Life Without Internet

isn't really as bad as I thought. My nights are still occupied, and I'm still procrastinating packing my stuff. It's kind of hard to believe that I'm going home soon. hai...

My nights are passed reading, writing, photoshopping, and watching anime.

I'm reading Yi Tian Tu Long Ji now, I've just finished Xiao Ao Jiang Hu. Actually I've read those two stories before, just re-reading them again. I think my favourite Louis Cha novel is still Shen Diao Xia Lü because I can't stand all those indecisive men and lackstrure women. Louis Cha once said, Yang Guo is probably the strongest swordsman he had written because Yang Guo trained for seven years in the strong waves. I like Yang Guo. Zhang Wuji is an indecisive jerk, though Duan Yu is worse, wait, Wei Xiaobao is worse. bah~ Linghu Chong can't fight without his sword, and he's stupid to get hung up over Yue Lingshan, and stupid not to see through Yue Buqun. Guo Jing is just plain stupid. So, Yang Guo is still the best. He's so good that we often forget that he only has one arm. wahaha~

I'm writing a piece of fanfiction now. My first fanfiction, but of course not my first piece of writing. It's a Detective Conan one, GinXSherryXAkai Shuichi set one year ago. Kudo Shinichi, Mouri Ran, and Vermouth makes cameo appearances, Akemi Miyano is mentioned a couple of times. I'm currently at my 12th page. God... What a long fanfiction I have. It's so crazy. But I think it's not bad, I'm attempting to answer a few questions about the history of the characters and why they act the way they do. Damn... I can't wait to go back to Singapore and buy the volumes of Detective Conan I've missed, and to re-read them all again. Hope I have the time.

Last night I stayed up till late taking screencaps of Ouran High School Host Club and making graphics, banners, icons, and my favouite animated gifs. It's cool~ I'll post them up once I go back Singapore, have my own internet connection. Sitting in an open area in the library isn't condusive to do anything, especially when there are heads peeking around.

I'm also watching Ouran High School Host Club as I'm making those graphics. I love Tamaki. And Hikaru is getting on my nerves. Kyoya is so damn shuai. And he's a scorpio, there's something about scorpios that is just so so attractive. But after watching it so many times, it's getting a bit tiring. I want to read the manga! Not so sure if I'll buy it or read scanlations. Scanlations sucks. I don't want to go into my rantings over the Rin fiasco all over again.

I'm trawling the Host Club forums. Been quite fun and enlightening. And unlike the wholivesnearyou forums, there are no weird people PM-ing me. Damn... Just received another PM from another weird guy wanting me to add him in MSN and I don't even know him. I bet he's just another fisherman, casting his wide net in the vast sea and hope that someone will manage to get a fish. Pathetic desperate guys.

I've got my first module up in IVLE already. It's a module I applied for preallocation and I got it. German 5. Taught by Frau Niemann. Currently, only two people in the register, me and Xinli. Eh, Xinli can get it by preallocation meh? I know I can because I'm an EU major, not so sure she got it on what grounds. When I get back my MSN, I must ask her. lol~ She still in Taiwan. I want to go Taiwan, only because my love of my life is there, but nevermind, he's finally coming to Singapore on 2 September, and I have third row tickets!!! I've got third row tickets for Forbidden City too. Very lucky~ I bought the Forbidden City tickets late, so I wasn't sure if I could get good seats, but cool~ I did~

My housemate will be accommodating me in her room for the three nights without a room. I still have one more package not shipped yet. I've got so much to do so little time. I haven't bought my train ticket yet. I'm thinking what time should I leave here for Frankfurt. I guess I will miss here.

Goodbye People

Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt

Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.

Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.

And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.

***

再见我的爱人 (Goodbye My Lover) by 苏慧伦 (Tarcy Su)

不要想太多 已经太多不知所措
爱你一个人 也看着你爱着别人
雨 不停的下 在我的心中 早已经淹没
我想离开你 我要离开你 再见我的爱人

原谅你 原谅到什么时候
我没有保留眼泪 一直让它流下来
难道说 你千万次的理由
还能让我 找到借口

不要想太多 应该习惯拥抱寂寞
最美的承诺 到明天却都是伤痛
你 你的天空 有一个缺口 我无法承受
是否还能相信 我们彼此的梦 请你放开双手

原谅你 原谅到什么时候
我没有保留眼泪 一直让它流下来
难道说 你千万次的理由
还能让我 找到借口

原谅你 原谅到什么时候
我没有保留眼泪 一直让它流下来
不想听 你千万次的理由
不想走回 爱你的路

原谅你 原谅到什么时候
我没有保留眼泪 一直让它流下来
难道说 你千万次的理由
还能让我 找到借口

原谅你 原谅到什么时候
我没有保留眼泪 一直让它流下来
不想听 你千万次的理由
不想走回 爱你的路

***

再见，我的爱人 (Goodbye, My Love) by 邓丽君 (Teresa Teng)

good-bye my love
我的爱人再见
good-bye my love
相见不知哪一天
我把一切给了你
希望你要珍惜
不要辜负我的真情意
good-bye my love
我的爱人再见
good-bye my love
相见不知哪一天
我会永远永远爱你在心里
希望你不要把我忘记

我永远怀念你温柔的情
怀念你热红的心
怀念你甜蜜的吻
怀念你那醉人的歌声
怎能忘记这段情
我的爱再见
不知哪日再相见

〖白〗
再见了我的爱人
我将永远不会忘记你
也希望你不要把我忘记
也许我们还会有见面的一天不是吗?

good-bye my love
我的爱人再见
good-bye my love
相见不知哪一天
我会永远永远爱你在心里
希望你不要把我忘记

我永远怀念你温柔的情
怀念你热红的心
怀念你甜蜜的吻
怀念你那醉人的歌声
怎能忘记这段情
我的爱再见
不知哪日再相见
我的爱我相信
总有一天能再见

***

再见我的爱人 (Goodbye My Lover) by 动力火车 (Power Station)

不过就这么两只脚
远的近的所有的船你踏的牢
不过就这么两三秒
忽然我的心开了窍你我不要
爱的昏天暗地
那些痴言梦语盖住快乐的路标
放弃一座城市
眼前忽然出现一条一条光明大道
再见我梦中的明天
再见不确定的昨天我全部收回
再见离开我的视线
再见关掉这场梦餍再见等于不见
再见你给我的相片
再见你勾人的双眼随便你给谁
在爱的一对一的势力范围没有妥协

***

Took these songs from a previous entry. Think it's more apt today. So, it's official, I'll be relinquishing my internet in another 30min. Goodbye~

PS: Jinwei, thanks~ Please carry on with your good work. Your birthday present is well enough to cover these expenses~ (Finally, one semester of Joan needn't over-worry about CORS~)

Benelux - Luxembourg - Luxembourg City

Benelux, Luxembourg, Luxembourg City

About two months ago (yea... It's been that long...) I went on a solo tour of Benelux. Almost solo, I guess, since I did meet up with a friend for one leg of the tour. It's during this tour that I really understood that I am still in command of my life.

Why go solo? Mainly because I don't have friends here, also because I want to go on a trip, on my own pace, do what I like to do, go to places which I like, and hasten the whole process and see more things. Having a buddy by your side can reduce efficiency, and that I don't have much time to spend, I'd like my trip to be as efficient as possible.

"You went on a trip alone?" Yes, it really isn't as bad as what most people would think. I am an indenpendent person. I grew up within the four wall of my house, staying at home alone rather than going out with the parents. My parents given me enough freedom, I grew up without a curfew, and I can take care of myself. I can go home at 4am alone, and walk straight to my house, my apartment, my room without an escort. I'm not afraid of dark, not afraid of supernatural beings, not afraid of being alone. Even when friends ask me to drop them an SMS when I reached home, I never do. I also don't like it when friends go out of the way to send me home (unless they drive). Yes, I can live my life myself. Maybe it's also because I've seen enough people failing me, so in the end, it boils down to me and myself.

Actually, I made plans with a friend to go together, but at the ticket counter, she started being indecisive again, and made life difficult for the ticket agent, and made me pissed with her indecisiveness. That was when I knew I didn't want to go anywhere else with her anymore. In my haste, I purchased a single ticket to Luxembourg, and a single ticket from Utrecht. So it meant that die die I must go to Luxembourg, die die must find my way from Luxembourg to Utrecht, and die die must reach Utrecht so that I can come back home. The tickets were cheaper than my Berlin tickets, so I was happy.

My initial plan was actually to just go Utrecht and Amsterdam and maybe tour a bit around Holland since Gabriel's there and I can bunk in free of charge, so must make use of it. But the friend who was supposed to go with me wanted to go to Liechtenstein, so I thought it'd be nice if we went around the region and go by Luxembourg, Belgium, before going into Holland, so I said we'll go Luxembourg. When she pulled out, I saw no point in going to Liechtenstein, and just went ahead and told the ticket counter that I wanted to go Luxemboug.

There are a few different connections to Luxembourg, but because of the time I chose, I took the connection via Offenburg/Strasbourg/Metz Ville, transiting that many times. It was the first time I was transiting that many times, and I can't speak a single word of French other than "Merci". I can't even pronounce "Bonjoir" properly (I don't even know if I spelt it right). The connecting train from Metz Ville also didn't provide the platform number, and I only had like 5min to transit. Panic attack. Luckily, I've been to Strasbourg before, so I knew Offenburg and Strasbourg pretty okay.

Taking that many trains, I decided that the French trains are the worst of the lot. My connecting train to Metz Ville was probably the worst train I've taken.


Metz Ville apparently was the last stop of the train, so I needn't worry that much. But I still worried, when I reached Metz Ville, there wasn't any annoucements, there wasn't even any announcements in France itself. The train from Offenburg to Strasbourg announced all the stations within Germany, and stopped after crossing the border into France. diaoz... I peeked out and saw sign boards saying "Metz", I wasn't sure, so I asked this French girl who couldn't speak English or German (why am I not surprised?), but she was nice enough to nod her head as I pointed out the destination in my itinery list.

The train to Luxembourg was comfortable, and empty, save for two rowdy guys who looked Turk. I really can't stand the Turks infiltrating into Europe, and of all things, I hate being picked up by Turks. damnit... Anyway, thanks to the two rowdy guys, a police came by to check my passport. Luckily I remembered to bring it along. I didn't really need a passport because there isn't any borders within Europe, save for Switzerland, but I brought it just in case. Speaking of the Swiss, remember I was saying I was denied entry in Konstanz because I didn't have my passport? I went to Zurich the other day, and nobody checked my passport. damnit... Stupid border police. Okay, back to the border police on board the train to Luxembourg, there were seven of them in total. And it took a female police to ask for my passport, think they thought females easier to talk to females. lol~

At Luxembourg, after depositing my bag at the lockers, I got picked up. This is a sign that it's finally summer. Just the day before the weather was freaking cold. As such, I packed cold wear, and just a change of one tee, and I wore long pants, and I brought my jacket and shawl, the weather forecast said temperatures of 20 degrees mah... But it's bluff people one. It was so freaking hot. Okay, not too hot. Actually Luxembourg was still okay, I went about with my sleeveless tee and long tight fitting pants. There was still a bit of wind. Just nice. But as the day went on it because hotter and hotter. Back to me got picked up. I'm not saying I'm ugly, or pretty, or what, just that I know I don't look bad, and I do dress well, but only in summer because I only have nice summer clothes. My winter clothes suck. And I bet all those people who picked me up just think that I look hot. bah~ I know I have a nice body (okay, I still complain, but really it isn't that bad. Okay, I have fats, I know people like Jinwei like to poke my fats, but I still look not that bad ba...).

