Hello 2013, Goodbye 2012

It's new year's eve, so thought I'd get this out of the way and start thinking about my 2013 resolutions and how I should try harder to achieve them.

2012 hasn't been as fantastic as I'd hoped. But there were things to cheer about nonetheless.

Here was last year's review.

Without boring everyone with further specifics,here is this year's resolution review:

1) Eat more healthily PASS
I managed to reduce my cholesterol level this year. While it's still high, it is something to cheer about. All the weekly football sessions have helped. Hopefully I can continue to work on that. Plus mega cut down on alcohol too.

2) Exercise more PASS
As mentioned above, two football sessions a week paid dividends. Sadly that has stopped for the time being. I'm hoping it resumes after the new year.

3) Double savings FAIL
This is definitely one of the low points of the year. I not only didn't double my savings, I might have not saved anything at all. Don't get me started.

4) Spend more time with family PASS
This one was commendable. Regular heavy alcohol consumption is at a standstill (something I'm actually quite proud of), and if I'm not at work I'm on my way home. Time spent on the kids and family has gone up. Hopefully that leads to good things.

5) Spend more time with friends FAIL
It's not even about being selective anymore. There is hardly any time for that these days when you have two kids in the house and your work requires that you travel so often. Moreover with kids the conversations also start to turn segregated. There are singles/married no kids/married with kids conversations these days. People definitely look left out. I'll definitely need to work on this aspect if I'm to salvage some of the friendships I think I'm losing.

6) Trade with more discipline FAIL
EPIC FAIL this one. Maybe I should just stop trading altogether. This will not feature in 2013 resolutions!

So as we move into the new year, I'm wishing everyone good health, wealth and prosperity! Treasure all your loved ones and spend more time with them!

Resolutions 2013 coming up next!

My Bumblebee

Bought this to play in office :)

Transformers these days are much harder to transform than those that I owned as a kid!

USDJPY Surge

With the incoming Premier, Shinzo Abe, of Japan declaring war on the over-valued Yen, USDJPY has surged relentlessly.

Till now? Nice channel.

Let's waiting and see.

Star Sign Ahead Again

Wow last week's Sunday Times star sign advice was really accurate. Thought I'd post this week's as well.

People are listening to you, so tell them what they need to hear. Your energy is just right for pushing the envelope and guiding people towards new beginnings.

Thailand 1 Singapore 0

What's wrong with the above score?

Well Thailand won the battle but lost the war! Singapore had won 3-1 in the first leg at home.

And Singapore are now 4 times AFF Cup champions, winning 3-2 on aggregated!!! 1st nation to win it 4 times! Am so proud of our boys!

Sadly I had to miss the match due to a friend's wedding, but maybe it was a good thing, given that it was 90mins of heart attacks. Thailand attacked with wave after wave from the onset till the dying end to no avail.

Luckily, my dream that we would lose 0-2 did not materialize.

So what now Lions?

With head coach Avramovic quitting, it will be interesting to see who takes over.

Hopefully this success can lead to more successes at an even higher level like the Asian Cup!

Go Lions go!!!

Well Done

"There is no room for criticism on the training field. For a player - and for any human being - there is nothing better than hearing 'well done'. Those are the two best words ever invented in sports. You don't need to use superlatives."

- Sir Alex Ferguson

Singapore 3 Thailand 1

Wow.

What an amazing game from our own boys at the Jalan Besar Stadium tonight.

We played really well, were very tight and disciplined, and kept the Thais at bay.

Goals from Mustafic Fahruddin, Khairul Amri and Baihakki means that we have one hand on the trophy!

Special mention to Izwan Mahbud and Shaiful Esah for very good individual performances ! Izwan made several great saves while Shaiful's freekicks and corners were really deadly! Our defenders also performed admirably tonight.

Now all we need is to weather the 2nd leg storm this Saturday in Bangkok. And we will hopefully bring home the AFF Suzuki Cup for a historic 4th time!

Go Lions go!!!

Star Sign Update

Like no effect leh.

I 忍 liao, think liao and wait liao, but things only seem to be procrastinating instead of getting solved.

Perhaps tomorrow I will take a wee bit of action and give things a little nudge.

See if anything will happen.

Sigh.

Star Sign Week Ahead

When things start to get uncomfortable later - and they will - make sure you think it all through before reacting. You can turn this situation to your advantage if you see the angle.

How coincidentally precise? Or pinch of salt?

Manchester United 3 Sunderland 1

What a routine win last night. Goals from RVP, Cleverly and Rooney sealed it.

