The Manchester Derby

This is it.

This season's final Manchester derby is really gonna be a title decider.

I'm so excited about it that I think about it everyday. Sometimes fleetingly, sometimes more intensively, wondering how I should react if Manchester United should lose.

Then I read an article one of the many fansites I like to visit to ease my kicks. And he told it like it is.

How bloody exciting though.

Isn’t it fucking ace to feel such heightened emotions. Isn’t it special to have a thing or occasion in your life that matters so much. Of course it makes you feel a bit sick, or a lot sick even. It because it’s fucking visceral, man. It grabs you by the lapels like Eric Morecambe and shakes you awake. It’s the kind of thing that reminds you that you’re still properly alive and able to feel such feelings, when work and bills and work would have you slowly die.

So cherish this week. Cherish the hysteria that’s welling up inside you. Love it, love the crap out of it. Because some people never feel this. They just don’t. It’s great to be invested in something that makes you feel physically ill for caring. And it may sound dramatic, but you might not experience something like this ever again. So be
glad it’s happening.

The love of a football club is like any other love. It really isn’t a victory march. But you’ve got to be all in and be prepared to have your heart broken and smashed to bits, otherwise it’s no love at all. Enjoy the anticipation, and the potential beauty of what could be. Even if it could turn out shit. Because it’s what we endure all the
hours of blandness for. Stuff that truly matters.

There are times I wonder why I feel so strongly for Manchester United. I wasn't born there, never lived there, and haven't even been there once in my life yet. Much less visited Old Trafford. Maybe its the way they play, maybe its the culture of the club, maybe its the DNA of the club that's rubbed off, maybe its the players and maybe its even the gaffer. And yet it does fester. That feeling I never could describe well enough. Perhaps one day I could better verbalize this feeling.

Monday's game is gonna be huge man. And I really can't wait. Why? I think it can only be explained by what Scott wrote as quoted above. Its a rollercoaster ride supporting a club this passionately, but its something to cherish, this feeling.

I hope we win. I really do. But I fear.

#20.

GGMU!!!

It Sucks To Take The Late Flight Out

Stuck in the airport.

Nothing much to do.

Still another hour to wait.

Before I get back to Singapore.

Can't wait to get home.

As always.

Luckily, there's wifi.

Helps ease the boredom abit.

There's food in the executive lounge.

Not hungry.

Tired.

Smelly.

Boarding soon.

Back in office tomorrow.

Why Apple Is Doomed

Read this.

Much as I like their gadgets, I do agree that it is going down...down to Chinatown.

New Layout

Decided to just go ahead with the new layout proposed by Blogger. It doesn't look very good and some of the stuff seems to have been removed. Still, I guess abit of change is necessary once in a while. It has been 8 years since I started blogging, so a new layout might be good. Oh, and the archives are back :)

Manchester United 4 Everton 4

1. The manner of last night's draw was so traumatizing that I didn't sleep well last night. We went 0-1 down before Rooney scored before halftime to level the scores. Welbeck and Nani then scored in quick succession after the half to take it to 3-1. A good first-time volley from Fellaini made it 3-2. Rooney looked to wrap the game up at 4-2. Everton had other ideas, scoring through Jelavic and Pienaar in the final 10 minutes to send the away fans into raptures.

2. I'm amazed how softly we let the last two goals in, with Rafael and Evans at particular fault. It looked as though our entire defence was static at 4-2. Such was the complacency of the squad.

3. Last night's game featured devastating attack and very poor defending. Our forward line of Nani, Rooney, Welbeck and Valencia was about as good as it gets at showing how to score. They had a generally good game.

4. Defence was where most of the mistakes were made. Rafael, Evans, Ferdinand and Evra looked all over the place or static at times.

5. The Scholes-Carrick midfield combo is still by far our best, although they obviously tire come the 70th minute mark. Happened again last night.

6. The substitution of Jones for Scholes was puzzling. Not sure what SAF wanted to achieve with him in the midfield. We should have had Park on to shore up and protect the defence. Also timing of the substitution was questionable being so late on.

7. De Gea for once couldn't save us. He didn't make many saves and there was almost nothing he could do with all four goals.

8. Man Shitty beat Wolves later on 0-2 to relegate them and trim the lead at the top to 3pts with a superior goal difference.

9. So it's all to play for at the derby net weekend now. The result will determine the champions although I would expect Man Shitty to have it harder to do with Newcastle away and QPR home in the games after the derby. We've got Swansea home and Sunderland away. Given the manner of las nights draw when we really should have wrapped it up with a large goal difference, I get the feeling our boys won't be going into the derby with much confidence while the blue side looks very dominant now. It's somewhat worrying.