I reached Luxembourg in the afternoon at about 2 plus (I left my place at about 9am), and I was hungry. I remembered the real reason why I was at Luxembourg.

Let me ask you a question, what do you think of first when I say Luxembourg? Rich people? Small country? Not me. When I think of Luxembourg, I think of this thing, the most representative thing of Luxembourg. Big Macs. Although Big Macs are from the US of A, but Luxembourg is really damn famous for THEIR Big Macs, because their Big Macs are supposedly the most expensive ones in the world based on the Big Mac Theory. Being the sadomasochistic me, I wanted to see for myself first hand these pricy examples of the world's most eaten food.

Hence I headed straight for McDonalds.

I don't eat beef, so I cannot eat the renowned Big Mac.

That meal at McDonald's was very disappointing. I expected something more expensive, expensive enough to blow me off my chair, but it turned out to be my wishful thinking. All the way to the most expensive place and it turned out not to be expensive at all. The menu turned out to be a German menu, the same menu that Germany is using, the price, in Euros, was the same too. bah~ The Euro not only standardised currency, but also standardised price in Europe. sucks~

After the meal I walked around the city. Before going to Luxembourg, I've no idea what's there in Luxembourg, excpet expensive Big Macs which are not longer there. Random walking around is fun because that truly means exploring the city. So, it was me and my two legs all the way. I didn't bother to take public transport because I didn't know where I was going and public transport is expensive.

Taking a leaf from Cindy, I tried to arrange my pictures too. Personally, I don't really like this kind of composite pictures because it looks too messy. The words in magenta are handwritten using the mouse, so it's not very neat.


Click on it and choose to view it larger.

1. Cathedral. All European cities will have one main Cathedral (or whatever you call it in their language, in German it's Münster).
2. Some other church thingie.
3. Main Station.
4. Dog Shit Bags. The public cleaniness of Luxembourg really emblazones itself everywhere.
5. The Luxembourg flag with the EU flag.
6. Some grand governmental building.
7. Some grand hotel.
8. Some grand commercial building.
9. Some semi statue, semi rest point.
10. Railway tracks. I like taking pictures of railways tracks that seem to go on and on and on.
11. Another semi statue, semi rest point, semi water dispensing thingie.
12. A statue that rotates.
13. The courtyard of the Cathedral.
14. Rubbish bin. Not the print on it.
15. The Main Station again.

Then after viewing the city, I saw a couple of bridges and went over to check them out, then I saw a whole long chain of fortress and ancient built up not unlike those ancient castles. The view was beautiful. It was only until much much later after I left, went back doing some free surfing that I actually found out that that place I went to is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ancient fortresses of Luxembourg. wow~ And while I was there I only had a look see look see sentiment.


Click on it to the flickr page to see bigger.

The whole fortress was very large, and the roads were hilly, but I didn't feel tired. I surprised myself at my drive to go up ahead and be all by myself.

I didn't linger there for long because once I had booked a bed in Brussels so I had to get to Brussels that evening. Once I reached Luxembourg, I went to buy a ticket to Brussels. The single ticket to Brussels cost €19.90, but the return ticket on special offer cost €16.90, so the ticket agent made me buy the return ticket. It's nice to finally buy cheap tickets. Tickets in Germany are the most expensive in Europe man. The train to Brussels depart every like half an hour, so it didn't matter when I wanted to leave. The tickets from Luxembourg came in a nice ticket holder made out of cardboard. The German ones are only of flimsy recycled paper, the Belgian didn't even have a holder, the Dutch you needed to pay to buy a ticket from the counter. Luxembourg is rich. lol~

While waiting to go to Brussels, I passed by this state garden somewhere in Luxembourg. At that time I didn't know where I was, but I knew I needed to get to the main station, all those walking made me lose track of my directional position. Anyway, at the garden, I did what I do best~



I don't know why I numbered them since I'm not describing it, it's evident, just look and appreciate those flowers by yourself.

Because I neeeded to get back to the main station and I have no idea where I was, I asked a passerby. I got the "immer gerade aus" answer again. He didn't speak English, I can't speak French, we ended up with German. The thing about immer gerade aus was that in Berlin, this guy told me that, and when I asked how long would it take, his reply was "ein Stunde". *faint* Being afraid that this would happen again, I asked how long would it take, luckily he said about 10 min, if not I think I'll die.

Having a little bit more time, I walked around the shops about the main station. Luxembourg's fashion is bad. I wanted to buy a skirt because I thought the weather was getting too warm for me and I hated pants. But I couldn't find something that's anyway halfway decent. The clothes were cheap too. And there was a huge lack of huge departmental stores (or manybe it's just that I couldn't find it). But I thought it's just not a place to go shopping.

I was about to leave Luxembourg thinking that this really isn't the most expensive place in the world, when I saw this print outside the toilet.


This is really expensive sia. German toilets and French ones cost about 50cents, the ones in Switz is 1CHF, but this really blows us down. wahahaha~

In all, it's a very nice place to visit. Maybe one day I'll go back there.

Notice

I might or might not be away until 4 August 2006 6.15pm SGT.

I will be relinquishing my room on 31 July, not so sure when I'll be giving up my internet access (I think it's supposed to be tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I can make it), so if I cease blog entries, it means that I've no internet access. If I continue my internet, I guess I'll do something about my travel logs. I've so much material but feeling the P-word setting in.

Another thing, please accept my notice to go on MIA in MSN. I've blocked everybody, except those in my "people who I chat with" list which contains a grand total of 6 people. Andrew, Cindy, Cindy, Eugene, Peiyi and my sister who won't be online anyway, I suspect my parents have grounded her from using the internet. So if your name happens not to be any of the five up there, yea, you won't see me online. But then again, I might really be offline due to my not getting an internet connection. You don't really have to worry about me. If need to contact me urgently, SMS me (Singapore number), if the answer is not so urgent, I'll email you back. If there's a need to tell me something, anything, email me, I might not might not reply though.

I'll be back home on 4th August. I'll arrive at Changi Airport at 1755SGT, so I'll take like 10min to duty free shop, and another 10min to get back home, I should be online at 1815SGT, if not I'm probably stuffing myself with food.

Let's see, any other things to say before I make my disappearance? Nothing, I guess. See you guys back in Singapore soon. And do ask me out for meals, I miss Singapore food. Ja ne~

Karma

Karma: The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.

What goes around comes around.
What goes up comes down.

Another word for it: Retribution.

I've been feeling foul since the weekend when my camera broke down in front of me and I've seemed to lost the drive to do everything. Add another two people who've made me worse. And when I'm foul, I start to take it out on some passers by. And in return for being mean, I end up cultivating bad karma. And I end up with worse things happening to me. And I become more foul. And I do more bad things. And I cultivate more bad karma. And I get more retribution. And I become more foul. And I do more bad things. And I cultivate more bad karma. And I get more retribution. And it goes on and on.

This is also called a vicious cycle. And I'm stuck in it unable to break free.

Someone once asked me what would I do when I'm angry. I said I'll let the person who made me angry know I'm angry and regret making me angry. But then again, it's not easy to make me angry because I've high tolerance level. But when I'm angry I can be very horrible. My outbursts can instill fear in my friends, but I've haven't had a huge outburst for quite sometime already. I sort of think that my emotions might have got pent up inside me, that's why when I burst, it's very bad.

I mentioned in a previous post that someone tricked me into revealling a secret, something no one else in the world knows about. Except the said person involved in the secret, and now that person who tricked me. I surprised myself when I didn't flare up and demanded an apology. But as days went on, I'm starting to feel very jittery. I think all the emotions have been pent up inside me, all the unhappiness, and all the foul mood in me. It's snowballing.

The more I think about it the more fed up I am. The said person didn't apologise. Not only that, I didn't have a reassurance that that secret would be kept safe. And to think about it, it's really horrible to be tricked. And it's really very despisable to like that trick other people, especially a friend of yours. I think between friends there should be respect, and also a respect of privacy. kauz... The more I think about it the more horrid I feel. And also the insecurity, because of the other party involved. I promised not to say, and now the promised seemed to have been broken because of my lapse in judgement and got myself tricked.

I've mentioned before, I'm a treasure trove. People trust me to tell me about their encounters in life, their pain and their insecurities. They trust me because they know that I can keep secrets. But one think I think why people end up telling me stuff is that I never once asked for details. I respect their privacy and I never probe more than it's needed. I'd ask what happened, but never ask for details like who is that person involved, or any details of intimacy. I think this is why people feel safe and comfortable talking to me. And maybe because this has always been my policy that I really hate it when people go against what I believed in.

Oh god...

I really should have flared up the moment I was tricked, then maybe I won't feel so bad now, all the emotions wouldn't have snowballed.

Okay, the trigger of the snowballing is that the said person said that I was mean in relation to something else. I am mean, yes, I admit it, but I didn't make use of any underhand methods. Everything was plain and clear for the person I was mean to and the person I was mean to can always shoot back at me. What that said person did, the more I think the more unforgivable I think it is. It's a betrayal of friendship, a betrayal of trust, and a betrayal of respect. If a passerby did it, I'd definitely have flared up immediately, and everything would be over, but it's a friend. At first, I thought since it was a friend, I could trust the person not to spread, but the more I think about it the more indignant I feel. If that person treated me as a friend, that person wouldn't have tricked me.

Because that person is a friend, that person know the agony I've been through because of all those that happened before. That person knew that I was once clinically depressed because of this damn stupid thing. That person knew that no matter what happened, I would never divulge any information or details about it.

I've always been very touchy about this stuff, one reason is because the other party made me promise not to say anything, the other is that I just don't like talking about it. I think I've my own privacy. If I want to tell anyone anything, I would say, if I don't want, let me be.

Damn... I have only myself to blame for being so stupid. sucks...

That's the first person who made me feel sour, then there's the other person. Granted, what this second person did was nowhere as horrible as the first person, but it's enough to make me feel worse. Oh man... The more I talk about the first person the more I want to burst. Damn... Must have a showdown one day. The second person now seems to saintly behind the first person.

