The Last Day of 2006

It's 31 of December and this is it...... the final day of year 2006.......... and u know what this means? Here comes 2007 and SPM.

2007 - SPM - The biggest and the most important exam of my life so far.... :(

Of course I want to do well...Well, I had to study extra hard.... as 2006 is kind of disastrous for me in my studies cause I didn't do that well... Everything is quite new back then.... Hope I cope with it now

School is restarting soon and the 6-week holidays are over

Well, at least, I have something to look forward to, right?

(Ya... speakin' of 2007, my sisters will be going to Hong Kong for holidays in January....... sounds fun... but I don't get to follow. ( ...nevermind....)

By the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR

a new year, a new adventure!!! :D

A Melawati Christmas

I went to KL with my sisters for Christmas on the 23 of December. It is quite fun one for me as it is my first time joining my sisters in KL for Christmas.. Well... meeting new people, caroling and so much more.. But most of all, I found that this Christmas an awakening one for me. My sister, Ennie and I stayed in Dr. and Mrs. Chew's place which is in Taman Melawati. It is actually a very nice place.

Tmn. Melawati - a place where almost everyone I knew in Emmanuel EFC lives... A nice place as almost everyone from the same church lives nearby... I bet they are pretty close to each other.

Something that everyone will fancy in their home. This.... ar...(what shall I call this?).. is located just next to the living room in Dr. and Mrs. Chew's house. They are really nice to us during our stay... Thank you!... All their children are not in Malaysia but all their rooms are occupied.. Well, you see, we are not the only guests in the house. Mrs. Chew's niece, Alicia and two Germans (exchange students, I guess) are there too.

Well, on the first day, I went to the Youth Christmas Party which is held in church... Kind of cool because I got to see a little preview of the choir which my sister, Yen Nie is in... and also the recitation of the first 2 chapters of the gospel of Luke by a group of girls called the Messengers....(which is meaningful and good). More on the messengers, this one of the member's blog : http://sueann.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/the-messengers/

Never forgeting the dance performance....... And some games such as the Human Bingo. I get to know a few teens of my age..., Zhong Xin (did I spell it correctly?) and his brother (sorry, I forgot his name), VJin, Alicia (actually, at first glimspe, she did look a bit like my elder sister, Ennie), Evon and a few fellows whom I knew their names but doesn't really know them well... such as Tabby, SueAnn, Elise, Phoebe...........

The second day - Christmas Eve - Caroling Session - First stop - I'm in Tabby/Pastor Tony's house. Well, we sang some Christmas carols , of course...

I particularly like the song ' Christmas isn't Christmas' as the lyrics really reflects what it is today.

It starts with...

'Christmas isn't Christmas till it happens in your heart

Somewhere deep inside you is where Christmas really starts

So give your heart to Jesus you'll discover when you do

That it's Christmas really Christmas for you

Jesus brings warmth like a winter fire a light like a candle's glow

He's waiting now to come inside as He did so long ago

Jesus brings gift of truth and life and makes them bloom and grow

So welcome Him with a song of joy and when He comes you'll know

That Christmas isn't Christmas till it happens in your heart

Somewhere deep inside you is where Christmas really starts

So give your heart to Jesus you'll discover when you do
That it's Christmas really Christmas

Christmas really Christmas

Christmas really Christmas for you'

Christmas is really nothing if we don't know what is the celebration for. It's not about the gifts or the shopping..... Neither about Santa or the Snowman.......... For some Christmas is just another day.....
From reading the Daily Bread Christmas Edition, there is a line that says, "In all the busyness - the party-going, gift-shopping, and family gatherings - the One whose birthday they are commemorating is almost completely forgotten."

The tree in Tabby/Pastor Tony's house

The tree in Hon Yau/Hon Chien's house

My sister, Yen Nie, sharing her thoughts on Christmas

My sister, Ennie, sharing her experiences and thoughts on Christmas

__________Mrs. Chew______

Zhong Xin's guitar - a really nice one

Third day - Christmas Day!!!
The tree from the Century Paradise Club (where we have our dinner)

The cute boy ..... (Refering to the smaller one)......... I don't know why....... but I have more pictures of Hon Chien than anyone else... :)

Christmas is Here again!

It's 22nd today and soon it's gonna be Christmas day!!

25 of December is a day of celebration that marks the birth of Jesus...

It is a thing that many forgot as they are so enticed by the myth of Santa Claus.........

Here..... I wish everyone a Merry merry Christmas!!!!!!!

D&K

On the 18th of November 2006 (which is a Saturday), my family and I went to Elim Church, Ipoh to watch a concert... The singers are actually a Taiwanese duo called D&K which represents their own name, Danny & Kyle. Although I never heard of them before... it is said that they quite popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong... But they are actually quite good. Danny's voice is smooth flowing and easy listening.... while. Kyle is kind of a good guitarist... Their songs are practically inspired by christianity (Christians songs) and it's really nice....... Well, it's not just about the music..... from time to time throughout the concert, they telling stories about God and telling us about human believes and faith and they also tell us about the situation these days in Taiwan (maybe the world)....where I learn the hard but truth fact about the estimated number of people that had commited suicide..in a year in Taiwan... It is really hard to believe it...I was touched by them and they really make us think a lot......I really glad that I was present in the concert Well..my sis and I was so attracted by them that we bought their album which is on sold after the show..

Impassive

First of all, I have attended the Hillsong United concert with my sisters which is held in SIB KL (near Menara Star)... Hmm...How do I start?... This is probably the first time I went for a rock concert..(Well, to me, this concert is more like a rock concert than a worship concert..)

I knew my sisters may have a lot of critics for this concert.... They wouldn't have went for the concert if not for me... haha.......( Yeah.,.. my sis's friend was there too and he said the least expected people to be there are my sisters.....I kind of expected it...lah....My sisters aren't fans of Hillsong United...) So... it sounded like I dragged them to go with me...uhh..

I have some bad remarks about the organisers. First of all, they made us use the stairs even though there are lifts... They claimed that it was to prevent anyone from jumping queue.....rubbish!! Even when we are climbing up the stairs, there are people jumping queue! So, what's the point? So, we have to climb the stairs to the 5th floor.. At that moment, the staircase crampled up with people and we had to wait for quite a while in there as the people are not moving at all.

Then, when we reached the auditorium, I was shocked to find out that the place is already packed. I took a glimspe at the staircase and there are still a lot of people outside.. So, do you know what the organisers did? They asked some of the people to move to second floor to watch the concert live on LCD screens...huh... I was thinking.. how could they do that? All of us paid for the concert and we deserved to watch the concert live in the auditorium and not to watched on LCD screen!! It's too much!.

But me and my sisters went to the balcony and we sat on the steps....we were quite frustrated about it. But luckily we get a clear view of the stage. The concert is quite alright... though my sisters did not like it.. The band is really good! and I do enjoy some of their songs like One Way (Jesus) which make (almost) everyone so pumped up..! There are 4 guitarist ( one on acoustic guitar who is also the lead singer, two on electric guitar and one on bass guitar), one on keyboard and one on drums plus 2 other singers. So, it is actually quite a large band. There's a little incident where the lead singer's guiter string snapped while playing a song... I think not many noticed it..

If you ask me whether I enjoy the concert or not... my answer is no and yes.... Yes, I do enjoyed the music...it's nice but everything else is bad.....

Math Magic!

Cool, right!! Well, me and 3 of my friends won this last Monday. Congrats to Weng Kit, who also emerged as the individual winner, Fu Yii and Kar Wei!!! ...


