Love.

Not in the best of health at the moment, not in the worst either. So don't be expecting any updates for the next couple of weeks.

Don't drink and drive people. Will be back in 2006. I love you all.

Satellite Navigation.

Jose, who says it doesn't matter if you finish 1st or 2nd in the group? Look at who you've drawn now. But of course, he'll say something like, "To be the best, you need to beat the best."

It could easily have read:

Liverpool vs Barcelona (had we finished behind Chelsea)
or
Manchester United vs Liverpool (if it had been them instead of Benfica, bear in mind Liverpool had no 'country-protection')

And for your info, the last time Liverpool beat Benfica in the European Cup, they went on to win the competition. Another sign?

Interesting excerpt found on the internet ..

"Does anyone know where I can get a new satellite navigation system for my car as mine is broken. It keeps telling me that Manchester is in Europe!"

Here's the full draw by the way:

Chelsea v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Arsenal
Werder Bremen v Juventus
Bayern Munich v AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven v Lyon
Ajax v Inter Milan
Benfica v Liverpool
Rangers v Villarreal

Enjoy your weekend.

World Tonight.

If I happen to be home and not out having supper, you'll most likely find me lying down on the couch tuning in to Channel News Asia. Not that I'm a news-junkie but just to see what my favourite TV personality looks like for the night. Plus, she has got the perfect voice for late night news - soft, calm and easy on the ears.

Glenda Chong is her name and she reads the news for Asia Tonight (11:00pm) and World Tonight (Midnight). She looks darn good 99.99% of the time - with her hair clipped to the back, slightly permed, tousled or simple let down.

I've searched the internet for good snapshots of her but there doesn't seem to be any. Earlier this week, I was at the news-stand and was pleasantly surprised to see her on the cover of Female magazine. So if anyone of you is done reading it, please do not feel shy - pass it over to me. Many thanks in advance.

Suppressing Saprissa.

11th consecutive clean sheet. That's a new club record. Nobody can take that away from us 'cos those 11 games consisted of matches from the Champions League, Premier League and now the FIFA Club World Championship.

Supressing Deportivo Saprissa yesterday was not that tall an order. Made easy meat of them to say the least. But seeing Traore and Josemi in the starting line did worry me a little lot. Especially since the team was also attempting to break the clean sheet record. So, I expected to see the usual back 4.

'Purple Monsters' has got to be one of the cutest monikers for any football club. And the team certainly looked the part - faces turning purple from all the chasing they had to do for the majority of the game. Sao Paulo certainly has their work cut out for them. Surely, they'll want to curb the advances of Riise and Gerrard come Sunday.

Let's just hope the boys will not get too tired 'cos when they return back, they have 4 games waiting for them in a space of 8 days. But everything seems to be going right at the moment. Strikers are delivering the goods. Cisse is becoming more of a team player. No serious injuries, except for Zenden who'll be out for the rest of the season. January cannot come any sooner. If Gerrard is excited by Benitez's targets, there's nothing else to be said.

Diagon Alley.

Went out last night looking for a place to eat at Diagon Alley. Most have closed for the day night. Well, at 1:00am+ what can you expect? Found one which was still open for business.

Snapshot of Diagon Alley:
(Click on photo to enlarge)



Took a photo of the alley. I'd always prefer to have subjects in my photos - be it animals, animagi (plural for animagus), wizards (and witches alike) or muggles. Spotted Crookshanks, Mrs Norris and their feline friends lazing in the middle of the road when we first arrived in Neville's flying Toyota Corona.

But somehow they disapparated into thin air the very moment I took my camera out. Not particularly pleased with this shot altogether. Gotta buck up on the night shots. Still learning the ropes with regards to exposure and apertures. Maybe I should learn from that Rita Skeeter.

As we sipped butterbeer, a Dementor floated down from the roof. We were helpless as Hagrid left his wand in the car which was parked 5 feet away. It sucked the living daylights out of our poor gargantuan but gentle caretaker. It happened in a nano-heartbeat that 5 feet seemed like 15 - hence we couldn't get Hagrid's wand in time for him to perform the Patronus Charm. And we couldn't perform it either because (a) under-aged wizards aren't allowed to perform magic outside of Hogwarts, (b) only Harry was taught how to do it and (c) Harry was absent 'cos he went to meet Sally.

My contribution to the Daily Prophet:
(Click on photo to enlarge)

Cheeseburger.

Click on photo to enlarge.



Hijacked this photo from Simon's blog. He is such an internet search whore. This a toilet in one of the Sofitel Hotels. Wonder if the person behind this is a male or female. Not that it matters alot. But just what is it that he/she is trying to achieve?

If you ask me, pictures of men should be used instead. So that us men (straight men) will feel uncomfortable and get the hell out of there ASAP. (Useful when the toilet is crowded and everyone is waiting patiently with their fly undone and weeners wagging.)

