a wedding, booze and football drama...

really fantastic day today. i got myself a pair of panasonic earphones for my new mp4 player (which much to my chagrin, cannot fit an SD card like it claims to... though dad said he'd go back to the shop to check on that. but hey, it cost $80 and it has one gig as it is...), which are specially meant for sports. they sound great, and only set me back 23 bucks. score!

while i couldn't find myself a copy of pokemon diamond/pearl (i really think i'll never patronise either store at parkway ever again. my old shop where i got my original NES quoted me a ridiculous $79, while the other store at first gave me $60 but turned around when i came back later to give me $69. what the hell man... i refuse to fork out more than 60-65 smackaroos for a DS cart...) and had a dreamy start to my commentator duties at 445 mass, the day was topped off with michael's rom at his place.

and when michael's involved, it means booze. ben, my cousin and drinking kaki, had a real field day.

i had a hoegaarden over dinner and an erdinger dark after that, with some rosé in between there somewhere. had a sip of some other champagne as well as well as wine. i then shifted upstairs because of the game.

problem was united was 1-0 down. and chelsea were winning.

things didn't get better when i went upstairs when manuel fernandes hit a piledriver to make it 2-0. well, maybe not so bad, cause bolton had pegged chelsea back to 2-2.

but when john o shea stabbed home when everton's keeper fluffed a corner to notch an unlikely merseyside double (he scored that dramatic goal against liverpool as well), the belief that united could turn things around started to resurface. and sure enough, thanks to ex-red phil neville, united were level after the toffees self-destructed at another corner, with poor phil's hashed clearance ending up behind the line.

and if an ex-red drew united back on even terms, an evertonian old boy sealed the game. rooney came close before, but he slotted home after neat footwork conspired with poor everton defending.

when the lead was taken, we switched intermittently with channel 24 to check out the result at stamford bridge. after what seemed like an obscene amount of injury time (5 minutes... what the...), bolton stole a point from stamford bridge. united were 5 clear!

but that didn't stop rooney from laying off a neat ball for youngster chris eagles, who took his chance with aplomb as he curled exquisitely past the onrushing keeper.

united 4-2 victors and looking pretty on the summit with a neat 5-point gap.

and before home beckoned, i had a spell in the massage chair, a vodka orange juice as well as another half glass of red wine. before i got a taste of nutella's alcoholic brother - hazelnut liqueor. woot.

i can't say how much i enjoyed myself tonight, because the feelings just can't be verbalised. and here's a huge congrats to michael and yen! and thanks for a really wonderful evening!

the stuff of tabloids

flipping through the numerous pages of the sun looking for news articles wasn't really fun for my project, but it did let me catch a glimpse of the nature of the infamous british tabloids. and quite honestly, it makes the new paper resemble a proper paper.

i did chance upon this story, however, and i think it's worth a look at.

for all their technological brilliance, i guess the japanese don't really get out that much.

i brought it up over dinner last night, and my brother-in-law mentioned that the japanese kids draw chickens... with FOUR legs.

i won't be surprised if our kids start thinking lambs as some kind of adorable little pooch as well soon with our kind of narrow education system. and considering some idiot on who wants to be a millionaire last time couldn't tell that an anaconda wasn't a mammal.

i pray that day doesn't come to pass.

one quick post before i scoot for dinner...

ok, i have more things to write about, but i'll leave this first. thanks to miss cheryl seow, i have to do this. otherwise, i won't hear the end of it. the 6 lucky ones who have to do this, will be listed below. i'll let you enjoy what i have to say first before i torture you. bwahaha.

INSTRUCTIONS: This is what you are supposed to do. Cut and paste if you decide to participate in the tagging game. Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. At the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog.

Weird things about myself:

1) i love switching to different accents - scottish, irish, brit, german, french, the hong konger... it's all good fun, vouldn't you eh-guree? (imagines ivan shaking his head and considering whether i'm schizo...)

2) it's not really that weird, but i have a penchant for brit comedy. so much to the point that i can laugh at anything, as peter would accuse me. but the dry, matter-of-fact-no-matter-how-absurd-it-is comedy just tickles me pink.