1. Not sure why the SAF love affair with Phil Jones, but he sure isn't a better RB than Rafael. He may be good with his headers but his basic duties like keeping out crosses and defence need to be improved.

2. Smalling and Ferdinand as CBs were quite good. It's a good thing we now have CBs in abundance with Vidic back and Evans returning.

3. Evra was Evra. Not super but good enough.

4. We paired Carrick and Cleverly in the first half yesterday and they do look like the best two-man combo we have. Cleverly is getting better and better with the games he gets, and ended up with a goal to his name too. Scholes and Giggs came on later and they shored the game up. Always nice to see them on the pitch, but hopefully they don't start games anymore. They simply don't have the pace to last 90 minutes.

5. Young started yet again. Once more I was impressed by his work rate and discipline. He must be doing something right in training. The best example was the first goal when he had an opportunity to dive but instead weathered the tackles in the penalty area to cross for RVP. Hope he keeps this up.

6. Tony V was coming off his second game back from injury and while he's still a tad rusty, he was definitely improving with more game time. He needs to use his strength to his advantage more often.

7. Rooney was not at his best, but still was good enough to get a goal and run all over the pitch. Still one of our linchpins. Nuff said.

8. How much more superlatives can you heap on RVP? The guy is a United legend in the making. Hopefully he keeps his goals coming. His partnership with Rooney is one of the strongest I've seen. Could've had a hat-trick last night.

9. When Vidic came on in the 67th minute, I honestly thought it was a tad early. Predictably Sunderland took advantage of his rustiness to pump in more crosses into our box. That resulted in the conceded goal which was such a waste.

10. I thought DDG had a good game aside from having to concede that goal. He looked good reflex-wise, and dealt with most crosses quite ably. Hopefully he will be our permanent number one.

A good but predictable win. Hopefully we can keep this winning streak for a longer period than the last one.

Towards #20!

GGMU!!!

Jersey Boys

Stole a few hours out with the wifey to watch the latest musical in town, Jersey Boys.

A simple story about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, with alot of their hit songs peppered throughout. They had hits like 'Sherry', 'Beggin'', 'Big Girls Don't Cry', 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' and 'December 1963 (Oh What A Night!)' just to name a few.

I was actually surprised by the number of songs I actually know! We ended up buying the musical CD afterthat too.

Also MBS currently has a seat upgrade promo meaning you pay one tier less for the seats you want! We were wondering if that was due to poor sales.

The 2pm matinee only had a theatre that was half full. Definitely a joy to watch nonetheless, and very enjoyable even for the younger generation.

Four and a half stars upon five!

Singapore 1 Philippines 0

We are in to the finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup! Whoot!

It wasn't pretty and we missed a host of chances, but we managed to squeeze past the finish line thanks to Khairul Amri's 19th minute strike.

Somehow we were really dominant in the first half and even in the early part of the second half, but after the 60th minute, we looked like we were defending for our lives. Definitely can work on our composure. But the boys definitely were heroes last night.

Props to Duric, Mustafic Fahruddin, Khairul Amri, Izwan Mabud, Bennett, Baihakki, and of course our talisman Shahril Ishak.

Our opponents will be either Thailand or Malaysia with the 2nd leg of their semifinal played tonight. Either opponent will be tough. Plus we play the first leg at home, meaning there's likely going to be alot of intimidation tactics played by our eventual opponents. Already Malaysia is complaining about foul play leading up to their match in Bangkok when they have only been given a 'padi field' to practice on.

Singapore never intimidates its opponents because we are very fair, everything also by the book. But also Singaporeans can't be bothered wasting their precious time heckling opponents. They rather heckle the gahmen. Even our current stadium capacity is only 7,500 pax. How intimidating can that be?!

We've never lost in the finals before, having won the AFF Cup 3 times. So hopefully we will make it a fourth time this year!

Go Lions go!

Snakefish No More

My long surviving Snakefish has finally kicked the bucket.

Poor chap. One of the final four survivors in my moonscape fish tank. And then there were three.

Down to my two hardcore SAEs (Siamese Algae Eaters) and one lonely Zebra snail.

Time to find some additions!

Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3

What a game! I'm still buzzing even though it's the morning after.

We won thanks to Rooney's two goals and a sweet freekick by van Persie in the 91st minute, after City came back from two goals down.

1. Let's start with the central defence. We had Rio and Evans starting off and they are proving to be a pretty good partnership in spite of all the goals shipped in early this season. Evans in particular has turned in very consistently good performances. Plus he helps out with the midfield passing. Pity that he had to come off injured at the start of the second half. Smalling replaced and he looked pretty capable as well.