Papering women to the walls will only slow the entire process. Some men may get turned on and the walls may end up getting smudged. Something that should've taken 1 minute to complete will now take 5.

On the contrary, the feel of visual molestation may hasten the process. In the mix of it, foreskins may get caught (use buttonflys people!) and urea may trickle down your pants and stain your shoes.

All in all, I do not think this was a good idea at all. Eventhough I would give it 9/10 for artistic intent.

OK, time for lunch. Cheeseburger waiting on the table.

Gobsmacked.

Time: Mid-day.
Date: 3rd Dec 2005 Saturday.
Location: 16A St. Annes Court, London.
Spotted: Regimented throngs of grown men and women.
Event: Read more below .. (doh!)

Nike Air Stab:



Rewind .. 1988. The Nike Air Stab running shoe gets released and becomes the first model to combine the Footbridge device with Air-Sole cushioning. On an unrelated note, it coincided with the launch of the 'Just Do It' campaign. To cut the long story short, there has never been any remakes (or retros as shoeheads prefer to call it) since 1988.

Since shoe collecting became a fad in the early-mid 90's, running shoe afficionados have waited tirelessly for this release. The endless retros of Air Max 95s in every colour imaginable by the people at Nike's design labs did little to help. I suspect they have been exhausted of their brain juices now that they have retroed almost every shoe of the Air Max line. The coming 'History of Air' campaign is genuinely evident of that. Let's now cross our fingers that after the Air Stab, the Air Structure will get exhumed after almost a decade of slumber.

Fuck. I think I digressed too much there. (You can always click that 'X' on the top right hand corner you know.)

This is how the story goes .. FootPatrol got the opportunity to suggest the colours of the first pair of retroed Air Stab since 1988. (I honestly think they did a bloody good job.) So it wasn't surprising to see another queue forming outside the store for another exclusive shoe release.

For the uninitiated, only 960+ pairs were produced. Hence, the need to beat every other person just so you can land a pair in your size. Unless of course if you're gonna flip them on eBay as soon as you reach home, then size wouldn't be an issue.

Snapshot of the line outside the store:



Having queued for hours, this was what greeted them when they stepped into the store ..



A French maid serving you tea in an Air Stab mug. (I want! .. Both!) And you get to keep them too, the mug that is. Not sure if the customers had a choice of tea with milk. LOL ..


A pair of Air Stabs: £90 (S$270)
Gobsmacked expression posted on the internet: Priceless.



Photos courtesy of CrookedTongues.

Birds.

First and foremost, apologies for not having made more posts than I would've liked. Argh, wotever.

It is close to 7:00pm and the last meal I had was lunch, yesterday. I am now freaking famished. 2 packets of M&Ms Peanut Butter doesn't have any effect at all. Mom fried some birds in the afternoon but I'm in the mood for something healthy. Been trying to avoid greasy food you see.

So guess what she's preparing right now as we speak? Ramen instant noodles. Sweet.

Still trying to decide whether or not to accompany *****-Zam to BarNone. One of his students is performing there later tonight. Never liked clubs. Ever.

R.I.P.

A very sad day for wrestling fans, especially for my kid brother. I read about this tragedy at like 3am and broke the news to him immediately after he woke up from sleep. LOL. Mean right? Needless to say, he was gutted. The boy even said,"That's it. I'm done watching wrestling." Aww..

He was without a doubt, one of WWE's more hilarious, popular and colourful characters. At least I got to see him 'live' in action when they came over for the SmackDown Tour.

Click here for report.

Vet School.

The bottom right of my screen is showing 4:33am. It's been an hour an a half since I woke up from my sleep to pee and now I cannot put myself back to sleep. So what better to make a blog entry eventhough there's nothing much to write about. Guess for once, I'll put to words whatever's at the tip of mind this very nanosecond ..

Conversation with a friend on MSN a couple of days ago ..

Friend: I told him that he's not a cat.

Me: Errr .. (?)

Friend: He doesn't have 9 lives and that he shouldn't go around ruining his own life and other girls' as well.

Me: Okay.


Major props to the Australian authorities for having managed to foil a possible major terrorism attack. 17 people arrested in Melbourne and Sydney. Yeah you get concerned with every terror-related news but this one's a tad different. 'Cos a very dear friend of mine is studying in Melbourne. She takes the public transport alot and God knows what those crackheads had in mine.


I should really call her tomorrow. Damn, it's been months now. Wonder why she hasn't returned for the holidays. Probably still having exams. She's really gotta nail this final round of exams. 'Cos you see she wants to get into a vet school. Back in the days, one of her kittens was born with a deep cut on her tummy (believed to be the fault of other cats trying to eat it up) and she did her own surgery on the little dude. Think she applied some form of lotion or something. Yikes! And how dare she ask me to help her hold the limbs. Damn! Needless to say, a huge fight followed. Remind me to ring her up later in the day.


Wonder what's on TV at 5:00am ...