random musing again at 4am...

life has been slow since i stopped babysitting my niece and nephew.

sure, i've had an exam... lc ministry stuff... outings... the start of a new football season as well as a new year of csa...

nonetheless, life apart from those has been a tad slow. well, i guess it's good because i'm starting to write more again.

rewatching earlier seasons of house have made me realise that there's probably a little bit of gregory house in all of us. whether it's the constant avoidance of the dreaded and dull paperwork or the urge to rebuke (with copious amounts of acidic sarcasm) that total moron of a customer, a co-worker or a boss for something really stupid they did or said or did or the silly things you do to avoid doing work or even that constant crave for some sort of excitement in life, house is just an amalgam of some of the best and worst qualities you can find in a human being. i can even relate to the things house does to the people he does like: almost everything else but telling the person how he really feels.

drifting away from the topic of house, i'm itching for some basketball. ok, fine, i was secretly hoping the dark grey clouds i saw outside the window when i woke up would let rip just so i could slink back to bed and sleep some more because i didn't have enough sleep. but really, i could use some physical activity after not really doing much over the last few weeks. it doesn't quite help that i feel the urge to read and watch slam dunk again.

come to think of it, i have a bunch of books that i started reading and then put aside for other books or things to do. from my autobiography of sir alex ferguson to the biography of erwin rommel to sun tzu's art of war to that halo novel i just can't seem to finish, i could busy my eyes with these tomes. and i could even test my chinese with my slam dunk mangas.

of course, more pressing at the moment is the need to get myself employed. i've got something in mind at the moment that i've already told some of you about, but i'm gonna keep mum for the time being till something actually happens. in the mean time, i have a tonne of things to prepare and if it all works out, i'll mention it. otherwise, you'll hear me moaning about the sickening thought of drafting and sending resumes and going for interviews.

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i think enough has been said about united vs arsenal last night. nonetheless, i'd like to reserve a spot of praise for darren fletcher who most football fans look upon with disdain due to his ineffectiveness in the earlier stages of his career at united. however, i think it's clear as day for any man united fan that the scot has come a long, long, long way to become a key player for us. from an unassuming youth to willing runner to dominant midfield enforcer, fletch has grown from strength to strength to strength. underestimate united's scottish midfield terror at your own peril, all ye non-united curs.

one quick word about the match before i sleep...

lucky.

your laughter

heard this on a bbc programme in the car just now. beautiful poem... shame there isn't someone in my life to take the place of 'you' at the moment.

Your Laughter

Take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.

Do not take away the rose,
the lance flower that you pluck,
the water that suddenly
bursts forth in joy,
the sudden wave
of silver born in you.

My struggle is harsh and I come back
with eyes tired
at times from having seen
the unchanging earth,
but when your laughter enters
it rises to the sky seeking me
and it opens for me all
the doors of life.

My love, in the darkest
hour your laughter
opens, and if suddenly
you see my blood staining
the stones of the street,
laugh, because your laughter
will be for my hands
like a fresh sword.

Next to the sea in the autumn,
your laughter must raise
its foamy cascade,
and in the spring, love,
I want your laughter like
the flower I was waiting for,
the blue flower, the rose
of my echoing country.

Laugh at the night,
at the day, at the moon,
laugh at the twisted
streets of the island,
laugh at this clumsy
boy who loves you,
but when I open
my eyes and close them,
when my steps go,
when my steps return,
deny me bread, air,
light, spring,
but never your laughter
for I would die.

Pablo Neruda

now that's a response

5-0.

wow.

it looked painfully like business at usual with a profligate first half with great chances created despite a dominant united.

but in the second half... man. what a blitz.

two goals from rooney sandwiching a classy berbatov goal with an exquisite michael owen goal off a reverse pass from nani who turned goal scorer with a well struck free kick.

guess burnley really was a blip... hopefully we get to see much more of this kind of the same in the weeks to come.

glory, glory.

good man

Good Man
Josh Ritter

These chords are old but we shake hands
Cause I believe that they're the good guys
We can use all the help we can
So many minor chords outside
I fell in love with the sound
Oh I love to sing along with you
We got tunes we kicked around some
We got a bucket that the tunes go through