Actually, things with the second person is partly my fault. I surprised myself by causing that rift with the second person. The second person once said something in passing to me. I didn't know why, but I got jealous. I think this wave of jealousy was buried in me and was awakened during the encounter with the second person again during the circumstance which made what that person did look worse.

I was trying to control my jealousy, so I wanted some form of assurance from the second person, but I didn't get it. I guess the more you want something, the more elusive it would be to you. I still wasn't able to get it. I used the carrot, and the stick and still nothing worked. The person managed to duck from the sticks and managed to collect the carrot. So now, I've lost the carrots and still not able to get what I want, and the wave of jealousy is rising. Really, I've no right to feel jealous actually, but I just can't stop myself. I really surprised myself with this level of intensity of jealousy. Really don't know how I'm going to face the second person when I get back to Singapore. It's that kind of want, don't want kind of feeling. I'm so afraid that I'll lose control of myself and end up hurting the both of us, yet again.

The chorus is playing in my head...

Tears of Pearls
by Savage Garden

And we stare each other down like victims in the grind
Probing all the weakness and hurt still left behind and we cry
The tears of pearls
We do it. Oh we do it.

Is love really the tragedy the way you might describe?
Or would a thousand lovers still leave you cold inside?
Make you cry...
These tears of pearls

All these mixed emotions we keep locked away like stolen pearls
Stolen pearl devotions we keep locked away from all the world

Your kisses are like pearls, so different and so rare
But anger stole the jewels away and love has left you bare,
Made you cry...
These tears of pearls

Well I could be the tired joker pour my heart to get you in
Sacrifice my happiness just so I could win
Maybe cry...
These tears of pearls

All these mixed emotions we keep locked away like stolen pearls
Stolen pearls devotions we keep locked away from all the world

We twist and turn where angles burn
Like fallen soilders we will learn
That once forgotten, twice removed
Love will be the death...
The death of you

All these mixed emotions we keep locked away like stolen pearls
Stolen pearls devotions we keep locked away from all the world

Damn... My CD is back at home. How I wish I had that song with me now. I think this is one reason why I love pearls so much, it reminds me of tears. hai... The song seems to be describing me... Not really a good thing, but hai...

That Thing About Writing

I can write well. I know I can write well, and I can write long coherent prose without having much writer's block. But for some reason or so, I've been having the writer's black lately. Recent blog posts have also been crappy and downright meaningless. This was also reflected in the term paper that I submitted last Thursday.

Due to the horrible writer's block, I was choked into stillborning my first draft.

My first draft:

"Commercialisation of Sports
The effects of commercialisation of football as sports was modernised and professionalised.

Introduction

From the mid to late 19th century in England, the game of football has been slowly developing. With the founding of the Football Association in London in 1863, the rules of the game was laid down and set to be universally accepted. This signified the modernisation of sports as sport is now [insert details from lecture here]. However, with the modernisation of sports, sport became a tool for money making and with the growth of monetary interests in sports, sports is commercialised. In this paper, the effects of commercialisation of football will be highlighted.

With the introduction of the FA Cup in [insert date], there was a motivation for clubs to compete in the sport. In the early days, football players were mostly middle to upper class “gentlemen” who had the time and income to indulge in sports. The supporters were mostly the working classes residing in the region. This ignited the growth of the spectator sports enjoyed by the masses. The development of spectator sports will be further illustrated later in this paper.

With the development of spectator sports and the advancement in technology, the introduction of broadcasting marked a watershed event in the commercial development of sports. With stadium entries limiting the number of spectators, broadcasting brought more people closer to the sport. It started in [insert date here] with radio broadcasting, but later it was in [insert date here] when football matches started to be telecasted live which brought about the greatest economic development of spectator sports as a whole.

With the greater exposure of the sport among the masses, this brought about the convenient advertising of sports over the national television.

Along with advertising, the growth of sports as a spectator activity led to the development of sponsorships of the sport which injected funds into the development of the sport while reaping a different kind of benefit for the firms.

In all, this paper seeks to highlight these commercial effects on the sport and evaluate if this brought about greater benefits or harm to the development of the sport. Also, in review of the present day persistent effects, this paper aims to plot the growth of trend and speculate if this trend will persist.

Football as a Spectator Sport

The Football Association

With the founding of the Football Association, a set of universal rules now governed the game and fair matches can be held between two teams. There was also now a legal body governing the development of the sport.

As the game spread to the continent and to the South Americas, governing bodies also sprouted out in those regions. To further integrate the various governing bodies in the various regions, an international governing body of the sport, the FIFA was set up in [insert year].

The Development of Football Clubs

It started with the alumni of the English public schools who “having entered business or professional life and being anxious to continue playing their favourite game from their university days” .
Broadcasting

Radio Broadcasting

The first radio commentary of a match was broadcasted by the British Broadcasting Corporation in January 1927 of the match between Arsenal and Sheffield United. However, in the early days, there were concerns that live commentary would affect attendances in the stadium, leading to a drop in revenue from ticket sales. A broadcasting ban was thus imposed in 1931 which lasted until after the Second World War. Only cup matches and international matches were exempted from the ban.

Televised Broadcasting

The first televised broadcasted match was the international match between England and Scotland on 9 April 1938. It was followed by the broadcasting of the FA Cup final between Sunderland and Preston North End three weeks later. However, the broadcasting of live matches was not regular in those early days, occasionally there were televised highlights of football matches from 1955.

Broadcasting Fees

In the early days of live broadcasting, because the BBC and Independent Television operated from an “informal cartel”, the broadcasting fees were low and proceeds from the fee was divided equally among all the football league members. In 1968, the fee paid out was of a mere £120 000 with each club receiving only £1 300. However, the amount paid out for live broadcasting increased exponentially with a total payment of £534 000 with each club receiving £5 800 in 1979. This amount continued to rise.

Another watershed mark in the course of televised broadcasting was the formation of the Premier League in 1992. This new Premier League had its own governing body negotiating broadcasting fees among other economic issues. Also with the Premier League consisting of the best 22 clubs in England, the Premier League was on a better bargaining position. This resulted in the initial five-year contract worth £304 million, a far cry from the first payment of broadcasting fees. It’s subsequent four-year extension was more than doubled with £743 million being paid out by the broadcasting corporations. However, the proceeds from the television broadcasts were not equally paid out to the clubs, rather, the proceeds were distributed according to the final placement in the league. The higher placed clubs were awarded with a higher paid out than the lower placed clubs.

With this system being in place, there is a greater drive for clubs to strive to do well in the league and earn a higher place finish to be rewarded with a larger pay out from the broadcasters. The equation is further complicated with the introduction of the UEFA Champions League. The Champions League has its own broadcasting rights sold to an international broadcaster, and broadcasting to over [insert exact figure] countries in the world.

Hence a higher placement in the league would ensure that the clubs can get to play in Europe and thus earning the international broadcasting fees from the UEFA.
Advertising

Advertising is the making use of sports by commercial companies to directly or indirectly promote their products which might or might not be related to the sport.
Sponsorships

Shirt Sponsorship

Football clubs in bid to earn more commercial revenue have allowed commercial corporations to have their company logo emblazoned on their jerseys. This has come to be known as shirt sponsorships. To the bigger and better known clubs, the sponsorships are worth more than £1 million per annum. [insert more recent figures here]. The selling of such rights has integrated the cooperation of sports with commercial businesses. And in this commercialisation process has now placed the brands of the sponsors over the name of sports trying to create an illusion of the links between the sponsors and the game.

To the commercial companies, this form or sponsorship is advantageous to them due to the high profile of the football club and the respective jersey can bring. For a 90 minute game, the shirt with the company’s logo would be televised live for the amount of time for every match.

Game Sponsorship

Equipment Sponsorships"

I was meaning to draw an outline then slowly fill in the gaps, but in the end, it was stillborned.

Then suddenly, one painful night, it hit me that what was wrong is my central topic. This topic asks for me to draw out and write and provide a content chock full of facts and figures and stuff. And that was something that I am personally unable to do. My strong points in writing is that I'm able to coherently write rhetoric arguments and persuade people. Obviously, I wasn't exploiting what I'm good at the my first draft.

I decide to change my topic, and rewrite the whole damned thing.

"Commercialisation of Sports:
The effects of commercialisation of football on the football player as sports being mordernised and professionalised.

1. What is a Football Player?

Before entering this topic on the commercialisation of sports and its effects on the sportsman, the most important question to tackle is “What is a sportsman?”, or with regards to this paper’s focus on the football player, “What is a football player?”

Simply said, a football player is a person who plays football, but professionally speaking, not everyone who plays football is a football player, so in this paper, the focus would be “What is a professional football player?”, but then again, if the main motive of a professional football player is to earn a living out of playing football, then what would be the importance of the game of football in this circumstance? Hence, in relation to this paper, the answer to the question of “What is a football player?”, it would be determined as a person who plays football and while playing it, happens to earn a living out of it, with playing the game on a higher importance of earning money. This definition is determined because of the origins of football as a game started “for gentlemen only” with money not an important factor for playing the game.

Modernised football was, according to Murray, was invented by the “old boys [of English public schools] who, having entered business or professional life and being anxious to continue playing their favourite game from their university days” . Coming from different universities and used to playing under different sets of rule, they had set a common set of rules which provided the foundations for the later determination of national rules for the game. As such, the beginnings of the game had no relation to any monetary aspect. However, this was to change over time and as football became more of a spectator sport and one which merely satisfy the players. The first football clubs formed in England consist mainly of these “old boy” players who more often came from the upper classes families and were already living comfortably without the need of extra income from playing the sport.

This was to change by the end of the 19th century with the influx of the working class in the game. To the working class, professional football was “competitive [and] commercialised, [and was] a presitigious (sic) occupation to which many young working-class men aspire” . This can be seen as the earliest sight of commercialisation of football which the importance of monetary benefits outweighs the motivation of the game. The football player is still a football player, but now a more professionalised and commercialised one.

2. Introduction

This paper aims to analyse the effects of commercialisation of football still renders the football player to be a sportsman instead of having the identity of the sportsman being eroded by the process of commercialisation. Since the modernisation of football since the mid 19th century, football is not longer a game played between two sides under make shift rules compromised by both parties. With the founding of the Football Association in London in 1863, the rules of the game was laid down and set to be universally accepted.

The modernisation of professional sports led to the development of spectator sports and mass viewings of games by not only the upper classes but also the working classes during their off days and leisure time. The development of football as a spectator sport will be further illustrated later in this paper with analysis on its effects on the football player and whether his role as a football player has been diminished due to the pressure of the spectators. The spectators have a direct influence on the process of commercialisation of the game as revenue from the sales of match tickets remains an important source of income for the football club. In an economic sense, the spectators are the consumers of the game, and the football game being the product being sold. In this economic analogy, the identity of the football player would be questioned.

