by | Feb 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
You’ve seen it by now and you’ve probably heard all about it, but for the uninitiated, Aaron Ramsey, 19year old Welsh international prodigy, broke his leg. Warning: not for the faint hearted.
2 years ago, Eduardo broke his leg, and even Diaby suffered similar injuries.
How cursed can Arsenal be with such a horrendous injury history — not that they’re asking for it or anything — but this time round, there’s a difference in the situation.
Eduardo was on the end of a very bad challenge, from a player tilting towards the malicious side of the game, while Aarom Ramsey, I believe, is simply unlucky.
Yes, unlucky that he broke his leg in a 50/50 challenge with Ryan Shawcross, a recent fresh entrant into the England Squad by Capello, and who has gone on to apologise profusely for the predicament befalling the young Welshman.
In football, if you don’t go in for a challenge, one might as well sit at home and enjoy a game of Monopoly, and in this case, it’s definitely an accident.
A hugely horrific accident, but does Shawcross deserve the red card?
Judging by the situation at hand, yes he does, to simmer any potential emotions and to prevent any triggering of ‘revenge’ tackles from Ramsey’s teammates.
I do believe and am not saying that there’ll be such a tackle, but what would you do when you see your buddy getting kicked with a broken leg?
There’s simply a chance that tackles get harder and tougher, and bringing the perpetrator out of the game, simmers it.
Referee did the right thing, but does Shawcross deserves to be branded ‘Thug’ or ‘Malicious’ player with that tackle?
No, he does not.
That lad’s an immense talent, and he’s a strong, hard tackler and there’s definitely nothing malicious about the intent in the play that builds up to the injury, and there was plenty of grievances as the big lad trudged off the pitch in tears, after checking on Ramsey’s condition with a comforting palm.
It’s just unfortunate that Ramsey’s leg buckled, as his was planted onto the ground.
It begs the question of what if it was Shawcross that suffered the broken leg?
By any means, it was a possibility as even Ramsey had went into the challenge himself, with both players attempting to kick away the ball.
What makes it even less malicious is that there wasn’t even any lunging or jumping into the challenge by both players.
It’s a sick injury, a horrific accident, and sure that Shawcross takes the blame for that injury, but for certain he is to be vindicated of any thuggery or malicious claims.
It’s purely bad luck, and it could happen to anyone, anywhere, and I hope Ramsey realises this and recovers as fast as he can to get back to enjoying the game that he loves.
by | Feb 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
Sitting in the living room, on the couch, watching last night’s news replay on the catastrophic earthquake in Chile brought me chills.
Or was the shivers due to the living room fan that’s been blowing my way for the past few hours at my bare-chested self?
Either way, the news is an uncomfortable one, even for someone like me, who is far away and quite seemingly on another planet as the quake hits the South American nation, threatening huge, gigantic tsunamis, which could possibly equal that of 2004’s disaster.
Back then it was the deadlest recorded tsunami ever, and there’s fear that it won’t retain that record for long — unfortunately and alarmingly foreboding — if forecasts are to be realised.
Japan tells coastal people to evacuate for tsunami.
Auckland receives its share of threats.
Philipines raises alerts.
But these are just some of the places to be hit by the tsunami, and if it does lands, I hope swift aid from respective government ensues, with adequate preparations in an event disaster strikes.
Better prepared than never right?
by Googooboyy | Feb 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
‘Please’ is such a simple and unobtrusive word, when it comes to negotiations, and I couldn’t have realised the power and weight that it carried until my Dad threw it on me this afternoon.
In a good way of course.
I’ll get to that story in a while, but first let me reiterate its most common usage and that is within the service industry, such as one that I’m in.
I print stuffs, and occasionally have the opportunity some creatives and on-site events or advertising installations, with plenty of communications and miscommunications to go.
Not surprisingly a huge chunk of my time is spent negotiating, renegotiating and killing off a dead negotiation.
So I deal with customers on topics such as time and costs, applications or installations, effectiveness, and validity, and the actual list that I negotiate daily, can probably be quite lengthy, and whatever the topic may be, and case in point — I negotiate a lot.
So much so that I use the word ‘please’ in obscene amounts, and most probably in trying to come off as polite and unobtrusive but mostly in trying to win the customer’s agreement by appearing subtle and inviting when I begin conversations with that word.
I was quite wrong actually, because I realise that utlising please in such a construction is like begging for attention.
And beggers are usually the ire of society, and when you’re begging, you lose authority.
BUT, use it correctly, and it transforms from mere begging, into an authoritarium ultimatum that is wrapped in firm persuasion yet inviting at the same time.