I think most of you didn't know what's Math Magic is all about.. Well, it is something like scrabble but it involves simple maths. It's a board game that involve simple calculation (such as plus, minus, times, divide, square and cube) but there's a catch. You must put your tile on the board and get the calculation right before the time limit (usually 20 seconds). It is kind of a tricky game as the game really depends on strategy and also luck. The winner with the highest cumulative points wins...

Hammered

West Ham did exceptionally well last season in the Premiership as a newly promoted team…. What happened this year? It does seem that The Hammers have lost their touch… their luck….and their talents… Halfway through the season now, and most of us are clueless why West Ham did so badly this season. They did so well last year and now they have 8 losses in a row! Furthermore, two (so-called) world class players, Javier Macherano and Carlos Tevez had joined the club in the beginning of the season. So, they had absolutely no reason to perform so badly….if you think logically.

What had gone wrong? Is it that the manager, Alan Pardew, is the reason? In my opinion,
Nope. Even when West Ham is doing this badly, I myself (most of us) will not blame on Pardew. In fact, I’m kind of feeling pity for him. He’s a good manager but the real reason is that the team is not performing.

Fans (especially West Ham fans) are being let down by the two so-called world class players. When the season began to start, many clubs were chasing after him… but they decided to go to West Ham… And I thought this will be West Ham’s big break. But their performances (to me) are not up to mark… I guess they just haven’t or can’t cope with English football. (You can observe throughout the years that South Americans always have difficulty coping with English football.) Besides that, the whole team is just letting us down…. It’s like they just can’t clicked a team anymore.

Hillsongs United!!!

Hillsongs are coming!! I feel like watching...... although it's not Darlene's band....!!!

One In a Million

One In a Million is a one of a kind of singing - talent show in Malaysia that surely emphasized on popularity rathar than talent. The ultimate prize.... a million ringgit. This competition lets undiscovered singers to compete against each other... wait a minute... profesional singers are allowed to join too. Viewers (like me) think that it is clearly unfair for undiscovered talents to compete with the pro's because they already have build up their fan base while the newbies have to start from the bottom. Besides, all of us want to see some fresh bloods and not familliar faces! That explains why Dayang and Farah got booted out of the competition.

The finale is quite special 'cause it's a three way battle rather than the usual 1 on 1. The finalists are Suki, Faizal (my favourite) and Alif. If Faizal wasn't recalled to the final (cause there's no elimination), it would have been a teenage battle. But anyway, Suki won the competition as expected.


Some of Suki's performances :







Some of Faizal's performances :







but of all performances in any singing competition in Malaysia,
I still prefer this:

Male Restroom Etiquette

I didn't know that the toilet can be such a dangerous place..HAHA!! Don't ever take this video seriously!! It's stupid but yet funny.

Football = Monopoly Game

What do you think of today’s footballing world? Well, we can see clearly that it is all about the money, right? Well, we can see that in the past, football is all about football. But now, the money factor becomes part of professional football. I really can’t imagine the amount of money is put into football. It doesn’t come in hundreds or thousands but it comes in millions!

What drives an oil business billionaire to get involve in football? What makes an American tycoon who knew very little about football to buy over a world-known football club? What drives millionaires, billionaires and even a prime minister to try to get into the footballing world even when they have nothing to do with football?

What Roman Abramovich is doing to Chelsea is truly insane. I don’t know the exact figure but I believe he had used hundred million solely on buying players. And it feels like he is playing ‘Monopoly’ where he can buy whatever he wants with unlimited cash. Chelsea which was once a middle league team was packed with star players after Roman came in. How about Malcolm Glazer? He was so determined to buy and take over Manchester United that he had to use his American football team’s money. I believe Aston Villa was the latest EPL club to be taken over, right?

Let’s go abroad to Spain and take a look at Real Madrid. They never stopped buying players and will never stop. Every season, everyone will be wondering who they will bring in. Yes, they had lured Ruud van Nistelrooy (one of my favourite from MU….(heartbroken)..), Reyes and …. They spent so much and we’ll be wondering where did the money come from? In a different case, Juventus ‘Old Lady’ Turin and a few clubs was heavily fined because of corruption (also related to money). Now the Old Lady had fallen into Serie B with deducted points.

Roy ‘Keano’ Keane was once the most expensive player in UK with transfer fee of 3 million…. The figure multiplied by a lot as Rio Ferdinand’s transfer fee was 30 million pounds. Well, footballers these days put their pay as their main priority.

In the nutshell, football is like a game of ’Monopoly’.

Guitar Snapshots

I decided to do something different such as photographing and this is my guitar. A Valencia CG160 Classical. I need a little help from Picasa in this.

Another snapshot of my guitar 

Back To Retro Style

This is the new 2006/2007 Man Utd jersey. First glimpse, I thought it's not nice. But it's actually quite ok. It's very retro.

Hit Me, Zidane!!

"Wow...what a headbutt by Zidane!! It's like watching wrestling.. But you can't do that in football."

Well, it all happened when Zidane suddenly gave Marco Materazzi a headbutt in the final 10 minutes of the extra time in the 2006 World Cup final match against Italy. How dramatic!! It is also said that game was the last profesional game for Zidane as he is now retired from profesional football. Italy won the game, of course, by penalties. David Trezeguet missed his penalty kick and unwillingly helped Italy won the World Cup. I really felt what in the French players' mind especially Fabian Barthez and David Trezeguet after they lost. They were so close to win their second World Cup and it's painful to lose it in the final. I think it is a bitter sweet experience for them. They were pretty lucky in the group stage but were really unlucky in the final.

Well, about Zidane's headbutt.... what can I say more? The referee did not hesitate to give Zidane a red card after talking to his assistant. It was a good decision. I expected that to happened in football but not by Zidane. He should be wise and experienced enough to know that being aggresive like that is not a good idea. Marco Materazzi was wrong to provoke Zidane's action by insulting Zidane's mother and sister. He admitted it himself. But, Zidane should use his head to think first and not to use his head to hit someone. He said it was his last game and he's going something to relieve himself after Materazzi continueously provoking him. So what? It is his last game and he could just finished the game well and leave every admirer of Zidane a smile on their face (no matter France win or not).

C.Ronaldo : Stay or Go?

Rooney's sent off in the quarter finals match between England and Portugal caused some stir between the English fans. Rooney got in a tangle between a few Portugal players. Rooney had no place to move and accidentally stepped on Carvalho. The referee stopped the game. C.Ronaldo run from about 40 meters away to complain about Rooney's 'foul'. Rooney was furious about Ronaldo's involvement. Rooney pushed Ronaldo away from the referee. And Rooney was red-carded.

First thing first, about the referee's decision to sent off Rooney. People claimed that Ronaldo run to the referee to demand a card for Rooney. Before the match, C. Ronaldo had sent a text message to Rooney. He said he will get Rooney sent off. That's why the English fans had thought that Ronaldo had demanded a card for Rooney. In my opinion, it is a prank gone wrong. Ronaldo didn't expected that to really happened. By the way, what can he do? I don't believe the referee easily accepted Ronaldo's complain. Rooney pushed Ronaldo away from the referee because he was disappointed that Ronaldo chose to get involve. I was disappointed that Ronaldo chose to get involve. The referee sent Rooney off because of the earlier incident. Rooney accidentally stepped on Carvalho and the referee thought that it was dangerous and intentional.
Even the England manager accepted the reason. But with video replay, I believe Rooney was innocent. Video replay shows that Rooney had no way to move and he unintentionally stepped on Carvalho. Besides, Rooney should get a freekick for the bad tackle made by the Portugal player. Bad judgement by the referee.