Along with the development of football being a spectator sports, a watershed mark would be the introduction of the media and broadcasting which led to the increase in viewership and allowed spectators from all over the world to indulge in spectator football not just limited to the stands of the football pitch. A new problem arising from this shift of watching football live in the stadium to watching it in the comforts of one’s own home would be the possible negative effects on the football players and also the identity of the game itself. Should a football match be watched from the stadium or from the television? Not only that, the effects of the monetary benefits from broadcasting will also be further evaluated in this paper.

The increasing importance of television and sports can be paralleled with the increasing role of advertising and sponsorships with the game. The greater exposure of the sport among the masses from broadcasting brought about the convenient advertising of commercial brands over the national television. Together with advertising, the increasing number sponsorships and the increasing amount spent by sponsors on football exponentially commercialised the game. This injection of funds into football led to the increasing amount being paid out to the football players. This paper will also plot the effects of this increment in earnings of the football player as a result of commercialisation against the backdrop of whether the main motivation of a football player is that of the game or the monetary benefits.

In all, this paper seeks to highlight these commercial effects on the sport and evaluate if this brought about greater benefits or harm to the development of the sport. Also, in review of the present day persistent effects, this paper aims to plot the growth of trend and speculate if this trend will persist.

3. Football as a Spectator Sport

To place a parameter on when had football became a spectator sport, it would be convenient to use the date of the founding of the Football Association as the start of a revolutionised and modernised game play in England, and also in the world since modernised football originated from England. With the founding of the Football Association, a set of universal rules now governed the game and fair matches can be held between two teams. There was also now a legal body governing the development of the sport. However, football was not only limited to the offshore island of the United Kingdom. It did not take long for the game to be spread across the continent and over to the South Americas and as such, legal governing bodies too sprouted out at those regions. To further integrate the various governing bodies in the various regions, an international governing body of the sport, the FIFA was set up in 1930 .

With a governing body integrating the various football clubs, games can be organised at a more efficient manner guaranteeing the allowance for the growth of supporters of the clubs to watch matches played by the clubs they supported. The first football club was founded in 1857 north of London and was followed by a few other clubs in the following years. All these clubs were founded comprising mainly of alumnus from the British universities and the loyalty lines along with the university the old boys were from. Along these lines, the early clubs were able to find supporters from their Alma Mata.

The early supporting crowds were few, with numbers not reaching 10 000 at the finals for the FA Cup until 1885. Hence the game was not so much as a game played for the spectators as it was played for themselves. However, by the late 1880s, crowds watching the FA Cup “increased dramatically” and in 1901, “a crowd of 110 820 turned up at the Crystal Palace to see Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United contest the final” The dramatic increase in spectators led to the rapid development of the game being a spectator sport. With that many supporters, winning and losing a game now no longer affects only the players involved in the game, the supporters are also directly affected when the club wins or loses. Hence, there is now a need for the football players to please their supporters by winning games rather than merely to win it for themselves. This dilutes to the motivation of self while intensifying the outside motivation of the crowds.

English league match attendances were generally stable over the years from 1922 to 1999, peaking in the late 1940s to early 1950s at more than 40 million , but contrastingly, average admission prices rose by 8 times the real value in 1999 since 1926. Gate revenues too exponentially increased from £1.352 million in 1926 to £312.056 million in 1999. The revenue collected from stadium tickets increased the price of the game from the spectators’ point of views.

4. Broadcasting

Football as a spectator sport is not just limited to the crowds at the football stadiums but also the supporters who support their clubs back at home while viewing the game from another media. This comes in the form of broadcasting of live matches. Broadcasting started out with radio broadcasting as with many people owned a relatively cheap transmitter piece. The first radio commentary of a match was broadcasted by the British Broadcasting Corporation in January 1927 of the match between Arsenal and Sheffield United. However, in the early days, there were concerns that live commentary would affect attendances in the stadium, leading to a drop in revenue from ticket sales. A broadcasting ban was thus imposed in 1931 which lasted until after the Second World War. Only cup matches and international matches were exempted from the ban.

The first televised broadcasted match was the international match between England and Scotland on 9 April 1938. It was followed by the broadcasting of the FA Cup final between Sunderland and Preston North End three weeks later. However, the broadcasting of live matches was not regular in those early days, occasionally there were televised highlights of football matches from 1955. Not many people owned a television set in the early days so the outreach of televised broadcasting in the early days was not significant and its effects were also negligible. Most supporters still dutifully went to the stadiums in support of their favourite club.

Broadcasting marked a turning point in the process of commercialisation of sports because of the very basic fact that with broadcasting came about the injection of large amounts of funds paid out from the rights to broadcast. However, the large amounts paid out by broadcastings rights was not a legacy from the early days of broadcasting. In the early days of live broadcasting, because the BBC and Independent Television operated from an “informal cartel”, the broadcasting fees were low and proceeds from the fee was divided equally among all the football league members. In 1968, the fee paid out was of a mere £120 000 with each club receiving only £1 300 , but the amount paid out for live broadcasting increased exponentially with a total payment of £534 000 with each club receiving £5 800 in 1979. This amount continued to rise.

Another watershed mark in the course of televised broadcasting was the formation of the Premier League in 1992. This new Premier League had its own governing body negotiating broadcasting fees among other economic issues. Also with the Premier League consisting of the best 22 clubs in England, the Premier League was on a better bargaining position. This resulted in the initial five-year contract worth £304 million, a far cry from the first payment of broadcasting fees. Its subsequent four-year extension was more than doubled with £743 million being paid out by the broadcasting corporations. However, the proceeds from the television broadcasts were not equally paid out to the clubs, rather, the proceeds were distributed according to the final placement in the league. The higher placed clubs were awarded with a higher paid out than the lower placed clubs.

With this system being in place, there is a greater drive for clubs to strive to do well in the league and earn a higher place finish to be rewarded with a larger pay out from the broadcasters. The equation is further complicated with the introduction of the UEFA Champions League. The Champions League has its own broadcasting rights sold to an international broadcaster, and broadcasting to many other countries in the world. Hence a higher placement in the league would ensure that the clubs can get to play in Europe and thus earning the international broadcasting fees from the UEFA.

In the earlier analogy of football being a commodity to be sold, and in the context of the rising broadcasting payouts, the commodity of football is becoming more and more costly even though the consumers are not directly affected by the rise in costs. The football players being the agent selling the commodity, now have to justify the rising price of football, but in justifying the high price of football, the question regarding their identity as a player would be yet again debated. As a football player in the sense of the definition drawn up in earlier in this paper, the football player’s mentality towards the game should not have changed no matter how different the circumstances now, and that the main focus of him is to play the game and win the matches but the pressure of the price of the game now weighs heavily on the shoulders of the football players.

Also, with the introduction of international broadcasting, football matches from Europe is broadcasted outside Europe in the Americas and in Asia, the further increases the viewership of the game and expand the supporting bases. Previously, the football player would only have to contend in playing football for his supporters in the region, now have to contend in entertaining viewers from all over the world. Lest not discuss about the identity of the football player turning from a club player playing in the region to an internationally recognised player, the motivation of the football player has still shifted.

5. Advertising and Sponsorships

Advertising is the making use of sports by commercial companies to directly or indirectly promote their products which might or might not be related to the sport. According to Hargreaves, business sponsorships want to make use of sports to “secure what [they] consider an appropriate image of the sponsor” and this in turn helps them “achieve a specific marketing objective”. In contrast with advertising, business sponsorships “establishes a closer relationship between corporate capital and sport” but both share the same aims in the making use of media coverage to expose themselves to a wider range of potential customers. In making use of these sportsmen to sell the commercial products, sportsmen have become the role of the salesmen in the analogy used throughout in this paper.

After the growth of television broadcasting especially, sponsors have been attracted to sponsoring football clubs as that would guarantee 90 minutes of television exposure for the commercial company. With shirt sponsorships, the sponsor is given a space on the football jersey of a club and for every match the team plays, the logo of the sponsor would be emblazoned for spectators and viewers to see. This is also advantageous to the football clubs as they are able to earn much revenue from these sponsorships. To the bigger and better known clubs, the sponsorships are worth more than £1 million per annum. The selling of such rights has integrated the cooperation of sports with commercial businesses. And in this commercialisation process has now placed the brands of the sponsors over the name of sports trying to create an illusion of the links between the sponsors and the game.

However, with the sponsorships of shirts guaranteeing the sponsors to 90 minutes of advertising of their company, this degrades the football match to a 90 minute long advertisement, and the football players to actors in an advertisement. As such, the identity of a football player from the earlier definition is eroded as sports becomes commercialised. Although it can still be argued that even with wearing the sponsored jerseys, the mentality of the football player is still him being the football player, the negative impact of these prolonged exposure to sponsorship still affects the spectators and viewers, hence, the perceived image of the football player is tarnished by the mindset the viewers have on him.

Not just football clubs can be sponsored by a commercial company, business enterprises can also sponsor a particular football player or engage him into being a spokesperson for their company and make use of his image in their branding advertisements.

6. Conclusion

Indeed, this commercialisation of sports have brought large injections of funds into the game and with this huge monetary benefits, a football player is no longer a person “who plays football and while playing it, happens to earn a living out of it”, but a person making money out of his ability to play football, and making a large amount of money to be more precise. Furthermore, since the end of the 19th century and the emergence of the working class as a dominant player in the football field, the game was no longer dominated by the comfortable “old boys”.

From the trends plotted out earlier, it is evident that commercialisation of sports is still ongoing and broadcasting payouts will still escalate, especially with the Premier League as exposure of the league is continually widened throughout the world and viewerships too increases. In bid to win deals with the leading football clubs, sponsors will continue to mutually outbid each other and set now records for sponsorship deals. Following the making of sporting superstars, football players are not longer merely football players but also celebrities attracting media coverage subsequent advertisements.

Still, a football player would need to be able to play football or he would not be able to enjoy the monetary benefits and commercialisation of the sport as a football player. As quoted in the book Das Goldene Tor by Norbert Weiss, there is an old Indian saying “Elephant has two kinds of teeth – one to show and one to eat” , the football player has transformed over the years from one who plays football to one who not only plays football but also to earn money."

Even without me giving detailed stuff which I wanted to put in before I submitted the paper, I passed the 3000 word limit easily. This is what I'm comfortable writing.

It's really good to be back in my comfort zone. I haven't been in my comfort zone for a very long time, hence my recent meaniness and irritability and other sort of emo problems. I don't think the essay is at my best though, also because I wasn't putting my whole effort into that paper. I'm graded as pass/fail, so anything that will get me a pass is enough to put me through.

I'll update more decent blog entries later~ and a sidenote: Zurich was not bad, very modern, nothing pretty, very expensive. But my camera broke down, so had to rely on my phone camera, hence not many good quality pictures. That's the reason why I don't think I'll go Prague. No good pictures, really no need bother going... *big sigh* I think this is karma...

Joan is Mean, Very Very Mean...

