Henin Returns, Mauresmou retires

Fortunately for the fans, Henin returns. Clijsters, having just returned probably made the best choice in her career. The tennis scene in 2010 will be more exciting and varied as the young guns do battle against the 'old guards' to emerge as a force to reckon with. Henin, Clijsters, the Williams sisters and in some way, Sharapova and Kusnetsova stood the test of time, surviving alongside run-of-the-mill teenagers eager to conquer the sport. Their secret? Motivation and talent!

While moving into 2010, we should look back at 2009, a year where some of the old guards called it a day. Marat Safin, Santoro, Mauresmou hung up their rackets. Between them, they won 4 slams and millions of fans all over the world during their illustrious careers. They will be missed for their talent, charisma and shot-making skills. It's a pity both Safin and Mauresmou are retiring at a 'tender' age of 29 and 30 respectively. Hopefully, they can stage a comeback in the near future where their returns will be meaningful.

Today would have been my granny's 90th bday. Still missing her after more than 2 years.

Deteriorating

Whilst reading my recent posts, I discovered an appalling number of grammatical mistakes. Gosh.

Around the World in a post

Many interesting things occurred around our tiny planet during this few months. Natural diasters while common were wreaking havoc almost simultaneously! Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Samoa. Incredible.

Back at home, no major sensational news. Ram Tiwary, an ex-SAF awardee was found guilty yet again. For $5000 owed in rent, could Tiwary have murdered his room mates? I believe there remain unanswered questions. His family can afford a Queen Council, why couldn't he pay $5000? Not my buisness anyway.

Back to my fav sports. Safina is finally NOT no.1. Good riddance from the throne. She so totally made a mockery of the distinguish ranking.

Oh yes, and this year's Nobel Laureates have strong representation by the Asians. Of the 9 announced so far, 2 are Asians and they make up 1/3 of the combined prizes given. One of their work involves realizing the internet. Damn he is good. The rest, I am pretty clueless. Ribosome discovery, telomerase discovery. Both sound pretty similar in terms of proximity in the human body. haha. It seems the direction for Nobel committee is more of saving humans. What about the planet. I hope alternative energy scientists or even environmentalists will be able to get recogniztion in the near future. However, I believe this will happen in 30-40yrs' time, at quickest.

What happened in between?

It's been a long while since I last updated. In fact, it was so long I nearly forgot what's the password for blogspot. So what happened in between?

Work and fun has consumed most of my time. In fact, I had one of the best times for as long as I can remember. Mahjong, sports, clubbing (not my definition of fun but nonetheless enjoyable), a short trip to batam and PS3.

Work hasn't been quite on the same page as my outside-work activities. Have been arrowed to organize next year's dragonboat event, which is massive! And quite soon another major undesirable work is deal for arrowing; I feel that the cross-hair on me is like the size of Jupiter. On the contrary, I haven't been able to go on course. Shoudn't new staff be put on some fundamental courses?

I will see how it goes. I m known to be quite bitchy abt the smallest of stuff, but this time, I shall suck it up and stick with it.

Freshman Once Upon a Time

Update

Its been awhile. Started work on 13 July 2009. I shall remember that day for the rest of my life. Graduated on 10 July 2009. Shall not forget that as well.

Having concluded the 2nd week at work, I realised that it is something I am not really interested in. Its alot of challenge in itself in terms of digging for historical records and writing in recommendations for approval on some issues. It does not help when some of the computerized platforms are inaccessible even up till now. Have been actively putting up requests after requests until my boss think I mayb alittle too buggy. Haha. Dun care...Seriously how can I function when the functions I need are not working for me?

Till my next bitch-ing...