Case in point, where my Dad used the word at the end of a question for the first time, after bugging me with ‘Will you follow us to Tioman Island during March’s holiday?’ for the last few days.
You see my Dad don’t use that word so often with me (All Dad’s don’t beg with their children right? They like to appear strong, and my dad, he is a little bit brash, stubborn, defensive and strongheaded, but in fact he’s one of the most polite and gamely gentleman that I have the pleasure of ever knowing.) and it hit me unexpectedly when he used it on me earlier this afternoon.
I didn’t have any intentions of going to Tioman Islands, at all, ‘cos I didn’t want to spend 3 days commuting in a rush within a foreign land with limited internet access, but most importantly of all, I didn’t want to be spending at all on leisure activities.
I’m currently on a self-imposed budget-appreciation mode at the moment. Something that I’ve picked up from playing plenty of Poker games, where I learn that with cards that you’re dealt with in life, you gotta learn when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
And I was prepared to fold 99% when it comes to a Tioman trip, but from 99% of not wanting to go, it became 99% of I had to go, simply because my Dad said this: “Follow us, this once. Please?”
Mere words, but so provocative.
I would have declined his invitations had he used the ‘Please’ at the start of every invitations, but something about using it just once during this whole episode makes me feel like I’ll be turning down a great cause if I didn’t go, and that it carried for more weight and persuasion than it should have.
The usage of that word came off authoritarian yet mildly inviting.
I wouldn’t have expected it, but I’m going to Tioman in 2 weeks time, when just days back I would vehemently decline any invitations at all — which I actually declined when Dad initially posed them to me many times, days earlier.
My Dad used it sparringly, and I definitely could take heed in that during my ‘negotiations’ at work.
Where I used to bend and submit to customers’ demands and requests, I’ve slowly growned into someone who’s taking control of situations at work, and controlling them instead of the other way around when I first started out.
I’ll probably still use ‘Please’ at the start of conversations with newer customers, but I’m definitely going to use it less often now.
And when I’m losing control of the situation, perhaps I’ll employ it as a last ditch effort to tilt negotiations in my favour.
So long story short, moral of the story is that ‘Please’ can be a massive gravitational pull in your favour.
To all Dads, if you’re in a protracted negotiation with your sons (and daughters), then instead of appearing to beg with ‘Please’ at the beginning of statements or questions, try using it sparringly.
Will you? Please?
by | Feb 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
It felt good to be running around the artificial grass, ladened with black plastic pips of some sorts, ones that tend to sneak into your socks and boots when you’re not looking, especially when it’s after midnight at FICO sports hall.
The cool, mysterious night air and the soft caressing windy backdrop there helps a lot in stroking your appetite for a good game of late night soccer — and a good game I had.
Earlier I bought a pair of pink (don’t ask why) goalkeeper gloves from Mustafa Centre especially for tonight’s session since I wanted to make some dramatic/acrobatic goalkeeping saves.
And maybe break a few bones in the process and get a long term MC too.
Just kidding.
Anyway, the turnout unfortunately wasn’t as great as our group usually were, so it was surprising and disappointing.
It’s just enough to make 2 teams, but I guess the good is that everyone gets to play for the whole session.
Turns out to be money well paid, cos there’s no time spend waiting for your team’s turn to enter the pitch.
I reiterate, that it felt extremely good to be running again after nearly 2 weeks of non-activity.
Before this it felt sucky, and everytime I wake for work, I get all mushy with my pillow and blanket as I contemplate not getting up.
Do you sometimes feel like your whole body is lethargy, lazy, aching all over, tired or exhausted sometimes?
Especially when you stop exercising.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I get aches all over my body, and yawn continuously when I don’t have any physical exercise going on.
Like the CNY holidays that just passed us by, I’d sleep around 3 to 4am and I’d end up waking around 1 to 2pm the next day, and though waking up late compensated for the extended waking hour, I’d get sleepy again after just a few hours.
By about 4 to 5pm (same day), I’d get all drowsy, even if all I did before it was to watch TV, surfing the web or reading a book, and as the holidays accumulate, my lethargic levels hit sky high.
I guess it’s something like in the case of violence brings more violence, or kindness begets kindness kind of thing, and not exercising will only bring about a more lazy you.
When was the last time you jogged, or went up and down, say 2 levels of staircases consecutively huh?
You lazy bum.. = )
by | Feb 26, 2010 | Uncategorized
I wish I could dabble and dazzle being an iphone app developer, but last I checked, my hoard of programming books were still fully covered in dust, and no way am I going to go anywhere near it.