Update: To those who think I'm mean, omg... you should see my 8 friend requests on yahoo messenger. SUCKS!!! And worse, their pathetic opening lines... *faints*

I put this up in my wholivesnearyou profile:
"about me
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*note: if you have nothing constructive to say to me, don't bother pm-ing me since i won't have anything constuctive to say to you either. and inconstructive stuff are better left unsaid lest it annoys me.

if you think you have something constructive to say, please express yourself in english, grammar, spelling puncuation and the whole set that comes along. chinese is fine with me if it's chinese characters typed out, traditional or simplified are both fine with me. if you happen to be multilingual, i understand german too, so that's fine with me too, but don't bother using a web translator, that sucks. if you can't communicate properly, don't bother pm-ing me either, i can't communicate with someone who doesn't know how to communicate.*

sorry if i sounded harsh or blunt, it's just that there are really lots of pathetic people out there who live in narrow worlds of their own. but for the rest of you, on to my profile proper~

I've always prided myself as a true blue east coast baby!

but for the moment i've left the shores of east coast and headed to the blackforest...

more about me can be found from my blog. it'd be the best representation of myself in words and pictures, and videos and stuff... yea... i sound exactly like i write~"

Then almost straight after that, this person PM-ed me.
Cher Hwee, 22m, single, from Ang Mo Kio. Go look him up in wholivesnearyou if you have nothing better to do.

1st Message:
"Hello i came across your profile and hope you don't mind and care to make a friend and you got use MSN and friendster?"
From this message, it's very clear that he can't speak decent English but is trying very hard to. Really, try so hard for what? Really that hard up for friends meh?
Next, he enroached a pet peeve of mine.

Since he was trying hard to speak proper English, I decided to entertain him (and myself, I had that feeling that that conversation would make a good blog entry on me dissing pathetic low lifes, I can just feel it. yea... I'm feeling mean tonight...) and replied him with this message:
"if you had read my profile you should have known better than to be annoying"

2nd Message:
"so can become friends?"
This really made me despise him even more. First he totally disregarded my reply. Next he was persistent. Then is his definition of friends. So, if I give him my MSN and my (imaginary) Friendster, we would instantly become friends? Really that hard up for friends meh?

My Reply:
"as about the possibility of you speaking proper english"
I really was feeling mean. Granted, if he had not brought up my pet peeve, or the "become friends" line, I don't mind having a nice stupid conversation over the private message function tonight. Don't really have anything to do... But I was getting more and more annoyed by his desperateness that I became meaner.

3rd Message:
"told you the truth that my englishn for typing is not that good but can speak proper english"

My Reply:
"you speak as you write, you write as you speak. there isn't a difference between speaking and writing."

4th Message:
"so can?"

5th Message:
"so then we can't become friends is it?"

My Reply:
"lest not talk about whether you can speak english, can you understand english in the first place?"
My reply was to the 4th message, the 5th one came too fast. Really, some people just don't understand, don't get it, are so stupid.

6th Message:
"can"

My Reply:
"apparently, it would seem more likely to be the contrary"
Okay, I was trying to sound smart. Actually, it was because I went to check out his profile and wasn't very impressed by his educational qualifications. Once someone (yes Cindy, everything will be someone here and someone there) showed me a preview of his resume, he included his very unimpressive O Level and A Level results. erm... If I were an employer, his University grades would have impressed me quite a bit and I think that unimpressive stuff can have negative influence, so if you have nothing nice to write, don't bother writing it down! duh~

7th Message:
"i see and why you so harsh whether people can speak proper english? (sorry just asking and mean no harm)"

My Reply:
"isn't it very frustrating if you can't undestand another person? not to mention annoying, irritating, disgusting, horrible, pathetic... bah~"
I'm not saying my English is very good. My group of close friends can say for sure that when I talk to them, sometimes they can don't understnad my jumbled up English. But that's only between my close friends. With people I don't feel comfortable with, I stick to something proper, rather than the usual Joan jargon. Only when I start to warm up to people, then the Joan jargon will all arise and suddenly I'm talking in a more bastardised English than Singlish. yea... I have double standards, so what? Not happy ah? wahaha~

8th Message:
"i see and can said so, how about exchange e-mail address so that I can add you at msn or friendster?"
Really, if he had not brought up this pet peeve yet again, I think I'd be much kinder to him. What the fuck?!!! How old liao le, still living in Friendster world? Friendster is for losers. Okay, if you are sure you know everybody in your friendster list, fine, but adding people for the sake of adding people, Friendster or MSN is just plain loserish.

My Reply:
"you said you see, but are you really seeing anything?"
And I don't really like it when people say "I see" when they don't really understand.

9th Message:
"i can understand what you mean but is that really important to you that much?"
He says he understand, then why is he still asking me the fucking same question? Is he stupid or what?

My Reply:
"if you get annoyed by every other message you receive would you consider that like very extremely annoying? okay, granted, i don't think you can ever understand how that feels."
I have a long list of pathetic PMs sent by like a whole slew of losers from wholivesnearyou. yea... I don't think he'll ever be in my position. wahaha~

10th Message:
"I will not consider that kind is extremely annoying and if you said like that, I will have nothing to said!"
Of course, he'd want people to message him, disturb him, entertain him, blah him... Some people will just never understand how it feels like to be utterly irritated by stupidity. Oh well... Different people live in different worlds, I guess~

My Reply:
"ahh... you will not consider it as annoying because you don't get annoyed by it. that's the difference between an english speaker and a non english speaker."
Actually, I wanted to say this is the difference between a smart person and a loser, but I pity him, don't want to make him feel worse, besides, he will never understand. I guess this is the difference between someone who stays in Ang Mo Kio and someone who stays in East Coast.

Last Message:
"i see then I have nothing to said already!"
Look through his messages, how many times had he used "to said"? This is like kindergarden grammar lor. Of course, I too had nothing more to SAY, and didn't bother replying him again.

It's little things like these that make me realise that the world is very big. And filled with lots and lots of stupid people. I made another jibe at this 33 year old guy who sent me a friend request on yahoo360. I don't answer messages on my yahoo360 and have ignored all friend requests, and deleted all those "friends" whom I previously accepted. Those left are really my friends. Anyway, I went to view that person's 360 because he bore the exact same name as a friend of mine, hence I wanted to check if that was my friend, but apparently it wasn't. Maybe because I hadn't seen a stupid person for quite sometime, so I sent in my rebutals.

I've actually also been ignoring lots of PMs in wholivesnearyou, hence I put up that above note in my profile. I thought it would help by stopping all the incoming PMs, that stupid Cher Hwee really damn hard up sia. I replied his message actually because he was the first person to PM me after I added that note to my profile. Wanted to check if there's improvement in the quality of the people who send me PMs, but apparently not.

The only reason why I'm still on wholivesnearyou is the forums. If not, I'd let it die and burn in hell and never let my eyes set on another word of stupidity. There are more decent people in the forums than those losers sending out PMs. Wait, there are still two losers in the forums... Sucks... But I still generally like most of the people there. Even those who had heated exchanges with me.

bah~ I think growing up in a private estate and going to "good" schools my whole life's really sheltering me from all the losers out there.

Added Two Old Entries

I've decided to close down my yahoo! 360 blog, as in delete all the old blog entries and keeping it closed. yea... I've closed down my MSN space blog last year. The photos are still up there, the profile is still there, just that all blog entries are deleted.

Since most of the entries are crap anyway, it doesn't matter if I didn't save them. But I've picked out two entries which are somewhat decent and decided to incorporate them into here. I dated them as the original dates from the 360 blog, so here are the URLs if you guys are interested.

he's married
Of Old Fong Seng and Cafe Cartel -- Chicken Burgers

I deleted most of my profile information. Deleted it so that I don't need to update it. Does it matter that I don't want to divulge anymore information? yea... Previously in my other blogskin I had a whole long column of information about what I like and what I dislike. It doesn't really matter anymore since people never take heeds of my dislike and still continually annoy me.

Randomities

Someone asked why I so long never blogged. I very long never blog meh? Considering, yea... It's been quite a while since I've a decent blog entry. I'm tried ba...

I was just entrusting my module bidding to someone. Hopefully everything will go well. And hopefully I can trust the person enough to not feel the pressure of bidding this time round. I hate biddings.

Someone was telling me something in passing, and I felt an unfounded sense of jealousy. I hate myself so much that I don't really know what to do. Don't know how to react to this sort of jealousy.

I am wondering, why English private schools are called public schools, and public schools are called state schools? British fogeys.

I'm now totally into Ouran High School Host Club. I'm doing lots of photoshop designing for them. I like Tamaki, he's so shuai. I introduced that anime to someone and now we both are crazy otakus.

I went to bed last night thinking that I shall go Zurich this weekend. I went to buy the tickets just now, and also bought tickets to Stuttgart on Tuesday. I'm really living the European dream. I shall go Prague one day. Even if I cannot go Venice, I shall go Prague.

I was wiki-ing about last night and decided that even though Prague might be the most beautiful town in the whole wide world, it's not the most beautiful place. Jiuzhaigou is. damn... I'm so jealous of that someone who lives there. yea... I've a friend who lives there.

Wiki-ing a little bit more, I found out that the Americans actually bombed the town that even Hitler couldn't bear to bomb. The bloody fucking Americans mistook Prague for Dresden. I hate the Americans.

Someone is going to Taiwan fo a holiday. I want to go too~ I've never been to Taiwan. hai~

I was tricked my someone using an online fake site into revealling a secret. Surprisingly, I didn't blow up as I thought I would have. Am I mellowing? Or is it that I'm just too jaded?

I'm looking for someone to go with me to Wubai's concert. I asked a few people, someone said that even if it's free, don't want to go. wtf...

Currently playing on my Windows Media Player on repeat mode is the song yitiantulongji by Adam Cheng. It's a song from the 70s. I think I'm somewhere lost in time.

I have a friend who's going through similar problems like what I've went through during my rough patch. I feel sorry for that someone, and want to wish happiness for that person, but I don't know... hai...

I want to buy my Chelsea jersey and wear it to my War and Society class, but I'm secretly afraid of being thrown out of the class. Lecturers can't anyhow throw students out of the class... right?

I am tired. Shall go and wash up now and then sleep. I hate warm weathers in Europe, without air conditioning. Sucks~

Chelsea's New adidas Kit

This is a daily updated post dated entry. Please continue to scroll down every day as you view this entry.

From the next season onwards, two of my biggest favourites will come together for the next 8 years. I can't wait to lay my hands on this. I will buy it. And wear to Farrell's lectures. wahahaha~ I'm so evil.

12.7.2006


Actually it doesn't really look much different. The Samsung Mobile ogo is the same, the Chelsea crest is the same, the blue is the same. I guess what will be different is the THREE STRIPES!!! excited~

WATCH THIS SPACE~

12.7.2006 7.22pm Updated!