The question is what would happened when C. Ronaldo goes back to England to Manchester United? Will he return to England or will he leave Manchester United for another club? His career in Manchester United is in jeopardy. I heard that he is ambitious to join Real Madrid. Besides, I think the English fans (even Manchester United fans) will launch a hate campaign against Ronaldo. I think he will do fine with his teammates (it is not really a problem) in Manchester United. C. Ronaldo had an attitude problem and Rooney had anger problems. I believe Ronaldo sometimes think that he's too good. His egoistic can drives people crazy. Rooney, on the other hand, needs to control his temper. He easily gets angry. Ronaldo and Rooney are assets of Manchester United. They still had a bright future in Manchester United. So everyone, just stuck up your head and forget about all the craziness that had happened.

As a Manchester United fan, I think that C.Ronaldo should stay in Manchester United. He was found and well- trained by Manchester United. If not, he may still be in Sporting. Be loyal. It's all about loyalty (like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville). I think going to Real Madrid is a mistake. There are so many top players in Real Madrid and he might find it hard to get a place in the first team. It's all about the money. Real Madrid may offers a lot of money but what's the point of moving there just to sit on the bench. But if he really moved, Beckham will had to work hard too. His position in Real Madrid will be in danger.

A Game of Madness

Everyone knew that England crashed out of the World Cup in the most pitiful way. England was up against Portugal. The match started well for both teams throughout the first half. Both teams got wonderful chances but were unable to break the deadlock. Soon it was half time. The interesting part begins in the second half. As usual, both teams did well. David Beckham got a knocked and was replaced by fast Aaron Lennon. He got a couple of chances himself too. Now we get into the interesting part. Wayne Rooney was controlling the ball when a few players came in and fight for the ball. It seems that Rooney got through and Ricardo Cavalho was on the ground. Rooney had no space to go because he was surrounded by opponent players. He accidentally stepped on Cavalho and referee stopped the play. I thought Rooney was getting a freekick because he was tackle unfairly by a Portugal player. Suddenly, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney’s clubmate, ran from a distance to protest about the foul. Rooney with a moment of madness pushed C.Ronaldo away from the referee. The referee harshly takes out the red card and sent Rooney off.

After Rooney got sent off, Peter Crouch came in for Joe Cole. England seems to played well even after Rooney got sent off. They practised close-marking, giving Portugal no chance. Although England were under constant bombardment, Portugal never really trouble the keeper. I can say that Portugal played a bad game. Given 60 minutes to attack (plus extra time), they didn't really make use of their chances. Thanks to Portugal's brilliant goalkeeper and defenders, England were not able to score. Portugal's forwards were not trying to get into the penalty box. Instead, they passed around outside the penalty box and shot from there. That's why Paul Robinson was no really troubled at all. England's hope of winning the match seems to be over when Rooney got sent off. But England defenders really kept tight and not giving Portugal any chance. Owen Hargreaves was brilliant in the match. England wasn't sitting back to defend. Everytime they got the ball, they tried to attack. This is also the first time, I saw Peter Crouch playing quite ok (he had a terrible World Cup campaign).

When it's time for penalty shoot-out, I thought England had a chance. England is very poor in taking penalty shoot-out. Remember, they lost to Portugal in the European Championship by penalties. England again killed their chances with only Owen Hargreaves scoring. Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher missed their chances (all saved by brilliant Ricardo). They had to work on the penalties if they want to win anything in future days. Frank Lampard had a terrible World Cup campaign. He did so well for his club, Chelsea and England in the qualifyings but you just can't believe how not in form he is in the World Cup. He had the most shots in the World Cup but there's something in his mind that prevented him from scoring.

England’s World Cup Dilemma

This is what will happen if you bring too less strikers to Germany, Sven. England started the tournament with 4 strikers, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch and Theo Walcott. The effect of bringing too less strikers shows when England was having their first match. England strikers were unable to score against Paraguay. Michael Owen and Peter Crouch were playing terrible football. In the second match against Trinidad & Tobago, Michael Owen and Peter Crouch were once again playing terrible football. Only after Wayne Rooney came in, they play better football. In the match against Sweden, England strikers were unable to score too. What when wrong for England?

Peter Crouch is too tall and clumsy to become a forward. He’s terrible in handling the ball and always loses possession. His goalscoring record is bad. He’s able to score against Trinidad & Tobago after missing 100 of chances. He misses and scores one. Even the commentator said that it is likely that the ball hit his head and entered the goal instead of Crouch headed the ball in. On the other hand, Michael Owen got himself injured and will miss the entire tournament. He will not be taking further parts in the England World Cup team. He played in the first and second match but I didn’t even realize that he exists in the match. He barely touched the ball and had a few chances. He’s been playing way below par. Wayne Rooney is back from injury and is England only hope. He yet scores a goal but we expect more from him. He is strong and fast and that’s what makes him a good player. But with his injury, he may not be playing as well as he used to. Let’s hope he gets some goals banging. Theo Walcott is too young and will only play as a substitute. He’s just a backup player and we don’t know we what to expect from him. I heard that he’s good but is he good enough for the World Cup? Let’s hope he plays well in the World Cup… Where is Darren Bent? Where is Jermain Defoe when we need him? Sven, this is what will happened if you didn’t bring enough strikers.

Dejected Koreans and Czechs

It is pitiful to see both of these teams crashed out of the World Cup. The South Koreans had two great matches and needed a win against Switzerland to enter the second round. Previously, they had beaten Togo and drew with France. In the match against Switzerland, they played dreadfully. Their defences were very clumsy. It is clear that their tactics wasn’t really working. They were playing long crosses upfront and the strikers were unable to head the ball because of tight marking by the Switzerland. They were not playing fast enough to zip pass the defence of the Swiss team. And it is clear that luck wasn’t on their side in that match. They had so many missed chances and it’s too bad that they were unable to score. The game ended 2-0 to Switzerland. Senderos scored the first goal for the Swiss team by a header. No Koreans are aware of the freekick cross and they paid the price. Frei scored the second goal for Switzerland. The Koreans thought he was offside but the referee said that the ball was kicked to Frei by a Korean player. You just got to pity them because they had just let in a suicide goal. But it’s not everything bad about the Koreans. The goalkeeper, Lee Woon-Jae was brilliant. Park Ji-Sung and Lee Chun-Soo were playing well too. It’s just that luck was not on their side.

I thought the Czechs will be a challenger for the World Cup. We must remember that Czech Republic is no.2 in the FIFA World Ranking. They played superbly in the Euro 2004 and were in the semi-finals. They had Petr Cech, one of the best goalkeepers in the world. But what when wrong? They played their first game very well. They killed off the Americans in the first game. But after the match, they lost all their top strikers as Jan Koller and Milan Baros were injured. In the second match, they were unable to find the net and Ghana were the better side. They lost 2-0. In a must-win game against Italy, they were unable to find the net again although Milan Baros played. The Italians send them home after winning them 2-0.

Red Devils of the East

South Korea might be the strongest Asian nation in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Their past records in the World Cup is strong as they were one of the semi-finalist 4 years ago. But anyway, some said that they are not as strong as they use to be. Actually it is quite true. So, the question is, will they be able to repeat or maybe improve what they had done in their homeland 4 years ago?