3) i like roaring like a dinosaur. the emoticon i use on msn is only the tip of the iceberg. i learnt how to shriek and snarl from the velociraptors on jurassic park as well as dinobot from beast wars. *raptor growls*

4) i get supreme nerves when i sing in front of people. i can sing *with* people, or in front of people i know, but i just melt into a bunch of nerves when i have to lead a psalm or song (ala cantoring or when i used to do the anthem in my jc days... dear God, the council lads will know how bad my nerves were back then...). this is weird to me because while i used to get some nerves when i first started reading in church, i never felt as nervous as when i first sang.

5) i hate veggies - to the point that the only ones i consume are carrots, certain leafy veggies when i have the mood and desire for fibre, lettuce in burgers, onions, mushrooms and potatoes. it has improved since my early days, but i doubt i'll drop my carnivorous ways any time soon.

6) lastly, i can only dance under the influence of alcohol. why? cos i'm too darn self-aware to do so when i'm sober, even though i like bobbing my head or swaying to the music.

now, for the moment you've been dreading: MANDY, AIN, DODANI, NIR1, DREW AND... MINGWEI. you've been tagged. continue the chain! =)

what do you do when you've been forgotten as the two best players in the world clash?

you write your own invitation and crash the party of course. especially if your name's wayne rooney.

manchester united vs ac milan was touted as the clash between recently crowned pfa, young pfa and fans' pfa player of the year award cristiano ronaldo and ac milan's midfield maestro kaka. while both players were in good form (moreso kaka, who scored milan's 2 goals with top quality finishes to give milan a 1-2 lead at half-time), rooney sent a loud reminder that he was still one of the young players to watch by answering the brazillian wonder with two goals of his own.

the first that demonstrated his magnificent control, despite a relatively scrappy finish, to equalise and the second a much more emphatic finish in the opening minute of stoppage time to give man united a slim 3-2 lead to the san siro.

milan were impressively clinical and patient in the first half, showing a deliberate attempt to control the tide of play even as they succumbed to an early own goal by dida from a ronaldo header. kaka's brilliance eventually gave milan the lead they deserved.

something told me that there yet more twists to be had in this tale at this point, but i had not envisioned such a dramatic turnover.

after half time, things looked different as maldini was taken off and followed soon after by the tenacious rino gattuso. things started to change as united were free from gattuso's watchful industry as things began to open up.

there were a number of outstanding performers, but from the united camp, i think darren fletcher deserves a real mention. he was simply outstanding once again, running his socks off and winning challenges. and his delivery was superb. i feel vindicated for keeping faith with the scot ever since i started noticing him when rooney scored his unforgettable debut hattrick against fenerbache despite his maligned performances. the added responsiblity for him has truly made him step up and be counted for.

truly another magical european night in the theater of dreams.

plus special mention and thanks must go to becks, whose words somehow convinced me that cold prata was a no-no. turns out 2 minutes in the toaster oven for each prata led to a much more palatable experience than the cold ones i had for dinner.

off to bed i go. at 07:36.

we'll tell you a story...

does anyone else remember that show? it was a show from the 70s though. guess mom recorded it ages before anyone my age or younger could register anything.

spending time with the niece has made me re-discover another part of my childhood that i had almost forgotten about. i remember slotting in tape after tape to watch those shows. the guy, christopher lillicrap, who did the show was so talented, cos he could sing, play the guitar, read, act... basically a great storyteller and host. especially because i loved the theme song...

if you like to sing songs
and you like to hear rhymes
if you want join in
and have a real good time

or maybe hear a tale that you never heard before

we'll tell you a story
we'll tell you a story
we'll tell you a story
that's what we're here for

fortunately for jillian, she won't have to do any tape swapping (since we're all doing it for her anyway) since she has them all nicely digitised to dvds for her. it's actually quite fun watching these old kids shows with her, though she probably doesn't pay as much attention as i do. some of the old shows that i didn't really like watching then are actually more palatable to an older me. there was one show called gather round, and it was really neat cos the artist would illustrate the story as the narrator told it. well, not the entire story, since that would be really crazy. but still, it was really impressive because the art was so nice. compared to the trashy kids shows of today that try too hard to be like sesame street.