2. Once again our most reliable LB and RB showed their goods. Both played excellently with Rafael once again excelling in his partnership with Tony V. They are devastating on the left flank almost all the time. Evra has also been in good form lately, although their downside is the lack of height, which sucks when defending set pieces.

3. It was quite a surprise when the lineup was announced and Tony V was in there. I don't think many people expected it given that SAF ruled him out of the derby due to injury. Another masterstroke. He still looked rusty but was good enough to create several good chances. Got injured though and was replaced by Jones.

4. I know I've slated him all season, but when credit is due I will raise my hand and tell it like it was. Young was simply terrific last night. Gone was his headless-chicken movement and lack of defending weaknesses. He seemed to be at the right places most times and was definitely more attuned to helping Evra out with both attack and defence. A joy to watch. Hopefully he keeps this up, and work on his crossing.

5. Today we used the Carrick and Cleverly midfield. It was really good at stifling Yaya Toure, Nasri and David Silva. Cleverly in particular was outstanding, playing the midfield destroyer role to perfection, while helping bridge the midfield and attack. Carrick was usual reliable Carrick. Most consistent player for the last few years for us. We should use this partnership more often. Welbz was in for Clevs late on.

6. Up front Rooney was a beast. He seems to reserve his best form for the big games. Scoring two goals was just the tip of his prowess. He was literally running up and down chipping in in every department. Probably my choice for MOTM last night.

7. RVP stole the limelight from Rooney although he didn't have as much of a talismanic effect for the first 89 minutes, he finally came to when it mattered. He also had a shot rattling off the crossbar to boot. Glad he's with us rather than City. How different things would've been had he chose to join them at the start of the season.

8. Finally de Gea. Amid all that speculation about a January bid for Stoke's Asmir Begovic, I think we should just confirm DDG as our no.1 and keep it as that. The boy is young but we have seen so much improvement in him. Plus when he's on form he really keeps everything out!

9. To say tonight's match was eventful is a gross understatement. Apart from the end-to-end good football, there was a good goal by Young chalked off for offside, a penalty shout by Evra, Samir Nasri showing his handbag move, the coin-throwing incident on Rio and of course Tevez's petulant kick on Jones. This game really lived up to its top billing.

10. 6 points clear at the top and this was one of our best performances yet. But it's still early in the season so we can't take anything for granted. Hopefully we don't slacken after such a performance, which we have a tendency to. Let's go win #20!

GGMU!!!

HFMD

The boy has gotten HFMD. It's the real thing this time after a brief scare last week.

Last week we spotted 3 visible ulcers on his tongue but little else that were signs of HFMD. The doctor said he couldn't give a confirmed diagnosis as such. The ulcers went away after 3 days and we heaved a sigh of relief thinking we escaped with a simple viral scare.

Then on Friday this week he developed high fever after an afternoon nap. He had shown no signs prior. The doctor also said he had ulcers in his throat. Saturday he developed rashes all over his body and his palms and feet. While there're no visible bumps, the rashes we're symptomatic.

Thankfully he's having a good appetite and is still active inspite of all this.

Hope he gets well soon.

The Glass Half Full

Sometimes the power of thinking positive makes such an acute difference to the way we react to the situations that abound our everyday lives.

Instead of thinking 'if only', or curse at your rotten luck, gives thanks to what you already have around you and slowly but clearly, count your blessings instead.

We all have so much to be thankful for.

VGMC - A Ponzi Scam? III

After locking out everyone's funds, now they convert almost all holdings into Options, and then require you to pay for converting Options to Shares?! OMG, what a brilliant way to secure even more funds from the unsuspecting masses!

Options Conversion Summary

Options can be converted to shares following the below procedures.
1. Login to your shareholder account.
2. Go to “Convert Options to Shares” and key in the number of Options that you intend to convert to shares.
3. Upon confirmation, a Client Trust account will be designated for you to execute your payment.
4. Make the payment to the designated Client Trust account as soon as possible. May sure to include 50 – 100 USD extra for bank charges.
5. Payment has to be received within 14 days from application date, or else application will be closed. Shareholder will need to make a new application (possibly at a different exercise price) once an application is closed.
6. Once payment received, we will convert your Options to AGMAC common shares.