I received this in my mail!!! shuai~~~ the guy with the three stripes down his shoulders~


erm... Don't click there, you won't get to order it because you'll only get to my flickr account if you click that picture. I'm so going to buy it man... Man, can see all the cash flowing out of my wallet now... There's still the concert above. kauz...

13.7.2006 Updated!


The details of the mesh thingie of the climacool technology jersey. How cool~ wahahaha... My Chelsea lad are now all much much cooler than before~ And I really like this shade of blue seeing it in the bright. Can't wait for more details of the shirt to be out!!!

WATCH THIS SPACE AGAIN!!!

14.7.2006 Updated!


The adidas logo to verify that this is an original jersey at the bottom of the shirt. It doesn't look very clear here. Must buy the original shirt to see, buy fake ones from pasar malam definitely don't have this logo~

15.7.2006 Updated!


the Chelsea logo, different from the crest. This sits at the bottom of the back of the jersey, so when wearing the shirt, must tuck out~ If not nobody can see the logos... hehehe~

18.7.2006 Updated!
I missed a couple of days, sorry. The webbie also wasn't updated, bah~ Anyway, more pictures here~


The climacool logo at the bottom of the shirt along with the mesh bordering the shirt. Different from the other climacool logo up there. The one up there is for the back, the top, near the neck there.


The logo of the Teamgeist. On all of adidas' football jerseys. Of course, that includes Chelsea.

Actually, some photos of the Chelsea team having their preseason training are already out. I think it's possible to guess how the Chelsea shirt will look like based on these training shirts.





Can't wait to lay my hands on the new jersey!!!

19.7.2006 Updated!


A blown up view on the Chelsea crest. I was looking through the Chelsea's site on their crests over the past years, I think the current crest is the nicest. It's very grand and stately, the previous crest is simple, actually I don't like the lion head in the previous crest. lol~ The design wasn't really good, but well, it's okay, I still love my club~

I think the last thing to be unveiled tomorrow would be the adidas performance logo which would probably be in the middle top of the jersey, like those seen in the training jerseys. I so want to buy the jersey~

20.7.2006 Updated!
This will be the last time I'm updating this page. Anyway, I've guessed correctly, the remaining detail is that adidas performance logo at the neck line and the caped collar.

Bringing you Lampard modelling the full kit~


Notice all the logos are strategically placed? lol~ But I really like Lampard's built man... His shoulders are so nice squared and broad, I bet they are damn comfy to lean on, and his chest looks so muscular... wahaha~ I i put my face there I think I can hear his heart beat through the thin layer of shirt. okokok~ Enough of my groupie groans.

The goalkeeper jersey is modelled by Cudicini. I love Cudicini to bits, I think he's the second best goalkeeper in the whole of the Premier League, losing only to Cech, so in Chelsea we have two of the best keepers in the league. I was a bit surprised to see Cudicini modelling it, but I think Cech's away on some kind of fundraising match or something.


I wonder why they cut out his feet. Is it because he's not wearing adidas boots? hehehe~

One thing I don't like about football jerseys is the long sleeves. Some player prefer to wear long sleeved jerseys, I don't know why, I don't like it, but some players prefer to wear short sleeved ones. I currently can't think of any Chelsea examples, most of the Chelsea players wear according to the temperatures, but taking a world known name, David Beckham, you almost never see him in a short sleeve jersey, he always wear long sleeved ones be it in Real Madrid or with England. Speaking os Real, Casillas is one who always wear short sleeves, no matter what the temperatures are, and he always tucks out his jersey, and he always look damn shuai. wahaha~

I think black is a nice colour. The away kits have not been revealled, personally I hope it would be black instead of powder blue, the powder blue looks greyish to me. But then, if the away kit is black, I think I would buy both the home and away kits, so no no no... I'm like going broke liao le.


Profile view of the three stripes~

We will win the Premiership title for the third season in the row this coming season.
We will finally in the UEFA Champions League title.
Then we will win the FA Cup and League Cup with our bench warmers.
This will be the season of the blues~ wahaha~

That Girl Emily

That Girl Emily

Everything happened way too fast, that's all I can say.

But well, being the sucker that I am, I do feel a bit for "her". Made me think about my problems all over again. Maybe I should get a billboard too. hahaha~ I know of one place which I can hang the billboard there and address two people at the same time. Mean? Maybe I am...

The Revenge
Suddenly thought about that... hehehe~

Scarlet brought a knife with her on her last expedition to Ming's house. She wanted to end everything once and for all, and she wanted Ming to pay back for all the time and youth she had lost on him.

Scarlet knew where Ming lived. She had been stalking him for quite some time, since he tried to break up with her. Once in a while, Scarlet would stalk Ming's wife instead. Shan, Scarlet knew all about her. In the early days when Scarlet and Ming were together, Ming had already talked to her about Shan. They had even met on two brief occasions which Scarlet had staged. Once she appeared in front of Ming and Shan while they were shopping for groceries and introduced herself to Shan as Ming's friend. The other time she identified herself to Shan while she 'coincidentally' met her near Shan's office.

But Scarlet had mixed feelings about Shan. She hated her definitely because she was the love of Ming, but she also pitied her of her ignorance to the two timing nature of Ming. Some nights Ming would appear lonely and sad in front of Scarlet, and she'd pity Shan for not knowing that her husband was such a weak person who need conforting yet didn't dare tell her. Scarlet always thought that even though Ming might be two timing her, at least she knew who was he two timing her on, and at least that that person was his wife. But Shan knew nothing. As a women, Scarlet's heart did went out for Shan.

But as Ming's love for Shan grew stronger and more resolved, he wanted to end all ties he had with Scarlet, Scarlet's jealousy grew stronger. It wiped out whatever remnants of sympathy she had for Shan. She just wanted Shan out of the way so that she could have Ming all to herself.

That was not possible as she slowly came to know. After stalking Ming and Shan for some time, Scarlet realised that nothing was able to change the love Ming had for Shan.

So she thought of another idea as revenge. She knew Ming rather well, after being together on and off for about five years. It's amazing how his wife never suspected anything after they were togehter for this long a period. Scarlet knew that despite Ming's ill treatment and lack of love for her, Ming was very apologetic to her. He knew that Scarlet had sacrificed a lot for Ming, and yet he was unable to repay her with anything. Scarlet planned to make use of Ming's soft spot for her and make him pay it with his life.

Consumed with thoughts of revenge and jealousy, Scarlet remembered the old Chinese saying "死太便宜他了" and sought to think of a revenge that would make him pay for life with his regret.

Nestling the knife in her passenger car seat, the seat where Ming would sit on if he were in her car, she drove over to his house. She felt as though it was the old days, when she would drive over to his house and pick him up to go somewhere for a night out.

She was never officially been invited into Ming's house before, but she had been stalking the house since she found out where he lived. Some afternoons when she knew Ming was out and Shan was at home, she'd drive by the house and peek into the windows to catch a glimsp of Shan if she were lucky. This time, she brought her knife with her and walked up the stairs. It was 18 stories up, but she didn't take the lift. She didn't know why she did that either. Maybe she was hoping that the energy she spent on walking up the stairs was able to sooth the burning desire for revenge inside her. But it was no use, she still wanted to make lives for Ming and Shan as miserable as possible.

She finally reached Ming's doorstep. Ming wasn't at home. She knew that. She knew that this time he would be at work, she had noticed his car was not in the carpark too, so she just peeked into the house for a sight of Shan. She seemed to be cooking in the kitchen.

Shan, cooking for her husband. Ming, coming home to eat the home-cooked meal made by Shan, was simply too much for Scarlet to take it.

With the knife, she slit her finger. With the bloodied finger, Scarlet wrote something on the landing in front of Ming's house.

"To Shan, I am your husband's mistress. Are you surprised? I know you played no part in anything done by your husband, maybe I'll be forgiving and not blame you for my plight, but I really cannot bring myself to forgive Ming."

The finger Scarlet had slit had dried up, so she took her knife and made more slits onto her other fingers, and continued.

"To Ming, I hate you. I blame you for this mess I am in right now. And you should take blame for it too. Look closely over railings, see? That piece of work is crafted by you, no one else but you. After I am gone, please continue to remember me, remember the girl who loves you more than anyone else, and who will continue to love you even till death. Goodbye. I love you, as much as I hate you."

With her bloodied fingers, Scarlet tooked out her handphone and made one last call over to Ming.

"Hello, Ming?"

"What do you want?"

"I'm outside your house. I can see Shan cooking. I think I'll knock on her door after I hang up this phonecall. Maybe you'd like to rush home and attempt to explain our relationship to her?"

"What the fuck do you want? Don't you dare disturb Shan, I warn you."

Scarlet walked over to the door and knocked a couple of times clearly, allowing the sound to penetrate through the phone.

"Yes? Who's it?" came the voice from inside. Scarlet allowed that to make it's way through the receiver of the phone.

As the door opened, "Yes?" came Shan's voice. Scarlet turned away from the door and hurdled herself over the railing. "Come home now, Ming." was the last Ming heard from Scarlet before a loud thud. In the background, Ming seemed to have heard a very familiar loud scream.

That was enough for Ming to immediately rush out of his office and back home.

bah~ Anyway, by the time I'd be back in Singapore, back to watching television back to being connected to the English speaking side of the world, and by then the 14 days would be up and we'd know what sort of gimmick is behind the whole thing. And by the way, anyone knows how uch it costs to put up a billboard?

PS: I suddenly remembered one thing. Ming's full name is actually Steven Wong Tse Ming. hahaha~ Steven...

MSN Nicks

I'm damn bored. I've finished Ouran High School Host Club already. Not finished as in finished, but I've watched all those that are out already. That anime is still running, so now I'm waiting for Ouran 15, xxxholic 15, Tsubasa Chronicles 38, and hopefully some kind soul can upload Dectective Conan Movie 10 soon.

Anyway, I'm so bored that I'm feeling mean. I shall pick out some stupid nicks some people have put on their MSN. I'm going down my list alphabetically, and would probably do it until I'm bored, so if there are crappier MSN nicks lower in the list and I didn't put them up doesn't mean I don't think that it's crappy.

- praise the lord for today's double blessings
What did the lord do? I don't think he technically did anything to you. bah~

- trust doesn't require reasoning
Trust is bullshit sia. yea... I have a problem with trust.

- don't let the mistakes of your past be burdens that drag you down, but treasures that you can carry with you
There's a puncuation error here. Besides mistakes are mistakes, how can they be treasures? Experience is treasure, but not mistakes.

- eine nacht laufen gelassen mit mousie
I hate people who use translators. I HATE!!! If you don't know a language, don't use it, what for use a bloody stupid cmi translator??? diaoz...

- you'll never walk alone
Bloody hell. I hate Liverpool!!!