They were drawn into the same group as France and Switzerland. The other nation in the group is Togo. They had a chance as they had beaten Togo and France drew with Switzerland. Maybe they could get a draw game against France and win against Switzerland. You might not know whether they could repeat their wonderful record against big giant in the World Cup. They had beaten Portugal, Italy and Spain to advance into the semi-finals 4 years ago. I really hope they could repeat that again. That will add some spice to the wonderful game showing the world that an Asian nation is able to compete in world stage.

The Red Devils of the East are privilege to have a wonderful midfielder who is playing club football for the Red Devils of the West. Yes, I'm talking about Park Ji-Sung. This player catched the eye of Manchester United after his brilliant contribution for PSV in the European Champions League. The Man Utd player is full of energy and have great work rate. How about a player who got sacked by his Italian club because he scored a winning goal for South Korean against Italy in the World Cup 4 years ago? I'm talking about Ahn Jung-Hwan. It's is dumb and sad to know the reason why he was sacked from his old club Perugia. What Perugia had done was that they had shown the dark side of the game. Ahn is a great goalscorer for South Korea but he's still struggling in Europe. Currently, he's in a French club called Metz.

Another Korean player to watch is Lee Chun-Soo. Forget about his fancy hairstyle, he a one of the best playmaker South Korea had ever had. His goal against Togo shown us how a great dead ball shooter he is. His freekicks are deadly as Beckham's. The Korean fans are great. A lot of them appeared in the South Korea-Togo match. The supports are greatly needed and hope that it will infruences their game.

Japan is another Asian team but I don't think they will be able to reached the second round as they are in a very tough group so South Korea is my favour in the World Cup. South Korea, the Asians are chanting for you!!!

The First Battle

The first match of the FIFA World Cup tournament is Germany vs. Costa Rica. In my opinion, this game is a bit boring just because Germany dominated the game. The final score is Germany 4 Costa Rica 2. Even though it’s a high scoring game, I think this game is a one way battle and no matter what, Germany will not lose this game. The problem with Germany is they are simply unpredictable. Sometimes you think that the team is too youthful and inexperienced but the outcome is that they are still able to beat every single team that they are facing. It happened 4 years ago. Who would predict that they would reach the final in Japan/South Korea? Can they do it again? Seriously, I don’t think so.

Germany opened up the match in the 6th minute with a goal by left-back, Philipp Lahm. He’s phenomenon and he’s showed everyone what a defender can really do. He gets the ball and he tricked pass two defenders. He lifted up his head and marked his target. He shot and it’s a goal. It’s a true class goal. Later in the 12th minute, Costa Rica pulled back and leveled up the score with a goal by Paulo Wanchope. The German defence is terrible. All of them were standing so near the middle line when Costa Rica was having the ball. Costa Rica sneaked the ball passed two centrebacks to Paulo Wanchope. Some claimed that he was offside but I think he was kept inside by the right-back, Friedrich. He got the ball and it’s one on one against the keeper. He calmly shot the ball pass the keeper giving him no chance to save it. Miroslav Klose later scored a birthday goal. The ball is crossed on the right side by Bastian Schweinsteiger (I think). Miroslav Klose who was in the far corner stretched to tap in the ball pass the keeper, Porras. In the second half, Germany hit more goals as Miroslav Klose scored his second goal. He made a shot from inside the box and the ball was rebounded. Klose’s reaction was much faster as he picked his ball and shot it passed the keeper with no mercy. The second goal by Costa Rica was just stupid. It is a defensive error again. A Costa Rican (whoever he is) sneaked the ball through two German centrebacks to Paulo Wanchope. I think he was offside this time but the linesman didn’t rise up the flag. He shot the ball pass poor Lehmann who didn’t believe this was happening. The last goal from Germany was simply superb. It is such a true class goal that it may become the goal of the tournament. A freekick from the left side was give in the 87th minute. Bastian Schweinsteiger passed the ball to the middle. Torsten Frings who was about 30 meters away from goal kicked the ball ferociously to the goalmouth. The keeper had no chance. The ball flew pass him and it’s a fourth goal for Germany. The goal is so beautiful that if you watch it again and again, you will no gets bored with it.

Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Torsten Frings, Miroslav Klose, Bernd Schneider had the game of their life. Friedrich, Mertesacker and Metzelder were playing disastrously. Paulo Wanchope was playing some sneaky football. Costa Rica will struggle all the way throughout the competition if they continued playing like that.

Road To Germany

The FIFA World Cup starts today and 32 nations will be competing for the grand prize, the World Cup. Germany will be the host of the World Cup this year. The World Cup qualifiers are (in Group A) Germany, Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador, (in Group B), England, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden, (in Group C), Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro and Netherlands, (in Group D), Mexico, Iran, Angola and Portugal, (in Group E), Italy, Ghana, USA and Czech Republic, (in Group F), Brazil, Croatia, Australia and Japan, (in Group G), France, Switzerland, South Korea and Togo (and in Group H), Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

Germany will be the hot favourites to win group A and the World Cup as they get the extra edge of playing in home grounds. They are probably the most successful European nation in the World Cup with three world titles to their name. With their previous World Cup record of reaching the final six times in the last 10 tournaments and winning the big prize 3 times speaks for itself. However, Germany will be putting faith in youngsters this time as a young and inexperienced team was picked. Jens Lehmann was promoted to the first eleven from the bench replacing Oliver Kahn. This will probably be their last World Cup. Michael Ballack will be the key player of Germany as he’s one of the best midfielder in the world as he will be holding on the squad members who are inexperienced and untested. In the defence, former Chelsea player, Robert Huth and several young defenders will be display while Miloslav Klose and Oliver Neuville will be in the attack. Players to watch are energetic Bastian Schweinsteiger and promising goal scorer Lukas Podolski (who score 10 times in 20 international appearances).

Expectations are high as England may get the chance to lift the World Cup again. They actually have the best squad this time to win the World Cup. In the defence, Paul Robinson will be in front of the goal while Gary Neville, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole will be defending the goal. In the bench, Wayne Bridge, Jamie Carragher, Sol Campbell, David James and Scott Carson (international under-21 keeper) will be waiting for a chance to play. So, England probably had the one of the best defence of the tournament. Captain, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole will be the most possible line-up in midfield. Reserve midfielders include promising Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Jenas, Owen Hargreaves and talented Stewart Downing. The midfield squad consists of both experience and young players. In the attack, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch and young Theo Walcott will be hitting on the opponents’ goal. Wayne Rooney is currently recovering from injury and Sven will most probably field Owen and Crouch up-front. Sven choice of choosing uncapped Theo Walcott (who hasn’t played a competitive match for his club, Arsenal yet) instead of Jermaine Defoe was confusing. Why choose an untested striker instead of a top England striker? England’s forward are not in good shape. Wayne Rooney is still recovering from injury and is likely to miss the group matches. Michael Owen just recovered from an injury and had not played for some time. Peter Crouch’s goal scoring record in Liverpool is disappointing and I think Gerrard as a midfielder score more goals than him. Theo Walcott is promising but inexperienced and untested. But no matter what, they had the best chance to lift the cup this year. Players to watch are Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and Steven Gerrard.

Argentina will also be one of the favourites to lift the cup this time. The 2-times winner are back with a better squad after a shocked exit in the early stage 4 years ago. Manchester United player Gabriel Heinze is back from injury and will be a key player in the defence. In midfield, Juan Riquelme is the man that the team counts on as he had superb visions and outstanding passing ability. In up-front, Chelsea’s Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola are vital as they are the ones to count on to score goals for Argentina. Promising young forwards, Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez will be supporting Crespo and Saviola. Players to watch are Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez.