Options Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is an Option?
An Option in AGMAC is a result of Convertible Preferred Shares (CPS) – GOLD conversion. Each 1000 CPS-GOLD is been converted to become 1 AGMAC share plus 1,000 Options.
2. How can a shareholder exercise his/her Option?
By paying 50% of price difference between current AGMAC NAV per share minus USD1.70 (closing price for CPS-GOLD)
For example:
AGMAC NAV per share value = USD3.86
You want to exercise 1,000 Options.
You need to pay = 1,000 x 50% (USD3.86 – USD1.70)
= 1,000 x 50% (USD2.16)
= 1,000 x USD1.08
= USD1,080
3. Are Options and shares freely transferable among shareholders?
Yes, there is a window of 5-7 working days before the administrator will approve your request pending any objection.
4. Can I exercise partial of my allocated Options?
Yes, minimum Option conversion is 1000 units.
5. What will happen if I did not exercise all or part of my Options by the time AGMAC is listed?
A final decision has yet been made. Options may be extended post-listing or Options holders may be qualified for “Voluntary Asset Distribution” for non-listed asset of the company by the time AGMAC is listed.
6. Can Options and/or Share be sold to a 3rd party?
No, AGMAC is a Closed-End fund; therefore Shares and Options cannot be sold to any 3rd party but can be transferred to another shareholder.
7. When can I start to exercise my Options?
Options may be converted by shareholders to common AGMAC shares effective January 2013.

Reading 3 Manchester United 4

Whether you want to call it a disastrous defensive display or a superb offensive one, it's still 3pts in the bag.

1. As SAF also agreed, this must be one of our worst defensive performances of the season. All three goals we gave up were really soft, two coming from corners. Where was the marking? We have to stop leaking goals like that.

2. The biggest culprit was probably Rio Ferdinand, who was having a surprisingly anonymous game. Hardly saw any of the ball, and nowhere close to being able to attack the ball when their goals were scored. Age is catching up with him.

3. Rafael was another big culprit although he was rightly substituted for Smalling very early on, likely due to his rash yellow card. He looked absolutely dismayed, but it was right thing to do. He seemed to be dominated by Reading's winger up until then.

4. Although I felt Evans and Evra had decent games, they also made mistakes and were slow to react in the lead up to those goals. However Evans, in particular put in another very good shift helping bridge the midfield and the defense, even helping to get us a penalty. Evra also looked like a stand-in winger at times. But he definitely has zero chemistry with Young.

5. This week's midfield of Carrick, Fletcher and Ando seemed quite formidable (apart from those goals), but we lost Ando to a hamstring injury, and one suspects Fletcher is still not good enough. In the end, just like any Man U midfield combo this season, they didn't impress enough. Probably Carrick-Scholes-Fletcher will be the combo for our next game.

6. Speaking of Ando's hamstring tweak, it's really unfortunate. The boy is currently having another good run of games and then he gets injured. Again. You have to wonder how much patience SAF has left on the boy. Its happened so many times. Scored a beauty for our first equalizer.

7. At least something we didn't have to worry about was the form of both our starting strikers, Rooney and RVP. Rooney still doesn't look 100%, but his work rate is far better than anyone else right now. RVP looks rusty somehow, but glad he got a goal, and should have gotten one more that was wrongly disallowed.

8. Once again, for the millionth time, I have no idea what Young was out there for. Maybe it was to add width but he seriously sucks. Whether he had the ball or not, he was always less than impressive. I wish we had better options on the wings but now we only have him. Still I think even Welbeck on the wing is better.

9. Lindegaard definitely couldn't have done much about all 3 goals that were scored. But somehow he doesn't look at good or secure as what I think De Gea could have been. There's something about his positioning that seems to affect our own defence. Can't wait for DDG to get back in the fold.

10. Our subs weren't spectacular but did their jobs. Smalling can't pass for nuts, but defends quite solidly especially in the air. Great to see Phil Jones back. He showed some skill and like Smalling, adds to a more solid defence, even when he's in midfield. Hope he gets a good run of games to come. Welbeck looked lost after coming on for RVP. Plus his standard industry seemed missing. He better start taking his chances else he's gonna get stuck in the pecking order.

A win is still a win, but it's the 10th time we've had to come from behind in the league. That speaks volumes about our defence which we really need to address. Still, 3pts clear at the top of the league with Shitty to play next weekend, we can't really ask for more, especially when we've already lost 3 matches compared to Shitty having not lost a game yet. Hope we beat them next week!

GGMU!!!

I Also Can

This photograph cost me $250.

Bought during a charity auction during one of my now-famous over-enthusiastic drunken stupors.

Of course they always load you up with tons of alcohol before the auction!

Then I was at the Singapore Arts & Science Museum the other day and look what I managed to capture!

Hurhur.

Well at least it's for a good cause!

December

Yay to December's arrival! The month when the world is supposed to end!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon

Can't wait for Christmas and 2013!