Wimbledon 2009

I cannot over-emphasize the dominance and awe that the Williams sisters bring to Wimbledon. Since 2000, except for 2006, the singles final would have featured at least one of the Williams sisters. Between them, they share 7 Wimbledon titles. What about those blond bitches who talk so much in the media and press? Safina, Jankovic, Ivanovic, Sharapova, Azarenka, Radwanska? Between the 6 of them, they share 4 miserable grandslams. For the record, Azarenka was swatted 2-6, 3-6 by Serena while Radwanska was routed 6-1, 6-2 by Venus. Ivanovic did not even dare to finish her match retiring 1-6, 1-0 against Venus. Scintillating! Even in the doubles side, the Williams squashed the 2006 Wimbledon doubles champions of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie 6-0, 6-0! Fascinating!

Players come and go, they may hit patches of purple once in awhile and people sit up and take note. However, more often then not, they just fade away into oblivion. Not with the Williams. They are here to stay, and stayed they did. 10years! Serena won her first slam in 1999, Venus in 2000. Serena won her 10th in Jan and Venus is on route to win her 8th. Come on, drop the racial jips and respect them! Your blond sex bombs are but just empty vases. Fragile and noisy...

Prediction: Venus and Murray to win.

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Growing up in the 90s, my blog will not do justice if I did not pay tribute Michael Jackson. In my favourite list of music tracks, I have Billy Jean and Beat it. I happened to chance upon them in this century only (you may ask where was I in the last). Putting it in perspective, Billy Jean and Beat it were released in 1983 and I still hear them in clubs now.

I was in shock when my dad told me he died. While there were the Elvis and Beatles who could be more famous, MJ was someone I can identify with, someone who has revolutionized music and what pop music comes to being as we know it today. MJ epitomes FAMOUS and ICONIC. Not your run-off-the mill F4, Farenheit, SHE, 6655 or 1234(??), MJ even with its initials are easily identifable throughout the world over.

A pity. A pity that in recent years, he was cruxified by the media. Wouldn't they leave him alone? He is truly a musical legend who has made a difference to the world. A legend who has brought life and color to our otherwise mandune lives. A legend who comes along once a century or a lifetime. I am very fortunate to be born in his era and to have enjoyed his music and gravity-defying dance moves. The world will miss you.

Nostalgia or not ? You decide...

I have recently gotten this email from someone of an advanced age.

"

To

All those Born in the 50's , 60's & early '70s..

The article below was written by Patrick Teoh in his blog "Niamah!!".

To All those Born in the 40's, 50's , 60's & early '70s...

First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. (Some died without ever knowing they had actually contracted diabetes.) Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.(I thought they were rich?)

Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat. We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle. (You could have filled a bottle with tap water, so I don't see the point here? Also, besides water, what else can come out of a tap?) We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.

We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes. (Childhood mortality was alarmingly high of course.)

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would run like crazy for hours. (RUN LIKE CRAZY? Seriously?) We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there. We shared one soft drink with four friends (that precise?), from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic.(Ever wondered why the fifth friend never shared?)

We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang (I hoped you did not eat all these in one instance?), but we weren't overweight because (you did not know what overweight was?).......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day (Talking about kids thesedays being irresponsible? I guess the fruits don't fall far away from the trees). AND WE DONT HAVE HANDPHONE S TO BUG US. (What about switching it off or to the silent mode?)(I believe you wished you had them when the streetlights are faulty or that you can reach no one for a few days.) And we were O.K. AND WE ARE SAFE.

We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.(D**B?) After running into the bushes a few times(D**BER!!), we learned to solve the problem . (Like how?)

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts. (Kidnaps were certainly a feature of going out making friends back then. I guess it was a risk worth taking considering the joy you derived out of breaking bones and teeth. Dental business is brisk thesedays with older folks needing dentures.)

We never had birthdays parties till we are 21. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them! (Civility was understandably not important back then. I can also see where the infamous "kao pei" phrase orginated from.)The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! (Note "ever"...the future remains to be seen!)

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS: -The big type is because Long-sightedness or hyperopia at your age. he... he.... ( This email was actually in font >32 and colored!)