The Dutch team looks back to their best as they will try to erase the horror of not even qualified for the World Cup 4 years ago. The Netherlands came back stronger than ever and will try to beat the jinx of falling apart in the final. The 2-time first runners-up are in Germany to try to their limits to lift the cup. Their team squad is pretty strong this time. Manchester United goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar will be their goalkeeper for the Dutch team and in the defence, Giovanni van Bronckhorst will play a vital role. Mark van Bommel will be the key defensive midfielder while Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder will lead the attack from the midfield. Ruud van Nistelrooy (known as the scoring machine) and Rafael van der Vaart will be hitting on the opponent’s goal for Holland. Captain Philip Cocu will be providing the anchor for this team. Players to watch are Arjen Robben, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Rafael van der Vaart.

Portugal have perhaps their best chance of challenging for the World Cup. The likes of Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and Jorge Costa have now been replaced. Youngsters such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiago and Deco make Portugal’s future looks bright. With inspirational veteran Luis Figo in the team, I am ready to see how far this team can go. In the defence, Chelsea duo Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho and behind them Ricardo as the goalkeeper will make sure no nonsense is made. In midfield, Cristiano Ronaldo’s fancy footworks and speed will be every defender’s nightmare. With Barcelona’s Deco and Inter’s Luis Figo they make a perfect attacking squad. In up-front, Pauleta smashing goal ability makes him top scorer in the European World Cup qualifications. Players to watch are Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Three-time champion, Italy are back to overcome the shock defeat to South Korea in the World Cup 4 years ago. The Azzurri are looking forward to win their fourth World Cup. I don’t know how far Italy can go this year. The team is filled with mostly newbies and only a few experience players are in the team. In front of the goal stand Gianluigi Buffon as usual while Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta will be holding back the defence. In the midfield, no nonsense Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi are key midfielders and Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni are playing up-front. Established players in the team include Francesco Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta and Filippo Inzaghi. Players to watch in this team are Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni.

Czech Republic are making their debut in the World Cup as an individual team after splitting up from Slovakia some time ago. Believe me, they are strong than ever. 2 years ago, they prove everyone wrong and entered the semi-final of the European Championship. The Czechs are one of my pick to perform well in the World Cup or maybe win it. Chelsea’s Petr Cech is known as one of the best goalkeepers in the world will be stopping shots for Czech Republic. New Arsenal player, Tomas Rosicky will be playing an attacking role in the midfield and he’s good. Liverpool’s Vladimir Smicer is also in the team playing in the midfield. Their most established player is most probably Pavel Nedved who plays for Juventus in Italy. His awesome display of football had lead Juventus to success. Veteran Jan Koller will be playing up-front for the Czech team with most probably Aston Villa star, Milan Baros. Players to watch are Petr Cech, Milan Baros, Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky.

Brazil are back with samba style to defend their title. Any team that can beat Brazil are good enough to win the World Cup. They are most probably known to be unbeatable in such a big tournament like this. The 5-time champion are looking forward to add another star to their jersey in Germany. Brazil are good in every area. They are incredible in the attack and are as hard as steel in the defence. AC Milan keeper Dida will be their keeper and he is helped by Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Cicinho and Lucio in the defence. In the midfield, Emerson, Kaka, Juninho Pernambucano, Ronaldinho and Gilberto Silva are well established players and will be holding on the midfield. The Brazillian forwards are everyone’s nightmare. With Ronaldo, Robinho and Adriano in the team, defenders of the opponent team will face a very tough job. Players to watch in this team are World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, AC Milan star, Kaka, Inter Milan striker, Adriano and freekick specialist, Juninho Pernambucano.

The French team are back now to redeem themselves after their early surprise exit 4 years ago. The 1998 World Cup winner are back to prove that they are still one of the best nation in football. Either Mikael Landreau or Fabien Barthez will be their first eleven goalstopper. Eric Abidal, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Lilian Thuram, Willy Sagnol and Pascal Chimbonda (from Wigan and is one of the best defender in EPL this season) will be helping the keeper in the defence. Patrick Viera, Claude Makelele, Frank Ribery (hailed as the new Zidane of France), Zinedine Zidane will be playing alongside in the midfield. Liverpool’s Djibril Cisse is unlucky to face an injury and is replace by Sidney Govou. Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Louis Saha will be hitting on the goals for France. Players to watch include Frank Ribery, Louis Saha and Pascal Chimbonda (if they get the chance to play).

Will this be the year of Spain? They had never won the World Cup or entered the semi-finals even though they are one of the strongest nation in football. The Spanish line-up is pretty interesting. As usual Iker Casillas of Real Madrid will be defending the goalmouth. Carlos Puyol, Michel Salgado and Carlos Marchena are playing in defence. Luis Garcia, Xabi Alonso, Joaquin, Francesc Fabregas and Xavi will playing in midfield position. In up-front, Raul, Fernando Torres and Jose Antonio Reyes will be hitting goals for Spain. Players to watch are Fernando Torres, Francesc Fabregas and Joaquin

Other players to watch from other nations are Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young Pyo from South Korea, Andrei Shevchenko from Ukraine, Pillippe Senderos from Switzerland, Tim Cahill from Australia, Shunsuke Nakamura from Japan, Dado Prso from Croatia, Landon Donovan from USA, Michael Essien from Ghana, Mateja Kezman from Serbia & Montenegro, Didier Drogba and Kolo Toure from Ivory Coast, Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Sweden, Roque Santa Cruz from Paraguay and Gregorz Rasiak from Poland.

X-Men 3 

The Last Stand

The final X-Men movie, ‘X-Men: The Last Stand is probably about the fall of the mutants. In the story, humans have found and developed a ‘cure’ for the mutants who wish to be normal. But some mutants protested and say that their powers are gifts and not a disease. As usual, the mutants are splited into two communities; the X-Men (who wanted peace with the humans) and the Brotherhood of Mutants (who wanted a war on humans).

This movie is enjoyable but I’m quite disappointed because too many heroes died. I wasn’t saying that this movie is bad. The sound and visual effects are great but just that the plot of the story is not satisfying. I thought Cyclops or Scott Summer is one of the main characters in this movie but he died too early. And what is so sad is that he is killed by Jean Grey. Other than that, Professor X also died after trying to convince Jean Grey to return to X-Men. I think he’s more powerful than that and it’s a waste that he died so early. Jean Grey’ power is probably uncontrollable after she was assume to be dead in X2. Her power is taking control of her and Magneto is taking advantage of that.

Rogue gives up her powers by taking the mutant "cure" but as we see at the end there is some indication that this cure may not be permanent. And that's why she's back at the school again in the end of the show. Cyclops and Rogue are part of the elite group and it’s too bad that they are not in the final showdown. Actually, I like Gambit a lot but I think the character is not in the movie because his power is not big enough. In my opinion, X-Men will be only nice to watch when the five elite X-Men who are Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, and Jean Grey are present.

