The average golf fan should have guessed that I am going to talk about the current WGC-HSBC Champions tournament held in Shanghai, China. Starting from 2009, it will be a World Golf Championship event

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson soared to great heights today(day two) with the world number one grabbing a 67 for the second straight day to joint leaders with Nick Watney. World number two Mickelson was one better at 66 but his 69 of day one compensated to place him in second

I don't think Sergio Garcia, the reigning champion, can defend his title which he won through a play-off with Oliver Wilson last year. He is ranked 45th in the leaderboard at the moment

I want Tiger to beat Mickelson and go on to win the competition. He has the ability to do so. Well, it is because these players are participating in the tournament which attracts people all around the world to watch

I hope Tiger Woods will come participate in the Singapore Open one day. I believe that day will arrive before he ends his career. Anyway, the black horse of this competition is Japanese teenager, Ryo Ishikawa. He is five shots behind the leaders after a 72-67 for the first two days. Do look out for this guy

Padraig Harrington was a disappointment with a 74-69 to date. He should have been better than that and it will take tremendous effort and some luck if he wants to climb up to the top

Yeah so final prediction, Tiger Woods for the win

***

I bet you have never expected that I do watch the gambling-themed sport, horse racing. Ok, I do follow it but not frequently and I do not gamble on races

The upcoming Singapore Gold Cup will have many eyes glued on it. This domestic Group One race has a 1.35 million purse and spans over 2200 metres

Last year's winner, El Dorado, was a surprise upset. This year, Ronnie Stewart's and his horse will start in barrier two. Not a bad position though. Watch The Crab drew the "wonderful" marble one during yesterday's post position draw

People are saying that Big Maverick is the big favourite to win. I agree with them but I would be putting my money on Given Vision if I were a punter. The Stephen Gray-trained stayer is in barrier fourteen and it will be interesting to see if it can get the extra distance as stated by Gray

Desert Links will be the (real) black horse of the competition. This South African horse has the ability to pull it off in this stamina-required race. Mr Line, the 2006 winner, is also a good bet since he is starting in barrier ten

Well, I hope I provided some useful information in case if you have no money to buy a punter's guide. But my advice is still to no invest on horses. Numbers and balls are more practical I think

***

And finally, it is football

I would like to discuss about my all-time favourite club, Liverpool FC. Their current season is in tatters, put the blame on their eccentric manager, injuries to key players, lack of determination and ahem, beach balls

Rafael Benitez is really the Picasso of football. His uncanny artistic talent like the painter is a fact. Both of them are from Spain too. The problem is, the latter was successful. As for Benitez, it isn't always the case for him

Take Wednesday's Champions League for example, he substituted Fernando Torres with only three damn minutes remaining. Benitez must have been thinking that David Ngog will score in injury-time again like what he did against Man United as a substitute

Even if it was a time-wasting antic, a defender should have been brought on instead to preserve the precious lead which they got after Ryan Babel's spectacular goal. Babel should have started in place of Andriy Voronin anyway

If only Voronin's skills were similar to his long and silky hair, the Reds would have been a much better side. He looks better off playing in Germany. The Ukaranian has only scored one goal so far since returning to Anfield and that was against Singapore in a friendly

Here are some factors which might change Liverpool's fortunes(if they do happen)

1. Torres and Gerrard stay injury-free forever

When they both play, not many defenders in the world can stop Liverpool but when they don't, even Tampines Rovers look capable of finishing the Reds off. Oh yeah, we still have Yossi Benayoun. Oh no, but he can only score a hat-trick against Burnley

2. Alberto Aquilani the hero

The highly-rated midfielder will have to make an immediate impact upon his return from injury. It is still early to say if he can fill in Xabi Alonso's boots but I think he can. Lucas, get ready to warm the bench

3. We have money

The American owners miraculously manage to generate funds for Benitez to spend in the transfer window. Hopefully, the manager will get it right and buy the right players. No more long hairs please. Voronin comes to my mind

4. Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea all fall

Plus Tottenham, Manchester City and co. Everybody else in the Premier League fails except Liverpool. Wow, that sounds even harder than winning Toto for two straight times. In short, this is impossible

5. Better tactics and skills

Liverpool does not have a natural right winger. Dirk Kuyt runs around like a headless chicken, Benayoun dribbles diagonally to make use of his skills. So who crosses from the right then? Glen Johnson? Then who will cover at right-back when there's a counter-attack?