But here’s a fella who took 11 years to create his first iPhone app, but wait let me readjust and rephrase that sentence a little bit, so that it makes more sense, considering the iphone was born only a few years back.
Here’s an 11year old fella who created his first iPhone app, selling it for 99cents, and if you think that being 11years young makes it amazing, digest this:
The majority of the money from sales of the iPhone app goes towards a hospital where he was treated, after suffering from a benign tumour — nothing cancerous though, but enough to cause 9 months of concern from friends and family as he stayed home, recuperating.
How benevolent is that? Where earlier I mentioned about what you would do when you’re gifted with a $1000 monetary, here is a tiny fella (BUT with a big heart) who decides that he’ll give away a portion of whatever he earns, before he even earned it.
And here’s the best part: He wants to create more apps, so that he can donate more to hospitals.
So, Cameron Cohen, well done lad. You know, you’re gonna be big, um.. pun intended, someday.
by | Feb 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
I took the liberty of pampering myself to a slew of movie watching, over the last weekend, which really have been long overdue ever since.. well ever since.. gee, I can’t really remember.
Just when was the last time I inserted a DVD into my DVD player and spend a good one to two hours just lying down on the bed and getting entertained??? No, not that kind of entertained, but anyways..
Fantastic Mr Fox was blueberry sweetly fantastic and reminded me of old school animation. It was rustic, sneaky and quite engaging actually, with plenty of epic soundtracks. It’s like a mixture of Quentin Tarantino + Jim Burton at the director’s helm and Lady Gaga + Yanni at the helm of its soundtracks. Good, clean fun, plus no animals were harmed in the making of the movie. I think.
The Book Of Eli, managed to drag me to the depths of boredom and beyond, in its first 30 minutes of opening sequence, and not until a raucous encounter with the main villain was there really anything cheerworthy of the film then. Denzel washington was too slick and refined to be casted as a ramshackled, lone vagabond. If not for his performance, The Book Of Eli would’ve totaly disappointed with its lacklustre settings, much-more-cliche dialogues than Avatar’s, and a pacing that makes Driving Miss Daisy look like a prequel to The Fast & The Furious. It didn’t tickle my tastebuds (even though I watched it till the end) but I suppose it’d appeal to anyone who’s more towards the pious side of this world.
Zombieland, it’s just scrumptious, yum yum. No, this isn’t a bias zombie movie review just because I loved the viral first person shooter game, Left 4 Dead. I can’t remember the older actresses’ name but I think she’s hot. Also, the chemistry shared among the 4 lead characters (Left 4 Dead had 4 lead players too~) lends itself to the movie’s good joy. At the end of the movie, it makes you wish that the world was overrun by zombies, just so you could grab anything and start whacking ’em all. You’d want to release all that pent up tension inside, right? It’s wacky, comedic, and it’s one of those shows that you’d wanna watch with your buddies, so everyone can get a good hearty LOLs.
The Blind Side, a contender in the upcoming Oscars race for Best Picture, alongside Avatar, was a good weekend filler too. Sandra Bullock was bullishly good and impeccably exciting to watch. There’s enough angst, love, joy, sorrow to twist and turn you around, and I’m not surprised that it deservingly got nominated so. I wonder if I’d had done the same thing if I was in her shoes, when she did what she did to change a young man’s life — but at the end of the showing, we’re revealed why she thrusts herself so and overall, it’s simply a very touching and emotive movie, with a couple of food for thoughts.
Damage, it starred ex-Wrestler, who goes by the moniker Stone Cold Steve Austin, back during his wrestling hey-days, and with plenty blood splashing about, punches thrown about and profanities flying around, it’s a movie for the weekend testosterone charged viewers. I liked that Austin was a man on the road to recovery, yet caught in a dilemma that he’d be doing both good and bad, no matter what path he chooses. Not something I’d watch again and again, but it’s entertaining nevertheless.
Informant, which I thought would be witty and downright outrageous, was sadly only utrageous at best. It was a forgettable performance from an actor that have done really great movies before, and I guess talk-talk drama isn’t really his thing. It felt as if the writers had tried to fill the plot with plenty of twists and turns that everything got twisted and turned around real bad. Where at first you kind of got the drift of the movie, I’m pretty much confident that you’ll lose everything and start wondering ‘wth had just happened?’ at the end. As much as I enjoyed witty, dialogue-filled movies, this one was quite a chore to go through.
Ponyo, however, was quite a joyous movie, although its overly goody-goody looks and story didn’t quite provide much antagonistic elements to it, much like watching an episode of Sesame Street, where you know everything’s going to be good, nice and all smiles. I do liked Ponyo, it had its moments, though I kind of question the part where the community of grandmas and the young boy and his mother went under the sea and breathed bubbles there. I know it’s a magical story, and some may get it, but I just don’t.