My favourite character in this movie is probably Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat).Her ability of going through walls fascinates me. Kitty possesses "phasing" abilities: She can pass through solid objects and can allow objects to pass through her (or other people that she is in contact with.). In this movie, a few new characters are introduces such as Archangel, Leech, Juggernaut and so on. Fiery battle in the ending of the movie between humans (with plastic weapons), X-Men (Storm, Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Iceman, Beast and Colussus) against the brotherhood of Mutants (Magneto, Juggernaut, Pyro, Callisto, Arclight, Psylocke and Kid Omega) . Magneto is stab with multiple cure darts, rendering him human. In a park, Magneto, now simply an ordinary man, sits alone at a chessboard, looking tired and despondent. He reaches out, tentatively, holding his hand over a metal chess piece. It trembles slightly. It's an indication that the 'cure' is not permanent. The movie is totally different from the story from the comic as I found out in Wikipedia. I pretty much prefer the movie version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_X-Men

March with the Soul Patrol

As you all knew, the results were out and the winner was crowned yesterday. As I expected, Taylor Hicks won the American Idol 5 after a one man show in the finale.

Taylor Hicks
He's smart in chosing his songs in the finals. Why? It's because he chose songs that he sang quite some time ago. So, the audiences will not be able compare this performance with his last. His first song was 'Living for the City' which is so much better that Katharine. His second song,'Levon' was also not bad because he's doing his thing again. He ended the competition with his last song which is his new song,'Do I Make You Proud' (quite a boring song but Taylor improvised the song well). He stood out in the crowd and totally crushed Katharine's hope of winning...(wink)

Katharine McPhee
It was not her day. Her songs selection was not good and her voice was really bad. It's a good thing that it happened that way because she don't really deserved to win. Her first song was a surprise. She chose 'Black Horse and Cherry Tree'. I think that song was not big enough for the finale...(wink).. Her second song was not a surprise. She sang 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' again. I think she made a mistake again because she just sang that song last week and people will compare her performance with the last one. I think she didn't sang the song as well as she sang last week..(wink).. Her last song was disastrous. She sang the new single 'My Destiny'. She was out of tune so many times in the song which is not suitable for her at all. It sounded weird...(wink). Everyone said that the song was bad and I wonder who's gonna buy the single? In the lyrics, there's a line that says 'Dream come true'. Well, it's a dream come true that she did not win the competition after that performance.

The American Idol Gold Award was ridiculous. By the way, Clay Aiken looks so different but he sounded great.I could hardly recognize him. I just can’t believe how much his look had changed since he joined American Idol.Before that, he's just a weird looking teacher...
Clay Aiken with his new look : http://www.rickey.org/blog/images/2006/05/clay-aiken-04-2006-5-25.html

Journey Over for E-Train

It is so sad to say that Elliot Yamin will not be in the Kodak Treatre competing for American Idol. He was eliminated in the final three showdown. And I'm kind of disappointed. First, Chris Daughtry........ then, Elliot....I'm just speechless. Now, I wonder if Elliot is really the one that was suppose to be eliminated. What I mean is, what if they have already picked a winner. Throughout the competition, Katharine is like as if she gets imunity from being eliminated. Just think about it, she got through even though she sang badly (Elvis week). The apology from Simon is kind of fake to me. Are there a conspiracy? This gives me something to think about......

Thoughout this competition, there are three contestants that I really like. Chris Daughtry, Elliot Yamin and Taylor Hicks. To bad, Chris and Elliot didn't make it to the finale...

Elliot Yamin
It's a pity that he's not in the finale... I think besides Taylor, Elliot actually did quite well. It's just that Paula picked the wrong song for him and both Randy and Simon picked the perfect song for Taylor and Katharine.. Clive Davis is said to be behind a lot of great stars's career includes Whitney Houston. But his song selection for the top three leave many scatching their heads. Of many good songs to pick, he chose 'Open Arms' for Elliot which I think not Elliot type of song. The song the Paula picked is good but lack of the WOW factor. So, Elliot unable to create a special moment in the songs. Did you listened to Elliot's last song? He might be spreading a message by choosing that song. Once someone is out of American Idol, the person is easily forgotten. Let's just hope that Elliot won't be one of them. Let's just hope someone give him a recording deal too.....

Katharine McPhee
I really think she is very lucky again. The song Clive Davis chose for her is weird. Her rendition of 'I Believe I Can Fly' was so weird because she made so many changes to the song. And I believe she had a problem singing high key with a loud voice. It sounded like a cat screeching. She sang three songs ; one of the song was great and the other two was boring and forgetable. No matter how inconsistent she was, she still gets through.

Taylor Hicks
The Soul Patrol is in the finale and I hope he will win but what I hope may not come true... He's the best in this week's top three... I think the music arrangement of 'Try A Little Tenderness' helped him a lot. I actually didn't expect him to be in the final. But he's my pick to win.

David vs. Goliath

The English FA Cup final was simply a trilling match. Liverpool as the favourites to win the match did win but by penalty shoot-out. West Ham, the unexpected finalist almost won the Cup but Steven Gerrard spoiled their game by leveling up in injury time with a ferocious long range half volley. It’s 3-3. Seriously, if you missed this match, you are really unlucky.

Liverpool
The Reds were really lucky to win the FA Cup. Again and again, they were behind the underdogs, West Ham, because of defensive error. Reina was killing Liverpool’s game because his positioning was really poor. And their strikers were not really performing except Cisse. Both Morientes and Crouch were not in form and Liverpool started the game off really poor. But determined Gerrard won’t let Liverpool fall apart. He kept the team together even though for so many times, Liverpool was trailing behind West Ham. As you all know Liverpool was the favourites to win and if they didn’t, it would be a shame for them as they were facing a team that was just promoted from the Championship last season. Cisse scored the first goal for Liverpool. Later in the match, Gerrard scored the second to level up the match. Peter Crouch was substituted early because he was not performing and I wonder how he was selected in the England World Cup team. In the injury time and when West Ham thought they were winning, Stevie G scored a cracker from 25-30 yards away. Though the extra time, Liverpool dominated the match as expected. But they were unable to find the net. The team was suffered a setback as Cisse, Sissoko and Gerrard suffered cramp during extra time. But that won’t stopped them from lifting the Cup. They played on because all substitution options were used. Liverpool hold on till extra time was finished. After that, they knew they will win as they knew they were the better side in penalty shoot-out. They won the shoot out by 3-1. I won’t say Reina was a hero in the shoot-out because West Ham penalty takers blundered themselves in the penalty box. So, Liverpool did out-performed West Ham in the shoot-out and lifted the Cup. I guess they were really relieved.

West Ham
The Hammers were the underdogs in this match. They had nothing to lose so they just give all they had in this match. Surprisingly, they were leading throughout the match until…..you know what happened next… I don’t think I need to repeat it again. But anyway, They were the better side in the first half and the second half but they had kind of fallen apart during extra time as they just sit back and defend. Nigel Reo-Coker being such a young captain (only 20 years old) for West Ham… I think he did well. The team was organised and everyone in the team knew what they were doing. They were making full use of they possession and their chances because they knew they were the weaker side. Although the were the weaker side, their team chemistry or team spirit were higher. Teddy Sheringham, being such an old and experienced striker (40 years old), he’s still be able to played in the final as a substitute. He’s the only one that scored in the penalty shoot-out for West Ham. I was impressed by West Ham players’ determination especially Marlon Harewood. Even though he faced injury (cramp, I guess) during extra time, he kept on playing till the game is over. Let me tell you that he was in real painful situation. Anton Ferdinand was the last penalty taker for West Ham. Reina saved it and Anton, I believe, was in tears. Even though Liverpool won the game, West Ham can considered themselves winner for what they had shown in the match.