- it's disappointing in that respect but i said if you have dreams, don't put your dreams at risk by not using contraception
This is pure discrimination. Who said pregnant women can't have dreams? Besides, I'm against contraceptions, so I'm totally against that quote. Even though I don't want everyone else to believe as I do, I think it's better for people to decide for themselves what they want. Dreams can still be achieve together with pregnancy, Narrow-minded Discriminating Fool.

- italy, you deserve that world cup. france, go home and practice.
Just because someone won and someone lost doesn't mean that that person who won deserved to win and that person who lost deserved to lose.

- ich liebe sie.
Technically, if it meant I love her, there's nothing wrong, but it was "Ich liebe Sie", so it meant I love you, but if I love you is used, it should be ich liebe dich. Another duh person who not only is using a translator but a very lousy translator. Reminds be of the comic line in Barfuss. lol~ Actually if you want to use "Ich liebe Sie", it's also possible, but only in rare ocasions. Like me in the Wubai concert~ bah...

- loving God
Are you saying you are loving God, or God is loving? If you are loving God then shouldn't you die so that you can be with God and serve him? If you think God is loving then why are there still so much misery in life? bah~ I'm feeling so anti at this moment...

- for spanish is a beautiful language
My housemates apparently don't agree. Neither do I. And I think French sucks too. I hate Francophiles.

- i'm not afraid to let others see my tattoos cos i am not a bad guy. the reason why i got it is for art.
If it's for art then there's no need to explain. Really, what's a big deal over tattoos, immatured oversensitive prick? No one really cares why you've got a tattoo, except yourself, so there's no need to explain.

- please save the seals
What kind of seals need saving? Apparently, I'm also very head hearted too. Unless there's some sort of fantasy action to it, like seals being the Japanese chop (whatever you call those little wooden blocks with words carved on it) and they get lost, and you are on a mission to save them, sort of like cardcaptor like that. sucks~ I think I'm watching too much anime on youtube already.

- I have wings even though I can't fly with them.
What are wings for? Like chicken, wings for eating, not for flying. crap...

- Manchester United
go.eat.shit.manchester.united.you.die.

- so sian weekend again
Obviously this person doesn't know what is puncuation, or verbs, or subject.

- i can't talk, what's worse than this?
That you are dead, perhaps?

- expect the worst in life, that way you'll never be disappointed.
bullshit. Living a life with no hopes, no expectations, no anything, live for what? Go and die la, then you will never never never ever encounter any more disappointments.

I've actually went through my whole list!

Joan's pet peeves with other people's nicks.
- No nick, only a quote, and it changes every day. *tsk tsk* Even if it's something totally boring like your name, please at least put on something permanent so that you can be identified can anot?
- Emoticons. I hate emoticons, in nicks or in messages exchanged. It's irritating and it clogs up the space.
- Sticky caps. I hate sticky caps, in nicks or in a profile page. It's damn irritating and difficult to read. And if you are a guy using sticky caps, go fug yourself.
- Anything about God. Evangelists, go away.
- Anything out from a translator. If you copy a quote from somewhere, fine. If you know that language, or learning that language, fine. If you take it out from a translator, what the heck??? English not good enough is it? What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to prove to?
- Pathetic English. If you shorten you to u, fine, since there's a limit in characters you can use in MSN, but I don't see what's with mi for me.

I think I'm in a very mean mood tonight. bah~ And ther's something wrong with my sentence structuring lately. Ever since I've got that writer's block for writing my essay, I haven't been able to write long proses effectively. There's something seriously wrong with me.

By the way, to those who haven't noticed it yet, I haven't been online for a very long time. But since I've been saying that I've been hooked onto youtube, I'm apparently online. I've blocked everyone on my MSN list except for one group of people. I've nothing against you, it's just that I don't feel like talking to people I'm not comfortable with. Even my close friends. Also because I don't want to ignore you guys if you guys message me which is what I'd have done if I didn't block you and you messaged me. The only group I left unblocked is the group I've named "people I chat with". And that group is only 10 people big (small), including two contacts of my sister, so effectively, it's only 9 people. Considering that my sister is not allowed to use the computer and another friend is wandering the streets of Europe, there're only 8 active people.

Fuck. I'm becoming more and more anti-social. I think the people on my list knows who they are, since they're like the very few people I've shown my groups of MSN contacts. yea... I've shown Cindy (both) and Jinwei. They say I'm mean. bah~

Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club

I am supposed to be writing my essay, but I'm having writer's block. This block is so serious that I haven't been able to blog coherently recently. I've been youtubing to much that I've basically screwed myself.

List of animes I've finished on youtube:
Gravitation
Detective Conan
Tsubasa Chronicles
xxxholic
Fruitsbasket

I've even went on to rewatch Cardcaptor Sakura, some episodes of Peach Girl.

I'm now merely waiting every week for new episodes of xxxholic and Tsubasa Chronicles, and sometimes hoping that someone will put up unseen episodes of Detective Conan. I've become so bored that just now I went down to wikipedia and browsed through their list of animes to decide which series I shall now watch. And I've decided on the title anime. I'll continue to screw myself even more. bah~

Hope the anime is as nice as how the people in wikipedia describe it. And good luck to me in completing my deadline.

2006 伍佰 & 張震嶽 搖滾新加坡演唱會

最新消息『2006 伍佰 & 張震嶽 搖滾新加坡演唱會』
演出者:伍佰 & China Blue + 張震嶽 & Free 9
日期: 2006/9/2 星期六
時間: 8 PM
地點: The Max Pavilion @ Singapore Expo
票價: $58, $78, $98, $128 , $148
Ticket prices exclude SISTIC charge
搶票熱線:+65- 6348 5555
搶票網址:www.sistic.com.sg
*門票已在各SISTIC售票處公開發售!

This is yet another post dated entry. I'll edit the date again once I've bought the tickets. Anybody interested can contact me.

Updated:
FUCK~~~ Tickets not out for sale yet! DAMNIT DAMNIT, bluff me...

Updated again!!!
I bought the tickets liao~~~ wahahaha~ row 3 or 4 somemore, sear 13 and 14. Now I need someone to go with me, price negotiable. I'm now so happy despite serious lack of sleep and throbbing headache.



I think I should start designing my placard already~ heeheehee~ I sound like a groupie all over again. But then, he's Wubai! I so want to be his groupie~ bah~

A World Cup Round Up

Suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms and a big case of procrastination, I hereby bring forth to you guys, my round up on the FIFA World Cup 2006. I haven't wrote much about the world cup proper because I wanted to fully examine the outcome and all the players' performances before giving my take about it. Now would be a good time for me to share my take.

I'll start by talking about the winners.

Italy.

To be very honest, Italy arrived to the finals in a very dubious manner. It took a fiasco of a match between them and the USA to achieve a point, a very important point though. Then it took a controversial last minute penalty for them to arrive in the quarter finals. The quarter final match against Ukraine was not a very challenging one for them to arrive at the semi finals. The two last minute screamers against Germany were, well, screamers, as I've just said. Even the win against France was not display of their true flair, unless you consider massive diving and shoving and taunting to be of their true flair.

Granted, and to give them credit, their game play worked. They managed to stifle their opponents' creativity and stopped at all costs any goals from entering the post.

Some notable mentions:

Buffon
He carried away the Lev Yashin award as the best goalkeeper of the tournament and I'd say he deserved it. In all, he only let in two goals not counting the penalty shoot out of the final match, and one was an own goal while the other was an unstoppable penalty. But to deflect credit from him, he's lucky to have a good defence built around him and on the whole a superb team.

Francesco Totti
He's the flop of the Italian team. When I saw him playing his first match I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. He ditched his long mangle of locks for a short crop which looked very good on him, but that was about all I saw of him. he hardly touched the ball and was hardly even on the field making a contribution. Although he did make one notable contribution of converting the penalty against Australia, but after that he disappeared in the remaining matches again.

Luca Toni
I've never heard of him before. Maybe because I'm not very familar with the Serie A and it so happens that all of the Italian players play in the Serie A, a rather unique feat that only Saudi Arabia matched. He was great in the group stages but somehow managed to disappear along with Totti somewhere after that. Or maybe this is just the Italian way of playing, putting more emphasis on the defenders of the team. wahaha~ Anyway, I thought Luca Toni is a very nice sounding name. hehehe~

Runner Up: France

France started out bad, or perhaps bad would be an understatement. They started with two draws, about very bad as they can get. Considering France having their first team made mostly of the 1998 World Cup Champion team, and the same people being the fiasco of 2002, it's quite difficult to exactly say whether France is a strong team. Yes, they were on top of the world in 1998, but the same players became flop of the tournament in 2002 with much criticisms on them saying that they are old and tired and drained of creativity. Enter 2004, when all of them announced their retirement plans after the Euros. I guess they know they are old. But enter 2005 when the coach, after a series of lacksture performances and need a result had to persuade every one of those retired players to come out from retirement. We enter 2006 with 5 retired players all in the first team, and another couple of nearing 30s players.

Against all odds and against all criticisms, the French managed to squeeze their way to the final match. The only so called great matched played by France was against Spain, but I didn't watch that match because I was on a train at that time. I was pretty shocked because Spain is good, and the margin France won was considerably large, but other than that I cannot make any comments because I didn't watch the match.

There are a lot of notable mentions in the French team.

Barthez
I never really scrutinised him before even though I've watched him play back in those days. But he looked really short in this world cup, I don't know why. He hasn't really had any notable saves even though he didn't conceed a lot of goals.

Gallas
I'll only mention him because he's a Chelsea player. So far he has had a great tournament, but I don't like his attitude towards Chelsea. He has been saying that he wants to leave but Chelsea doesn't want him to leave, and after a great tournament, Chelsea will want all the good players we can get so that we can finally get that elusive European Champions Cup. Another thing of note, he's currently hogging the number 13 shirt in Chelsea which another player is coveting. I don't know how things will work out, so we'll have to wait and see.

Makelele
Another great tournament for our Chelsea lad.

Ribery
He's the only French who's not from the 1998 Champion team who managed to get on the scoresheet. Well, actually the thing about him that caught my attention was not his ball playing skills, but that birthmark on his face. I always thought that was sweat stains or worse bloodstains until I noticed that it was there even before he started playing. It's a bit irritating when I watch him play because my eyes would be drawn to those marks.

Henry
Before the tournament people were guessing would it be Ronaldo's year or Henry's year, but it turned out to be neither. A grand total of 3 goals in 7 matches is not a good record for a striker, lest a striker with the tag "one of the best strikers in the world". Anyway, one good thing that he didn't win the adidas Golden Shoe award is that he's endorsed by Nike, if I'm not wrong. As far as I know, he definitely doesn't wear adidas.

Notice I didn't mention a notable player? I'll talk about him later...

Third place: Germany

Germany is a real winner of the world cup. Germany as in the country not the national football team. But for this heading, I'll restrict myself to talk about the football team. They had a really really great tournament despite lots of talk before that they will flop. With every match they played, they gained load of confidence so useful to them. The opening match showed the world a new Germany, one with attacking powress. The match against Poland, against Argentina showed the world the traditional Germany once again, that they can grind results out of nothing and stifle the opponent until the final whistle. This is the new Germany, one which is able to mix modernity and tradition.