makes me wish i was a kid again...

a good day on the courts...

well, not entirely that good. pretty alright with the work ethic and delighted with the goal at the end of the whole session. it felt really good to draw the ball back and knock it past one guy and change direction from the other and smash the ball into the back of net. with the last kick of the day. heh. but i guess i really need to work on my passing with the right foot as well as my dribbling.

though i guess i'll just leave that to the next footy session. the price to pay for the 4 hours of running and kicking? sore legs, an achey head and a ginger big right toe after fluffing a shot with my toe hitting the ground. and not to mention the 3 tone tan i have. as if a singlet line were not enough, my arms are divided at the elbow now. haha.

but hey, all for the love of the game.

and now, for the best reward for a day like this: a nice, long sleep.

after suffering sleepless nights, sleep-talking on msn, rushing to katong shopping centre to bind...

IT IS DONE.

and yes, i did sleep-talk over msn. ask nirwan. how the heck i did it, i have no blinkin' idea. apparently i told him over msn at the designated time he was supposed to wake me up that 'iam up' 'an recharged'. unfortunately, i have no recollection of my sleeping hours between 0645 and 1030. and yes, those are MORNING hours. the alleged conversation took place at 0800.

talk about a crazy project. i never realised the extent of it till the later days when further research yielded new leads... and more work.

o, and might i add that references are a royal bitch to do. really royal. especially when you have 47 articles taken from british tabloid, news and football websites. spending a good 4 or 5 hours (i can't even rememer what time i started and ended... help...) just plugging away at references alone... just ain't fun.

but oh, the satisfaction of filling up the assignment acknowledgement form and dropping the book inside the night drop box was unmistakable. just seeing the little booklet drop right in... man. that made it worth all the while.

and while i did make an acknowledgement page, i think it doesn't do enough justice. thanks to everyone who has helped me out throughout this whole project period. thanks to the guys who read my intellectual rubbish and critiqued it so it would be more intellectual and less rubbishy, all for the sake of academic excellence no less. thanks to nirwan, for the awesome haiku that cracked me up, as well as changing the heroes in hogan's heroes to something that just cracked me up in the middle of the night. if you're curious as to what nir said, just take a look at the keyboard around the letter 'o' and substitute. hur hur.

thanks to all the fellow midnight vigilantes who have gone through the sleepless nights with me and given me the chatting boost that i need to help stave off the evil zee demons. the support and friendships that i get from you guys is really incredible. a little bit goes a long, long way. i hope the lot of you who are having exams fight the good fight and that i can help in anyway possible, because you all have helped me with my battle.

and for now, i shall make friends with the zee demons. they're actually quite friendly when you don't have pressing things to accomplish. glorious sleep beckons...

and i leave you with nir's words of wisdom...

late at night
procrastinators stay awake
head painful

blogging off the stress

oooooook. while it's dropped considerably, freaking out point seems within touching distance. i know i have till 8.30pm on wednesday to submit my assignment, but i'm very worried about my references and word count. no, i'm not under. i think i'm gonna be OVER. by A LOT. ARGH.

taking the time out to look away from the madness that looms has reminded me what spider-man 3 is due out on may day. and fantastic four is due on 14th june. transformers is due on the 4th of july, just like the us release. o and shrek the third is due 31 may... aw crud. so many good movies!

and in the news, there's been another campus massacre, this time in virginia tech university. according to yahoo news, it was committed by a young asian man who is 'deceased'. and the death toll's higher than the columbine shooting.

guess i'm not the only one who's stressed.

32 people. dead. 32 families grieving. sigh.

why can't we all just live a happy life?

comedy minute

thanks to ollie for the heads up for this one.

