A Brand New Year

In a few hours, I will be ushering in a brand new year with six billion people and waving goodbye to 2006 and making resolutions in time for 2007 and making sure I keep up with them. The funny thing about resolutions is that it's easy to make one but hard to stick to one as you need loads of perseverance and willpower to stick to those resolutions which often are made in a jest to make the first day of the new year meaningful but it ends up almost forgotten after a matter of weeks as we tend to revert back to our usual self. I hope the resolutions I make will last me through the entire year. It's difficult but impossible.

Arsenal lost once again to of all teams Sheffield United, a team languishing in the lower part of the table and destined for relegation. The defeat clearly highlights that Arsenal needs their main man, captain Thierry Henry to come back from injury asap and score goals on a regular basis as Arsenal have a hard time finding the back of the net. Their passing is almost flawless and their gameplay is a joy to watch but it all ends up to waste if they don't take their chances in goal. I have mentioned in my previous posts that they need to sign a world class player, at least two to ensure that the team is challenging for honours with Man U and Chelsea. I'm hoping to see some action in the transfer market in the coming weeks when the transfer window open.

I had to break the news to my tuition kid's mum that I couldn't coach her younger son next year as I will be taking heavier modules next semester and I was afraid that I couldn't cope with the assignment. It was a joy to teach the two elder siblings as they were both smart and hardworking and they rarely give me trouble. The family also treated me well by giving refreshments and understood my situation when I couldn't make it on some days as some families would have made a big fuss. Both parents are very nice and not fussy. I guess I was lucky as I had heard horror stories from my other friends complaning of their kids' parents who are demanding and I hope the younger sibling finds a good tutor.

It seems that I couldn't get enough of Godfather as I keep reading the book and watching the movie countless times and being fascinated with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Their acting was flawless and the book was a masterpiece. The first Puzo book I read was the fourth K and I thought that was his best book until I read the Godfather and since then, I believed that his other books which I have not read would not equal the Godfather. Lester told me that it seems that Puzo has not been to Sicily and it's surprising as Puzo wrote about Sicily in great detail in the Godfather. I guess it's another round of Godfather again.

Christmas!!

It's been a long time since I received a Christmas present and that was when I was about 10 years. I remembered that I was very excited about going for the Christmas lunch as I knew that I would receive a present and true enough, I received a present from the host and the present turned out to be checkers which got my attention for two weeks perhaps before it started to collect dust as I was not good at it and I lost interest gradually in a game where I couldn't win most of the time.

I was pleasantly surprised when Lester brought a bag full of presents for the exco meeting and I was touched by his sincerity as he took the trouble to choose the presents and he wrapped the presents all by himself though he requested the help of his maid with the price tag who nicely bungled up the price tag. Lester was shocked when he saw Guanying take out a Paulo Cohelo book which he bought as a Christmas present for her and I was wondering what book he gave me. I was expecting a Jeffrey Archer book as he knew that I love Kane and Abel and he dropped a clue that the book is a classic which everyone should have it.

When I opened the package, I was elated to see the Godfather as I had seen the movie which I was not impressed with but I heard the book was good. I got hooked when I started to read as it was engaging and the book discussed the Godfather's lifestyle and his past in detail which the movie did not and Michael entering the Family buisness. I got to like the movie after reading the book. It was basically the Christmas present as I would definitely read the book again and again as it's an ageless classic.

I also met up with my Army friends over dinner at Marina Bay and the turnout was less than what I had expected and it was nice to see those guys again and catching up with them and their new found lifestlyes. I was surprised to see that the popular restaurant was packed to the brim as the buffet was only 12 dollars and I was not surprised as it was the holiday season and what better way to spend your holidays with a buffet dinner. I was not really excited about the food as I know the same old food will be served and true enough, the same meat were served and the same fried items. It's basically Seoul Garden style except with substandard food and sitting in the open. I believe the 12 dollars buffet was the drawing point for families and my army friends to choose the place but it was definitely not a good place to have a talk as we were pre-occupied with cooking the food and we spent minimal time interacting although I got to know what the other guys were doing and it was good to see some of the jokers as well who made a grand appearance at the last min. The night went well and I returned home early as I was feeling tired..