Losing to Italy was disappointing, but their bounce back match was amazing. It was also as if it were a tesimonial match being held. Klinsmann fielded non-regular players, giving them the opportunity to gain invaluable experience, but more amazingly, he gave the last honour to King Kahn. This is the depth of the German team no one noticed before the tournament.

Notable mentions:

Lehmann
Everyone who read this and this will know that I absofuckinglutely hate this player, but my opinion of him is getting better with every passing game he played. After the Argentina match, I had almost forgiven him. I once had a dream which I never told anyone about, maybe it's time to share it. It was perhaps in 2004 during the Euros, I dreamt of Lehmann. He came over to my house, asked for me, and I greeted him at the door. I was standing like right in front of him, not more than 30cm apart and he looked damn shuai. But of course, I tried to tell myself at that time that perhaps the person I dreamt of was not him at all (but of course it was). His eyes were red and he was sniffing a bit, not too much, just a little bit to show he was crying. He apologised to me, but I didn't accept his apology. Anyway, my opinion of him now is not that bad anymore.

I don't know if Lehmann would continue to play in the Euros or not. He's not very young already. He's the same age as Kahn, actually about 5-6 months younger only, but he's borned in the same year as Kahn. Now that Kahn has announced retirement, Lehmann should go. But if Lehmann were to go, Germany will have no world class goalkeepers at all, but if he still doesn't go, then Germany will have one really old goalkeeper in 2008. Problematic...

Friedrich
I thought he looked damn shuai.

Schweinsteiger
He's really an impressive young player although he missed out on the criteria for a young player by half a year. He has the determination to do well and to really make up disappointments, for that alone, he's a stronger player.

Ballack
I'd say he's one of the disappointing class of players along with Lampard, Gerrard, Ronaldinho and Shevchenko. Together they were said before the tournament to be the spark of their national team just as they held their club teams together, but collectively, they just weren't as good working with their national team as they had with their club teams. And Ballack, needing to impress his new employers and new fans didn't really achieve that. Not only that, the German team also played just as well without him, so whether he's really the soul of the team leaves much room for contestation.

Borowski
He's damn shuai. Damn damn shuai. I've noticed him playing for Werder Bremen and snce then I've already known that he's damn shuai, but seeing him in the world cup matches, I must reiterate my point over and over and over again that he is really damn damn shuai. He's tall, strong and handsome, with those old school floppy golden hair and wide boyish grin. Oh man... Even when he wasn't playing and was just sitting on the bench, he still looked so damn cute man.

Klinsmann
I never really liked him, until I saw him in that tight blue shirt with his sandy blond hair and cute expressions on the touchline of all the Germany matches. Then I noticed that that guy is really damn cute too. Maybe not as cute as Borowski, but still cute nonetheless. I ike his reactions to goals and misses~ hehehe...

Fourth place winner, and Yahoo! Poll's Most Entertaining Team:
Portugal

Entertaining would be a good word to describe Portugal. After all the entertainment I got from watching ridiculous players hitting opponents and getting hit by opponents in the Battle of Nuremburg, then watching brillant dives by the greatest actor in the world, a more credible actor than any Oscar winning actors, Portugal is indeed a very entertaining team to watch.

If you say Italy is the team of diving and getting penalty kicks, then you have not seen Portugal play. They not only blatantly dive, they also blatantly kick and beat and whack opponents. Statistically, Portugal is the team to beat in the number of cards they have altogether received in the whole tournament.

Notable players:

Usually if you notice, I'd start with the goalkeeper and then defenders then midfielders then strikers, but this player is so so notable that I must talk about him first. He stands as the Most Entertaining Player in the Tournament. In the group stages, watching him play is so entertaining as he selfishly keeps the ball to himself only to lose it to the defender, then in the knock out matches, we see him getting kicked and knocked and beaten up so badly that he even bled. And when he was taken down from the pitch, the tears came out, like any Oscar winning actor, how entertaining.

But that's not all, straight after, he bounced back from injury (which I bet was faked anyway) to send his club team mate off in the England match. To top that all, in his final two matches we see no less than three notable dives all of which you can get them off youtube, just type Ronaldo dive worldcup2006 or something like that. Alternatively, there's the ihateronaldo site.

Ricardo
Those penalties he saved against England weren't really his credit as they were England's, but he's still a good goalkeeper.

Costinha
Another entertaining player, if not violent. Twice suspended, he can still accumulate the most number of cards in the tournament.

Deco
Another player with many cards, but I don't thin Deco is of as much fault as his team mates. He's pretty much unlucky to be with such pathetic team mates that his fouls were mistaken for carded fouls.

Scolari
I don't know what's his tactics. I don't believe that he's the one instructing his team to dive and play act to win the world cup, but who can forget four years ago when a certain Rivaldo play acted to get another player sent off (or was it a yellow card)? At least after Ronaldo's second dive against Italy, he gave up protesting, and at least he didn't protested when playing against Germany. but then if he were halfway decent, he'd just have got that asshat of a diver off the pitch immediately.

Quarterfinalists

Argentina
A very strong team, but they were really unlucky to meet germany in the quarterfinals. I can't remember which match it was, but there was one match which Henize should have been ejected but didn't. Think that's the only grumble I have.

Brazil
So many big names, so high expectations, so pathetic a team. Before the tournament, people were talking that this would be the theatre for Ronaldinho to shine, but I hardly ever saw him playing. Match reports would say he was on the pitch, but I don't really remember watching him play at all. And he yielded a grand total of zero goals in total, so much for a much lauded player. His grand total of 1 assist, 4 shots on goal and 7 shots neligible too, especially for a playmaker. Kaka was not bad, but pity the team on the whole was a flop. Ronaldo with his 3 goals is still fat.

England
So many big names, so high expectations, so pathetic a team. Before the tournament, people were talking that this owuld be the theatre for Lampard to shine, having missed out in the 2002 games. With only 5 games, he topped the charts for most numbers of shots, and came in fourth in the most shots on goal only to be beaten by one and two goals from players who played in 7 matches. But his total goal tally remains as high as that of Ronaldinho. Gerrard, another flop of the games, so much talk about him and so little results from him. And we shall not even talk about Owen who disappeared totally after breaking his leg again. Rooney still can't keep his temper. Beckham easily becomes the best player on the pitch even though he's aging, well, he's the best because we're comparing him with his team mates here. Surprise package of England, Owen Hargreaves, the other Owen, the more impressive Owen, the best player in the England team if he played in his best position. Chelsea should buy him and put him as Makalele's understudy, Maka is getting old already.

Ukraine
Ukraine is the only country out of 32 to choose their base in a former East Germany town. The team trainer was an ex Soviet player and politically supports the Socialists back at him. Shevchenko's also another Socialist. A suprise package of the tournament. After being drubbed 4-0 by Spain, they managed to bounce back and go further than Spain went. But Shevchenko wasn't really shining.

Round of 16:

Australia was robbed. Kewell was another player who cut his hair.

Ecuador, not much an impression.

Ghana was good. They were robbed by the refree.

Mexico was also a decent team, tough to play, but not that all consistent.

Netherlands
They were unlucky to meet Portugal. In my very honest opinion, the Dutch-Portugal match should have been abandoned with all the players save Ricardo and van der Sar ejected. Dutch diver Robben was fined for diving, but really, his dives weren't as impressive as Ronaldo's. Okay, I've nothing against diving since everyone does that, but really, sending your own team mate off is bad. Saying you want to leave your club is the worst. Go eat shit. Shouldn't be talking about Ronaldo in the Dutch column. yea... Van der Sar was impressive, and I didn't noticed before, quite cute too~ van Basten's cute too~ hehehe...

Spain. Pity to lose to France, pity I didn't watch that match, but the other Spanish games proved Spain to be not that bad leh... suay? hai... But I like my Casillas being handed the captain's armband in place of Raul. Just like Terry wearing it after Beckham leaves, but sucks that when Neville was playing, Neville wore it instead. Speaking of captains, in the last Germany match which Balack didn't play, usually Schneider would wear the armband, but in honour of Kahn, kahn wore it instead. His last match, his last match as captain, but he'll still play for Bayern Munich for perhaps one more season ba...

Sweden was quite forgetable.

Switzerland was lucky they were drawn to an easy group. It easy as much that it's difficult. Erratic French, Unlucky South Korea, hehehe...

Group stages:

Angola, Costa Rica, Croatia, Iran, Paraguay, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tunisia were all forgetable.

Ivory Coast was unlucky. They were about one of the best African teams, but this year is not a year of upsets, so they remained in the group stages and allowed the Europeans to shine.

Czech was unlucky. If Jan Stam wasn't injured, I think Czech would have went far. Quite an upset in this circumstance. But then again, they were drawn to a tough group to beat, so unlucky again.

Japan showed promise but just not enough. Oddly, in the game which Japan mustered their only point, they didn't score any goals while in the games in which Japan scored, they lost the matches.

Korea also showed great promise but lost out on the last round of matches.

USA was by far the worst team in the top seeds of the FIFA rankings. So much so for wanting to use American victory to promote the sport back at home. But then again, it's good to know that there is something the Americans are bad at~ hehehehe...

Personal honours:

adidas Golden Ball
It went to an adidas player, Zinedine Zidane.
He deserved it.
Even with the final headbutt. Theories are out there in the internet speculating about what was said to him. I strongly believe that Zidane was provoked. I'm also a person who cannot control my temper so I know how it feels to be provoked and if I were Zidane in that position, I'd do the same thing. No regrets. Granted, Zidane wasn't that impressive in the first two matches and got suspended for the next match, but in the end, he still shone and proved to the world that he isn't old despite what was said four years ago.

adidas Golden Shoe
Miroslav Klose
Ever since seeing him play four years ago, I know this guy is destined for big things. Just after being the top scorer in the Bundesliga, he's now the top scorer of the World Cup. This should now plug the mouths of detractors who laughed when they hear that he's my favourite player, not counting Chelsea players. Okay, even among the Chelsea lad, I'd put Klose straight after Terry and Lamps.

Really, I think he should dump those black adidas boots he wore for the games and wear some more sparkling golden boots like Zidane. lol~ It'd nice watching the player showcase their shoes on the field. My favourite shoe is still Robben's bright orange ones in which you can see it clearer than anything else on the field.

With the end of the World Cup, I guess now there's only to wait for the Community Shield, then we can start the premiership round of friendly internationals and then the Euros 2008 qualifiers and Champions League. So much to watch~

Postscript:
3453 words. I should have written my term paper on this man...
I'm reading someone's blog and that said person has a word count for every single blog entry, but personally, I don't find that word count very impressive at all. So what's it about 400+ words blog entries, or 1200+ words?