Germany Wins, Starhub Loses

Just watched the free screening of the Germany-Turkey game. And goodness, so many things have happened. Best of all, Germany won 3-2 in the Euro semi-final. Worst of all, there were 3, count em, 3 transmission breaks for the satellite feed. And we missed seeing 2 of the 5 goals scored - the spectacular Klose header and the subtle Sehmi slide through. Apparently, there was lightning at the stadium, according to BBC Sport. Well, what to do.

The repeat showed Angela Merkel jumping for joy at Klose's goal. That was very cute. Then the Turkish rep hugged the lady next to him when they equalised. But the winner from Lahm makes me smile. This young chap was in the right place at the right time, took the cross, had 1 second to stabilise and set up the shot, and made himself the hero for Deutschland. Greatness. And the smile on his face radiated across the universe I tell you.

Nice one Germany. Starhub, you better have a good explanation, you money-eyed corporates.

Wedding First, Cider After

Saturday was interesting because 1) I had a wedding lunch, and 2) had 3 pints of cider in the afternoon in an irish bar.

First the lunch. It was a substitute for the dinner. The groom, Solomon, wanted a simple affair and all the Mandarin Oriental could do was cater for lunch that weekend. Not so bad it seems. A very high percentage of invitees showed up on time and the food, goodness, was amazing and different. Out of the entire course of 8-9 dishes (I can't remember), the only dish in common with a typical Chinese wedding dinner was the shark's fin soup (which I left on the lazy susan for other guests to relish) (I could go on ranting about mankind killing off the highest form of life in the oceans but that deserves an angstier time)! The opening dish was prawn and lobster salad with seafood rolls served with melon. No cold dish with jellyfish and other weird things. And it came wonderfully presentable too. We had cod as the fish dish, a lovely yet intriguing yam-date-mushroom dish. Lovely prawns and the desert was a serving of 2 mousse cakes - one chocolate, the other lemony cheesy. Loved them both. How many wedding feasts can you recall fondly because of the food?

Now, the bar. Chris, the gallant gentlemen in the picture, brought us to Durty Nelly's. (The lovely lady is Ariel, fiancee. Down, boys and girls, down.) It is an Irish bar apparently set up by a company that sets up Irish bars across Asia. Who knew. Anyway I was very very happy to learn that they served Strongbow on tap. Cider is my weakness. The fruity slightly sweet fizzy alkie beverage is right up my alley next to Star Wars, Sri Sujana nasi lemak at Changi Village and taking photos as favourites. And the place was showing rugby on tv and the rule is an hour before and after a match, pints are at $10. I had 3 pints. Happy like bird, some might say. The gang of ex co-workers hung out and talked till about 6ish, after the NDP marchpast well marched past. It was an afternoon well spent.

More images at my Flickr.

I Have This Thing About Sunsets

I have this thing about sunsets.

I like to watch the colours of the sky change and positions of clouds change. From a static-hued afternoon, the sun ironically get stronger and richer as it passes from the top of the atmosphere to the side. Shoots through the filter but cuts through more pollution - that's where the spectacular colours come from. I love the yellows getting darker into the oranges with hints of crimson. We see lovely pinks and purples too, before the blues take over.

Apart from the science, there's something emotional about seeing the sun set. When the colours are brilliant, I am in awe of nature and her strokes of artistic genius. It can get breathtakingly beautiful. I stop and stare. I can do so for the 45 minutes it takes for the colours to change into dark.

Back in NTU, a bunch of us used to tarpau dinner and sit at the corridor outside my room (in final year) to watch what we could of the setting sun while taking in sustenance. It was sort of peaceful and tranquil, a show in the sky to sum up the day we had, as a prelude into the night time. As the colours got darker, I would get this strange feeling of sadness though. A calm tranquility that gets sedated into a mild melancholy. I don't know what it is but it is a overwhelming sense. As the world around me literally seeps into darkness, I feel mildly claustrophobic as if part of the diminishing presence of light. Perhaps the loss of light as a symbol of goodness, happiness and all that mumbo jumbo is mirroring itself emotionally as a veil of sadness or emotional loss. Darker than the sky and clouds are like in the picture above. I also starting thinking about life and that's generally not pleasant either. Oklah, I get moody and then I see the first stars to pierce through the deep deep blues. It usually makes me smile. As the dark envelopes further, I seek out the final glimmers of sun and sunlight, a bright spotchy little glow on the horizon or between blocks and trees. Then I go turn on the fluorescents and the TV. End of day, start of night.

When I grow up moment - I would love to have a balcony high up and facing west so that I can get lost in a sunset every day. That would be awesome.