Lucas is not qualified to be a Liverpool player. That sounds harsh. Alright, I shall rephrase, he is only qualified to be a Liverpool reserve player. Sotirios Kyrgiakos was a bad buy this summer. Oh yeah, another long-haired guy again


6. Sack Benitez and hire me!!!

Yes. That's right, I am the man or rather the saviour of the Kop, what are waiting for George Gillet and Tom Hicks? Offer me a contract now! Oh wait, I haven't got my coaching license yet. Never mind, sign me as a playing staff, I can make an impact on the pitch as well

And I have short hair

***

That's all the sporting action I've got today

Movie Confusion

Recently, there are many new movies in town which might cause confusion among movie-goers. Here's an imaginary scene which I thought about while trying to fall asleep last night

Person A walks to Person B

A: hi, do you know where should I queue for the MJ show?

B(pointing to the right): This is it

A; yes, that's the movie!

B: ya so this is it

A: huh? so do you know or not?

Person C approaches A and B

C: excuse me, do you know which theatre hall is screening 3D Coraline?

B: ermmm, two?

C: no I mean the 3D one

B(pointing to the left): This is it

A: oh you mean this is it is over there?

D comes over

D: sorry but do you people know which hall is SAW VI screening?

B: hmmmm, five?

D: no the sixth one, number five was a long time ago

C(pointing at hall 5): I know, This is it

A(walks towards hall 5): oh I see, thanks a lot

C and D: .....

B: My girlfriend is an agent should be at number three right?

D: Jennifer's Body is better than an agent

A(inside hall 5): this is not it, this is so gross

A picture and a video

Here is a picture and a video as I cannot think of what to write. Hope they will come in handy now that I pai shang yong chang



What on earth happened? Taken in school



This is a nice video, at least to me it is nice. Taken at a country club toilet

Tomorrow will be the first year anniversary of Barack Obama becoming the first African-American President of America. Congratulations bro and see you in Singapore soon

I still remember I missed the exact moment of Obama's win in the presidential election last year. Someone indirectly told me the result during then. The economy crisis is showing signs of improvement and the President will have to rack his brains more to keep it up after a year

You can do it. Yes, we can



By the way, that's his wife

2 Nov

School starts at 8am on Monday which means must wake up early, much to my displeasure. But I will still think positively and come up with ideas like the air is fresher during dawn, can save some electricity on the fan, sleeping too long is not good for the body etc. They do make sense but when the weekend arrives, all these are nonsense to me

Anyway, morning was Photoshop lesson and the teacher made the class play with colour contrasting. The entire lesson was basically about that and she was the first one to leave after class ended.
Then it was Maths tutorial. Judging from the few lessons which I had with her, I can conclude that she is not the best Maths lecturer in SP. Yes, she is gentle and approachable but her technical skills, as in the art of teaching, is still miles behind the first one I had last year

After doing more and more trigo questions during lesson, I felt that I was back in secondary three. Just that the classroom I am in now has air-con and I'm not stuck in the yellow and grey uniform. I don't know why but when I did previous Maths topics like differentiation, probability and the useless permutation, I didn't get that feeling

Did trigonometry had such an impact on my secondary school life? Nope but I don't think so. I believe relative velocity would be a more appropriate answer

In the afternoon, it was drawing lesson. So everyone was just busy drawing and painting in class. Helped Edward in some parts while trying to figure out how to do the exercises. The lecturer said our assignment theme will be Robocup, the international robotics soccer competition. Yeah, SP is the organizer of this event when it comes to Singapore next year so my school will be holding an international event next year. Shiok right?

Ok that's all for today, need to sleep early but I don't have to wake up early for tomorrow anyway. The air is fresher? Nonsense

1 Nov

There goes October and here comes November. Nothing much changed, lots of things changed, it all depends on how one looks at it

Liverpool lost again...Sian. I don't think I can ever get back the feeling that the Reds are superior in every match. If they do win a match now, then it will be a surprise to me

The American owners should seriously consider sacking Benitez and employ me as the manager instead. At least I won't sub Yossi Benayoun out of the game when he is playing well

LA Lakers lost to Dallas Mavericks. Another dagger stabbed into my heart. I have more hopes for my favourite basketball team than my football one so I guess I am not so upset about this loss

Anyway, I have an upcoming project which needs us to submit a movie poster designed by ourselves. I am thinking of creating one which has two people in it facing each other

Not physically facing each other but through cut and paste from two different photos. One would be a close up of the face while the other is a full or 3/4 body one. Sorry if I got my photography terms wrongly but you should roughly get what I mean right?

So if you or any of your friends are photogenic and want to appear on a movie poster, please contact me and submit a photo of yourself. Your reward? We can always discuss about it