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

Last night there was a horse in the road
I was twisting in the hairpin
My hands held on my mind let go
And back to you my heart went skipping
I found the inside of the road
Thought about the first time I met you
All those glances that we stole
Sometimes if you want them then you've got to

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

They shot a Western south of here
They had him cornered in a canyon
And even his horse had disappeared
They said it got run down by a bad, bad man
You're not a good shot but I'm worse
And there's so much where we ain't been yet
So swing up on this little horse
The only thing we'll hit is sunset

Babe we both had dry spells
Hard times in bad lands
I'm a good man for ya
I'm a good man

exasperation and frustration of the highest order...

i'm sure most of you have read my post-united loss rants before. but honestly, that was a performance so limp even fielding a team of 11 amoebas (or ameobae or whatever the bloody plural form for amoeba is) would have had more spine than the team that faced newly-promoted burnley at turf moor.

surely burnley defended resolutely and scored a cracking goal. hell, brian jensen deserves a medal for his heroics (as always, opposition keepers ALWAYS play their best games against united... damn i hate goalkeepers that don't play for manchester united...).

but surely, even then, with the glut of chances we had towards the end and even the bloody penalty, we couldn't even find just one reply?

by goodness.

there's a saying that you never write united off until the last second of the game.

at the rate we're going, we're just going to write ourselves out of winning the league.

house and up...

it's amazing to see how house's season finales have come along. season 1 ended with the introduction of house's married ex-girlfriend and their unresolved feelings for one another while season 2 ended with house being shot. season 3 ended with the clearing out of house's team and then 5... well, if you haven't watched it, i won't spoil it for you. it was a huge turning point and it leaves me wanting season 6. really, really bad. even though i still have missing episodes from season 5 to catch up on.

having said that, nothing beats the drama and tension from season 4's two-parter even though i knew the ultimate outcome. the characterisations were extremely strong, with the acting of no less an equal standard. it was an emotional roller coaster that just sucked you into the gravity of the drama. it left me hoping against hope, even with the knowledge that amber (or cutthroat bitch, as house calls her) would die.

it opened up new understandings of everyone on the show. from cuddy to wilson, the new team to foreman. it even showed a softer side of house that we rarely see. of course, kudos must go to the actors for bringing their characters to life. hugh laurie is brilliant as ever, but i think robert sean leonard deserves credit for really bringing out the raw emotions that wilson felt as he transferred his concerns from his best friend's injuries to his girlfriend's life threatening and ultimately fatal condition.

i may have about half of season 5 to catch up on, but i eagerly await the arrival of house season 6.

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if there's one animated movie studio that i trust to never fail to make me laugh while telling a compelling and very smart tale, it would definitely have to be pixar.

from toy story to the incredibles to wall-e, pixar always manages to put a smile on my face with a healthy variety of comedy while blending in a good amount of heartwarming and well-told story into the mix.

and up continues in this grand tradition with no less the same pedigree as its predecesors.

if you haven't watched it yet, stop reading this rave and go and watch it.

seriously.

you're missing out.

being the first ever animated film to open the cannes film festival, up deals with themes even grandparents can associate with. after all, the film's protagonist is an old man named carl fredricksen who's basically lived a normal life with his wife ellie. when ellie passes away without the couple ever fulfilling their wildest wishes, carl finally decides to act on one of them when he is forced to move into a retirement village. which is nothing less than moving the house that he and ellie have lived in all their life atop paradise falls in south america the only way carl knows how - via balloon. not hot air balloon, but by your humble little everyday rubber balloon filled with helium. accidentally taking off little wilderness explorer russell, who wants to assist carl anyway possible to earn an assisting the elderly badge and become a senior wilderness explorer, they end up on the other end of the plateau where paradise falls is located. and as they walk the barely floating house across the plateau, they encounter all sorts of adventure that leads to carl making a momentous decision.

i'll end the synopsis so i won't spoil it any further (or boring to death anyone else who's watched it), but i'll definitely say i loved the way the story was told. the metaphors are so rich and the comedy really, really smart. we can all relate to the themes and the moral of the story, especially in the current world conditions we live in at the moment.

still reading? just open the new tab and go book your tickets online and get out of the house to go watch the dang film already. SHOO!