1. go to google > more >> > maps

2. click get directions

3. in the two text boxes, type "New York, New York" and "Paris, France"

4. click the 'get directions' button

5. read line 24

enjoy. ;)

sounds like the sheltie's safe...

got a call from the spca this afternoon in the middle of nap. the shetland sheepdog i picked up yesterday has been claimed by the owner and they told me the owner wanted to speak to me. in my dazed, half-awake state i said ok.

an hour or two later i got the call from the owner. he lives in one of the newer neighbourhoods behind my place and the old girl somehow found her way out of the gate. and from the sound of it, i guess she must've been hiding away from the rain. and she probably froze because of her poor eye sight. his kids were worried cos they've had that gal for quite a while. well, who wouldn't be with a dog as cute as that?

somehow, i guess there was a plan to it all. i wasn't 100% keen on making my way out, since i hadn't finished my grad project yet. had i left early, i probably would've been on the bus when the sheltie got hit. and i not gone, who knows how long it would've had to wait for someone to help? well, hopefully not that long since it was lying on the road anyway. and this morning i get a call from omar telling us that we've gotten an extension for our project. guess there was something going on in the bigger picture of things...

a surreal experience...

have you ever seen a dog get hit by a car? right before your eyes? i did today.

i was waiting at the bus stop to go off for leonard's surprise birthday party at a mongolian international buffet restaurant at park mall when this little shetland sheepdog scurried onto the grass pavement. for some reason, i felt compelled to run out and grab it, because it look like it would happily scamper onto the road at any minute. and sure enough, to my abject horror, after sniffing the side of the bin on the curb, the little dog tried to cross the road.

right into the path on an oncoming black suv (i think it was an suv... i remember that it was a big car...). and the silly little bugger froze.

credit to the the driver, he/she tried to swerve away from the dog, plus the dog did appear quite late. but the car still got it anyway with a loud smack as the white and brown dog flipped over on its side. as it spun in the air, it seemed like time had slowed to a crawl ala bullet time.

i couldn't believe it. a dog just got hit by a car right before my eyes. i've seen a dead cat get run over by a speeding car, with a loud crunching of bones accompanying the visual. but here, was a live dog getting smacked by a car. it started howling for a brief moment, but with traffic on both sides, its cries were totally drowned out.

it just lay there. motionless. i don't know, but something just clicked in me to dash to and check on it. the poor thing was totally dazed and blood started to trickle out of its nose. i really didn't know what to do at that moment. would i hurt it more if i moved it? does it have an owner? i pulled it off the main road and tried to carry it and it yelped. i dropped it with a start. cursing myself inside for being such a twit, i tried again. this time without dropping the dog.

first thing that came into my mind was to find its owner so i headed to the day care centre where i thought the dog had come from. the gate was open, but i rang the door bell. when no one came, i ran inside and put the dog down beside the lawn and started shouting "is any one home?". i didn't really peer into the tinted windows because in the state i was in. but after a while someone came out and asked me the matter. it wasn't their dog, but they were really nice people. i mean, considering they didn't complain about a dog that was bleeding on their floor and let a total stranger onto their premises, they've got to be nice people.

the helper, a girl in her teens from the looks of it, helped me get the number for spca, which i then called. gave them the address and described what happened, which i don't know how i did the call since i had so much adrenaline coursing through me at this point. just looking at the poor pup just lying there, body rigid and nose bleeding, tugged at my core. especially since it was a shetland. think lassie, just smaller. didn't know what i could do other than pat it and tell it "don't die on me... don't die on me... you'll be fine..." and hope the dog could understand whatever it was i said.

it took about 40 minutes to an hour before the van came, and it seemed like an eternity. the lady invited me into the house since the aircon was on, but i ended up restlessly getting up every 5 minutes or so to check on the dog and look out for the van. fortunately, it seemed more like it was suffering from shock more than anything else, as it began to start turning its head around and propping it up to have a look round. it even scampered into the cage as the spca guy leashed it up and beckoned it in.

after signing the receipt of acknowledgement, i went back to the bus stop, nerves still tingling. while i'll probably never find out what happens to the little critter, i'm just glad and thankful that it made it up to there. i can't stand seeing that breed of dog like that. it would have been soul killing if it had kicked it right before my eyes.

just hope it's alright. somewhere out there.

remembering this night for a long time to come...

whilst my previous posts about european nights have been highly critical of united (like watching united bow out passively against ac milan two years ago... that was something to forget...), united were undeniably magnificent against an as roma side that was a pale shadow of the team that took a 2-1 lead against united in rome.

the final score?