Last Failure At The National Stadium

So Singapore is out of the World Cup 2010. In not so dramatic fashion too. In fact, I found the match a little boring. I was there among the 22 thousand-odd spectators who came to cheer on the home team and Saudi Arabia.

My opinion is that Singapore played badly. Like many office types who don't like taking responsibility for their actions (and thus CC the planet when sending emails - Jack Neo calls in Cover Ca-cheng), the Singapore players played like contact points on a pinball machine. From defender to striker, each would hold on to the ball for less than a second. Maybe they wanted to act out a passing game. But these jokers seemed to be passing without thinking or concern or planning. It was just plain ridiculous to me. We'd pass and pass and pass and lose the ball. This was repeated many times over. From Singapore goalkeeper to Saudi goalkeeper. Goodness. Can't we scrap the whole teamwork crap once in a while and go for personal glory? Everyone remembers Ronaldo, Giggs and Nedved for their fine solo runs that climaxed in wonderful shots at goal. Our players can't handle the glory it seems.

I was hoping the die-hard fans would start chanting "Wake up your idea!".

In the second half, when were one point down, our players seemed less accustomed to the pitch than our Saudi counterparts. Without explaining too much, I got bored 15 minutes in and started to walk around to take picture. Each time the crowd cheered/booed I would flip my gaze back to the pitch to see our keeper save a Saudi attempt, the ref/linesman make a disadvantageous call, or our team make it to the penalty box.

One moment of praise in the 2nd half was when Qiu Li took control and manouvred into the six yard box in a nice, solo attempt at getting on the scoresheet. The crowd went wild at his try and clapped in appreciation even though he failed. That was the kind of play we hoped to see from our Lions. Alas, the final final final final final final final final game at the National Stadium was not one to remember fondly.

Sorry Lions, you suck.

See the rest of my pixes at my Flickr.

Feel My Dragon Claw!

Check out where Royston here got his meds from. Just like Bruce Lee used to do.

Long Wet Ride Through The Jungle

Saturday started out fine but by 8am, June 7th was turning out to be a rainy, wet mess. It was also the 2nd Pedal Ubin for the year and 70-odd persons had signed up to cycle around our emerald isle. Most of us guides were thinking yeah right. As the only guide without any rain protection, I was selected to sit in a van if the need arose i.e. if some attendees decided not to rough it out rougher. Siva, environmental evangelist and one of the founders of Pedal Ubin, then reminded us that our obligations lay with the ever-wetter cyclists and not with those that chose not to brave the forces of nature.

By 830am, I was soaked to the core despite an ill-fitting polyethylene poncho. I was ok with the weather. I just didn't need my spare clothes and phone getting wet.

I partnered Ming Sheng who happened to cycle off with 6 brave souls in a jiffy. We covered much ground, from west and the German Girl Shrine to the north and the Noordin fig, and finally the adventurous group decided to do Chek Jawa in the east. That was a damn lot of cycling on multiple surfaces. By 1pm, both guides had to skidaddle out of the island and rejoin the ayam-penyet-eating rest on the Changi mainland. I had nasi ayam and a Nescafe to warm me up.

Next on the programme was a visit to Ivan and Tammy's home for a look-see, shower and ice-cream. And wrestling the shitzu Pinky. Woof. A Saturday afternoon well spent.

Big Man Down The Aisle

This is Oliver.

He is a big guy and historically, he always has been. In Hall Six NTU, we were neighbours. He was also president of the gym club, ate boiled chicken before competitions and came to my room to steal biscuits. We could never get him drunk because it took too much to overpower the hulk.

On the last day of May, he got married to Suzanne. We, the Hall Six brudders and I, were, well, the groom's entourage. We got to his home early, ate paus, got into 5 cars to get the girl. Getting her to 'surrender to Oliver' went without complication. Soon we were at the church, a large one in the Farrer area, to watch him and her tie the knot before God and law. We had lunch and then came the dinner.

I MCed the dinner and it wasn't typical. There was a band, led by the father of the boyish Gomez kid who took part in Singapore Idol. They played all night, much to the delight of the golden oldies and the kids. A hoot, one might call it.

The best bit of the whole thing was the guys getting together. We talk and laugh a lot at the silliest things. We're so full of crap, it's funny. Some things don't change.

The wedding pixes, which may be none of your business, are at my Flickr.

Help! I'm Bored

Well, are you now?

You know where you need to go http://www.helpineedhelp.com/bored/

There also some help in German and remembering someone's name.

Oh, they sell medicine.