"

My response is in green and the original entry is in orange. Okie, some comments are unpleasant but my intention was meant for it to be hilarious. Pls don't get it the wrong way, yar?

Graduation - Roger Federer

Finally, I have graduated. While it sounds as though I cannot wait to get out of school, I actually accpted another offer into school! I don't know what I am getting myself into but at least, I hope this time round, it will be worth it. Not that the existing is totally useless, but I believe its value is undermined by my lack of effort. ahha..

Another guy has graduated. He is none other than Roger Federer. He has cemented himself as arguably the greatest person to have lifted the tennis racket. 14 grand slams in a span of 7 years and all 4 before the age of 28. Sampras took 13 years to do the same but never collected all 4 and did so before the age of 33. I did not even bother to watch the finals as its a forgone conclusion.

For his greatest rival, I just hope that Nadal wins the US Open in September and he would have outdone Federer by a wide margin. If he wins the US Open this year, Nadal would have taken a mere 5years to collect all 4 before the age of 24!

I pity Safina...if only she had the mantle of Federer. She had better win one big one before she assumes the unflattery honour of having been no.1 and not win a grandslam.

Fairness?

I am so livid with Federer always being able to shine in grandslams!
To put into perspective how gd he is during the slams...he has made 19 CONSECUTIVE SFs or better. It stretches from SF of Wimbledon 2003 till now. To many, making even 1 SF in a slam can be considered an achievement!

With Nadal gone, the French Open is as good as being served to him on a plate!
Being Chinese, superstitions are part n parcel of our beliefs. Roger Federer, born 8th August 1981...080881 (DDMMYY). Need I say more? He is freaking lucky...having collected so many slams during the void of real rivalry. After 13 slams, there are finally 2 other real competitors not called Nadal. Come this sunday, history will be made...federer will attain his god equivalent status in his sports.

New Toy

I have a new toy and it doesn't get any better than a PS3! A whopping $599 + $65 for a 2nd controller and $49 for Virtual Tennis, I will be knocking on doors for more tuition to patch the burn in my pocket!

At least, it will keep me occupied for a while. Who wants to catch Night at the museum 2?

Unsettled Ping Pong - Ping Pong attack

Round of applause for us winning the women's team silver medal in the recently concluded Olympics. But apparently, another type of ruckus is gaining momentum over the very same achievement. However, it is on the opposite side of any celebratory sort.

I stand on the side of the coach. How can anyone publicly question his professionalism or ethics. Even if there is really something of this sort, as the table tennis chief, you cannot discuss it in public! A wiser and more neutral comment would have been, "No comments or It was a fair decision as the board had deliberated long and hard or We acknowledge the achievement and contribution of all the coaches in 2008 but we were unable to find someone who had distinguished himself/herself."

Coach Liu's contribution is unequaled and to publicly discuss his morals is uncalled for. Even if you do not like someone, as an adult and especially someone in power, you cannot sling personal attacks. What image are you projecting to the people in Singapore and the world?

The repercussions are far and wide. From this incident, will foreign coaches and athletes be enticed to take up stints with us? I sincerely hope this matter will be resolved amicably. Having passion in table tennis does not naturally lead to sound leadership. I hope that someone in the higher echelon of authority will step in and give Coach Liu his due respect and honor. After all, we cannot brush aside the fact that he was instrumental in securing our republic's 2nd Olympic medal in nearly half a century.

Back to the courts

It has been a while since I last spoke of tennis. I shall stop that habit now.

Judging by the results in 2009, Rafael Nadal is almost unplayable, something like Roger Federer in most parts of 2005-2007. Rafael has won 5 titles so far, 2 more than the second most titlists. Of the 5, 1 is a grand slam, 3 are masters (its prestige is second to the slams). Well, it should be expected since he is the best in the world according to the rankings. Let's examine Federer.