So I finally managed to watch Ponyo till the end this time, along with a host of other movies, and all these over the last week, and I must say that I’ve been impressed with The Blind Side tremendously.
It’s got that uplifting, feel-good aura about it, and watching it makes one feel… good. And uplifting.
Like Avatar.
by | Feb 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
Oh my, thought you’d never ask.
www.TEEDOJO.com
The now defunct MTTBWY has given way to TeeDojo, and I’m actually quite satisfied with everything that’s come out so far, even if I’ve not reaped my first $Million in sales, or even if I never reach that figure at all~
Just seeing that shopfront there, after many hours of labour, it’s just.. wow.
I know, I know, it’s just a small and simple set up, and that there really isn’t that much to look at, but I like it.
And with our government pumping $5.5 Billion into the economy, I’ve barely even scratched the surface of that treasure bag with this.
Now that this project is more or less settling down, time to look for a new one — considering now I have more time ever since Avatar (3D) isn’t showing that much at nearby local theatres.
Yup, I’m still reeling from that movie about cat-like, blue-bodied humanoids that rides on bad-ass birds.
Maybe I’ll start drawing and doodling.
Hmmmmmmnaaaaahh. Maybe I better not. = )
TeeDojo, butt-kicking tees!
by | Feb 21, 2010 | Uncategorized
Now here’s a question that keeps running through my head lately, and maybe because I keep imagining receiving these amounts in my bank account, which for the records, I don’t actually.
No, not even close.
So what would you do if you were given $1000?
- Grab the latest and biggest LV handbag or keep hold of the latest tech gadget,
- Dump all the money into the POSBank and watch it grow by $1 annually,
- Be charitable; treat the family to a meal and donate a portion,
- Invest the amount into a potential business plan, and work at it, or;
- Return the money, cos you think you don’t deserve it.
Seriously, how many of us would have chosen 5 as an option?
Perhaps its easy when the amount is as accomodating as $1000, but what happens when it balloons to $10,000?
Now sadly, topics like these aren’t being taught in schools, at least not the ones where I studied or know of, and it’s knowledge of handling these situations that dictates how a society turns out.
So what would you do?
by | Feb 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
What’s up with that dude at the counter at FICO sports hub tonight?
I mean, he could have left one of the lights on, instead of leaving the players in pitch darkness, whom were still packing their stuffs and trying to go back.
It’s just poor service, if you ask me. Like what’s wrong with leaving one light on for visibility’s sake?
If that fella was an animal, I’m betting that he’d be a tiger, all jumpy and snaring and just not friendly, for a service staff that is.
Maybe it’s his New Year holidays and he’s having to work?
Nevertheless pouncing upon us vulnerable players, whom actually PREPAID the courts for usage, and enveloping us in the dark is just not acceptable.
I guess, if he really was a tiger, he’d be an extinct one.
Anyway, earlier in the day, I kind of woke earlier than expected, and after a few days of procrastinating, got to see Avatar (3D) again.
And boy was I shocked to see the reception at the ticket counter, the theatres are almost full, and this for a movie that’s into it’s 9th week of running.
This was the ticketing response for the 1pm slot at Shaw Lido, and this snapshot was taken at 11am!
Must be the CNY holidays that’s triggering this response.
This was the response for the 3pm slot.
And this was for the 8pm slot.
I got the 1pm slot, so that by late afternoon I’d be free to wander around the area, perhaps to search for the elusive belt or new pair of socks.
And boy was the theatre packed then, not with locals, but Koreans, Japanese, Ang Mohs and other nationalities that made up a quite a portion of the crowd.
Judging by their response during in-show scenes, they definitely weren’t repeat customers like I was, cos they gasped, ooh-ed, sighed and got amused generously — which goes to show that it was their first intake of the Avatar experience.
As for me, nothing surprising anymore, maybe ‘cos I managed to soak all the emotions within. Tough guy image here huh~
I’m not surprised that it’s taken them 9 weeks to see it for themselves, and with the Oscars coming up, I bet that many more might be tempted to give Avatar (3D) a go, since it’s one of the forerunners in the race for Best Picture.
Though I’m still surprised that there are many articles that’s taking a dig at Jame’s Cameron’s showpiece, and as if the Billions of dollar don’t already tell enough, these detractors (in the minority) of the movie just won’t rest until it gets the Oscar snub.
But will AMPAS snub Avatar?
If you asked me, I’m betting that they won’t. Maybe I’m just feeling tigerish but the odds are pretty good. = )
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