7-1. seven-one. you're reading it right.




even i couldn't believe it when michael carrick's cracker in the 11th minute kick started the roman slaughter. it was a beautiful way to open the floodgates as the ball fizzed into the back of the net with the keeper stranded off his line as the carrick decided to open up his champions league goal account with a bang. once again, provided by the irresistable cristiano ronaldo, who was absolutely pivotal as the game went on. not that he wasn't a pest to roma's defense from the start.




the next scorer 6 minutes later may have been a simpler finish, but it will definitely be remembered well by the old trafford faithful as it was scored by one who has endured injury hell. making his 3rd start of the season, alan smith peeled off his marker and got on the end of a superb move by united. started by carrick, heinze laid the ball on for giggs, who played a tantalising early cross in from the left that deflected off chivu into the path of the fiery yorkshire terrier, who swept home to open his own champions league account for united as well. welcome back smudger. welcome back.


just two minutes later, united found the back of the net again. this time with wayne rooney applying the finishing touch as giggs chalked up another assist, this time from the opposite flank as the roma defenders failed to pick up an onrushing rooney. he made no mistake at that close range, adding to his previously stagnant champions league goal tally.


up to then, ronaldo had been tormenting the poor roman defence. jinking and dancing around, ron was twisting the defenders inside out, left and right. having provided one goal and playing a part of the buildup to other two, he needed no invitation to rasp home united's fourth goal of the evening just before the end of normal time in the first half. receiving the ball from giggs again, ronaldo attacked the space on the right side of the pitch, taking on chivu before drilling the ball into the bottom corner at the near post. with that strike, ronaldo joined carrick in the champions league goal bank in opening up his account.


by half time, the united players were clearly dominating all over the pitch. even darren fletcher stated his case to be in the first team as he started in the place of the suspended paul scholes, winning important challenges and spraying passes all over the field. united controlled the game, restricting roma and totti to long range efforts that never looked close to bulging the back of the net.

luciano spalleti's team would cling on to the hope they had when they beat lyon 2-0 at the stade de gerland as they went out of the tunnel. if they could do that away from home against a french side that had been tipped to go all the way in europe, why not the same at united? unfortunately for roma, ronaldo delivered the final hammer blow that sealed roma's champions league coffin shut.

rooney was looking to double his european goal haul as he forced roma's keeper doni into tipping his shot onto the roof of the net. the resulting corner was dealt with, but the ball found rooney once more and he helped it on to ryan giggs. sliding the ball across the face of goal, the ball found ronaldo who tapped home 5 minutes into the 2nd half.


number six came in the sixtieth minute. carrick, who controlled the ebb and flow of united's game with his passing, was picked out by heinze. if his first goal was a joy to watch curl in, the second one was a positive bullet as it screamed into the top right hand corner from the left edge of the penalty box. a real treat to watch.


roma had some joy as totti did well to jink into space on the right and launch a cross in for daniele de rossi. the italian's cheeky finish was a fine goal in itself, but with the scoreline as it was, the celebrations from the roma players were understandably muted. i almost feel sorry for them.


and you know it just ain't your day when a substitute fullback who's playing out of position scores against you without striking the ball all that well. little patrice evra, who plies his trade on the left side of defence, cut in from his unaccustomed right back position and scuffed a grounder at goal. fortunately, it was hit with enough pace and the trajectory was kind as it wrong footed the hapless doni and nestled into the bottom right hand corner. a perfect 7.


i came into this match extremely cynical, expecting united to bow out of europe once more. but an insane performance like this just left me all abuzz with adrenaline. if united could produce scintillating performances like this week in week out, one might dare to dream that the treble is back on once again.

glory, glory.

guess the english really aren't what they used to be...

looking for evidence that england has not been the football force it used to be has proven to be quite easy. while it's safe to say that the epl is probably the most watched national football league in the world, english clubs have only won the champions' league twice in its current format. when united did it in 99, there were only 6 british players in the starting eleven: 1 irishman (denis irwin), 1 welshman (ryan giggs) and 4 englishmen (beckham, butt, gary neville and andy cole). the last two years when liverpool won and arsenal reached the finals, liverpool started with a paltry 3 brits (one irish and two english) whilst arsenal had only 2 englishmen flying the england flag. so much for the mighty british.