Federer is still good to watch on tv, but his wheels seemed to have fallen apart. He gets 'owned' by Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. These players only awhile ago are at the recieving end of his artistry. However, tables have turned and he has not beaten any of these in 2009. Nadal conquered him in Aussie Open, Novak in Rome and Miami and Murray in Indian Wells.

Murray is the man to watch for 2009. He may spoil Nadal's plans for completing his career grandslam in US Open. He is ranked no.3 now, higher than anyone from Britian (Tim Henman was 4th). At 22, he has surpassed all that Tim Henman has achieved in his career. With Federer no longer in the equation, I believe Murray's main rivarly will be with Nadal.

Novak Djokvic is equally entertaining to watch, with his matching blue outfit and shoes and impersonations. He seemed to have reached his potential and have produced outstanding showings in the clay season. He took 1 set from Nadal on clay and this is highly commendable as nobody has done that since 2007.

Roland Garros is round the corner and the likely winner is Rafael Nadal. His opponent in the finals may be someone different from the previous 3 years, and he is none other than Novak Djokovic. The woman's winner will be very hard to pick. My money is on Kusnetsova or Dinara Safina. Jelena Jankovic is destined to be the no.1 who has never won a grandslam. She's sooooo terrible.

Masters?

Should I? Shouldn't I? Should I? I don't know.

Last last last last last last paper

2nd May marks the last paper I am sitting for in NUS, barring any plans to pursue a Masters. Looking back, it had been a long and arduous path. Looking forward, it will be even a longer and arduous path. Wish me luck~

Weekly indulgence n other stuff

Every friday is a day to look forward to! a) Marks the end of the school week. b) Tennis day! Without fail, for the last 2 weeks, a few of us have been playing tennis under the scorching sun. I realised that since putting on about 8% more weight, I can hardly stay in a 2 consecutive rallies. It was very fun playing points with Andrew. It's a good form of improving. 1st serves were much better but 2nd serves were still very much similar to C divison gers'. haha.

In the near horizon, I can see the end of my academic path. That is so fast! It was almost like yesterday that I started! Anyways, I have decided not to go on any grad trip to buck the trend. Mostly because my pockets are drying after last year's foray to the EU. Given the chance, I will still travel the EU, Greece, Turkey, Slovenia, Romania, Russia, Hungry, Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia and Slovakia. I would love to learn a foreign language as well. Prob. French or Spanish. They r so sexy to listen to..

Dragonball Evolution 2009

Maybe I do not have a childhood, but Dragonball as I remembered was cards and comics. ( I haf a confession to make; i do not know how to read comics) Caught Dragonball Evolution 2009 with my friends over last weekend. Comments? It was an absolute nightmare and failure. The 7 balls probably represented F.A.I.L.U.R.E.! The character names when translated in English were absolutely hilarious and ridiculous. Big Monkey? Guko? I was like wth ?Cookie Monster and Elmo sound better! The villain can be Big Bird or sth.

The lead actress is not very pretty. She has gd figure...tt's abt it. 86 minutes? Most of the parts were time-fillers. Plot was thin, character development was non-existent. If you watch the thrillers, you probably have seen what's worth to see in the entire movie! I rather pay $8 to catch Mr Bean (the series). At least, he is farnie!

One guideline about choosing movies to watch. If the movie produced by Hollywood is based on a comic or cartoon of non-American origin, it is most likely going to be bad. One more guideline, avoid Chinese movies (except probably those based on Ancient China). I have this phobia about watching Chinese movies in cinemas. Their budgets are lower, and I am tempted to say they are made just to milk the cinematic industry. Wait for the dvds!

Fast-forward to this weekend. Went to watch Unborn. Though not exactly a 5 star movie, it was miles ahead of Dragonball. At least it made me squeam. The lead actress was way prettier than Dragonball's not because she was seen in microscopic shorts but indeed she is lovable. haha. The plot is original and there were ample scences to make you lose some sleep.