10. Basically a win next weekend will mean we retain the league for #20. A draw leaves us with a 3 point advantage where we should beat Swansea and at least draw at Sunderland. A loss would mean we all become Newcastle fans because Man Shitty would lead on goal difference.

Perhaps that's what makes the EPL so exciting :( Sometimes I wished it were less so.

GGMU!!! #20!!!

Manchester United: The Most Valuable Club In Soccer

Manchester United 4 Aston Villa 0

1. Coming out of yesterday's statement-making win by Man City, 1-6 winners at Norwich, we definitely couldn't afford anything else other than a win today at home.
2. We definitely played much better today than on Wednesday against Wigan where we lost 0-1.
3. Big ups to Paul Scholes. Simply put, we win when he's in the line-up. Legend. Our Carrick-Scholes partnership is currently our strongest by far.
4. Welbeck also deserves mention for his tenacity and drive. You just can't fault the boy for trying and I'm really glad he got a goal today.
5. Ashley Young got us off to a good start with a 7th minute penalty. I must say it's a really soft penalty given, so scoring tons was important to keep the ABUs off our backs.
6. Aside from Rafael, the defence and de Gea were fantastic as usual.
7. Valencia and Rooney didn't have a very exceptional game even if Rooney scored two today.
8. Berbatov. I've only got good things to say about him, and it was nice to see him come on even though everyone knows he'll be sold in the summer.
9. Everton will be a tougher opponent than Villa so hopefully we win by a similar scoreline next weekend.
10. 5pts ahead with 4 games to go. You can't but feel optimistic about #20. let's hope we get there sooner rather than later.

GGMU!!!

The Arts House

Was at The Arts House, which was also the old Parliament House last night attending the CFA Singapore Charter Annual Forecast dinner.

The event was actually held in The Chambers where the old parliamentary debates used to take place. Such a storied and fabled setting. Plus as sponsors, we got to sit in the front row which was where the Ministers used to sit.

And I actually got to sit at where our ex-deputy Prime Minister, Dr Toh Chin Chye used to sit, right beside where Lee Kuan Yew used to sit. Darn it, should've taken LKY's seat when I had the chance!

Some pix below!

One of the old Proclamation of Independence from the British, signed by LKY in 1963.

Don't play play! The old man really used to sit here! My seat was right beside.

The Chambers

Yup, my seat.

Something about hanging out with CFAs that makes me feel really small. Its like some prestigious club of psyched up we're-smarter-than-the-rest-of-the-world peeps who probably won't talk to the common man on the street. Elites. I wanna join!

Then again considering the 70% failure rate of the full CFA course, I guess there is a certain unspoken pride in being part of the brainiest financial minds in the world.

Manchester United 2 Queens Park Rangers 0

1. A win is a win regardless. Even if that Ashley Young push wasn't and he was in an offside position.
2. I think in the first 10min we had 92% possession vs 8%. This game was a total walk in the park after that incident.
3. Scholes was massive today. Totally dominated the midfield AND scored our 2nd goal. Legend.
4. As much as many people think Welbeck is not good enough, I'd beg to differ. His off-the-ball running is great, he's relentless, and he's always pushing himself. His only fault is his poor finishing, given the amount of chances he's been given.
5. Valencia was still very good today, even if he's not at his best.
6. Our central defenders, Evans and Ferdinand were rock-solid and reliable once again. De Gea had hardly anything to do today.
7. We definitely should have won by a larger margin if not for the post denying Rafael and Carrick.
8. Speaking about Rafael, he's a good player but there are times when you wonder what he's thinking making stupid ball decisions and rash tackles.
9. Nice to see Cleverly come on. He just needs a steady run of games to begin imposing himself. Hope he features more!
10. 8pts ahead with City playing Arsenal at the Emirates. I'm gonna be a Gunners fan for the next 90min. Slow and steady, one game at a time picking those wins one by one and #20 is ours!

GGMU!!!

IPPT 2012

As you can see, I PASSED!!!

YEAH!!!!

Even if I missed out on the Silver award by 1sec!

I was on my last lap and I had only two minutes to run it, else I'd fail, and I ran my lungs out. So no regrets!

RIMM

Bought RIMM or Research In Motion Ltd, the makers of Blackberry. It's price has gone down more than 90% from two years ago.

I figure that the qwerty keyboard still has a few years left in it not to mention the slew of other patents they currently own. Definitely worth more than it's current price of $13-$14.

Maybe Google or Microsoft mint buy it out.

Hope for the best!

Also, as much as people believe that AAPL (Apple) would soar to $1,000, I totally beg to differ. Looking to short shortly.

Huat ah!!!