in fact, the last time a team entirely comprised of british players that won a european cup final was all the way back in 1982, when aston villa did it with 8 englishmen and 3 scots. how the world of football has changed.

with more and more foreigners coming into england and few english players going out, englishmen have definitely had a tougher time. especially when the english style is becoming more and more susceptible to the general continental style employed by other european clubs. especially with fewer and fewer of the technically gifted breed of englishmen coming through the ranks, it is clear where the problem lies.

something's gotta change in england. the current problems in the team are telling indeed. if things don't change, it's going to be even rougher for the three lions in the years to come.

jill's ill...

there's something primal about the crying of a baby. primally annoying if the bwaling child isn't yours or unrelated to you, but it somehow awakens an automated response system that's located somewhere deep down in our conscience. it's something so innate and ingrained in us, i find it hard to not lift my head up whenever i hear so much as a whimper from beyond my room.

poor lil' jillian's got a sore throat. she visited the doc's today to get medicine, but she was really crying the house into the ground yesterday. and while she's quietly sleeping now (and stirring every now and then too), she had a really good one just now. just carrying her for a while will tell you that kind of temperature she's running; she's like a little parcel of heat. hopefully the meds get her well soon. it's just heart rending to hear her when she howls.

an easter vigil tale

wow. attending my first easter vigil at st mary's last year was a first for me. didn't jot my thoughts down about it though. this year though, my role and location were changed. remember the earlier post about my vigil reading? i'm glad to say everything went smoothly despite some hiccups during the final preparation session before the vigil itself.

i reached olps at 6 for the session at st mike's room and i was the third one there with jerome and mrs isaac getting there ahead of me. when we stepped into the room, what initially seemed like good fortune was that someone had left the aircon on before us. while it was a real waste of electricity, i wasn't complaining since it meant the room was already cool.

jerome went through his reading with mrs isaac first, and he did a really good job. at the same time, i felt like i was ready. i'd been practising hard for it, and i thought that i had gotten everything right. i even thought that i might have had the answer to what peter and stephen thought was missing from my proclamation. but i guess someone had other plans for me.

as it came to my turn, mrs isaac had to point out bits that i had thought were alright previously that weren't entirely right. the last thing i wanted was to make changes when i had more or less settled in my mind what i wanted to do. i wasn't entirely nervous yet, but the doubt started to creep in. i wasn't sure if i was capable of playing with the words as well as she could, because i'm not as comfy with intonations and inflexions she was asking for. and with 4 readers before me, i started to realise the pressure that was on me to be as good as they were to keep the flow going.

the aircon didn't help me either at this point. my hands were freezing. even when i did my second run and was given mrs isaac's stamp of approval that i had earned my place there, i started to wonder what would happen up on the ambo. would i do my reading justice? would i be as good as the others before me?

when we went into the church, my hands were still ice cold, thought i had some consolation that my reading was really meant to be segmented unlike how i had been practising it before. when the vigil started with the service of light, i was desperately trying to warm my hands up with the candle when it was lit. to no avail. the church was packed and i was really wondering what would happen to me up there.

but somehow, something happened.

when my turn came, i was calm. i don't know how and why, but when i stepped out of the pew, time seemed to stop and everything inside me quitened down. the pressure was gone. even after soaking in all the beautiful readings done by the first four. and everything just clicked into gear. and i read with an awareness of what i wanted to do and had been taught to do. i was back in the zone, and catching the glances from the others definitely encouraged as i set about my task: to proclaim.

when i stepped down and retook my place at the pew, i realised that my hands were warm once again as the others gave me a handshake and a thumbs up. the icy coldness had left my hands completely. i felt at peace.

the others after me did a fantastic job as well and i'm glad we all did well in our individual readings. it felt great to be part of a team and to have done my own bit for the team as well. there's no better feeling than to serve the Lord in one's fullest capacity, and i'm really glad to be where i am at now.

happy easter everyone. christ is risen.