Idol Fanatic

The top 3 was chosen and the finale of American Idol is coming soon. The top three are Elliot Yamin, Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee. Chris Daughtry was eliminated from the Elvis week. I'm quite unhappy as he is one of my favourites. I am really hoping for a Chris-Elliot finale.... but it's too bad. I thought Chris will win and he is among the best in the Elvis week. But it's was a shock result that he was out.Weeks ago, he sang some songs very well such as 'Have You Ever Loved a Woman' and 'What a Wonderful World'.

I hoped somebody out there will give him a recording contract..... I heard that he got an offer by Fuel as they wants him to be their lead singer( Just to let you know that they are an established rock band if you don't know who their are. Chris sang one of their song in American Idol which is Hemorrage). I think it's a good thing as now he can continue to do the music of his style. Remember Constantine Maroulis.., He's the lead singer in his band called Pray For the Soul of Betty. Is it a something wrong that rockers can't win the American Idol etc. Bo Bice, Constantine Maroulis and Chris Daughtry? Now back to the competition... the question now is who will win?

Elliot Yamin
He's my favourite after Chris is out. Listening back to all his songs, I must say that he is the most consistent as I did not heard any bad note from him. He has a somewhat husky voice, a voice that I'm not bored with. What I saw on Rickey.org was that he has the most comments and most of his comments are positive. I guess he has a large fan base(I'm a fan myself) and let's hope the fans vote.

Taylor Hicks
He's a singer that gives out lots of energy in his songs. He has 'unique' dance moves (Even though sometimes his songs are quite forgetable but you never forget his dance move). I hope he will be in the finale with Elliot. But anyway, I still can't see him as a winner. He got his own style in singing and I think he very suitable singing Blues or Jazz music.

Katharine McPhee
I think she is very lucky to in the competition. She's always one of the favourites to win. But I hope she will be out next week. She is good in singing and had a pretty face. But honestly, I'm really bored of her voice.

This competition is not about choosing the best singer but is about choosing the most popular singer. We'll see what will happened next week....

Celebrating.... 

Bagaikan bulan..... ONE DAY MORE!!!! 

Kinta 1 Choir Competition 2006

Wow!! I'm in another competition in one week!! I had joined the ACS Choir Club for quite some time ago. I actually joined for the fun but everything turned serious as the competition was getting closer. We practised very hard as we had to get out from class during school hours for choir practises. Although I did miss a lot of classes, I think that it is worth it because we were practising hard to win.

On the 18th of April 2006 which is the competition day, we are really nervous but we were damn 'semangat'!! The competition was held in TCS, which is our Choir Club president's school. Maybe that's the reason why she did not sang with us in the competition. But it's ok. She was there to guide and watch us sing. She did gave us some advises. No matter what's the results, as long as we have fun, everything will be fine!!

Tasek Damai was the first school to sing. They sang an unknown malay song and One Voice. They sang quite okay but we are not very worried about them. The next school to sing was AMC (Ave Maria Convent). They sang Mimpi (Malaysian Idol). I can't remember what English song they sang. But the arrangement of Mimpi is very different from the original song. They did quite well as they were one of the main contenders.

Next is ACS!!!!!!! Take a deep breath!!!!! We sang Suara and One Day More from Les Miserables. Bagaikan bulan...............ONE DAY MORE!!!!! Oh yeah!! the feeling was great!!! I don't know what the audiences think but I think we did great!!! Ah.... I felt so relieved and happy at that moment. I think Marianne was really pleased with our performance. GOood job, ACS Choir, ichiban!!!!

Actually, I have to thank Marianne for all the guidance, advises and motivation that you had gave us. Although you did not sang with us on that day, but I think your always there beside us and supporting us. Great song selection and ur leadership is really important to us. Thanks, Moshi maro a.k.a. mummy.

The next schools to perform were TCS and Main Convent but I don't really care about their performance. All I know was that they did quite well..

RESULTS!!!!................ Drums rolls plz!!!
3rd place goes to.......... TCS!!!!!
2nd place goes to..........ACS!! Not too bad.. At last, we get something!! Thank God!! All the effort that we put in are not wasted! Thought we could be the champion but...

1st place goes to.........AMC
Best Conductor award goes to.............................. ACS!!!!! Yeah!! We got it!!! We retained this award! Haha!

After the competition, we take pictures as it was a memorable day for us!! After that, we went out to makan in Crazy Ice Cream Restaurant....and had a few rounds of bowling in Ipoh Parade!!!

Pictures : http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiawei_chronicles/

Interschool Drama Competition 2006

I took part in a drama competition on the 17th of April 2006. It's quite fun being part of the 15 person ACS team. I'm in the backstage and I'm in charge of the music being played during the 20-minutes drama.

The competition was being held in Sekolah Kebangsaan Berasrama Penuh Intergrasi Gopeng.
It is a huge school (It's a boarding school after all) but it's so quiet. I guess this school is full of bookworms only...hehe

Okay, back to the competition. I don't know how the other schools performed...we didn't watched at all. But I think we performed quite well. The title of our drama is called The Kingdom of Broken Hearts. The story of our drama is about a queen who wants a child so badly. Soon, a wizard grants her two children ; a son and a daughter. But too bad, the daughter is crippled. The wizard gives her conditions that she will treats her children with love and care.

But the queen did not obey the wizard. She treats her crippled daughter badly. In her minds, she's just a burden and humiliation to the kingdom. Years later, the wizard returns because of revenge on the king. Years ago, the king stopped the wizard from getting eternal power. The wizard also comes back because the queen did not keep to her word. The wizard took the son away.

The king orders his faithful messenger to get his son back. Unfortunately, the messenger dies while trying to save the prince. In the meantime, the queen is really sad and she blames her crippled daugther for the lost of her son. She mentally tortures her daughter. But even of all the torture, the daughter still love her mother.

In the end, the wizard returns and try to kill the queen. but he fails because the queen's daughter sacrifices herself trying to save her mother. The wizard also lost his powers because of the curse that was spelled on him a long time ago. He becomes very weak and escapes. He never comes back. The queen and the king are devastated by the tragic lost of their children. The queen regrets of the way she treated her daughter. That's is why the kingdom was named the Kingdom of Broken Hearts.

So, that's our storyline of our drama. The results of the competition was released on the 18th of April 2006. ACS got third place in the competition. One of our actor,Kenneth Ng, also won the best performer award..

ACTS Gathering 2006 

ACS/TCS Scout Gathering

A NEW ERA and A NEW REVOLUTION!! That's the theme of the 01 Kinta, 12th Coy and 10th Unit Ranger gathering held in ACS on the 15th of April 2006. This event was a joint school (ACS and TCS) scouts gathering. I did felt ashamed that I did not help much on settting up this gathering although I'm a Form 4 exco.

The day was started off with registrations by schools and participants of competitions at 8am. Competitions started at 9am. The competitions that were Iron Scout and Iron Guide, cooking competition, mini gadget, signature hunt, fear factorand mystery competition. Please don't ask me what happened in the competition because I have absolutely no idea what happened. That's because I worked in registration while the competitions were held.

The gathering actually started at 4.30pm. It's quite fun watching the opening yells of each school. The events of the gathering includes dance sessions, banner design presentation, sketches and highlights and so on..... The gathering is quite good but not perfect but it's better than I thought it is. During the dance sessions, the environment was noisy and chaotic. It's funny that when Fearless by Jay Chou(song) was played, the ACS scouts (not included me) started doing funny kungfu moves!!