Random Stuff

I just caught the Arsenal-Porthsmouth game which Arsenal was expected to win although they lacked a few key players considering the fact that they are playing with a small squad this season due to the financial constraint which was due to the building of the new stadium. Arsenal dominated possession and Porthsmouth stunned them with two goals and Arsenal recovered well and hit two back and were trying to find the winner but it proved to be futile as all their attempts at goal did not find the net. It was a hugely entertaining match but I would have loved Arsenal to win the match instead of losing 2 crucial points and falling further behind in the championship race which is shaping up to be a two horse way between the most hated club in England, Chelsea and the once most hated club, Man U and I hope to see a 3 way race although it looks bleak.

I just won the Best speaker for the first time in the history as I had always fell short of the mark but i felt that i hit the mark last thursday. Term it confidence or plain arrogance but I was feeling damn confident of my chances of winning the best speaker and I was glad that I won although I could have done much better at evaluation, another department which needs rapid improvement as I feel i'm bad at judging a speech as I tend to be swayed by emotion when I evaluate and I should let my mind and not my heart decide the course of my evaluation.

Jeffrey and Lester pulled out of the last minute leaving me, Rosy and Esther and we ended up watching the commercials on my computer. I seem to like the Jap songs which Esther sent to me as they are way way better than Mandarin songs I have realised that Esther's crap level seems to be widening as I'm alarmed at the remarkable lame jokes she's making but it's kind of entertaining as I sadly love my friends' bullshit and Rosy is ever entertaining me with her exaggerated facial expressions and interesting truckload of stories.

Movies!!!

I'm a late bloomer as everyone who have read my blog should have realised it by now and the same goes for movies as I tend to be skeptical of my friends' movie choices and tend to change my opinion(sometimes) after I have seen the movie. When Esther asked me to watch Deathnote with her and Jeffrey, I was very wary of her choice as I expected the movie to be another lame Jap movie and the poster with two weirdos didn't help. Chen Hoay told me the gist of the movie and I got pretty interested in the movie. I went to his room to watch the movie as the movie had Chinese subtitles and I needed him to translate for me. Despite the language handicap, my translator was pretty decent and the plot was interesting.

I never expected the detective(L) to be a lollipop sucking, chocalate loving guy with a weird hairdo and scary eyes as his analysis of the crimes commited were simply amazing and he narrowed it down to a suspect-Keira who was the culprit. Keira is this guy who will write the names of criminals or people on a book(the so called deathbook) and the person will die within 40 seconds. I was surprised to see the Angel of Death behaving like a clown and eating apples all the time when I expected him to be more serious and eating dark items like chocalate to suit his image. I will not let in on the rest of the plot as that would be a spoiler for those who have not watched the movie but I will definitely watch Deathnote 2 on the big screen when it's released in late December.

Another movie which I enjoyed watching was Snakes On A Plane. Although the story was stupid with a plane full of poisonous snakes and Samuel L Jackson trying to save the passengers on board, it was hilarious to watch Samuel cursing as the curse scenes looked out of place but he did a decent job for S.O.A.P. I couldn't expect him to save the movie as the plot was predictable and stupid and the snakes looked freaking huge and hyperactive. I read that the fans of this movie wanted the storyline to be tweaked when it was in production as the inital storyline was crappy!! I'm sure the tweaking of the plot did little to enhance its standing at the box office and the movie will have been a massive flop if not for Sam!!

Screwed Up Bio Clock

My exams ended a few days ago and it was such a huge relief as it was a horrible semester taking horrible subjects this semester and I expected sleep to hit me latest by two but I realised that I couldn't fall asleep at two for the past few days due to the wretched exam period where i had to burn the midnight oil on certain occasions and it was irritating not to fall asleep by then. I had to entertain myself by watching MTV and I have to say that they have some good music videos in the wee hours.

Pussycat Dolls, the sultry, sexy,bitchy and hot girl group came up with another music video 'I don't need a man' which is bound to be a hit although I won't rank it alongside Don't Cha. Their sex appeal seem to be working well as they are well-liked (generally, I think) and it seems the lead singer is planning to launch her own album which might be a bad move as she's successful with PCD and the move might not be a good one. Victoria beckham and Geri Halliwell tried but they failed to match their Spice Girls' streak. Beyonce Knowles was successful initally and she is producing mediocre songs. I will rather see 6 hot girls in a video than one hot girl in a video. More eye candy!!!

Another diva who can't seem to stop singing is Madonna with her new single, Jump which is quite catchy but not an instant hit!!i guess being a mother has mellowed her as her choice of clothes seem to be decent..haha and the world is waiting if she were to adopt another baby from another Third world country following in the footsteps on Angie!!!I hope not as that will be plain publicity for Madonna!!!!