Verdict: Avoid Dragonball!!! Unborn? Up to you.

blog

I still remember I have a blog!

On a side note...Well done Liverpool! Never fail to TRASH big names football clubs! 4-0 to Real Madrid and 4-1 to Man U are so satisfying for everyone concerned abt Liverpool's affairs.

A wet Australian Open final

Champion n the cry-babyYou get what i mean?
See!!!

Still at it! Buay tahan...

Nadal whispers : I own U !

For all that Roger Federer has achieved, he is still very very immature!!! I did not win a single grand slam, not even attended any as a matter of fact but i jolly well know not to attract attention to myself if I am the runner-up. It is as unsportsman like as say kicking Nadal's water bottles after he had meticulously arranged them. Federer did not only stole Nadal's victorious moment, the latter was reduced to having a muted celebration and not knowing what to do on a stage that was meant for him to announce to the world he is the undisputed No.1. Shame on you Federer.

You have 13 Grandslams, you are young and talented. You will have your day in the sun, or at the very least, you have had so many days in the sun. Give Nadal a break, he WON! you lost...get a grip...If you won, you can wail, go hysterical, do a breakdance, we don't care...but the fact remains that you are the loser on that day! You cannot emphasize your 'losership' by crying n stealing the shine away from your conqueror's victory! Shame on you Federer. And I thought you were such a graceful & gracious champion. For that, I wish that the Fed Express will be taken out of service as soon as possible.

Little Nyonya

Little Nyonya is a fantastic show; the plot, the set and the filmtography are top class. >1.6million ppl watched the ending. The viewership should be in the vicinity of National Day Rally. It outclassed the Beijing Olympics for sure. Come March where very own Golden Globe Awards will be held, Little Nyonya will be the thumping favourite to capture the best script.

For all the good things, there are bad things about this show. Most glaring would be Jeanette Aw's awful acting. I bet Ivy Lee would have done a much better job than her. So stiff, so acting-like. What a spoiler. The ending was equally woeful; i mean u do not need a Spielberg to end the story, I bet aunties would have made the lead actors and actress living happily ever after. Such an anti-climax curtain-call to an immensely popular show. Let's hope it will not damage anything.

For all the veteran actors, Pan Ling Ling and Lin Mei Jiao still have it. Oh, while enduring the pain of watching Jeanette act out her character, I was thinking what if Pan Ling Ling or even Lin Mei Jiao were given this character instead. It could have turned out much better. Hmm...then Jeanette given the role of the evil grandmother. haha...

Okie...i guess i ought to stop condemning Jeanette...she is still a pretty actress after all(who doesn't like pretty actresses?) For all fans of Jeanette, apologizes if u took offense...to each his opinions...

2009

I would liek to wish everybdoy a Happy New Year. I know its been a huge tad too late in wishing but who knows, somewhere in the far corners of the universe, some ppl (or not) will be ushering in 3419 in a few moment's time.

Looking back at 2008, there was little to be encouraged. Not wanting to sound like a broken record, but the global economy is like a cancer patient. Will 2009 be a significantly better year? Let's consider; if the headlines of the few days of 2009 are any indication of what is to come, then 2008 should be a moderately bad year. The Israelis hammering the Palestinians in the Gaza strip like James to Bella in Twilight shortly after the Pope emphasized for peace in that region during his Christmas speech, it is in stark irony that the holiest lands are anything but that.

Closer to heart, 3 of our people were killed in a fire in a club in Thailand. As if the politics in Thailand weren't hot enough in 2008, some twits have to play with pyrotechnics in an enclosed space with barely enough standing space for 1000 people. Oh, not to mention fire and alcohol aren't the best mix in those kinda situation. The morons in the owners of the club have to iron-bar the windows! They just set the plot for Final Destination V or VI or VII (i've lost count)

Well, that's the start of 2009. At least, that's the headlines in the first few days of 2009.