The best part of the gathering is when SMI presented their dance performance on stage. It's fun seeing my friend doing booty dance on stage!! I can't helped it but to laugh!! It's so funny!! I actually missed the ACS sketch and singing performance because I had to go home early.

I think it's a fun gathering and if we (Form 4) get the chance again, we hope to be able to do another gathering next year!!!

Formula 1 Fever

Formula 1 is back again after a long break. Last season, Fernando Alonso nailed the championship. If Team Mclaren didn't had so many cars break-down, Kimi Raikkonen could had won the championship. But anyway, Team Renault had won last season. This season is gonna be so much better. Some teams had been bought such as the Jordan and Minardi teams. The teams are replaced Team Midland and Team Toro Russo. There is even a new Japanese team which is called Team Super Aguri Honda.

I hope this season will be more compatitive than any other seasons. By the way, have you seen the new McLaren Mercedes car. The car is so awesome and it's fully chromed!! Let's just hoped that the performance is as great too. So, good luck to Montoya and Raikkonen and the McLaren F1 team.

'Honeymoon' Year?

It’s been a while since the last time I blogged. Maybe it’s because I have no idea what to write. Life in Form 4 is kind of crazy. I mean that there are more subjects in school, longer school time, more tuition classes and less leisure time in weekdays. When I’m at home, I will feel extremely sleepy. How’s school? Well…. fine. But sometimes I feel boring and sleepy in school. Sometimes I don’t understand what the teachers are talking about. Especially when you get a Chinese school based teacher to teach you add math and math in English and a trainee to teach you Physics. I felt pity for them because no one is listening to them in class. Everyone is busy talking to one another because no one really understands what the teachers are teaching. I try to listen but it doesn’t works. I really felt sleepy and I end up talking in class like everyone else.

But no other subjects except History that can make you feel so sleepy. History is a very interesting subject but it can be very boring too. Sometimes you just can’t help it but to sleep during History classes (but of course I did not). I’m not a genius in math. Sometimes I felt ‘lost’ when I’m studying math and add math. Wait a minute; Physics and Chemistry are just the same. There are so many calculations and terms that will blow my head off. In both of my Physics and Chemistry tuition classes, I’m totally blurred. Some students can understand quickly but I need a few minutes to figure out things. So, I will just take it slow. I just need to read and do more exercises.

By the way, can anyone tell me what EST is about? We learn Science and English in Form 4. What is EST for? In the meantime, I just study whatever that I have to study.

Some people said that Form 4 is a ‘honeymoon’ year. I don’t think so. Everything is very different compared to the stuff I learned in Form 3. Form 4 subjects are tough anyway.

Man Utd's poor run. Why?

All of the Man Utd fans will be wondering why Man Utd can't achieve what Chelsea had achieved recently? Why? Man Utd had all the players, staff, fans and money they need to play well. But why? Since year 2003, Man Utd had never really played up to the standard they used to played. Why they keep on slipping away when every fans and even football experts say they will excel?

ONE WORD : INCONSISTENT

Man Utd had been playing inconsistently. They may be very famous with star players but they have been playing pretty badly...

The whole team is currently playing out of form. No one is playing well. Always lose posessions easily. Just forget about chasing Chelsea, I don't know how they gonna retain their place with Liverpool and Tottenham catching up from behind if they keep on playing badly. Why they always struggles against bottom and middle league teams? Why they got knocked out of the Champions League and can't even get a place in the UEFA Cup? The defence of the team is all over the place. I don't even know what they are doing. It is as if Van der Sar is the only one defending and other players just go forward. Man Utd played a very attacking style of football. This is what they are good in if they do it correctly. The left back and the right back keep on going forward as if they are midfielders. If they keep on doing that, they will only leave the defending job to the keeper and the centrebacks. No wonder most of the opponent teams score against Man Utd from counter-attack. Man Utd keep on facing injury problems at the wrong time. I think we indeedly misses Heinze a lot. Christiano Ronaldo is just over doing his skill and he keep on losing precious posessions. Ferguson obviously uses the wrong tactics all the time. He even underestimate some teams such as Burton. But no matter what, I believe Man Utd can bounce back. They usually play well after January. We just gotta believe. Glory, Glory Man United!!! One United!!

A True Story

A new teacher in my school told us about a story. The story is actually a life experience of his, when he came out of the university and started a teaching career. According to him, this experience changes his life forever. The experience actually changes the way he views things.

When he was newbie, he was sent to a missionary school in Sabah. The school is quite small and is located quite far away from town. He did not want to leave an environment that he got used to but he has no choice. He needed a job and so he went. He went to the school for the first time and the school turned out not the way he had thought before. Unlike my school, the school turned out to be quite a mess. The school was in a bad condition. The students were mostly poor Sabahan ethnic people such as Kadazan. They were actually quite indiscipline. Some of them had bad attitude and they didn’t respect the teachers. Some even had long hairs. They were very weak in their academic. That is why he said the school was a mess at that time.

Although the school was in a mess, he taught BM to the students and did his job well. Soon, he was elected as the discipline teacher for that school. From that time, he was quite busy and had spent hours caning students everyday. The discipline improved and the academic results of the school improved. Soon he was treated like a ‘hero’ and got lots of compliments from the school. Because of that, his confidence was much higher and he has more self-esteem/ego in him.

One day, he heard of a very indiscipline afternoon session student from a teacher. The afternoon session starts at 12.30pm but the boy only arrived at 2.30pm. When the teachers asked him to give a reason why he was late, he refused to give a reason. This repeats everyday and most of the teachers got fed up about it. And he had a bad habit. He always put his hands on his waist. Even if the teachers called him to put his hands down, he refused. The teacher didn’t interfere into this case because he was the morning session discipline teacher and he will just let the afternoon session discipline teacher handle the case.

But one day, he decided to stay back in school and take a look at the student. So, he waited and waited and waited and waited….. but even when the time was 2.30pm, the boy didn’t arrived. At 3.00pm, he finally had shown his face at the school. Surprisingly, the boy that the teachers feared the most, was a just a Form 1 boy. The boy just walked pass the teacher as if nothing happened. Soon, the teacher knew that it was time to confront the boy. The students came out of their classes to watch the incident. He asked the boy why he came late to school. The boy, as usual, refused to answer. At that time, the boy was still putting his hands on his waist. So, the teacher called to put his hands down. The boy refused to do so. Because of that, the teacher got angry. He furiously picked his cane and caned the boy on his hand.


The boy let go of his hands because of the pain and something happened. The boy’s pants fell off. The size of the pants was actually too large for him. All the other students around the school laughed at the boy. The teacher didn’t know what to do next. He felt guilty of caning the boy. If he didn’t take action on the boy so fast, that incident will not happen. At that moment, tears came out of the teacher’s eyes. In his adult life, there wasn’t a moment where he cried so hardly. He asked the boy why he told him earlier. It was clearly that the boy was ashamed and afraid to tell the teacher.

Actually, the boy came from a very poor family and they live quite far away from the school. The reason why he was always late to school was because he had to wait for his elder brother (Form 3) who studies in the same school to come back home. His family can’t really afford to buy another pair of pants for the boy. Instead of getting another one, he had to share the school pants with his brother. It took an hour for his brother to get back home. And after changing, the boy had to walk for another hour to get to the school. That’s why he was always late to school.

Some of you might laugh at this boy. But I think there’s nothing funny about him. The people that laugh didn’t really get the real meaning of the story. This true story actually reminds me of how fortunate I am. I'm given everything I needed. I'm showered with love and care.