Pictures from my Past

I am a World Cup Zombie…

Lazy updating on blogs? Caused by the World Cup. Caused by the lack of sleep. Blame the friggin’ late hour matches involving big teams. Anyway, here is the long and short of the world cup thus far…

• Michael Owen is out
• Wayne Rooney is back
• Peter Crouch is unfortunate
• Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez are prodigies
• Luis Figo is on fire
• Thierry Henry is an incredible sulk
• Ronaldo is both fat and lucky

And finally,

• Mateja Kezman is an idiot

Congratulations to Gareth Southgate, the former Middlesbrough Captain and England International on becoming Middlesbrough FC’s latest manager. He might be ugly but he bleeds for Boro!


(Bloody 'ell!)


(Gareth Southgate - Boro's Newly Appoited Manager)

Lego Galore!

Finally, my dream in having a dedicated Lego room has finally come true. True, I did want my own customized table with a clear plastic box cover to keep out the dust. I also envisioned lots of glass cabinets with my miscellaneous Lego sets as a showcase.


(The centerpiece. Look, Ma! Lego Street Lights)


("Someday, I'll be on the table...just you see!")

Having said that, a makeshift table made of Ikea LACK tables and a solitary glass cabinet is also acceptable. Anyway, this is my proud collection amassed over 6 years. My only gripe is that my room isn’t big enough to truly display the entire Lego Town collection which would include an Airport, Fire Station, Mono-Rail Station and much, much more.

Of course, the ideal set-up would be the one below...


(Orgasm, Lego Style)

Everytime I see that, I drool. *wipe*

Ok, say it with me now. It’s not a toy, it’s a hobby!

Right.

Hello Sleepless Nights Again…

(Better than Coffee! The World Cup's CoffeeMate!)

Yep, that’s right! I have just started Football Manager 2006(FM2006)! I have been playing with Total Club Manager 2004(TCM04) for at least the past 3 years and it is high-time I upgraded. The thing is that FM2006 is that while it is superbly accurate and highly realistic as far as football management games go, it is not very graphical in nature. Word has it that you get so immersed in the game that you don’t see numbers and stats anymore but actual little digital men in shorts.

According to reviews, the game is massive! It takes you at least 2-3 hours of play time to actually figure out how to play the game and at least a few days of game time to start getting ‘into the groove’, so to speak. Another thing is that it isn’t endorsed or licensed with the Premiership League and LMA (League Manager’s Association), therefore the game lacks the clubs logos and footballer’s pictures. Good news is that modders have skins and kits available for download.

All in all, I dedicate my gaming life to FM2006.

The bad part is that now I would probably sleep less.

Of Football and Otak-otak...

Sigh... wotta week!

Middlesbrough got trashed 4-0 by Seville.

They also lost their Manager, Steve McClaren to England. Which means that England will now play very defensively and without much excitement.

According to Roy Keane (Former Manchester United Midfield Legend) and most of the treble winning MU players, Steve McClaren is a REALLY good coach who is not averse to trying new and innovative ideas. However, as a tactician, he is found rather wanting. He plays rather boring football with an emphasis on defensive tactics. Think of the Italian league during the 90s and you get the picture.

Ok…away from football now.

Yesterday, we went to Bibichik, a peranakan restaurant hidden somewhere within the quiet area of SS2. We haven’t been there for ages and since we heard that there was a change of management, didn’t really feel the need to. The reason why we liked going there before was that the owner was a really nice old lady. She used to take our orders personally and would always tell us when we ordered too much. “That should be enough for the two(three, after a spell) of you. Don’t waste your money lah” or “You try the dish first, if you like, then next time you can order it lah…” What a wonderful lady.


(Go on...squint your eyes and look for the restaurant)

Well, to our surprise, we met her there! She sold off the restaurant due to her not being able to manage it but she reached an understanding with the new bosses. She would still be around to help out and serve her customers.

The only turn off to the whole experience was that the restaurant was filled with mostly all senior citizens. Maybe nyonya food appeals to the older crowd?

Play on Boro!

I was taking my little precious cheeky-poo out on an evening walk around the park when suddenly a boy roughly about 15-17 years old approached me and asked me where I got my t-shirt from. I was wearing a Middlesbrough FC football jersey at that time (don't really have the opportunity to wear brightly colored t-shirts, so I make full use any available opportunity). Now, Middlesbrough (or Boro) is a team in the English Premier League, which isn't exactly the most exciting or the most supported. People usually go, "Middles-Who?” I usually support underdog teams and you don't get more under-dogged than dear Boro (Unless you consider Dagenham or Farnsbrough...haha)

Anyway, this young chap was so surprised to see a Middlebrough FC jersey. He was literally hyperventilating. You see, he is also a Middlesbrough Fan and one of the few handfuls known in Malaysia. In fact, to him, he was the only lost bugger who supported Boro. You can imagine his excitement when he met a fellow fan with Boro paraphernalia. We spent a few minutes talking about the club and when I got home, I decided to give him a copy of the Evening Gazette (A local Middlesbrough Paper) from the time Middlesbrough won the Carling Cup, their first ever silverware in 128 years.

I think he was quite dumbfounded and outright speechless after that.

There...my good deed of the week.

On another note: Darned Boro lost to West Ham! Bah...their only chance of winning the FA cup for the first time!

Highway Robbery 101

Today I went to an Intellectual Property Seminar (blah-blah) at PWTC. The room was full of academic professors who loved the sound of their own voice and therefore exercised their right to share it with the whole room. I suppose there were some snippets of facts here and there but I lost interest in their questions after awhile. The speaker was great though. Very knowledgeable but she made a mistake when she opened the floor to questions...

Anyway, I took the LRT back and when I reached Kelana Jaya, the sky looked pretty intimidating. So I did what most desperate people would do; I took a cab. The old bugger charged me RM6 to get to my house! My house is like the distance from Limkokwing Cyberjaya to StreetMall! Or from 1 Utama to the Curve!

RM6 bucks!!

RM6 bucks!!

And the cab driver has the audacity to claim that the government was ripping all its honest working citizens by increasing petrol costs. He claimed that he; an honest to goodness, hardworking cab driver was being victimized. Dude... the crap you're smoking contains a wee too much marijuana. All that leeching, blood-sucking cabbie did all day is wait by the LRT station, smoking and talking general crap with fellow leeches. And when a fare came by, he would proceed to outright mark-up the price of the distance by several hundred percent.

Honest and hardworking indeed.