God bless.

rant: rollover ads...

advertisements can annoy people more often than not. but this whole new wave of rollovers is annoying the crap out of me.

i've endured them for more than long enough. first ones i remember came up on ign. then yahoo started implementing them. and now, of all things, msn. ARGH.

i understand that people might not even give a damn otherwise if they hadn't accidentally rolled their mouse over the sweet spot. but honestly, it comes bloody close to spam. there's nothing more infuriating than trying to read something when you suddenly and unknowingly roll the mouse over the stupid ad. it expands and then blocks your entire freaking screen. and it doesn't help that they don't explicitly indicate a close button or even tell you how to get rid of it at all.

perhaps i wouldn't be so annoyed if they just STAYED WHERE THEY WERE. but while some funny agreement was probably included in the licence or something, it pretty much feels like an unsolicited ad, almost like spam. is it so much to ask you advertisers to not interrupt what i'm doing? the counter-argument would be for me to "be more careful with my mouse movements". but it doesn't help that no one sees the stupid "ROLLOVER FOR MORE INFORMATION" thing when they don't really know that the ad is there. grrrrrr.

just when i thought i had nothing to blog about...

picked this little thing up from mandy's blog. it's pretty neat. seems accurate enough too. haha.

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now that's more like it.

after reading about the bore-draw in israel and getting fed up with england going into half time nil-nil with andorra (a football team made up of amateurs and part timers...), it was defnitely a pleasure to return to a weekend of epl. i was caught unawares as i thought united's game was at 11, but it turned out to be at 10, so i missed the first 10 minutes. not that i missed anything. in fact, by the time i plomped myself on the couch, nemanja vidic had to be stretchered off. bummer. there's goes our stone wall in defence. and 10 seconds after vidic leaves the field with a dislocated shoulder, derbyshire somehow scrambles in a sloppy goal for blackburn. to make matters even worse, it seemed like united had no luck at all, especially with friedel beating away united's best attacks. at half time, united had no answer.

and even for the first 10 minutes of the second half, it looked like luck had taken a break on united even as united began taking the game to blackburn. but still, united had a zero to its name.

until it happened.

paul scholes, with the ball conspiring to end up at his feet, danced through the blackburn defence like a teenager with a grace that belied his 32 years of age. jinking past one man, then two, scholesy then lashed a low drive into the left hand corner. old trafford erupted in sheer rapture as the ball bulged in the back of the net whilst the ginger prince celebrated with his teammates. the quest to extend united's dominion on the premiership this season was still on, and united looked alive in every sense. rooney went close whilst ryan giggs, who has had rotten luck with the woodwork of late, struck a venomous shot that cannoned off the crossbar and back into play with the gaping goal mouth at his mercy. the red devils were relentless as the old trafford faithful urged their team on with song.

and then the three points were earned. cristiano ronaldo, ever magnificent this season in the red and white, crossed low across the blackburn goal after some quick and intelligent approach play from a corner. the ball fizzled past brad friedel and the other blackburn defenders. only to find michael carrick, who calmly sidefooted the ball back across and into the goal. "we want our trophy back!" sang the united fans.

but it was not to be over yet. samba handled the ball at the edge of the blackburn area and ronaldo once again played creator by lashing a vicious free kick at the bottom left corner. this time, brad friedel prevented that corner of the goal from bulging, but he could only parry the shot. only to parry it to park ji-sung, and the south korean made no mistake as he poked the ball into an empty net from close range.

united controlled every ebb and flow. edwin van der sar had precious little to do in united's goal, only having needed to have gotten down once to collect a rare and tame blackburn effort.

and if the fans had not sung it loud enough for chelsea to hear, the players decided to deliver their statement of intent personally. park combined with rooney as they approached the rovers' goal area once more. park tried to return the favour, but the ball did not fall kindly for the young scouser who was being watched by stephen warnock. instead, it fell to another of the united old guard. ole gunnar solskjaer, who came on as a substitute along with alan smith, got on the end of it and finished it the same way carrick and scholes had done before him.

if only england matches were this exciting.